does anyone else have a being-sick phobia?

[banana87]

Just wondering. It's called emetophobia and I am a sufferer. It gets worse and then better depending on how I am feeling. Right now its pretty bad, and I am hearing everyone talk about a tummy bug going around and I am seriously close to just staying indoors with DD to avoid. DD is 2 and we have avoided bugs so far but I am living in this constant state of anxiousness, esp at night, that she is going to be sick.

Anyway, just a vent...and also wondering if I am alone in this???

I see what your saying - ive tried many times to remember ever single time i was ever sick, and i cant pin point it...the earliest thing i remember is when i was about the age 7-8 and not wanting to go away with my junior school because i was scared i would be sick while i was away and my mum wasnt there...and ive been the same ever since, so it must be something from when i was very young to have hit me so early on and thats why I cant remember...

i totally agree with you when you say that it really doesnt have anything to do with the actual act of being sick, i know that as ive experenced no fear in that situation first hand...i really hope this is a tangled web we can all unravel eventually...!

madonna whore, i think youve been the best therapist ive ever had - haha! :o I am most certainly, after meeting the people on this thread, getting myself another therapist and back on my medicine! off to the doctors next week for me...!

p.s i feel really unwell right now and im panicking i have a bug...:'(

Me - its an extremely common phobia.

CBT is the best therapy for phobias, imvho.

Crunchie I'm flattered haha!

Seriously, if my ramblings have been of any help at all then I'm truly glad because I sympathise and empathise with anyone in the grip of emetophobia at its worst. I know how debilitating it can be.

I hope you feel better soon.

OMG - I'm so with you all!
I can't even say the word vo**it without shuddering and shaking.
I thank gd that my first pregnancy was sickness free as that would've been my last!!
I have major anxiety before flying as I'm so scared that there will be a travel sick passenger close-by.
About 10 years ago I passed out in the airport in Cuba having seen a man throw-up.
After the traumatic event, I spent the next hour pacing the airport looking for him and once on the plane was a wreck until I'd seen every single passenger get on and hadn't seen him!!!
My phobia goes back to being 12 years old, on a coach full of kids being sick. No joke there were more than 50 kids with bin bags hanging over the backs of the seats in front of them.
This experience had such an impact on me that I'm scarred for life!!
My blood runs cold when I hear of one of DDs or DSs school friends is ill. I find myself cancelling playdates when either of DCs friends siblings are ill. Probably irrational but I just fear it.
I'm terrified that I'll pass on my phobia to DCs...

There's dozens of us!

moosky - omg, I have nightmares like that, where I can't get off and it's everywhere.

And yes to the thing about checking public toilets. If the seat is down I go to another cubicle or if I have to use it I always tentatively lift with my foot to check.

Public transport's a nightmare - I could never get a night bus home - luckily now I never go anywhere so never have to. And I used to drive DH mad by changing tube carriage and refusing to get the last tube home.

Interesting re it being linked to social anxiety disorder - I had cbt for this twice, once at 19 and then again a few years ago. I don't really know why I've got the fear though. I think it's linked to being at school and anxious.

I haven't actually V..d in years - over 20. I think the sphincter in my stomach closes up when I retch.

I saw a therapist recently who said that if I were sick it would release years and years of pent up grief and anxiety and I suspect in my case she's right.

I've been feeling really bonkers since it started up again - feel quite normal after reading this! I mean being sick is horrible so we're all totally normal to be scared... right?

I think we are normal to be scared :)

I think mine goes back to a dream I had where my dad was knocking at the door loudly and I couldn't get to it in time and when I opened it he was sick everywhere and yelling at me. How in the hell I can be scarred for life from a dream is beyond me, but it haunted me. But then I have always been a hyopchondriac and remmeber being 11 and having a particularly bad sv and swearing I would never v again. I can count on one hand the number of times I have actually been sick since then (not including pregnancy---ahhh!).

