Emetophobia

[Cheesywholemealbread]

Can someone please give me some words of wisdom.

I am dreading the thought of my LO picking up the sickness bug when he goes to nursery/school. I have been obsessing over this for the past 4 months NON STOP.

My husband tells me that I deal with his sick already and it’s no different but I completely disagree because the smell and look is completely different.

I have seen a very high profile Hypnotherapist to try and ‘cure’ my fear but that did absolutely nothing.
My mum (and everyone around me) has said that ‘you don’t think about it and just get on with it because it’s different when it’s your own’.

I’m thinking about seeing a Therapist to help me but wondered if anyone is experiencing the same?

I'm sorry, I know this feeling only too well. Also how unhelpful comments like your mum's are. It's not about finding sick disgusting it's so much worse than that.

I think definitely pursue every therapy avenue you can to solve the root of the issue.

CBT helped me somewhat (hypnotherapy didn't) but the most useful has been exposure therapy. After a couple of sickness bugs I don't feel anywhere near as awful as I used to at the thought of them.

I also realised the all consuming worrying and trying to prevent it is actually much worse and more exhausting than actually dealing with a sickness bug (in our case, just twice in 7 years). Imagine all the time wasted worrying about them just for them to affect 2 or 3 days in 7 years.

I'm mostly fine with them now, I can hear about a sickness bug going round school and not nearly faint from my heart pounding out my chest and barely being able to breathe due to panic. I still hate being sick myself but it passes so quickly.

So yes go for therapy so you feel prepared and hopefully it improves for you like it did for me.

I have emet as well and my children are now eleven and nearly eight. I still fret about sickness but have found when they are sick I just get on with it (I'm a single mum so have no choice). It comes easier than you think xx

I have Emetophobia so I completely understand how you feel. With me, my main fear is catching a sickness bug myself from one of my children but I also really struggle to deal with it when they get sick. DS (4 years old) has been going to preschool for over a year now. He’s caught all sorts of viruses from there but never any stomach bugs, so it isn’t always guaranteed to happen! He often vomits when he has a temperature though which always makes me panic but in the moment I deal with it much better than I anticipate that I will. I agree with PP, although it sounds scary exposure therapy is the most effective in helping you with this. I’ve also completed course called “cure your Emetophobia and Thrive” which wasn’t that effective in helping me but it’s helped many others.

i know this thread is a bit old, but I searched for emetophobia today and it came up! I was just curious to know who the hypnotherapists were that you guys tried? I paid a lot of money last year to someone that supposedly specialises in emetophobia (D S initials) but it really didn’t have much effect on my anxiety… my little one was sick today at lunchtime so feeling anxious at the moment!

I used to have emetophobia and have to say I really really do understand where you are coming from. Everytime I heard someone throw up real or on TV my heart would be pounding in my ears and I would run in fear. I'm afraid to tell you that my fear was only resolved through exposure therapy and not the voluntary therapeutic kind. My pregnancy caused me to have severe hyperemesis gravidarum. I'm sure you're familiar with it because ff you were anything like me you googled it before or during pregnancy fearing you would get it. 😅

Then my child was born and got a severe vomiting sickness. Vomiting no longer bothers me anymore. But it's not fun. I was already some what over my fears because of the excessive pregnancy vomiting but I think my kid being so sick put me into full remission.

I wish I had advice. This is one hell of a phobia and no one ever seems to take it seriously unless they've been through it before.

I had a serious illness as a kid and there was a lot of violent sickness involved which is why I was so scared of it. I thought that all vomiting was painful, violent and scary. My pregnancy helped me overcome my fear because I realized my childhood vomiting wasn't really normal and vomiting on TV is usually exaggerated in both severity and grossness.

Most vomiting is pretty mild, painless and maybe a little gross. But mostly it's just uncomfortable.

I don't know if that helps because you might fear it for a totally different reason than myself. But I hope it gives you some sort of comfort that you aren't alone in your struggle. 😅

@PumpkinspiceLeggongs I meant to reply to your comment ages ago. I just replied to another emetophobia thread and it reminded me :)

Just want to say thank you for your post. It is always reassuring to have a reminder that vomiting isn't terrifying, it's uncomfortable and a bit gross - but not the devastating thing we fear it to be.

So sorry you went through HG.. yes I had definitely already googled this possibility! It sounds horrendous (and also horrible for your unwell child) but I'm glad it was able to give you some perspective on the whole vomit thing. Hope you are doing well :)