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Original poster

The Phobics Support Group - Bring Your Neuroses Here!

183 replies

ItllBeLonelymumThisChristmas · 03/12/2004 12:35

Hello phobics everywhere! This thread is a continuation of the thread entitled Does anyone have a debilitating phobia? in case anyone is interested and wants to read up from the beginning.

I have "come out" on Mumsnet and admitted to a phobia of being sick and seeing people being sick and so have quite a few other people! I have been to my GP, thanks to the advice of Mumsnetters and am now awaiting therapy. However, I think a lot of us are getting some light therapy right here, just talking about our fears and knowing we are not alone. Plaes e feel free to join in if you want to, and I hope all the old-timers find their way here.

OP posts:
AimsmumTheRedNoseReindeer · 03/12/2004 12:53

Hi lonelymum (loving the christmas name by the way, am not sure about mine, but was struggling with ideas). Good idea in starting this I do agree that talking about or fears and knowing that others share them is helping in some way.

Hope everyone is OK today. I'm off out for a bit (to pay bills) first time DD has been out since her op and she is hating me for making her wear a hat with ear flaps.

Hope to catch up with you all later. xx

Carla · 03/12/2004 12:58

Wow LM!!!! That's fantastic news. Well done, and a big BIG BIG hug! Love ya!

SantaClausfrau · 03/12/2004 13:06

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Original poster
ItllBeLonelymumThisChristmas · 03/12/2004 13:17

Yes I think my brother would be supportive as he has a bit of a thing about the same thing I think (always checks on the children's health before visiting!). My sister wouldn't be though - she is rather hard I think and definitely doesn't have the same problem as me.
My parents are both doctors and definitely don't understand. They have often told me to get used to the children being sick because it is part of being a parent. But, since I have realised this is a recognisable phobia and there are treatments available, I wonder if I could make them see my problem differently. I mean, no-one would tell someone with claustrophobia to pull themselves together and get into the lift, would they? Why can't we have the same understanding?

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prefernot · 03/12/2004 13:39

Actually LM people are remarkably unsupportive about other people's phobias. And even when they are supportive they can't really see how BAD it can be for the sufferer. It's like I can't deep down see how someone could genuinly become housebound because of a fear of bird's wings and yet hundreds of thousands of people are. I think with emetophobia it probably gets less sympathy because you always get those responses that go something like 'oh yes, I hate being sick too, everyone does but it's just a fact of life.'

prefernot · 03/12/2004 13:41

LM, it would be strange if your db had the same phobia! Would it then class as genetic or to do with upbringing?! My db doesn't have it at all. I remember going for a meal with him in the US and he said he felt a bit ill and went to the bathroom, came back and said he'd been feeling a bit sick, thrown up and now felt better and even managed to eat a bit more of his meal ...

AGH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I also remember dp once being very sick in the morning and then cooking himself a massive lunch. I, meanwhile, was cowering in a different room, treating him as though he had the plague. And then I didn't dare eat for 2 days in case it was a bug and I'd get it.

Original poster
ItllBeLonelymumThisChristmas · 03/12/2004 13:42

Yes, agree with that totally. I wish my phobia was of something pleasant and then maybe I could come out about it in real life. Not had much luck thinking of a Christmas name for you, BTW.

OP posts:
Original poster
ItllBeLonelymumThisChristmas · 03/12/2004 13:46

Don't know that db has a phobia exactly as he goes to all sorts of far flung countries, eats from dubious food outlets etc, and has loads of experiences of throwing up in extreme places (in the jungle, airport, out in the country, etc. He doesn't like throwing up clearly, but he doesn't avoid the things that make him sick, although I think he has become more cautious recently.

I can't imagine just being sick and then getting on with what I was doing. I would be like you, not eating for days afterwards.

OP posts:
noangel · 03/12/2004 13:49

I've got a bird phobia and its a nightmare at the moment as I'm trying to get the garden tidy for winter and this sweet little robin always flies down. He gets really close, and totally freaks me out! He's obviously not scared of me - and I'm bigger. I know it sounds funny but its not at the time!

Original poster
ItllBeLonelymumThisChristmas · 03/12/2004 13:50

Not being flippant here noangel, but have you considered a getting a cat? That would keep the birds away?

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noangel · 03/12/2004 14:15

Well you see, I feed the birds and I like to watch them - from indoors. Its just when they come close. I care about birds and conservation - I'm just terrified of them as well. Doesn't make sense.

prefernot · 03/12/2004 14:26

noangel, phobias don't make sense! You can think that little robin's gorgeous but can't go near him. For me with a vomit phobia I would do anything for my dd but I avoid her horribly if she's even vaguely got a hint of a tummy bug.

Sigh ...

Prefernoel?

I'm seriously thinking of changing my name altogether I'm bored of this one ...

Original poster
ItllBeLonelymumThisChristmas · 03/12/2004 14:38

Where did it originate Prefernot? The name I mean.

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SantaClausfrau · 03/12/2004 14:48

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

SantaClausfrau · 03/12/2004 14:48

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Original poster
ItllBeLonelymumThisChristmas · 03/12/2004 14:54

What trick psychology do you use Hausfrau?

I also wanted to add before going to get my tribe from school, that I have loads of things I am scared of or dislike (dogs being one, also am quite claustrophobic although I can do lifts etc) but the emetophobia surpasses all known boundaries with me.

OP posts:
noangel · 03/12/2004 14:59

I can't do lifts on my own - ok with someone else so don't think,in my case, that can be a phobia. Just a reasoned fear. I could get stuck. But a robin... FGS!

SantaClausfrau · 03/12/2004 15:04

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

missyblue · 03/12/2004 15:07

SantaClausfrau, that sounds like a great technique!

I am / was prefernot by the way. LM, the name originated from a story 'Bartleby'.

The new name is because my surname is Blue. Do you think it's better?

Sorry I'm being so unphobic in my discussions today.

noangel · 03/12/2004 15:07

Prefernot - Iprefereaster?

missyblue · 03/12/2004 15:29

prefernochristmas?

Socci · 03/12/2004 15:58

Message withdrawn

dogwalkinginawinterwonderland · 03/12/2004 16:55

But Socci think of all the flies we'd have around then!

winterwombaland · 03/12/2004 17:28

Hello everyone, nice to see you all here!
I've been chatting to my dm today and we think we have found the root of my phobia. My db suffered with bronchitis when he was much younger and i have very vivid memories of him coughing so much that in the end he's vomit. We used to share a room when we were little and i'd be laying in bed listening to him cough and obviously just waiting for him to be sick in the bed next to me!
He also suffered terribly with car sickness and whenever we had to do a car journey, i'd beg my parents to leave me at home. I never told them why and course, was always made to go...and 9 times out of 10, would be sitting in the back of the car with my db, sitting as far away from him as humanly possible, waiting for him to get sick!
It's only after opening up on here about my phobia, that i've given it thought as to why i feel like this... but as a child i must have been traumatised by my not so db!!!

colditzcolditzcold · 03/12/2004 17:42

I have a phobia of injections. When I tell people this, they say things like "It doesn't hurt".

I KNOW it doesn't hurt, I don't live in a box, I don't have a phobia of pain, I have a phobia of injections. That's why anaethstetic cream doesn't help. I don't care about the pain, I care about the needle!

Freud would probably have had a field day with me. It's the thought of something foreign piercing my skin and pupming something cold into my bloodstream. Ugh!