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VOMIT PHOBIC PEOPLE DID YOU SEE THE PANIC ROM LAST NIGHT

75 replies

excuseme · 09/05/2007 10:27

They had an emetophobe on showed some very graphic scenes of vomiting but it has really given me the push to get help

OP posts:
losty · 09/05/2007 19:40

we've had this convo before dg - my fear is totally different to yours. I am not going to exaplin it, I am alkready in a state. but I think it means that we all suffer in different wasy IYKWIM

DumbledoresGirl · 09/05/2007 19:50

That is what would have made the programme interesting for me if I could have watched it. I do sort of have a morbid fascination for finding out about other emetophobes' fears which I know you do not share Losty. I cant see I would have got anything else from the programme. What dh told me about (eg her final challenge etc) haunted me all night!

losty · 09/05/2007 19:56

very sad now

what an idiot, why did I click on this thread?

DumbledoresGirl · 09/05/2007 19:57

Why sad? Sorry Losty, I know I told you on msn I was going to have to go, but I keep popping back. Dont be sad about it. I will be back on msn later.

losty · 09/05/2007 21:06

only just seen this DG - sadness was nothing to do with you! I was sad because I exposed myself to talk about my phobia, thats all, not your fault at all!

Califrau · 09/05/2007 22:47

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Ellbell · 09/05/2007 23:11

I couldn't have watched the programme either [horror emoticon] but am interested to read about it... from a safe distance. I am another one who struggles with this phobia and I have no idea where it came from. I'm like dumbledoresgirl in that it doesn't make me paranoid about cleanliness/eating etc. It's just the act itself that repels me (in myself or someone else).

Califrau... sorry to hear about your panic attack. Hope you feel OK now.

corblimeymadam · 09/05/2007 23:31

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Message withdrawn

losty · 10/05/2007 09:10

did you ring califrau? How are you feeling today? I had horrible dreams last night I think I shall go back to my usual tactic of avoiding these threads. It panics me.

excuseme · 10/05/2007 12:36

Oh losty I am sorry for starting this thread

OP posts:
mamatres · 10/05/2007 12:55

no i missed it and am pleased i did. i know i need to sort it out but am too scared iyswim

ZipadiSuzy · 10/05/2007 13:34

Emetophobia! I have a hypnotherapy CD, but this programme sounds better, but glad I didn't see it! if it works though!??????????

DumbledoresGirl · 10/05/2007 13:57

Can I be controversial/pessimistic? I am not sure the therapy shown on the programme would work (for me anyway). From the other programmes I have seen, the therapy maily consisted of flooding the phobic with images or contact with the object of their phobia. I think after a time, they must get a bit used to the constant exposure and so, when faced with just a small amount of exposure, they must feel that, relatively speaking, they are able to face that. Well, that is all well and good if the thing you are scared of is commonplace such as birds or cats - maybe those ladies kept up their minimal exposure and to some extent were able to lose the edge off their phobia.

But for us emetophobes, would that work? We all know what a flooding experience is like because we all have children who have had sickness bugs in the past (and I for one do have to do the clearing up because I need to know it is done properly iyswim). But those experiences don't seem to stop us being emetophobes. In fact, after a really bad time when several members of my family have been ill on successive days, I have positively regressed in my fight over this phobia. Such experiences have lived on in my mind, ruining my day to day life for years afterwards.

I feel a better therapy would be one in which your fears are analysed and shown to be false eg, I think my phobia basically comes down to a fear I will die when vomiting. Now if that fear could be shown to be false, I think that would help me more than exposure to vomit and people vomiting, which, let's face it, we a) don't come across very often to allow us to be desensitised, and b) no-one, not even non-phobics, find pleasant or particularly bearable.

becaroo · 10/05/2007 14:09

I agree with you dg.

I have been like this since a young girl. Dont know what triggered it, but do have similar fears to you i.e. that I will choke/die.

I get so angry with myself. Its such a stupid bloody thing to have a phobia about and it is ruining my life.

My ds has had 2 bad vomiting bugs in the last 2 years which I have caught. Before that I had not vomited for approx: 20 years.

Wish I could do something about this..bought a book on CBT but it was useless...aimed at people with fear of spiders/heights/going outdoors etc.

I could NEVER mention this fear to anyone. I am too ashamed. I am 34 years old and need to get a fucking grip.

