Pregnant and emetophobic

[Charlotte1x]

Hi,

Found out I was pregnant yesterday. First reaction was feeling absolutely over the moon and I spent the day in a bit of a daze.

At the risk of sounding crazy, I have a very big fear of being sick. I haven’t been sick since I was 7 years old (20.5 years ago!). I don’t really know where the fear stemmed from, it must have been a bad experience as a child. I did an online course which helped me but by no means did it get me over the fear of being sick. I have IBS and acid reflux so these often make me feel nauseous and I get very panicky that I am going to be sick. I am on tablets ranitidine to control the acid, and a low dose of amitriptyline for the anxiety that the feeling sick and IBS symptoms were causing me. I have an appointment tomorrow with my doctor to discuss whether I can continue this medication now that I’m pregnant. I don’t think I have ever told a doctor about my fear because I find it quite embarrassing.

This afternoon the anxiety has started taking over me. I desperately want to be happy and enjoy this very exciting news, but my fear of being sick is getting in the way. I have been feeling slightly nauseous, I don’t fancy eating much and I feel very very tired. No sign of sickness yet but I’m only 4 weeks pregnant.

I am not a sicky person, I have never been sick from being hungover, not travel sick, when I’ve felt very sick in the past I have repeatedly dry retched but nothing comes up. Is it possible that I could have a sickness free pregnancy? Any advice will be greatly appreciated. I know how lucky I am and that the phobia is irrational but it’s something I am really suffering with.

Thanks xx

If it helps, I had terrible nausea right from 4 weeks up until about 12 weeks but never actually vomited once. So feeling nauseous doesn’t necessarily lead to vomiting.

A friend of mine is now 13 weeks and has had no sickness whatsoever (lucky girl!).

Totally possible you could not be sick

Equally you might find that if you are sick that it’s less fearsome than an actual illness. I’m emetephobic. Until my first pregnancy I was incredibly panicked at just feeling sick. First pregnancy I was sick occasionally until 12 weeks and just about coped. I think the more frequent nature of it happening made me get used to it. In labour I was sick with every contraction and it didn’t bother me at all beyond it being unpleasant. By my second pregnancy I could feel sick/be sick without fear. (However what it hasn’t cured is the fear of other people being sick so I still run a mile when my kids are ill)

You could ask for anti emetics but they’d not solve the labour thing if that happens to you. Although I think in labour you’re too busy to worry about it

What a tough fear to have. No experience other than to say I have had 24/7 nausea since about week 6/7 and still get it occasionally at 15 weeks but haven't actually vomited. So every chance you will not vomit, lots of people feel nauseated but don't vomit in pregnancy. Good luck and congratulations!

I've made it to 28 weeks so far and not been sick once! It's impossible to predict whether you will be sick or just nauseous (or neither!).

Most "morning sickness" is actually just feeling sick, but obviously not for everyone.

I find it amazing youve managed to avoid norovirus for 20years though!

I'm exactly the same! It petrifies me. But if it's any consolation, although I felt pretty rotten between weeks 5 and 11, I was never sick. Like you I went over 20 years without being sick once. Even when I had the norovirus it only tends to be the ahem other end. I think I'm just not a 'sicky' person, thank God, and if you've got through 20 years without throwing up there's an excellent chance you'll be fine! 😁 Lots of hugs to you, I know how scared you must be. I was wetting myself about labour heaves but my midwife says it's very unlikely with anti emetics. X

I haven't been sick in 20-odd years (other than alcohol-related!) and I haven't been sick in this pregnancy so far (I'm just over 10 weeks). I've felt nauseous but not to the extent where I ever felt like I would vomit, and that's fading now. If I'm ever ill in the tummy department, it comes out the other end. You might well be someone who isn't physically sick through your pregnancy, so try not to worry too much.

Emetophobes tend not to vomit in pregnancy (or at any other time unless literally on death's door) so am sure you will be fine.

I would advise you to re-visit your therapy or try another therapy as soon as you can though because there is no way you can avoid vomit in babies and children.

I'm emetophobic and managed to go through two pregnancies with minimal nausea and zero vomiting. Try not to worry too much, it'll be ok x.

Thank you so much everyone for your comments. You have no idea how much it’s helped me! X

Just wanted to add that amitryptaline is not compatible with pregnancy

@takenitall I know, I’ve got an appointment with my GP tomorrow to discuss this but was told not to stop taking it until my appointment x

Fellow emetephobe here! Just tell your doctor and ask him/her for cyclizine. I have these and swear by them, they stop the nausea too! Congratulations.

