Phobia of Being Sick - Got Worse Today

[mumtochloe]

CM told me as she was collecting DD that her and whole family all have had a horrid sickness bug at weekend as have a couple of minded kids. I froze and said that I would keep DD at home, then realised I couldn't as work would make my life hell plus I have not enough holiday left anyway.

Feel scared and really anxious now - just know we are all going to get it and I can't handle it

Is it a fear of YOU being sick, or anyone?

Go to boots asap and buy NUX VOM in the homeopathic section (30c if possible, rather than 6c - it will say on the side of the tube). This is great for stopping general queasiness.

Have you got any of that dettol aerosol spray? If not, get some of that - it just sprays a light mist over everything (toilet seat, chairs etc) and kills 99% of germs.

The antibacterial hand lotion that rubs in a disappears is great too - they sell it in tesco.

That tackles the prevention bit.

The actual sickness... my only advice is to eat smooth food between now and the bug coming. I have a fear of being sick myself, and have found that it is easier if it is at least smooth.

Buy ice lollies - the freeze your own tube kind are about best. They are easier for you to get fluids into you as you will be scared to drink incase the fluid sets of sickness again.

Good luck.

I know the fear so so well.

xxxx

Flamesparrow - thanks so much for your quick response.

To be honest - selfishly its me. It terrifies me and I end up shaking and crying hysterically if I am sick. I do have some anti sickness medication from GP but am running low and could only get an appointment for next Tues. I am ok if DD is sick as she is always fine - it doesn't seem to bother her at all - but I cannot go near her unless I know it is not catchy.

Do you know what the incubation period could be? They all had it this weekend and DD didn't despite being with all those who did all last week, and CM's husband didn't have it at all. When will I be able to feel safe again?

Are you a sick phobic too then? How do you cope with it?

Hi there mumtochloe. Remember me? The queen of vomit phobia. Ok try to think positively. It is highly unlikely that dd will catch anything and even less so that you will. You are more scared of it happening to you aren't you?Unlike me, who is more scared of it happening to the children. If you CM's family were ill at the weekend, they have hopefully passed the bug out of their system. Also, are you sure it is a bug? If the whole family got it, maybe they had food poisoning? Try to keep calm because if you panic, you will feeel sick anyway. I am pretty much always around MN these days. I will keep an eye out for you posts.

The usual incubation period is about 48 hours max, but I have to say, the longest my children have gone between passing a bug to each other was 3 days. But if your dd was with them on Friday, I would guess you only have to get through today to feel more secure.

I Remember you Lonely Mum! Thanks for your reply Hon. How are you coping lately?

I hate this blasted phobia! I haven;t had a call from the CM yet re DD so please keep all your fingers and toes crossed for me. Hate feeling panicky like this

I am OK at the moment mumtochloe but only because dh is home every night at the moment (probably not for any longer than this week though) and we have had no tummy bugs lately. It won't help you, I know, but my immediate reaction on reading your post was to think if I was in that situation, hopefully a po]hone call would mean that my child had already been sick and therefore I would be spared the worst of it.

Yes I agree that I hate being enslaved by this phobia. did you see my thread last week? I went to a mental health unit thingy and spoke to someone about my phobia but she said she was unable to help me (I think she was a counsellor and would only have been able to help with any depression I might have had, but she decided (rightly) that I was not depressed). She id give me some phone numbers though of phobia charities and self help groups. If you think it would help, I could let you have them? Where in the country are you?

We gather like moths to the flame don't we Hausfrau?

Thanks for this Lonelymum. Think I know of them already. No Panic is one of them I think - is this right? Have you contacted them yet? Have they been able to help you?

I am currently on a 2 year waiting list at least to see a psychologist for this. Maybe they can help eh!

Still no phone call yet

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I didn't realise that there were so many people with the problem... people always look at me like I'm insane if I say I'm terrified of being sick!!!

Trying to make people understand that I didn't want to drink on my hen night because I couldn't handle the idea of a hangover caused problems.

How did all yours come about? Mine is the result of 9 months hyperemesis with DD

The nux vom works wonders at stopping the basic queasiness... that is what starts to send me into panics normally, so if that is gone, then I can carry on as normal for a while.

