Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[CLKD]

    .... I have suffered since age 3 and had my first panic attack at that age.  At age 5 Mum was told I was anorexic-type but NO ONE asked why!  She was told I would 'grow out of it' [not eating much] - I'm still waiting to grow!

Maybe you didn't feel quite so worried because your daughter had eaten shell-fish so it was an allergic reaction and not a 'bug'?  I watched a 4 year old vomit recently, it was a sudden event after he fell off his bike onto his stomach.  His Mother 'caught' the lot  and I watched in horrid fascination that a} she didn't join in and b} I actually watched!

Hubby only has to cough and I check he's OK and if he moves about in bed, well, it freaks me in case he's putting off the dash to the bathroom.  We each have a waste-basket by the bed, just in case.  We have containers in the cars also ........

Since taking medication for IBS my gut doesn't roll constantly.  Before if I had a day when I didn't say to Hubby "I feel sick" we would tick the calendar!  I had years of counselling.  I had years of trying to find a way of confronting my fear ....... but the therapists were unable to understand the deep rooted terrifying fear that I suffer.  When I'm in fear I shake continually, sometimes for hours.  A psychologist once told me that the body cannot maintain a panic attack for more than 20 mins ........ I never saw her again once I'd told her my longest was 4 days and nights! 

Now that my gut doesn't roll constantly I am able to do much more, go places including shopping: I'm not always searching for a bin 'just in case' ....... or watching others close by in case .......... the phobia has ruled my life 24/7, as I had nightmares so never got release from sleep.

When I'm queasy I notice that there are adverts in all the magazines for food stuffs so I can't even browse in order to take my mind off my stomach ........

[nelly]

Hi leah

I am 44 and have had emet since the age of 6 - many many years.   it is sadly untreatable though managable - I live a normal life but am always on the look out for people being 'ill' just in case I catch it.  I am an ardent handwasher (you are very unlikely to catch a tummy bug this way) and i recommend (though I am not a medic) the anti emetic Motillium 10 which you can buy over the counter.   It works but moving food quicker through the system and stops you from being sick.  It is very very good and has no side effects.

My husband sort of understands but i have not told many people as they tend to take the micky.    It is a debilitating phobia and many stop eating and lose weight, it restricts their life in that they wont have children and refuse to travel (were it not for my love of Greece I would not go anywhere - boats are totally out of the question and when I fly I have to have an aisle seat (quick escape if i see anyone reaching for the sick bag) and buses etc are also a no no.

you are not alone - I recommend going to gut reaction forum for more information about it.  x Helen

[Dreamer]

I too was very young when all this started.  It seemed to start after I had a big operation when I was 4 and wanted to vomit after the op but it hurt my stomach too much.

Like you Leah, I suffer with IBS and when it's bad the peristalsis seems to make me feel nauseous.  Not pleasant. The GP prescribes anti emetics, Stemetil and has prescribed Metocholopromide (which empties the stomach) in the past to help with it. 

I don't think I was calmer the other night because my daughter's being sick was due to an allergy...I didn't realise that's what it was at the time.  But the psychiatrist made me watch video after video of someone vomiting and it has helped me to face up to it ("feel the fear and do it anyway").  At the end of the day I think it's up to the person with the phobia to deal with it, no one else can.  A psychiatrist can only give you the tools to help yourself.

My daughter used to be petrified of being sick, now she takes it in her stride.  She got over it by herself.  I am in awe! 

Dreamer
xx

[Micki]

I worked with a young woman who had suffered this since early childhood.  Her uncle had thrown up all over her at a party 
Her dream was to become a midwife but she didn't think she could overcome it 
She was so disappointed when she told me - I wonder if she ever did try?

Michelle x

[CLKD]

Motillium makes me very tired but it does work.   I didn't have children, I made my mind up at the age of 8 when I was vomiting .......

I won't fly for that reason; I don't use Channel Ferries .......

Gut Reaction ....... I helped, sort of, found that many++ years ago!  I didn't realise it was still 'running' ..... every person who wrote to me was like reading a mirror image.  People tell me that "no one likes being sick" - yep, I know that, but how many are actually deeply afraid?   I reckon that at one time in the 1980s I was in touch laterally with over a 1,000 people ..........