If it helps I was never sick once during pregnancy. It worried me and I was very pleased not to have to deal with it. I also worried about being sick during labour but that didn’t happen either so it’s totslly possible! I’m not a sicky person either so maybe there’s something in that

Sounds good yes talk to them as one of the worst things you can do is rush off a med
I second cyclisine for nausea I took it when I was pregnant and I ended up hospitalised as I couldn't keep any liquids even
I've taken amytryptaline and I took it for over a year
I didn't sleep well when I came off it so talk to gp about what to do on that
Also just to say that it's very old school as an anti anxiety drug and is now normally used for pain
Can you try another medication for anxiety?
I just wanted to say well done on being so brave and discussing your concerns openly and honestly xxx

Thanks @takenitall I’m only on 10mg so it’s the lowest dose but yes it’s a big worry coming off meds. The reason it was prescribed to me was due to pain from IBS and the anxiety that it was causing me (which was making me feel more sick!) so a combo of everything really. Think I just need to be honest with the doctor and say how scared I am about the sickness and see what they can suggest xx

If it helps, your IBS symptoms should lessen or even go away during pregnancy after the first trimester.

@FuckMyUterus - that does help, thank you! And it would be amazing if it did. It hasn’t been as severe these past few months, not sure if it’s the medication or if it’s just been a good patch. I was scared pregnancy would bring it back x

I had awful nausea, no appetite and was exhausted until about 15 weeks but I never vomit once.
You must make sure you try to eat through the nausea though, for baby's sake x

"I am not a sicky person, I have never been sick from being hungover, not travel sick, when I’ve felt very sick in the past I have repeatedly dry retched but nothing comes up. Is it possible that I could have a sickness free pregnancy?"

I had zero sickness in pregnancy. I read somewhere that women who weren't prone to travel sickness or vomiting in circumstances that most would (like drinking too much) were less likely to get morning sickness.

Unfortunately I find the opposite with my IBS, it getsuchuch worse in pregnancy!

I've got three kids, lots of nausea during early pregnancy but I did not actually vomit once. Fingers crossed you're the same

2 pregnancies and haven't been sick once - also not a sicky person, can count on one hand the amount of times I've been sick in the last 20 years - not sure if this has any bearing on how you are. Fingers crossed the same happens for you.

I was sick for one night at around 25 weeks and I suspect that was due to me drinking too many fizzy drinks that night! I hadn’t been sick in over 10 years before that. I was nauseous during early pregnancy but never got to the point of actually throwing up. I just don’t, no matter how unwell I feel, so it was a shock when I did but I coped far better than expected. Fingers crossed you will be fine.

Hi! I'm a lurker but registered to MN because I had to reply to this and can relate to you so well. I've also been emetophobic for 20+ years and the last time I was sick was around 10 years old. I'm currently working on recovery using the Thrive Program by Rob Kelly (not a advert, after years of CBT, EMDR & exposure therapy, it's genuinely the only program that comes remotely close to helping with emetophobia). It helped a lot but there is a big difference between not being scared of "one bout of food poisoning" vs the thought of unpredictable and non-stop nausea/vomiting lasting months that comes with pregnancy.

I'm currently 16weeks pregnant and finally gotten over morning sickness so I want to share some of my experiences/tips which I hope will help!

1. Like many emets, I was never actually sick. However there were moments when I felt so queasy that I almost wished it would happen just so I could feel better/go to sleep. My MS was actually worst in weeks 5-7 and slowly improved from weeks 8-12. This is different to most women who claim it peaks in week 10, leaving you dreading each passing week. I stayed home for 2 weeks in 5-7 eating my MS foods (listed below), but from week 8 I was able to start working and eating normal foods again.

2. Beginning from week 6 I started taking 25mg Phenargan 2x day and 20mg Vitamin B6 3x a day. I did try Unisom (doxylamine succinate) and B6 for a few days but found it wasn't as effective. Phenargan is an anti-histamine with anti-emetic & sedative properties that's one of the "safer" options in pregnancy. I got mine from an online pharmacy. I know some women will not approve of self medicating but I know that my anxiety levels can spike so badly that keeping it in control is much better for the baby than not taking anything. Short of Phenargan, the only thing that works would be Xanax which is definitely not safe for pregnancy (although I have read accounts of doctors approving emetophobes to continue Xanax throughout pregnancy because that's how potentially harmful uncontrolled panic can be).

3. Back in 2016 I had a miscarriage at 7 weeks, discovered at 10 weeks. I was "unprepared" for that pregnancy and went into it hoping that I'd be one of the lucky ones who didn't get any MS. Unfortunately my MS and emetophobia ended up being 10x worse than it was this pregnancy. Back then, I managed to avoid being sick through sheer willpower but spent the most miserable 3 weeks of my life in perpetual panic attacks and not being able to leave the house. Looking back, I sometimes suspect that my mental state may actually have contributed to the miscarriage. It wasn't just "stress", my terror and panic were completely off the charts and I literally couldn't eat or sleep more than 3 hours a night. All that cortisol & stress hormones could not have been healthy in early pregnancy so I vowed that when I became pregnant again, I would take supplements/precautions so I could have some semblance of control over the phobia.

