Emetophobia - any fellow sufferers? What do you do to cope?

[Mummaabc]

I’m not sure but make sure you aren’t projecting it onto them or making them feel like they can’t be ill.

Spoiler

Theres nothing worse than feeling like you can’t be sick because other people don’t like it. I was really ill after my Covid jab so I stayed with family but I needed to be sick all night. I couldn’t because of someone’s else’s fear and I felt awful all night. Had I been able to get it out I would have felt better. In the end I had to pop home to do it.

Oh, I am doing everything I can to not project the fear onto my kids. I don't even talk about it with my family within her ear shot. I would hate for her to grow up feeling like I do. I was surprised at myself for being so calm about it while it was happening and was proud that I could, my mothering instinct took over thankfully!

@Mummaabc Definitely speak to your GP and see what can be done! I don't know if anti-emetics can be prescribed for phobias, but you may be able to get something to help with the anxiety if you think that might be good for you. Also take heart in how well you coped when your daughter was ill - that's a sign that you do have it in you to handle this!

@PollyPerks Thank you! I was surprised like I say, but pleased I could handle it. I hope I can be as confident every time, then have a little anxious cry when she's gone to bed! I think I will have a chat with my GP.

 

[PennyPop]

I totally get the toilet thing!! When I was a youngster still living at home, if someone went to the loo in the middle of the night I used to panic and lay there waiting to see how long they were and if they were being unwell. It’s draining

Oh my goodness, that is exactly what my life was like at home! And even now, if my husband gets up in the middle of the night for the loo I'm like what's wrong?? Are you OK??

 

[Ellsbells20]

Thank

Hi! In Canada you can go to a psychologist/psychiatrist without a GP's note. In fact I don't even think that therapy is covered by public insurance. So yes it was paid out of pocket.
Check with your public insurance if you are in another country to see if it's covered.

I recognize former me in all these behaviors... It's exhausting right?

If you have a GP that you like/trust don't be scared to talk to them about it. They might have resources you can check out. You are not wasting their time, it's their job. And if they think that, fuck them! They won't tell you anyway so you'll never know!

Look online for some resources. You might find a therapist near you that way. Don't be scared to call some therapist and ask if they deal with this kind of phobia.
ex:

How to Find a Psychiatrist and Other Therapists

Here’s how to find a psychiatrist based on your needs and situation — such as budget, insurance, concerns, and child and family therapy needs.

www.healthline.com

How to Find a Psychiatrist Near Me | Talkspace

Know you need a psychiatrist's help, but not sure where to start? You're not alone. Our guide will assist you in finding the right match.

www.talkspace.com

Hope I could help. Don't hesitate to ask me more questions!

Thank you so much for being so kind in your response. I’m based in the UK sadly so different here.
Completely agree with the exhaustion, I just want a “normal diet” and “normal life” I won’t eat certain foods because I think they’ll make me sick and I won’t go on nights out incase I’m sick or someone around me is too drunk they don’t go to the toilet.

 

[Cucumber and eggs]

My 14 year old daughter has this. Due to this she has safe foods and restricted diet. She checks the dates of foods constantly and checks everything is cooked through. Some words trigger her and cause her to have panic attacks. My uncle also had it and lost a lot of weight and became very restrictive with his diet also.

 

[RachRN86]

Well I'm living my worst nightmare. My daughter has just been ill in her bed and I am home alone. My husband is about to leave Heathrow which is 1/2 hours away from us as he has just flown in from his Scotland office. The panic is well and truly setting in. Typically I have my first proper hypno session tomorrow! Trying to breathe through it.

You've got this. Clean everything as best you can. Go outside for a minute and take some deep breaths. How is she now? Take it 5 minutes at a time until your husband is home. Sending strength and love

 

[PennyPop]

I just had the most relieving talk with my GP! I was so sure she was going to dismiss me and tell me to sit tight for the CBT to come through, but she actually listened to me and acknowledged there's more that needs to be dealt with.

