emetophobia

[biibii]

does anyone else suffer from a crippling fear of vomiting? it literally controls my life and has destroyed my relationship with my younger sibling. dinnertime is stressful and anxiety ridden instead of being a pleasant family activity. the car is just as horrifying or worse. how do you deal with it and do you know where yours stems from? please share coping mechanisms you have, or even how you got over it.
i got thrown up on in third grade and never recovered from it.

 

[Mariah]

Wow. That’s awful. Why dinner time in particular? Does your family just vomit spontaneously?
I think you need to try ERP, exposure and response prevention therapy.

 

[daringred_]

i do but nowhere near as severely as that. it certainly doesn't affect my entire life, just my health + eating habits. sometimes travelling too, but i have enough faith in my motion sickness tablets for it not to be a hot issue and the MS only kicks in on long journeys (30 minutes+) anyway.

couldn't tell you where mine stems from specifically but i have a fear of pain + anxiety as well so it might be something to do with that. who knows. as for coping mechanisms, all i can think of that might count is sitting in the bathroom at the first sign of nausea. for whatever reason, sitting opposite/beside the toilet is weirdly reassuring and helps me relax. i do the whole "massaging your pulse point" thing too and whether or not it actually works, the placebo effect at least helps a little.

 

[biibii]

Wow. That’s awful. Why dinner time in particular? Does your family just vomit spontaneously?
I think you need to try ERP, exposure and response prevention therapy.

my brother is a picky eater, and always gags when he doesn't like something. I would say that out of 10 times he has vomited, 6 have been at the table and 2 or so in the car. its horrible. I can't even do ERP, at the first sight or mention of it (even in movies) my body goes into fight or flight and I get panic attacks, sometimes even fainting. Ive tried it many times.

tbh I'm at a point where id be willing to try hypnotherapy lmfaoo

 

[Xara]

i saw the title of this and literally sprinted over here. i’ve struggled with emetophobia for years now and oh my god.. i honestly have no clue where it stemmed from - it could be from the fact that i haven’t thrown up in years and now i’m afraid to? i truly don’t know.

it’s absolutely awful, though. i send myself into a panic attack whenever i’m nauseous and always start trembling if someone even so much as says the word “puke”. it doesn’t necessarily control my life but it’s definitely my biggest phobia.

i’m afraid i don’t have much to offer in terms of advice but the main thing i can say is: if someone around you mentions feeling ill, leave the situation. while you might already do that, if you’re like me, you might have a tendency to freeze up in those situations which ultimately makes it worse. but if you can leave, leave, and put on headphones or something so you don’t hear any sounds.

emetophobia is just brutal, bro, and i’m sorry you gotta deal with it, too ;v;

 

[*The Oakboro Mayor*]

oh my gosh biibii, that sounds horrible and terrifying. I can't stand throw up in movies/tv shows for comedy or even just because. It's not funny to me and I get so grossed out by it that every time someone made a move like they were going to be sick I cringed and averted my eyes. I almost never get sick, and I've only gotten bug sick twice in my life. The fact is that when either of my siblings gets sick, my mama bear instinct takes over and I try and help, no matter how gross. But yeah, there have been times where I have forced myself not to throw up because it is HORRIBLE. Im sorry you have it, and it makes situations really bad sometimes. A quick question, does seeing it make you sick as well? sorry its a bad one .-.

 

[Mariah]

my brother is a picky eater, and always gags when he doesn't like something. I would say that out of 10 times he has vomited, 6 have been at the table and 2 or so in the car. its horrible. I can't even do ERP, at the first sight or mention of it (even in movies) my body goes into fight or flight and I get panic attacks, sometimes even fainting. Ive tried it many times.

tbh I'm at a point where id be willing to try hypnotherapy lmfaoo

You’ve done ERP with a therapist? Like an actual program?

 

[biibii]

You’ve done ERP with a therapist? Like an actual program?

unfortunately my parents do not believe mental illness is a thing, so not with an actual therapist.

Post automatically merged: Jun 27, 2020

oh my gosh biibii, that sounds horrible and terrifying. I can't stand throw up in movies/tv shows for comedy or even just because. It's not funny to me and I get so grossed out by it that every time someone made a move like they were going to be sick I cringed and averted my eyes. I almost never get sick, and I've only gotten bug sick twice in my life. The fact is that when either of my siblings gets sick, my mama bear instinct takes over and I try and help, no matter how gross. But yeah, there have been times where I have forced myself not to throw up because it is HORRIBLE. Im sorry you have it, and it makes situations really bad sometimes. A quick question, does seeing it make you sick as well? sorry its a bad one .-.

seeing others puke doesnt make me sick. it just makes me feel like its the worst thing that could ever happen ever?
my heart starts to race and my head starts to spin, it makes me cry and scream and run away from the situation. i think its more the way it sounds, and visually looks/smells. that freaks me out about others, asides from also fearing catching it from them.

 

[*The Oakboro Mayor*]

seeing others puke doesnt make me sick. it just makes me feel like its the worst thing that could ever happen ever?
my heart starts to race and my head starts to spin, it makes me cry and scream and run away from the situation. i think its more the way it sounds, and visually looks/smells. that freaks me out about others, asides from also fearing catching it from them.