4. So fast forward to this pregnancy, I found that morning sickness is actually quite different to nausea from food poisoning. One of the symptoms is that you actually feel extremely hungry, to the point where you get slight stomach pains and need to eat something to make it go away. In a weird way I found that reassuring since as an emet you obviously learn to associate hunger with calm. However you should never wait until you get super hungry or "enjoy" the hunger as you normally do with emetophobia because it can tip over into nausea extremely quickly. As soon as you feel hunger pangs, eat something small to fill your stomach.

5. Foods that I tolerated quite well were long-life soy milk puddings, strawberry yogurt, rice cakes, salty crisps, tortilla chips with cream cheese, plain chicken breast with rice, toast, sweetcorn and bananas. Another tip is to FOLLOW YOUR CRAVINGS. The weird thing about morning sickness (again different from "normal nausea" that emets are scared of) is that no matter how queasy you feel, there are actually 1-2 foods at any time that you can and really want to eat. So whatever those are, be sure to have those on hand, get someone to buy them for you and stock up enough to last for days. I had phases of only eating oranges, toasted cheese sandwiches or mini pizzas which were the only things which didn't make my feel queasy. On the contrary, I really enjoyed them while eating!

6. I also had a lot of bloating which made the nausea feel worse, or maybe it was a symptom in itself. Unsweetened fennel tea helped a lot...each time I felt bloaty I would make a cup of tea and drink that while eating some potato crisps if I could manage (one of the few foods that was filling and not nausea-inducing for me).

7. For acute nausea, I used chewable ginger sweets (check on Amazon, there are some designed for nausea, rather than just candy), anti-bloating tabs (eg Rennie deflatine), Preggie Pops, Airwaves gum and sipping ginger ale. Preggie Pops last the longest however they gave me a toothache if I took more than a few in a day! I also wore sea bands a lot, especially when sleeping. My last resort was metoclopramide which was prescribed to me when I had my miscarriage (never ended using it back then). However I only took this 2 times in total during the entire pregnancy.

8. A good tip is to carry small packets of crisps, rice crackers, cereal bars and water with you all the time. A lot of pregnancy nausea is caused by blood sugar drips rather than hormones, and that's something you can easily fix yourself. If I was going to be out for a whole day, I made sure I had lots of snacks and ate at regular intervals so I never got too hungry/lightheaded. A full-sugar Coke also helps a lot to give you an immediate boost of sugar and caffeine. Also keep an eye on the weather. Hot muggy days tend to be tough on the circulatory system so it can easily make you feel dizzy & sick. If that happens, lie down in a cool place and keep your legs elevated which should make you feel better very quickly.

9. During the time when my MS was worst, I actually had no problems with constipation despite eating relatively little every day. I think maybe my body "transforms" nausea into bowel moments so I would get a bit queasy and then have to go to the loo which usually made me feel better. However sometime around week 8, pregnancy constipation kicks in so be sure to add fibre to your diet. The first week I wasn't able to adjust my diet in time, and constipation combined with lingering MS can make you feel pretty miserable! I now eat Wheatabix Minis every day which seems quite effective.

10. Another thing that really seemed to help with MS was lots of sleep. I'm self-employed so I was lucky in being able to regulate my working hours. I slept in as long as I can during the early weeks and would wake up feeling very refreshed. On days where I had to get up early and didn't get enough sleep (eg for dr appointments, our cleaning lady coming in or when we attended weddings), I felt much queasier the entire day.

11. Due to progesterone, your digestive system slows to 40% during pregnancy. Knowing that fact helped a lot with my anxiety over weird symptoms like bloating and heartburn. Under normal circumstances the symptoms might make me panic but knowing that there was a reason behind it made it easier to tolerate the symptoms until they passed.

12. Lots of women swear by the "eat crackers in bed before you get up" which I was skeptical of when I read it but it actually really helps. This is basically to keep those hunger pangs away which can easily lead to nausea, especially if you've been sleeping and your stomach is empty. In my case, I found crackers too dry to swallow, so I'd keep a small pot of pudding or yogurt beside the bed which goes down more easily and fills you up. Depending on my cravings, I also had a phase of making ham or jam sandwiches before bed, leaving them on my nightstand and eating them whenever I woke up in the early hours to get rid of that hunger feeling.

13. And finally, I found that using the Thrive journal (as part of Rob Kelly's Emetophobia program) really helped a lot in managing fearful thoughts. In my last pregnancy, I literally wasn't able to leave the house because I was so terrified of feeling sick or panicking in public. This time round, I actually managed to resume my daily life between weeks 8-15, despite still having lingering morning sickness. We attended 2 weddings during that time which I normally find tiring and stressful even when not pregnant! Both times also involved long drives and staying overnight elsewhere which I would have really struggled to cope with if I didn't have the journal to sort out my thoughts.

Hope this was useful and wish you a wonderful pregnancy!! Once you get you see your tiny baby wriggling around on screen it makes every tiny bit of the journey worth it