Emetophobia - terrified of this sickness bug

[nellyraggbagg]

This sounds so stupid, but I'm completely terrified of the children (not to mention DH and me) catching this Norovirus that's doing the rounds. I've been emetophobic for as long as I can remember, and it has become even worse since having children. Every time they open their mouths, I'm terrified they're going to say they feel sick. When I go to bed at night, my last waking thought is: "Oh my God, what if they're sick in the night?" My DH is working away a lot at the moment, which makes matters even worse (he is good at dealing with sick, thank goodness!!) I have dealt with both children being sick (I have found that manic cleaning helps very slightly to take my mind off the blind panic), but am rigid with fear following newspaper reports of this current bug. How will I pick DS up from school if DD and/or I get it? My Mum is miles away, unfortunately. And what if DH gets it? I don't know how I'd cope if he were sick. Please, please help, someone - even if just by saying that I'm not the only person who feels like this!

Hi girls! Glad to see you are all still here for each other. I am a lurker much more than a poster these days (trying to break my MN habit as youngest dc starting school in September, so attempting to move on a bit, in life generally) but I do click on this thread if it happens to be in active convos on the rare occasions I log on.

I am nearing the end of my CBT and my therapist has recommended a treatment for me that I am a bit unsure about. Anyone want to hear about it?

Helloooo BB!!!

Quite understand about ttc, it dominates everything doesn't it? Especially if you are a bit older, which if memory serves correct, I think you are? I was in the same boat and am very lucky to now have DS who is a constant daily reminder that starting to ttc at 40 wasn't a lost cause. Sincerely hope you can say the same one day BB.

And, I suppose, better to be obsessed by ttc than emetophobia .

Sorry Wiggleit - I switched my phone off early today so not got your text yet. Don't worry though - I won't be on the roads for another week now so you should be safe to venture out now! Think I have a new irrational fear of roundabouts now lol but that is a whole new story in itself . Hope things are ok your end - am really looking forward to our next meet up. hope your DH thinks I am (kinda) normal now or at least not a raving loon , well at least not a sinister loon as opposed to one that just plain barking!!! xxx

Sorry to hear ttc is not going to plan BB and that you have been poorly. Let us know how you are getting on when you can.

Eekamoose - how are you? please tell all abo the new treatment. You sound a bit unsure / apprehensive.....

Hi everyone!

bb - Hi sweetie!!!!lovely to hear from you hun. Think we are all turning into lurkers rather than posters on here just lately, can only be a good sign though, that's how i see it! Sorry you are still ttc, got everything crossed for you that it will happen soon. xx (knew you hadn't deserted me really! ) xx

Eek - Hello you! Well done you for trying to move on from this crutch. Think now is a good time to do it as it's all so much less stressful in the summer. Keep popping on though won't you and let us know how you are doing. Would really like to hear about your new treatment.

Notalone - Hi hun, hope the driving lesson went ok. Ventured out today knowing it was safe on the roads! . My DH doesn't think you are a loon hun, (no more than i am anyway!) He really likes you. And there's nothing wrong with being barking...i find it helps me get through life! Must arrange to meet up either next weekend (depending on my Dad) or that week you are off? xx

arrrrrgh!!! DP has tummy pains and nausea. Will report back later when the dcs are in bed

AD - arrrrrgh indeed!!!!! Fingers crossed it comes to nothing...

Eek - would love to hear (I think!) about your new treatment!

BB - so glad you're still around. I'm a lurker too, mostly, and am so glad I am not in an active panic (for the time being at any rate). I have everything crossed for you ttc - it has happened before, and I'm sure it will happen again x

Wiggle, Notalone and everyone else: hello! My antibiotics are fab, and don't seem to be having side effects (touch everything wooden!!!!!)

DH coming, so will end here!!!!

Will look forward to it Wiggleit. Hope things are ok with your Dad and really looking forward to seeing you soon xxxx

AD - Nooooooo! I really hope your DP is ok. Is he prone to illness? I hope all is ok in the AD house. Let us know how things are as soon as you can.