Pregnancy made me get over the fear but it came back with a vegance. :(

And on the topic of cancelling playdates, I am about to inform my childminder of my fear and tell her to cancel DD if anyone in her family is sick 3 days prior to DD coming, and to always tell me. She is going to think I am a WEIRDO.

yes, me tooand it's terrible. I'm 25 weeks pregnant and had terrible ms nausea in first trimester - whereas I felt over the past few years I thought I was making progress in my phobia this experience of constant terrible non stop nausea has made my phobia worse than it has been in years. I still feel sick most days due to pregnancy and live in fear of getting a sick bug. I go out as little as possible and when I get home I try to change clothes or shower to get rid of any germs that might be on me. I also wash my hands much more than I need to. I'm scared stiff of being sick (that to me being the worse thing that could possibly happen to me) but it has also extended to not being able to cope if anyone I know is sick or anything to do with it (seeing it on TV etc). I even hate doing things like using public loos incase someone in another cubicle is being sick and I hear it, also hate public transport like some of you. I always have to sit in an isle seat in cinema/trains etc so I feel I can make a quick escape if anyone near me is sick and hate things like planes where I feel I'm stuck with other people and cannot escape if anyone is sick. I also refuse to eat out incase I get food poisoning and will not stay anywhere like hotels where I can't cok my own food. I know this is completely irrational yet I can do nothing about it (and pg has made me so axious everything is so much harder)

crunchie I had a similar experience to your tummy bug thing last summer - I woke up one morning feeling really sick and spent a couple of hours in the bathroom nearly being sick - the odd thing being that at that second I remember thinking 'eurika - the amount of anxiety in my life just due to this'. I geniunely thought that I was cured forever of this phobia but a few days later I was back to square one. Agree with the control thing too.

banana you've really worried me saying feb is the worst month for tummy bugs as tht's the month of my due date - I'm already worried about having to go to hospital and stay there for the birth (have brought dettol wipes to use everywhere!).

I have had hypnotherapy and CBT in the past and both has helped a bit but never cured it. I've been seeing a therapist for a few years but haven't done much work since getting pg as I can't manage it.

banana just read your last post about your childminder - this really freaks me out as when I go back to work after mat leave I'm leaving my DC with my mum and MIL. My Mum is great and wouldn't look after DC if she/anyone at her house had a sick bug as she wouldn't want to pass over germs (phew) but MIL is compete opposite - works through any bug and takes the option 'they need to catch things to build up immunity' - I'm so worried she'll come over and look after our baby when she's ill/been in touch with someone with a sick bug and we might catch something from her. She really doesn't understand my thinking and thinks I'm just silly. I worry now about this and it's a year away already!

Btw - thanks for this thread - it's always nice to know I'm not alone in this.

Sorry I've worried you angels1. It may not be that Feb is bad, I think I have just convinced myself it is. There always seems to be a tummy bug going around...and try not to worry too much about your baby. I breastfed mine and we avoided bugs so far fingers crossed. I also give her a probiotic daily in her milk.

Just reading the posts from all of you and the behaviours you're all describing...in my worst moments (probably the age of 17, im 25 now) i stopped leaving the house at all, because i was so scared i would be sick if i left it, and to me the worst thing in the world besides to actually being sick, was being sick somewhere that isnt my house (it still is). I still dont know why and im hoping its something i can figure out with my therapist (which, btw drives me up the wall as my doctors practice makes u visit the therapist in the practice ( I WOULD LIKE TO AVOID VISITING A DOCTORS EVERY WEEK ESPECIALLY IN WINTER FOR OBVIOUS REASONS!!!)) however i digress...i think i was saying, the one thing i do know, is it doesnt stay bad forever. I am a lot better now, i still have many fears and anxieties but i havent been agoraphobic for about five years, so there are good times and bad times with this phobia. Also, i am utterly convinced im not scared of being sick and there is an underlying issue which manifests as this phobia, which i am also determined to work out. I think if we all sit down and think about the exact reasons why we fear being sick, it might turn out that it is the reasons related to being sick and not the being sick itself, like the fear of not being in control and not knowing whats going to happen (like me), i say this because a lot of posts have said that they got over their fear after being sick and it has come back with a vengance a few months later. I didnt realise at the time, but I also have a form of OCD which means i think about things and try and rationalise everything all the time, this is another form of anxiety, which can also have its routes in depression (imho). I was given citalopram for a while which didnt help at all, but then i was given prozac (more known for treating depression i think?) and that worked wonders for me...so for me i think there are many routes that i need to follow to get to the real reason behind this phobia, i.e like an underlying depression that im not aware of. One of my best friends also, suffers from depression and low self esteem, and also has a vomitting phobia. I think with this phobia it is certainly not black and white and the reason (for me if not for anyone else) is something completely different than just a phobia.