[CLKD]

Here we are.  Everything said in the other thread I could have written myself.  Someone only has to cough or look a bit restless and I leave the scene.  With a queasy gut.  If anyone coughed in the house at night I would bury my head under the covers, certain they were dashing to the bathroom ........ beta-blockas have stopped that awful surge of anxiety which causes my gut to roll so I can eat properly ....... until 2002 I was severly underweight, avoided food, kitchens, magazines with food adverts, programmes on TV which might have food in ......... I do have a video of people supposedly doing 'it' but haven't watched it ....... it looks a bit contrived.

My therapist said it wouldn't be ethical for me to be given an emetic and 'helped' by professionals.  She did threaten to bring a bucket of the stuff in for me to look at though, wonder why I stopped going to see her 

I could write a book  - we have holidays in the UK 'cos I can't be trapped 'in case'; if Hubby mvoes in the night he tells me 'I'm OK' so that I don't go into over-drive.  If he has a cold he has to tell me his stomach is not involved ........ and all that festive food 

[Taz2]

I have worked out that it is all to do with loss of control. We can't stop our bodies vomiting and we have no idea when our stomach will decide to stop. We have no control over it. Most people with this phobia have to be in control even if they don't realise it. I have the same sort of issues but mine are based on the fact that I don't want to upset others by going down with a stomach bug while either out with them or staying with them.

Taz x

[Joyce]

I'm going through it today.  Yesterday had dodgy tummy due to inadvertently having had some sort of dairy produce.  Still don't know what it was as I'm really careful.  TOday I'm going about feeling so nauseous and terrified I will have to make that sudden dash.  If anyone goes to the loo during the night.  I'm wide awake, head under the covers, fingers in my ears.  When I worked, I was always the one having to do the cleaning up when a child was ill.  All the younger girls ran for cover!  It's not so much the cleaning up it's the fear of me catching whatever it is, then I'm sick!

[CLKD]

So why is it such a dreadful issue for us, OK it's messy, goes a long way, I suppose some people fear blood ..... it's usually in the middle of the night too  ....... yep I like to be in control but the phobia made me that way, I had my first panic attack because of it at aged 3!  At age 5 I was told I would 'grow out of it'  it's only since those feelings inmy gut werestopped by BBs that I have begun to get a life again.  In a shop I know where every waste bin is even if it's for sale 

[Joyce]

I think its because of the horrid feeling of losing control.  It's very unpleasant in more ways than one.  But there's nothing we can do to stop it.  Nausea can be relieved sometimes, but when we're sick it's just got to run its course.  Hopefully we'll all been fine this festive season and able to enjoy ourselves with our nearest & dearest.

[CLKD]

I can't talk about it with people face to face except one friend who has the same problem ........ I only have to carry a bowl or bucket through the house and Mum will say 'do you feel sick' ....... 

[Bette]

I have never heard of this before - must be horrid 
I've been sick many times in my life and it really doesn't worry me. Don't like it, obviously but often feel better afterwards so prefer it to nausia if I'm honest. Can't remember OH ever being sick, now I think about it but he's fine when I am - appears with a glass of water 
Bixby x

[CLKD]

Deep fear is controlling and awful  - I can't understand any one not being bothered by it 

[karenw]

I have worked out that it is all to do with loss of control. We can't stop our bodies vomiting and we have no idea when our stomach will decide to stop. We have no control over it. Most people with this phobia have to be in control even if they don't realise it. I have the same sort of issues but mine are based on the fact that I don't want to upset others by going down with a stomach bug while either out with them or staying with them.
Taz x

Some research suggests that 'control' plays a part in emet for some people - but this isn't the case for me.  It's all of the physical sensations involved - the nausea, taste, smell, sight, sound... I won't write more because this description itself might be unsettling for some emets.

[viv]

I hate being sick myself, but when it happens I can cope. Its others being sick that I hate and that restricts the things that I will do. I know exactly where my phobia comes from. A Brownie trip when I was about 6. I was not travel sick but unwell, some silly girl gave me travel sickness pills which made me feel awful. I had told my mum I was not feeling well before I went, but she was busy organising my sisters wedding and did not listen. This incident was followed by someone at school being sick on my school bag. And that was it. A life long fear of people being sick. Its so restricting.
My guilt is, no matter how hard I have tried to hide this, my daughter has picked up on it and is the same as I am. That is not fair of me and I really feel terrible about it.

Viv
x