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[CLKD]

Lovely to see you Jilly!  Phobias are irrational but it doesn't help the sufferer.  Buttons?  Vomiting?  Faeceas ........ practically anything can cause a phobia. I suspect your daugther was not expecting to see what was in the potty!  We forget that we are used to bodily functions but for her first time  ........... making sure that she has 'grown out of it' and is not suffering in silence is important too!

Feeling better the last few days.  Getting myself round a cuppa now.

[Lucky Stone]

Glad you are better today CKLD. Yes, phobias are irrational, saw a woman on tv with the 'buttons' one and yes, it was amusing if I am honest but not when you think about how hard it must be to cope with, particularly shopping for clothes. And there's treatment but no cure as such, it's a learn to live with it thing.  Who'd be a human being eh?

[CLKD]

Buttons are everywhere  and even if there's an explanation, the fear can still dominate  ........

[Scampi]

Emetophobia is (I believe) the 5th most common phobia, but is not really widely known as most of us 'emets' (yes - I'm one too!) keep quiet about it.  Unfortunately, it doesn't respond well to the usual phobia treatments, so it's really a case of coping with it and living with it - not easy to do when the panic hits, but it IS possible. 

[CLKD]

I would no more tell my friends or relatives than fly to the moon  though a friend who has this same problem knows. 

[Scampi]

I tell anybody daft enough to stand still long enough!  I refuse to suffer alone.  I have a friend with bad arachnophobia - people just remove spiders from her sight with no fuss.  Another person I know is absolutely terrified of thunder (she goes and hides in the disabled loo at work if we have a storm - it has no windows) - we all just accept it, and I've found people just accept my phobia too.  And as all my friends, and most of my work colleagues, know about my emet, they make allowances - they know I won't go on their boozy nights out, so they don't natter me, but very often when they are organising one, they plan to go for a meal early in the evening so I can join them for that (I have no problem eating out as long as it's somewhere where people aren't drunk), then leave before the real drinking starts.  And they are very good about not announcing to the whole office if they feel a bit off-colour.  It really does make things easier for me to have people around me who know how I feel.

[Scribe]

I'm a lifelong emetophobe too and can really empathise with many of the experiences described here - I think, in my case, it results from having had to be stomach pumped age 5 (I thought the tree in our new house's front garden was a pea tree - it was actually laburnum!).  It got very out of hand in 1989 and I developed panic attacks/agorophobia as well and got to the stage where I rationalised that if I didn't eat I couldn't be ill - and spent the next few months living on a handful of ritz crackers and water each day, wouldn't go anywhere without a (large) plastic bowl, went down to under 6 and a half stone and was too weak to do anything bar sit in a chair.  Then my cousin got married and, as I was too ill to go to the wedding, sent me a slice of wedding cake - which put me in a difficult position as, being very very superstitious at the time, I 'knew' it would be bad luck not to eat it - so I did and Mum promptly went out and bought half a dozen fruit cakes   I gradually got better from there - I'm still an emetophobe, there's a plastic bag tucked in each of my handbags, 1989 may well be the reason for my early menopause and if anyone comes into work and says they've been ill, I'll have an IBS attack within the hour.  I also have to explain the situation to my dentists, but can work through treatment with an MP3 player and a 'panic button' signal.  It took a lot of year to get to this stage and it's one of the reasons we don't have children, but the really crazy thing though is that the last time I was ill was January 1988!

[changesbabe]

Gosh ckld been catching up on posts today and seen what a tough time you have been having lately.  Your hubby sounds like he has been a great support. Hope it's not too long till you feel back to your usual self. And gosh reading about all the other people who are struggling with a similar condition - makes me realise even more just what we have to cope with in life. We really are pretty incredible strong brave women - even tho we don't always feel it! Hugs to you all in your honesty in sharing how tough life is at times. Xxx

[CLKD]

Scribe: Welcome to the Club no one wants to be in  - I could have written a lot of your statement myself  even now if someone mentions the 'S' word I cringe, crawl away and don't eat for days.  Like you, I ate only enough to keep myself upright though you seem to have taken that idea even further: and still I can't discuss this face to face with anyone incase I make them feel 'bad' or they begin to watch me or even worse, they laugh ...........

Not too bad this week as I haven't needed pain relief nor anti-biotics. 

[Lucky Stone]

I heard something very interesting on Jeremy Vine today who was talking about hypnotism which led into hypnotherapy. A bloke rang up and said that he had had hynotherapy for his fear of heights but it didn't work.  According to him, it only works if the phobia is 'irrational', and by that I suppose it would be something like fear of button or pencils or something. This would explain why the hynotherapy really didn't work for me (well, short term it sort of did but the effects wore off and I was back to square one). Emetophobia clearly isn't irrational so I suppose it wouldn't work for that either. Might save someone on here wasting some money on trying it

[viv]

I hate being sick myself but my real fear is others being sick anywhere near me. I really understand the flight reaction, because thats what I want to do. Unfortunately I seem to have influenced my daughter as she is much the same. I feel very ashamed of myself for that because I really thought I had hidden it well. She is terrified of being sick and I feel so sorry for her as she will have to carry this one through her life because of me.

Honeyb
x

[CLKD]

I was told by a Psychologist that I wasn't the 'right material' for hypnotherapy.  Don't feel guilty, there's alot of it about but don't hide it either, that's what drove me underground was the fear that people would laugh 

[Scampi]

Don't feel guilty Honeybun - you may have hidden it really well and your daughter still ended up an emet.  I only found out my mum is an emet when I told her I'd found out there was a name for my panic reaction to sickness when I was in my 20s!  I had no idea she felt the same - she'd never let it show.  But I'm emet anyway.  My daughter, on the other hand, knows I'm emet, but isn't herself (she doesn't like sickness, but it's only the 'normal' dislike!).  So please don't beat yourself up - you haven't made your daughter emet, but think how much support you can give her and how you can help her to cope as you completely understand how she feels x

[CLKD]

I'm queasy.  Ate my tea too quickly, wasn't keen on what was on  my plate including some very tasty mustard but I ate too much of that ..........  ........ I think it was the vinegar 

[Jelly Baby]

I find just one Alka Seltzer or a teaspoon of Andrews Liversalts in a little warm water is very effective at settling nausea caused by over indulgence.