crunchie you are spot on. It's not about being sick, it's about anxiety issues, not being in control, and the unknown of what will or will not happen. I have just started Prozac too. It works wonders for me. I also take Alazopram as needed for anxiety, which is really really good.

Yeah I agree Crunchie. Just seen an NHS counselling assessor and she basically said my phobia is not really a phobia but am on the spectrum of OCD and that I actually have generalised anxiety disorder. I am more anxious than I have ever been in my (mostly anxious) life currently - with good reason - so I'm kind of hoping the phobia will calm down when my life gets better.

banana - im glad you've found some medication that is helping you - hopefully ill be in the same position next week!!

peanuthead - im sorry to hear what you are going through but alteast you know what and why - which is going to make it hopefully that little easier to plod through and over come! how long did your appointment take to come through with the therapist?? :)

update:

Hi everyone i hope your all doing well, i went to my doctor today and have been prescribed my fluoxetine again and shud have a therapist appt in the new year :)

Good luck with it all Crunchie.

I had a bit of a set back this week - my best friend got a vomiting bug which lasted about 4 days. Even though I hadn't seen her for a bit and didn't come into contact with her while she was ill, just her telling me about it over the phone was enough to send me into a bit of a panic spiral.

I felt a little bit ropey yesterday so deliberately didn't eat anything and made myself feel faint with hunger. Then I had diarrhoea today (just the once, I think I drank too much coffee tbh) and took the day off work because I was so scared I had a bug. I HATE it when I let my fear get the better of me like that. I'm really disappointed with myself that I've now missed a whole day of work because of it. Luckily my boss was very understanding.

I hate winter, I always feel a low level of anxiety that I'm going to get sick. It really spoils things like Christmas - I'm already imagining being sick on Christmas day and stuff.

Hope I can pull myself together soon. It was just my friend being ill that really threw me. A bit too close for comfort iyswim.

madonnawhore, dont be disappointed in yourself our phobia is our "illness" and if u wernt up for work that day then nobody can question that, somedays we just need to deal with it in our own way.

i get worried about getting sick on christmas day too, but i try to shove it out my mind, after all worrying about it isnt going to change what happens is it?

this is my fifth day on my tablets btw, really struggling, feeling very sick for the last four days, hoping the side effects will wear off soon :(

Hello, I have a massive phobia of sick and sympathise about the major panic that happens especially when sick bugs are mentioned - I'm shaking now just thinking about it.

I do not have any children but I will be hoping to start a family in a year or so but I am so worried about possible Morning Sickness, sickness in labour, the child being sick once born. Do not know how I will cope. Is anyone in a similar position or had babies and coped with this phobia?

hi pickles
i have this and also have 4 kids!!!
i was lucky notto be sick in pregnancy(although i felt awful for couple weeks with the last one)
dp deals with them when theyre ill,although i know a nmber mums on here can manage their kids be il as long as they arent
ive heard mention of drugs in labour to prevent sickness
its hard but so worthg having kids and juggling this.im having cbt at the moment.
hope we cross paths again.good luck with starting a family