Nelly - am really glad your antibiotics are going well. Any news on your holiday??

DP is ok (touch wood) - his nausea has eased a bit. It got scary at one moment, when he said he felt like v'ing - arrrrgh. He's under strict instructions - from me - not to eat. He thinks it's definitely a bug (the same one DS had, no doubt). And I'm now thinking that DD had it very mildy on Weds (when she was complaining of tummy ache and very lethargic) Anyhow, I'm surely immune by now, so am not too concerned.

How is everyone else? Good to see BB and Eek back!

Oh yes, the holiday. Well, we are going. I have put up every possible resistance, and have annoyed DH immensely - but we are going anyway. I am taking a jar of Bovril with me - I will just have to eat Bovril toast for a week! (can't eat a baguette which might have been touched by human hands...)

I am dreading it. The people we're staying with live up the top of a windy road, so I'm terrified of one of us getting car-sick; plus there's a plane to contend with... I really don't know how I will be able to do it. Ah well.

AD - hope your DP is still okay. Make sure he doesn't eat until he's starving! It does sound as if your DD had a mild form (which is good, as she won't get it from your DP!) Good luck...

I've just re-read my post, and I realise that "windy" makes it look as if it's very blustery up there (!) What I mean is very twisty and turny (so the perfect road to cause car-sickness...)

Hi everyone!

AD - how's things now? Hope DP recovered, sounds like you'll be immune,was it you who's DS v'd all over them? If you've survived that all this time i'm sure you'll be fine.Hope so xx

Nelly - glad anti-biotics working and not having any horrible effects on you! phew! As for the holiday.. Know exactly how you feel. I don't like holidaying, i don't like being away from home or the chance that one or all of us may get ill..not to mention the travelling to get there! What am i like eh, sound like a right misery! My friends don't get it but i just can't get excited about going away, i have to pretend!

Notalone - hi hun, my Dad ok ta, he goes in hospital on wed so we'll know more then, thanks for asking. Is your DS off this week? My DD off for a week. Going walking a couple of days. Will be at the hospital at the end of the week visiting. Not looking forward to that...will be listening out for any bugs doing the rounds there, but have to console myself that my worry is nothing compared to what some people are in there for. Have to put my Dad's needs before my worry but it's hard. Hate hospitals!!! What you upto this weekend hun, anything nice? xx

Lol Nelly - am glad you said that as I really was racking my brains trying to figure out why wind would make someone sick!!! Now I know what you mean and can see whay you would be worried. The one place I know I would be unable to visit would be Dubai (even though I would actually love to go) as they are so strict on prescription drugs. Knowing my luck I would be jailed for my anti emetics and would spend the rest of my years in the equivalent of the Bangkok Hilton. God I can be negative sometimes lol Are you staying with close friends?

AD how are you? Bet you were so woried with your DP talking about V. I hope you are having a good weekend anyway and are all feeling fit and healthy.

Hi Wiggleit. Am gonna do some searching for Spa's soon. I will keep my fingers crossed re your Dad and the hospital visit. Let me know how it is going when you can. Where are you going walking? DS is off both this week and next as his school are doing a pilot scheme where they get 2 week half term and 5 week summer holiday. We are off to London for a couple of days next week but am dreading the trains and tubes for obvious reasons. We are also getting a coach to Brighton to stay with a friend on the Mon night and last time I felt really ill because the air con was broken and the road there has lots of twists and turns. I am hoping it is not like that again! We are going to the cinema on Mon to see Nimms Island and nowt tomorrow. How about you? xxx

Oooh Wiggleit - check this place out!

www.elementspa.co.uk/home-fra.html

Hi Notalone - that place looks lovely, that's the one i was going to check out at thrybergh...those houses behind it, i sold them..That spa place was just getting started then. That looks a definite must doesn't it? We'll have to check prices and times etc but i'd def be up for going there and it's handy for both of us isn't it?