Ok, that sounds rough. But it does remind me of a boom I once read called Guts by Riana Telgemeier. She has emetophobia as well, and I recommend reading it. I might have to re-read it to see if there is anything overly gross in it, but it is a graphic novel and there is advice and her going to therapy in it, so it might be a good fit!

 

[acnh.eclipse]

I have emetophobia too, to the point where It's a struggle to leave my house. I always knew I hada very serious fear of vomit, if I see or hear someone vomit I sweat, cry and and feel sick which makes it worse because I dont want to throw up so its juat one big cycle. It became so bad I had to give up being friends with someone because they had a stomach problem where they would vomit like once a week. I remember the day where I knew it was serious, I had a mental breakdown because my apartment block (where I used to live) had an outbreak of a stomach bug I locked myself in my apartment crying, shaking and I didn't leave for I think about a week and a half, and for the last couple of days I ran out of food and I thought I was going to die (seriously this is how bad its got) my parents had to persuade me to get out, and I moved because of the stomach bug! Its still a big issue and wont hesitate to quarantine my family if anyone has a stomach bug in our area. Thanks for reading ♡

 

[Oldcatlady]

I think my fear developed when I got sick when I was around 6 years old and had to take a medication for a year that made me vomit often. But I can remember instances of being scared of vomit even before then so idk.

Anyway, Im studying nursing so ive had to work in the hospital & had patients that have vomited in front of me/I have to help them clean up. I can’t just abandon my patients, so I force myself to stay calm and remind myself it’s just another body fluid. Something that helps me cope a little bit is when someone else is with me when that happens.

I did go to therapy and they suggested exposure therapy. The sessions were basically first looking at some pictures that are cartoon-y, then realistic pictures, then listening to audio, then watching some videos. I don’t really think exposure worked because I’m still paranoid about it in a lot of aspects of my life. Maybe it worked a tiny bit, but not enough to make a huge difference imo

 

[Xeleron]

I don't know if I have this or not... I'm not afraid of vomiting myself, it's definitely unpleasant and I don't like it one bit... BUT my gag reflexes CANNOT hear or see anyone else puking.... it's been pretty bad lately because TV shows and movies decide its ok to SPONTANEOUSLY show people puking, like what? WHY? JUST STOP!.... I have to close my eyes and cover my ears until it's over... I've been close to throwing up because of this :C and my stomach just feels unsettled for the rest of the day

 

[Millysaurusrexjr]

is that what it's called?!

absolutely yes. I got really sick on christmas eve some years ago, I thought I was dying. Ever since then I have been incredibly afraid of throwing up and is the reason I have not stayed on birth control

 

[ForgottenT]

I'm not afraid of vomit, but when I have to clean up my cats vomit I almost barf myself, she have only done it a few times though.

I don't care if I vomit myself, but cleaning up vomit is disgusting, I've only vomited once in the last decade or so, probably around 5 times in my life to my memory.

 

[hamster]

i used to. when i was like 6 and saw my sister vomit i was so afraid, i used to stay up all night if i got the slightest head/stomach ache
i was really scared of being ill in general but yeah i hated vomiting especially because it just felt horrible. i slowly got over it and now i dont care, like its unpleasant and usually unpredictable for me but its always relieving when i get the bad stuff out

 

[Corrie]

I'm not afraid of vomit, but when I have to clean up my cats vomit I almost barf myself, she have only done it a few times though.

I don't care if I vomit myself, but cleaning up vomit is disgusting, I've only vomited once in the last decade or so, probably around 5 times in my life to my memory.

I feel you!!

I can handle cleaning cat poop or pee but vomit? No way. I was cleaning my cat's vomit up and ended up straining my throat for two days because of my gagging due to touching (and smelling!) her puke. I don't know, there's something disgusting about vomit, I don't know what.

 

[Locket]

i literally couldn't participate in dissections in biology bc i was afraid of somebody was gonna throw up. i could deal w the animal being cut, i could deal w the actual dissection, but the thought of someone throwing up was what made me not participate

i've dealt w emetophobia for like my whole life and so whenever i feel sick my anxiety gets WAY worse which also leads to more nausea. it doesn't affect me as much as that though.

 

[ForgottenT]

I feel you!!

I can handle cleaning cat poop or pee but vomit? No way. I was cleaning my cat's vomit up and ended up straining my throat for two days because of my gagging due to touching (and smelling!) her puke. I don't know, there's something disgusting about vomit, I don't know what.

Yeah, trying not to vomit is way way worse than just vomiting, hurts the throat like crazy.
Pretty sure it's just a natural reaction, we probably evolved to stay away from stomach acid, but of course now we live in houses, and need to clean it up, just another evolutionary trait that's backfiring in modern times haha.

Post automatically merged: Jul 11, 2020

How often do you people with emetophobia puke?
Like I've said earlier I've barely puked in my entire life, and I can't remember ever actually seeing someone else puke (Not counting puking due to alcohol).
Is it a normal occurrence to puke in other countries? If so I wonder what could be causing that.