sick phobia

[nat1411]

Am I the only one who is so paranoid over sickness, I have panic attacks when I feel sick, if the kids are sick i can't deal with it, i feel so stupid but its the worry i might get it. there is a bug going round at my daughters school at the moment my nephew has it who i take every day, how can i avoid it apart from never going out????
Please help

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I too share your phobia and feel for you. I was on holiday felt sick and had panic attacks so badly I was given tranquilizers and had to be flown home 3 days early could not leave the room!!!!

Went to see psycologist who said mine was a fear of loosing control not the actual sick bit. Once I got my head round that I was not soo panicy about it.

4 months of morning sickness every day also made me a bit immune to it aswell.

Hope this helps a bit and also good hygiene I agree with, but you can't prevent everything

I know from discussing this with a friend that it is terribly common - sorry I can't give you advice (fortunately I don't suffer from this) but wanted you to know that you are not silly, it's a very real problem.

I have the same problem nat1411,only my phobia extends to feeling sick and not getting to the toilet on time.
I completly know where you are coming from as I suffer panic attacks and try to avoid going out where possible .It consumes my everyday life and i have to plan everything around it.Even down to what i eat so as to prevent the risk.

The only thing i have found is to force myself to go out ,take deep breaths and once i get home and nothing has happened to me i feel good that i have done it and that everything was ok.

As you say it is difficult when you have children and they are so reliant on you .

Have you tried any CBT therapy?
I have heard it challenges the way you think and makes you look at the risks in a diferent way.

I will be following tHis thread with interest as I could do with some advice on this myself.

Sorry not much help,only can sympathise with you.

bump

I have a friend at work who suffers badly with this phobia. It was really starting to affect her life, so she went to the doctors & was put on a waiting list for some kind of therepy.

It is quite a common phobia, I think there are quite a few sufferers on MN.

Hiya

There are quite a lot of us here on MN with this phobia. You could do a search on 'emetophobia'. Californifrau is another sufferer, and belgianbun, and I think Dumbledoresgirl and there are others.

I don't have it so badly that it affects my everyday life (I do go out to eat and things), but I go into a complete panic if I or my dds are ill. I started seeing a counsellor because I was so ashamed of myself being unable to cuddle or comfort my dd when she was sick. His advice was very practical (put a peg on my nose?) and he also tried to convince me that if I touched dd's sick it wouldn't necessarily make me sick myself. Overall, I felt that it had been helpful to talk the phobia through with someone, but I don't think he has cured me.

You can't avoid sickness permanently - it happens. The best you can do (imo) is learn to live with it. That's what I hope I can do. I know I'll never be blase' about it, but I hope to be able to cope just enough to get by....

Sending you lots of hugs and support. Hope you and your dd avoid the current bug.

Well, I am absolutely amazed that other people out there have exactly the same thing as me, I thought I was the only one! I have just left a party as I thought the child playing with my dd had a strange rash and the hostess mentioned she'd felt a bit sick the last few days... ok but I was tired anyway (29 weeks pregnant)
Getting a sick bug, or my children getting it is something that bothers rather than plagues me now, and at this time of year especially. I try to talk myself out of it but all friends know to warn me if there's any potential for germs
I am a million times better than I was, it used to also be a fear of getting diahorrea whenever I went out, which was a problem as I had IBS, and terrible stomach troubles but it became self perpetuating, easier to stay in etc
ANYWAY, as for the advice bit. CBT and more CBT. Get referred straightaway, it really works, I know tons of people who rave about it for various things. I went to the doctor complaining about the IBS and was amazed when she tried to give me prozac (pre-pregnancy). I honestly thought there was something wrong with me. I declined the anti-depressants and waited for CBT, took two weeks, and then went for six to eight sessions and it was great, although at first it seemed basic, it really challenged my thought processes and in turn stopped the fear/stomach aches when I went out.
I also combined this with seeing a herbalist and had a tincture of various things every day and it pretty much stopped.
While I've been pregnant it has flared up, ie, avoiding all illness like the plague but it has some founding and I can control it, mostly, if it creeps back I refer back for an odd session and it seems to be enough. I would urge anyone with this kind of trouble to ask their GP. We have a community nurse who visits the surgeries and she said it was spreading nationwide? good luck

I too suffer with this (old name crazydazy), I am like Ellbell it doesn't really affect me as much as others, worry a bit when the kids are ill.

Have tried various things but didn't work. I am taking Prozac for PMT and this has helped my anxiety so much. I had a brilliant holiday abroad for the first time ever this year and just feel much more calm and relaxed as a whole, not anxiety ridden constantly!!!

It works for me but I realise not everyone would feel this way.

Oh yikes, I have this too. I read this thread the other day and thought how awful it'll be when we all get this again and now it's happened. DD is 3 and threw up all over the kitchen this morning. DP is at work feeling very ill and I don't know how I'm going to cope with 7 wk old DS if I get it too. I need to lie v. still and concentrate on not being sick because I just can't bear it!

Any tips on how to cope??