I urge anyone who is finding things are getting too much to talk to your doctor - and if they don't listen, ask to speak with a different doctor. I'm going to be starting some medication for the worsening anxiety, and my doctor is going to get in touch with the CBT team I self referred to and ask them to try and get me through to therapy sooner. There is help out there, please don't suffer in silence xx

 

[BettyCrockerr]

I've spoken to my GP so many times and they just put my sertraline up and tell me to keep waiting for CBT. I'm due to start a new job next week and I just don't think I can cope with it. I don't really have much support. My mum helps where she can but she is having health issues and my best friend lives 200 miles away. GP prescribed me a diazepam for today but that's not a long term solution

Try having a chat with someone here:

https://www.samaritans.org

Or: https://www.mind.org.uk/

just to clear your head a bit and off load some of the worry. Can you call your best mate and talk? Tell them what’s going on, ask for support even if it’s over the phone?

 

[lauren1600]

I’ve been through 2 pregnancies and had very mild morning sickness both times until about 16 weeks - by ‘mild’ I mean quite a bit of nausea every evening (I didn’t feel too bad during the day, I found my nausea was worse when I was tired and had less distractions like work etc) and one episode of actual vomiting per pregnancy. Tbh I just used the techniques I’ve always used to manage nausea - distraction, breathing techniques, sucking on mints and ice lollies. I also found eating small amounts of whatever I was craving helped - with my son that was salt and vinegar crisps and with my daughter was cold grapes and apple slices - and sipping on ice cold fizzy drinks helped too.

Mentally the thoughts that helped me through the sicky stage of pregnancy was firstly that feeling so rough meant that everything was progressing well (I know that this unfortunately isn’t the case sometimes but it’s a thought that helped me), I also just constantly told myself that this stage will pass and I’ll be feeling better at some point.

When the time comes for you, if you find you’re really suffering with morning sickness I would advise definitely going to your GP - there are anti sickness medications which are safe to use during pregnancy so that’s an option you should definitely look into if you feel you need it.

Saying all that, you could be one of the lucky ladies who has no morning sickness at all - I know plenty of women who have sailed through pregnancies with barely even a hint of nausea!

Good luck with your future pregnancy and try and remember that for most women, thankfully morning sickness is just a very small, inconvenient part of early pregnancy. There are so many lovely parts of pregnancy that I think outweigh the bad parts!

Thank you so much @Izzyt88! Will definitely use some of these tips if it comes to it. I’m already feeling more positive and prepared after reading these responses, so glad I found this thread xx

 

[Izzyt88]

Hi all, I have just discovered this thread and am looking for a bit of advice.

My partner and I are currently trying for our first baby and I’m so anxious about the prospect of morning sickness. I know it doesn’t happen to everyone but I think the unknown aspect makes my anxiety it even worse! I noticed many of you on this thread seem to have children - do you have any tips on how to navigate this part of pregnancy? My phobia is pretty much predominantly around myself being sick regardless of whether it’s a bug/hangover/pregnancy so the fact it wouldn’t be germ related wouldn’t really help me (if that makes sense).

I also wanted to share these which have really helped me over the years: https://www.hollandandbarrett.com/s...gin-gins-original-chewy-ginger-candy-60015211. They’re essentially just really chewy ginger sweets and 95% of the time they get rid of nauseous feelings for me and settle my stomach. They’re a bit overpowering if you eat them all in one go so I usually just bite off a small piece at a time and slowly chew/suck it. They may not help others and it may be purely psychological for me at this point but wanted to share just in case it helped anyone else! You can buy them in Holland and Barrett and on Amazon. I have them in literally every bag I own and on my bedside table!

And finally (sorry for rambling on!) just a thank you for this thread! It’s made me feel a lot less alone and I love how supportive everyone is of one another. I’ve just reached out to a few hypnotherapists in my area based on all of your advice x

I’ve been through 2 pregnancies and had very mild morning sickness both times until about 16 weeks - by ‘mild’ I mean quite a bit of nausea every evening (I didn’t feel too bad during the day, I found my nausea was worse when I was tired and had less distractions like work etc) and one episode of actual vomiting per pregnancy. Tbh I just used the techniques I’ve always used to manage nausea - distraction, breathing techniques, sucking on mints and ice lollies. I also found eating small amounts of whatever I was craving helped - with my son that was salt and vinegar crisps and with my daughter was cold grapes and apple slices - and sipping on ice cold fizzy drinks helped too.

Mentally the thoughts that helped me through the sicky stage of pregnancy was firstly that feeling so rough meant that everything was progressing well (I know that this unfortunately isn’t the case sometimes but it’s a thought that helped me), I also just constantly told myself that this stage will pass and I’ll be feeling better at some point.

