I had emetephobia for years. I only managed to get rid of it through lots of therapy and hypnotherapy. When I’m tired or anxious it still pops up now and again.
It was horrendous. Totally affected my life to the point that I couldn’t get on public transport in case someone was sick or I was sick. If I ever felt even the tiniest bit sick, or if someone talked about feeling sick, then I would take days off work and not leave the house in case I caught something. I lost jobs because of it. I’d avoid going out to pubs and clubs in case I saw someone drunk and vomiting in the street. I avoided restaurants in case I got food poisoning. I restricted my diet severely to ‘safe foods’. Honestly, I was very mentally unwell with it
Ladymuckx, there is no way I would have been able to even be in the building where you worked - let alone clean up vomit, albeit gagging while I was doing it.
It’s so much more than just not liking sick or being sick. It’s a debilitating phobia. When it’s extreme, it has a limiting effect on your quality of life - like agoraphobia or something. It took years of hard work for me to kick it and it was a struggle at times. Budget Clemmie probably only just heard of the word and has decided it’s another bandwagon for her to jump on: ‘I’m emetephobic!’, ‘I have anxiety!’, ‘I was nearly bankrupt!’, ‘someone stole £1,000s worth jewellery from me!’, ‘I have periods so bad I need to cancel everything!’, ‘I’m sober!’, ‘I’m dyslexic!’
She’s almost run out of ways to be a hot mess.