Flamesparrow, yes you join a reasonable size group gleaned from just Mumsnet! My phobia has been with me all my life (well, ever since I can remember) which, according to the CPN I saw last week, makes it even harder to be treated than all phobias are already - Lovely!

Aimsmum - your link is here . Sorry your pc is broken. I wondered where you were last week when I was posting on this topic!

Mumtochloe - hope all is still well for you. I must admit, I had a similar moment today: just dropped ds2 off at Beavers and the leader there happily informed me that her dd has been throwing up all day! Your blood runs cold doesn't it?

Yes one of the charities is called No Panic. The details (for Aimsmum and anyone else who wants them) are as follows:
Freephone Help-line: 0808 808 0545
Office Number: 01952 590005
email: [email protected]
Website: www.no-panic.co.uk

The other charity is called Triumph Over Phobia (TOP UK) and its number is 01125 330353 and its website is www.triumphoverphobia.com. But, it is based in Bath and most of its local groups are in the south west. There are a few elsewhere eg York, Bradford, Birmingham, Liverpool etc, but none I could see in Scotland Aimsmum - sorry.

No, I haven't contacted them yet! I know I should, but I need time to build up the courage again. I might peek at the websites now that I have noted they have them. I gather you have some experience of No Panic Mumtochloe. Care to let us know what you think of them?

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Hello Everyone

All is ok so far. Am just hoping she did not pick it up yesterday from toilet, cutlery etc so will probably not feel completely safe for 48 hours from now.

LM - have heard No Panic are really good but have no actual experience of them I'm afraid. Do get up the courage if you can but if not we will be your support group here instead!

FS - sorry to be ignorant - what is hyperemesis? How is your DD now?

Hi Aimsmum - still love ya for the Stemetil advice - they have already saved me from a nasty bug a few months ago and from a few panicky moments too!

xx

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Amazing thing happened to me last night. No! I am not miraculously cured (!) but I looked up the TOP UK website only to discover tht the charity was founded in 1987 by a woman who was, at that very time, my landlady!!!! How coincidental is that?!

Still not phoned up though!

Message withdrawn

Really wierd isn't it?

How spooky! Get back in touch with her - providing you got on that is. Does she still live near you?

I think she would be dead by now. No disrespect intended, but she was pretty old then and it was nearly 20 years ago.

It isn't so much that she would still live near me, rather that dh and I have recently moved to a town close to where I lived 20 years ago. Also, I hasten to add, she didn't have our phobia, but a fear of flying which she managed to overcome and so decided to set up this charity to help other phobics.

Mumtocholoe - Not ignorant at all - its the kind of thing you don't know about til you have it . Hyperemesis is very severe morning sickness.... for me it started at about 10 weeks, and lasted until about 7 months... stopped for a month or so when I realised that I was allergic to milk during the pregnancy, but then started again for the last month because I was so huge.

Hello People

Thats a shame LM. Wouldnt it be nice to meeet someone in real life who suffers the same us us. I've never met anyone like me - has anyone else?

FS that sounds horrendous. Not surprised you have this phobia now. Was DD your first?

Yup... very very scared of getting pregnant again.

DH wants 3 kids, but I've told him that if it happens again with the next one, that we're stopping at 2!!! Unfortunately I think it will... I react very strongly to changes in my hormones and feel sick with it, so I am assuming that that is what caused my sickness.

I've never met anyone like it in rl either...

I did meet someone with it once a long time ago and yes it was very helpful to meet someone and be able to talk to them about it. This was when I was 18 and she was 60 - we worked together and despite the huge age difference, got on really well. She had one son (obviously grown up at this point!) and I remember asking her how she coped with him when he was ill as a child. I remember she said she couldn't be anywhere near him and her dh always looked after him, even taking time off work if necessary. Her story made me realise there was a way I would be able to have kids. Unfortunately though, although my dh deals with the children if he is around, he is very career orientated and wouldn't just take time off to look after them.

Anyway, that lovely lady has died now but yes she was an inspiration to me, and the first (and only) adult I have met who felt exactly as I do.

Flamesparrow, what an awful situation you are in! I was lucky in feeling no sickness at all. But I am sure that just because you suffered hyperemesis once, you won't necessarily suffer it again. Could you discuss it with your GP?