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Original poster

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:

DumbledoresGirl · 10/05/2007 17:04

Califrau, I also have a fairly confident attitude that I won't be sick, although that is still the ultimate fear for me.

I was wondering, reading that you couldn't put your finger on what your fear is "beyond sight, sound, smell concept for me", do you ever wonder (as I do) whether you have just allowed your natural revulsion to take control of you, and that is what the phobia comes down to?

Califrau · 10/05/2007 19:27

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Original poster

excuseme · 10/05/2007 19:29

This is being repeated tonight not ure I can watch it again

OP posts:

corblimeymadam · 10/05/2007 19:31

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noonar · 10/05/2007 19:36

i am reading this thread with interest. my dd 1 is just 5. she had a nasty sick bug recently. since then- for about 6 weeks, she's been complaining of feeling sick frquently and often worries that she'll be sickeg in the car- when she has no history of travel sickness. she's started to use the sick bowl as a sort of comforter and wants it by her bed side at times. she also has a good appetite and will sometimes eat too much of favourite foods. she then feels too full and gets anxious, thinking she's 'sick'.

any advice on how to nip this in the bud? sorry for hijack.

Original poster

excuseme · 10/05/2007 19:38

Noonar I think you need to reassure her that being sick is something that happens. Have you asked her if she is worried about anything in particular to do with being sick

OP posts:

noonar · 10/05/2007 19:40

excuseme, no i havent, but i think she may have a neg association with bedtimes, as this is when she was sick. i will ask her next time.

i have explain to her though, that she is not sick, but that she is WORRIED and that can make you feel sick.

Haribosmum · 10/05/2007 19:47

Noonar - I don't know what to suggest really. I know from my experience that there is nothing anyone could of done to stop me feeling like this. Perhaps she fears the loss of control that comes with vomiting? All I can think of is keep reassuring her without drawing too much attention to her 'phobia'.

Califrau · 10/05/2007 19:47

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Original poster

excuseme · 10/05/2007 19:54

LOL califrau. I do think this phobia is very difficult for normal people to understand DH just says its dd or ds who is ill not you when they are ill

OP posts:

ArtichokeTagine · 10/05/2007 20:19

The fear of the loss of control during a bout of sickness it definitely behind a large part of my phobia. It is also a social thing. If I feel nauseaous in a public place it is 100% worse than if I am totally alone. Before my wedding day I could not look forward to the service as I kept worrying what I would do if I felt ill (in the end I was fine and had a fantastic day). If I start to feel sick I send DH to the spare room and make him promise not to come upstairs if I am sick. I also panic if I have no ensuite or obvious and private place to go in case the worse happens. Like all of you I have no idea what is behind my phobia.

I have had CBT and it helped alot. We did not do exposure therapy but my therapist did explain that erevytime I reacted with panic to exposure I strengthened the neural pathways through which my phobia runs. As mild exposure he made me hold some joke shop fake sick. He then encouraged me to supress my responses if I saw sick on the street and just walk on by. He reckoned this would help re programme my brain and weaken the panic response. If I see sick on teh pavement now I try and just look away rather than running into on coming traffic to escape... progress of sorts!

corblimeymadam · 10/05/2007 20:29

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becaroo · 10/05/2007 20:42

Califrau...can I ask a question?
how do you stop yourself from being sick?
When my ds had really nasty gastroenteritis a couple of years ago I knew I would get it TMI WARNING as he had been sick quite a few times on me and had diahorea running out of his nappy which of course I had to deal with. I really limited what I ate and yet I was still sick - even 18 hours after having just a sandwich!!
If ds gets a tummy bug I start to panic straight away and start to limit my food intake just in case.
Was wondering what you do to prevent sickness...
God, have just re-read this post and it sounds like the ramblings of a madwoman! Sorry!

becaroo · 10/05/2007 20:44

Artichoke...loss of control is definately part of the problem for me.
Almost like your body is conspiring against you....

Califrau · 10/05/2007 21:00

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ArtichokeTagine · 10/05/2007 21:06

That is how I got through 18 weeks of bad morning sickness. I clamped my jaw shut and breathed deeply. I would not even open my mouth to speak when it got bad. It worked but only for morning sickness and some bugs. Bad food poisining defeats me.

kels666 · 11/05/2007 13:40

I survived: 2 pregnancies, 2 births, food poisoning, being drunk, soft drugs, 60 ft waves in the North Sea, over eating (my favourite!!!).....
almost every vomit-inducing situation you could think of. BUT, sadly, even I succombed when it came to viral gastroentiritis. What joy that we have that to look forward to every winter

DumbledoresGirl · 11/05/2007 15:09

The worst bug my family ever caught (three children in succession vomiting, fourth child, with cast-iron stomach, felt sick for days, dh and I pole-axed by the worst diarrhoea I have ever known (and I have known diarrhoea!) and finally MIL had it both ends (she would - always has to get things worse than anyone else!) occurred at the end of August.