Ellbell · 10/05/2007 14:22

I agree too, DG. I can see how 'flooding' would work for other phobias. I am a bit phobic about flying (not to the point of not getting on a plane, but very very tense and nervous about it) but am always better on my way home from somewhere than on my way out, just because I've done it successfully quite recently. But vomiting is not like that at all is it? It's all or nothing... And I think that the 'infectiousness' aspect is what freaks me out - the fear I might catch it. Which you can't rationalise away... because sometimes you do catch it (and sometimes not, but you can't tell...). Aaargh!

kels666 · 10/05/2007 14:33

I think flooding does work to some extent. I have a 'bulimic' cat - ie one who throws up her entire lunch 3 or 4 times per week. Nowadays, cat puke is no problem whatsoever for me. I was hoping the same thing would happen with my children, BUT neither of them are pukey kids and the occasional D & V bug is not enough. I can just about cope at the moment as my dd is still too young to tell me she feels sick, and if it just happens, then I can deal with it. I'm dreading the day I hear the words..... 'mummy I feel sick'

HenriettaHippo · 10/05/2007 14:37

I don't think flooding would work for me either. It's totally my worst nightmare ever, and I think I might develop agoraphobia and be afraid of leaving the house if I knew I was definitely going to be seeing sick while I was out.

DumbledoresGirl · 10/05/2007 15:44

WARNING: loads of TMI in this post!

Kels: interesting post but not one I agree with at all! I used to have a cat when I was a child/teenager. She was completely "my" cat - a one person cat if you like - and always in my room. She also had a hormonal condition which meant she pulled the fur out of her back all the time unless the drugs she was on all her life were working which they didn't always. Consequently, she was always being sick (because of excessive hairballs) and, because she was in my room a lot of the time it fell to me to clear it up. I remember the two worst occasions were when she was sick in my sock drawer and when she was sick down the back of my radiator - both hard to clean up. But, I had no problem cleaning it up. I couldn't bear being in the room when she was being sick, but somehow cat sick is not a threat to me as human sick is and therefore, I felt nothing more than ordinary disgust at cleaning it up. But the frequency of her vomits did nothing to help my phobia. I have 2 cats now and have had to clear up small amounts of their sick too - it is no worse than cleaning up if they poo in the wrong place.

Also, you may be different to me, but I actually find it slightly helpful when my children are able to tell me they feel sick rather than just being sick unexpectedly. Sure, the words put the fear of God into you, but they give you time to push them in the direction of the toilet or fetch them a bucket and that is infinitely preferable to vomit on the floor. My children are not frequently sick either so I am not sure how good they are at predicting when they are going to be ill, but I do know that when (my luck or otherwise) the vomit goes straight down the loo, I feel a lot less phobic than when it doesn't.

Ellbell · 10/05/2007 15:48

I'm with you dg. Down the loo is far preferable to the alternatives!

Oddly dog puke doesn't bother me too much either. I think it's the 'catching it' thing again. My dog eats grass and then throws it up. Horrible noise when she does so, but after all, it's just grass... I am not going to 'catch' grass, LOL!

DumbledoresGirl · 10/05/2007 15:52

Yes, it comes down to 2 things really: 1) you are not going to catch a bug from a dog or cat and 2) their sick looks nothing like human sick. Sorry, this is going too far even for me now! But I am sure you all understand!

Ellbell · 10/05/2007 15:53

Deffo understand, dg.

kels666 · 10/05/2007 16:13

I agree cat vomit is not as threatening as shudder....the human kind. BUT i no longer get the urge to run out of the room when the cat pukes whereas I did previously.

HenriettaHippo · 10/05/2007 16:27

I have cats too, and sometimes one of them eats his food too fast and then is sick. I have to leave the room, or try and shove him out the cat flap fast, and hope it rains soon.. But clearing up is ok. It's the human kind that's really bad. DS was sick on the floor in the kitchen on Monday, and I panicked. Luckily, he's 3 and that's the first time ever it's happened. DH was there, he cleared up, I just ran about in a panic trying not to be anywhere near, and at the same time, find a bowl. As we were in the kitchen, you'd have thought that would be easy, but if I used an ordinary bowl, it would have to be thrown away after, I could never use it again. Strangely, now that I have actually lived through this situation, I don't feel quite so terrified of it happening again. Although I didn't actually do much...

Sorry, that was rather a ramble.

Califrau · 10/05/2007 16:38

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Califrau · 10/05/2007 16:40

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