When the time comes for you, if you find you’re really suffering with morning sickness I would advise definitely going to your GP - there are anti sickness medications which are safe to use during pregnancy so that’s an option you should definitely look into if you feel you need it.

Saying all that, you could be one of the lucky ladies who has no morning sickness at all - I know plenty of women who have sailed through pregnancies with barely even a hint of nausea!

Good luck with your future pregnancy and try and remember that for most women, thankfully morning sickness is just a very small, inconvenient part of early pregnancy. There are so many lovely parts of pregnancy that I think outweigh the bad parts!

 

[PennyPop]

Hello, didn't realise this thread existed. I've been emetophobic since childhood, partly a control thing, partly because I had a mother who screamed bloody murder at me every time I had even a slight bit of sickness . I've popped my experience below under a spoiler tag in case anyone isn't in the mood:

Spoiler: Spoiler

It got really bad when I was about 16, so I saw the college's counsellor- she chatted to me about possible root causes and how to rationalise what would happen if I started throwing up or someone else did etc. That really helped and it hasn't gotten as bad since. I always get a bit anxious around norovirus season but I can just about manage.

People were talking earlier in the thread about exposure etc. I found that when I was in the thick of the anxiety with the phobia that I couldn't tolerate watching any videos of vomiting (real or otherwise) at all and I'd have to turn it off. As things have gotten better I can tolerate more exposure, but it's more that the anxiety improving that helps me tolerate it, not the exposure that helps with the anxiety if that makes sense?

I cleaned up cat sick the other week and no one died, the world did not end. Likewise, I was being sick a few months ago because of illness and it eventually got better even though it was horrible at the time. Over the years I've found that actually throwing up can take me out of the anxiety of it. at least for a bit, as I realise it's not always as bad as in my head. I do worry about having to take care of others who are unwell. I literally cannot understand how nurses and other healthcare professionals do it. They should be being paid millions.

Thanks for your story, I'm glad to see things have improved for you. I'm currently waiting for CBT to see if that can help me, u just want to be able to cope.

I've woken up so anxious and I feel a bit miserable with it. I wish I hadn't seen that post yesterday so I was none the wiser. I'm so worried that this bug will go round the school. I hate this feeling so much.

 

[PennyPop]

Oh my god, my anxiety is through the roof this afternoon. I think there's a bug going round at school and I'm terrified that it's just a matter of time. I feel like I don't know how to cope, the worry and the fear is just unbearable.

ETA aaaaan now here's the paranoia that I don't feel well to add insult to injury

 

[PennyPop]

Nope I'm a wreck. My mental health is at all all time low. I'm just waiting for it

Have you thought about trying to see your GP? I know the situation with them is dire but they may be able to get you some help quicker? It's got to be worth a try if you're really struggling. I'm finding some days harder than others at the moment and sometimes I'm convinced it's going to happen.
I've been on the CBT wait list for 5 months now, average wait is 6-9 months so hoping I get something soon.

Hang in there and please come here if you need to chat, we all know how hard this is to cope with xxx

 

[PollyPerks]

I too am emetophobic and I've been trying to think what coping mechanisms I use. I think my main one might not be so helpful: it's knowing that I have an anti-emetic on prescription (Prochlorperazine). So if I start to feel sick I can use that, and knowing it's available helps a lot. It's not prescribed to me because of my phobia however, it's because I have a vertigo condition that causes nausea.

Psychologically what I find helps with the anxiety is when the topic comes up in books, TV etc in a funny or relaxed kind of way - laughing at it or being shown that others don't find it so terrifying does help with the anxiety. Obviously not if it's actually shown though - I'm phobic of seeing it as well as it happening to me!

Sending sympathy, I know how awful this phobia is. I hope you can feel less anxious and that your family remains well

 

[Crb250]

I've suffered with emetophobia as long as I can remember and I'm 30 now, I've decided to finally get help and have booked my first hypnotherapy appointment after seeing the recommendation on this thread. It takes over my life and to make things worse I work in a hospital (only as admin) but I'm constantly on high alert in case I see or hear anyone being sick. Thankfully I'm not too phased by being sick myself (which is lucky really as I had Hypermesis Gravidarum in my pregnancy 3 years ago which means I was sick constantly for almost the whole 9 months) but other people being sick near me absolutely terrifies me.