Thanks for the thoughts of my Dad and his impending hospital stay.

We're just going local walking, my neighbour and i with loads of kids...we'll finish off at the local pub coz there's a brill play area for the kids...and obviously wine!(only kidding, can't get drunk with the kids there can we? Although it might ease the pain a bit! )

Visiting a couple of friends over the weekend..and my Dad of course just to see how he's bearing up.

Good luck in London..I hated it on the tubes there. It's so claustophobic (oh no, not another phobia!!) and busy. I'm sure you'll enjoy it there though hun xx

Hey there! Anyone around?

It's soooo quiet on here lately. Well, i've had a bit of a week..DD has had d and tummy pains ALL week! I have coped well actually but my DH has seen to her and disinfected everything after her. At first i was worried about her v'ing but as the week went on and it was just d, i kinda just got on with it. BUT...last night i woke at 2.30am with horrible stomach pains and had to go to the loo (sorry if tmi! ) I've had pains all through the night and during today, convinced i have caught the bug off DD..(at least she didn't v!!) So am starving myself and feeling pretty rubbish actually! The funny thing is though DD just got on with it, she never moaned about anything,she still ate etc, it was no problem to her..now me on the other hand was in an absolute state of panic in the early hours of the morning! Was sat on the loo and couldn't stop my legs shaking..pathetic or what?!! My 7yr old just dealt with it like it was nothing and i'm there a quivering wreck!

How is everyone else? Miss you all!

BB - how did i manage to contract this when i have not dealt with any of her toilet needs, and the whole place has been dettol sprayed and bleached after every incident? She wasn't allowed to touch anything as Dh dealt with everything? Wierd? I thought i would be ok on the theory of not coming into contact with any d or even much contact with DD. We are scruporously (sp) clean at the best of times but this week this house has been bleached/sprayed a million times! Don't understand. My DH has been fine. Know you haven't got all the answers hun but was just wondering, maybe it's just one of those things, but i suppose it could have been an airborne bug ay?? How are you btw chick? Thinking of you and hoping you are well. miss you!

Notalone - how are you chicken? Is it this mon you go to London? Have a lovely time babes. How did your driving lesson go on thurs? Hurry up and pass your test then we will be more free to meet anywhere! Hope things good with you. Will see you soon matey xx

Hi to everyone else...i know there's a few of you lurking out there! Hope everyone is well.xx

Wigglet, we have had a similar thing going round. Only DS has actually v'd with it, the worst thing is that it seems to reoccur (or maybe I just need to be a bit more vigilant with the disenfectant).

Hello all,

Nelly here under a new alias (to try to evade weirdo pursuing nellyraggbagg...)
Yes, I am still lurking, and have been soooo relieved to see that nobody has bad news. I have been feeling sick for the last goodness-knows-how-long, and it turns out that I might have pneumonia - am going to the hospital today for an x-ray. I am terrified of actuallly v-ing, but have to keep telling myself that if I do v, it's not a stomach bug (does that make it better??!)

Had a bad experience on Sunday. We went to a soft play centre and a child v-d right at the side of us. I didn't see it happen, but I did see the result of it (there wasn't much, but enough to throw me into a serious tizz). DH said the child was only about 1.5, so it probably wasn't a bug - but I wouldn't let the dcs go into the ladies' loos after that (sick child was taken off there by her mum), and made DH take them to the men's. I was very careful not to touch the taps or door-handles - I think everyone must have thought I was a complete nut as I turned the taps off after wrapping my hand in about 6 miles of hand-drying paper!!

Wiggle - I hope you and your family are now on the mend. You have been very brave!!

Hi nelly. Sorry to read that you may have pneumonia - you poor thing. Hope it gets sorted soon.

And arrrrgh for your softplay experience. That would be enough to put me off a place for life.