So I am afraid I don't dread the winter any more than I do the summer, or should I say, the summer does not provide me with any sense of respite: all year round is a risk in my book.

becaroo · 11/05/2007 15:46

DG, we had that bug in september...we each got it on 3 consecutive nights...what a joy!

Ds only had vomiting, I had dry retching and diahorrea but my poor dh has the works, he was so ill I was really worried about him.

I have always really envied those (like my dh and sister) who can be violently ill and then go and eat pizza afterwards. Ever since I was a little girl vomiting has always floored me for days, although to be fair neither I nor my sis and bro were sicky children.

One thing I have noticed in some of the posts is that quite often the emetophobe hasnt actually vomited in years - 20 or 30 years some cases.

Do any of you think that could partially be the problem.....i.e.we fear things that are not normal/unusual occurances in our lives. Maybe the difference between emetophobes and others is that they have simply been disensitised to vomiting??

Or, has anyone become an emetophobe after a bad experience with vomiting?? (Which buggers the preceeding theory up completely!)

Sorry for the long post, but it is such a relief to know I am not a complete freak or alone with this

DumbledoresGirl · 11/05/2007 15:57

Becaroo, just as an aside, when I said August, I did not mean last August, but August 2004.

But anyway...... to your other point, I wonder about whether we are emetophobes because we haven't had recent vomiting experience too. At least, as other people here have said, I don't think vomiting now would help very much, but I wonder if it would have helped to have vomited more in the formative years. I was not a frequent vomiter as a child but when I did, it used to upset me in a way I assume is quite common for children, eg I would cry. The last time I vomited as a child I was nine and I remember I did not cry (maybe because I was beginning to grow up) and I remember proudly pointing out to my mother that I had just vomited without crying. Perhaps if I had vomited again a few months later, I would have been fine. And if I had continued vomiting regularly afterwards (oh god this is making me feel ill thinking about it!) I would have outgrown my phobia.

But I was not ill again. In fact, although I have been sick 3 times in my early 20s (once eating mussels - never again! - and twice through over eating rich food ) I don't really count those occasions as they were quite minor. So I have not been sick with a bug since I was 9 and I am now 42! And yes, I do wonder if more frequent vomiting as a child might have put a stop to my phobia, but there is bound to be someone who will come along next and tell you it didn't in their case!

becaroo · 11/05/2007 16:12

I have a friend who is on VERY strong meds due to COPD and she vomits every day, more than once, sometimes uncontrollably BUT was always a sickly child so although it weakens her dreadfully she doesnt seem to get that worked up about it.
She is amazing.
Sometimes I get so tempted just to stick my fingers down my throat and get it over with...that awful feeling of "when will it happnen again?"
BUT than I worry that that would be classed as an eating disorder of some kind...

DumbledoresGirl · 11/05/2007 18:34

Ooh no, I have no desire to do that! Actually, it doesn't prey on my mind, when I will next be sick. My problem is I can't get through a day without wondering when my children will next be ill.

BTW, what does COPD stand for? Your poor friend. Phobic or not, that sounds awful.

becaroo · 11/05/2007 19:13

COPD - chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

She is only 30. Have nearly lost her several times.

It really makes me ashamed about my phobia when I see what she goes through and she still has a smile on her face!

I was dreading my ds starting pre-school last september because of bugs, and my god, he has caught just about everyone of them!

My biggest worry is somehow passing my phobia onto him.....not sure what I can do about that...

happybiggirl · 11/05/2007 19:15

Message withdrawn

expatinengland · 18/05/2007 12:24

OMG..I didn't know there was a name for this...I'm 42 and people can't understand how I act the way I act regarding the 'v' word...can't even say it

I've always gone home early from bars, and leave immediately if someone is getting really drunk. Not bragging, and please don't think this, but was almost a straight-A student..did even better at university because I couldn't party hard with others in public places...I can party myself, but know when to say when...don't want to get sick

My dad was much older (63 when I was born) and he used to have a digestion problem..I can't say anymore, and I think I would freak when he was ill because I thought he was dying or something..he lived well into his 90s)

I went off the BC pill at 39 and got pregnant immediately, but never thought I'd be able to have a child because of the morning sickness (I never had any)or the fact that I'd have to deal with 'sick'

BTW, cat and dog sick has never bothered me at all.

thanks ladies for making me feel like a normal person...and not a freak...my nephew used to fake being sick because he knew it bothered me, and I knocked him down so hard once for doing this he got a bump on his head..he was about 7 and never did it again..

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