I have a 3 year old daughter who I feel like I'm failing because I can't be there for her properly when she's unwell. She caught her first bug in July and luckily it was fairly mild/short lived but I basically abandoned her and hid upstairs while my fiance cared for her and cleaned up after her it makes me feel so guilty which is why I'm trying the hypnotherapy now. It's a very debilitating phobia but it's nice to know I'm not alone

 

[Iceache]

I totally relate to the anxiety here. I wouldn’t class myself as emetephobic exactly because I’m not scared of being ill and I don’t have a horror of others vomiting; I am scared of norovirus. It’s the one part of parenting I detest. My issue is how it rips through the family no matter what you do and I think it stems from when my two were really little and I’d always be the one who got the least ill so had to carry on parenting throughout the whole ordeal. I constantly google vaccines (there is one in trials btw) and wish my children’s lives away so that they’re older and not as at risk of catching tummy bugs.

I try to rationalise it when it happens and it sounds ridiculous but I find that telling myself they’re healthy and I should count myself lucky I’m only worrying about a bug does help somewhat, but nothing is worse than that feeling inside when someone says their tummy hurts. My husband is super chill about the whole thing but it doesn’t help because I’m not even sure what the anxiety stems from… I wonder if it’s a lack of control and the idea that I’m gonna spend the next week or so continuously washing and scrubbing and not eating!

 

[PennyPop]

I'm really sorry for causing any triggers or stressing anybody out. I just was responding to the user above's question and being realistic from my experience. If it is really stressing people out I'll request for it to be deleted. I wasn't intending to upset anyone and I apologise.

Thanks for the apology, I appreciate that it wasn't intentional I just wanted this to be a thread to share help and advice rather than actually talking about being ill.

 

[RachRN86]

Thank you! She seems OK, she's in our bed while I wash her sheets - what fool doesn't buy spares!!! Trying to calm down but I feel like a coiled spring. My husband should be home about about 10.50/11pm hopefully. This is so hard and I feel so selfish making it about me!

Not selfish, anxiety takes over and that's not your fault. You haven't run away. You're looking after her. You're being an amazing mum by dealing with it, so well done!

 

[Mummaabc]

I agree with this. About ten years ago I had some CBT for general anxiety/depression issues, but when it came up that I had emetophobia my therapist was very keen to add exposure therapy into our sessions. As you mentioned, it involved slowly increasing the fear factor of things I was exposed to - from stick figures to drawing to photos to videos (though I never made it to that last step). There was a website which had all the resources on it, but it very clearly stated not to use it without guidance from a therapist. Unfortunately, my sessions ended before we got to the end of the exposure, and my therapist did encourage me to carry on with the website (against it's own guidance) but of course I didn't!

During lockdown last year I had some more CBT as my general mental health had deteriorated a lot (as with many people). We did discuss emetophobia but didn't go into it in depth, however, this therapist suggested that I re-refer myself within a year or so for purely emetophobia based therapy. I haven't done this yet as I am generally coping okay and I know how stretched mental health resources are right now, I think there will be many people more in need than me.

@Mummaabc are you in the UK? If so you can probably self-refer yourself to psychological therapies by using an online form - it's how I've done it in recent years when things have got bad.

I am and I self referred myself before which led to the CBT I received, thanks though! I have heard about exposure therapy but just assumed the therapist thought it wasn't the right path for me?
I think it would be ideal to chat with my GP. I wouldnt consider myself in desperate need but I would really like to get some help to try and overcome it for good as it does utterly consume me.

Completely agree - and actually one of my worst fears is passing on my own anxieties to any future children, so it is something I’ve thought about
Although I don’t like there are other people who feel similarly to me, it is reassuring not to be the only one.

I was always so worried about passing the fear on, I would hate to see someone else experience this - especially my child.
I know what you mean, it's nice to not feel alone isn't it.

 

[swimming]

Same, nothing makes me think rationally about it unfortunately. I wish something would click and I could just deal with it like everyone else does.

Same. I don’t even know where mine comes from. I have no childhood trauma of being sick. I’ve just been terrified of it since I was in primary school (30 years ago!).

 

[Penny for them]

I hope everyone is getting on well.
I've got an initial consultation with a hypnotherapist tomorrow night and I'm so nervous. I'm worried she might say hypnotherapy won't work for me and I'll be back to the drawing board. I really really hope this is the help I've been looking for

Good luck to you if it helps do please let us know having faced illness at home last week,it's hit home how my bad my anxiety can get over and above functioning anxiety that is and how long it lasts even after illness has ended. I'm like a merrcat