So here's a dilemma. DD's pre-school has a infestation of eeek nits. I'm trying to think which would be worse; the family with nits, or the family with D & V. Actually, there's no competition really, nits would be far more preferable. I think I can safely say that only an emetophobe would say that!

Hi Nelly - All seems ok here now thanx. So sorry to hear you may have pneumonia, let us know how the x-ray went today. Poor you as well with the soft play experience! You dealt with it really well i think...i'd have upped kids and gone!!

Hi AD - no competition whatsoever...rather have nits any day! Like you say only an emet would probably say that!

Hi everyone else...hope all keeping well. xx

Ooh, yes, give me nits any day (well, compared to D&V, that is).

Typical hospital scenario this am - they did the x-ray then told me to go home as they didn't have any doctors available. Apparently they will ring me within the next couple of days if I have TB!!

What's particularly bad for me, of course, is that I feel sick the whole time and can't eat - so I'm down to 6 stone something. I am trying to eat, but the mere thought of food makes me feel sick, which isn't good. And, of course, I'm terrified that whatever I eat will make me sick!!

I would have disappeared from the soft play centre, too - only DH wouldn't hear of it, and he had the car keys. I felt too ill to argue! But I now have a new anxiety: DD's nursery school headmistress said today that a child had stepped through the door and v-d everywhere. Apparently the mum said she'd be fine, but - fortunately - the headmistress said no way was she staying. Their policy is to get children who've actually v-d off the premises as quickly as possible, and not to allow them back until they've had 48 hours of no problems. Three cheers for her! But I'm still worried that DD might have come into contact. Oh, life is so stressful for an emet...

Oh no! Good on the headmistress for making her take the poor child home. More worry for you hun!

As for the x-ray, lets hope it pinpoints the problem so you can get some relief from your symptoms. You are very thin. Poor you. You really have had a bad run lately haven't you? Get well soon nell/dot xx

Thank you, Wiggle!! x

hello everyone, i miss you all and think of you often! thought i would drop by after a very extended absence to see how everyone is getting on.

i was hit by the most debilitating morning sickness (no v just nausea to end all nausea) so not only was i physically unable to post but i felt so sick all of the time that i really couldn't add anything here. am feeling a lot better now (still a little sick in the evenings and very very tired) and so wanted to check in with all my old emet friends!

also, i have been hit by another tum bug during my absence... ds and dh picked up a mild bug at a children's party a few weeks ago which involved a couple of days of feeling yucky, tummy ache and off food. a few days later i contacted it and somehow managed to v with it (only once but quite badly and, horror of horrors it happened in the middle of the night) but again, i can only report back that it was not as bad as i had feared. the following day i felt so liberated and free, haing survived my worst fear again but, as time has gone on my all-consuming fear has begun to set in.

ds (2.3) is due to start nursery in september (having been at home with me in a vat of disifectant since birth) therefore not yet having built up much/any immunity to all the horrid bugs. dc2 is due late oct/early nov. this is the start of the noro season. i am constantly ruminating about and dreading the winter and how on earth i will cope both phsically and mentally with ds' new exposure to sick bugs while dealing with a new baby and facing the whole family coming down with d & v and how dangerous it could be for a new baby.

am on an overtired waffle now so shall send love and sign off and try to catch up with everyone's news xxx

Hello zonedout!

So, so sorry to hear you've had a bad time of it. What can I say other than that I am full of admiration for how you have coped with it all? I don't know how any of us actually managed to overcome the v-factor enough to become mums at all.

I dreaded the dcs leaving home, too (PMSL at vat of disinfectant!!!), but we've mostly had d since they started school/nursery school [touches every bit of available wood]. DD did have one nasty v episode a year ago (I still know the date!!), and DS had a week of d when he started school (though no other symptoms), so you may be lucky! Let's hope so... Meanwhile, I'm glad you're starting to feel better. I spent my entire second pg wearing travel-sickness wristbands just to be on the safe side!!

[waves to everyone else x]