Hi all

[cawsey20]

Firstly im new here, Just found this forum !

I didn't quite realise how many of us there are out there !..
My name's Jamie im 20 year's old and like many of you have emetophobia. I was convinced i was a pretty bad case of it however after reading a few story's i don't seem to bad ..

Ive always had stomache issue's ever since i was a baby, However this has sort of progressed since 2005. I had a stomache bug in 2004 which was completely my own fault, Walking round a busy shopping centre in the mid christmas rush with my hand's in my mouth practicly the whole time .. Beleve it or not 3 day's later i had norovirus and so did my mum ..

Since then i have not been sick once ! So im telling myself that if it's been that long im obviously not one to get sick very easily.
However that doesn't really help the matter does it ..

This started to really take hold of me in 2008 during the winter, I would be having panic attak's daily, And be walking about 10 mile's a day just round the block as this is my comfort blanket so to speak.

Every minute of every day i would be worrying about this fear, However i was never really off my food which was a good thing !. I did have a series of hypnotherapy session's and since then i have been better but knowhere near fixed !.

Im now able to go a day without thinking about it however as the dreaded nurovirus is amoung us im a bit more worried daily and go mad with cleaning my hand's scalding utensil's that im going to be using to prepare food..

I guess in my mind im telling myself that im able to stop myself being sick by paniking but that's silly really is'nt it . If anything i guess it will make thing's worse !..

Im deturmind to get through this, It's already claimed alot of the year's i should have been out enjoying myself and drinking with friend's ! But obivously i drink it's going to make me sick so i won't do it ..

Sorry for the long post i could go on forever with thing's i experience but im looking forward to a solution to this, And i guess with lot's of work i can get there !..

Thanks for reading

[easty-b]

Hi Jamie welcome.

I just had lunch and scalded the cutlery beforehand just like you said. I religiously check bread for mould before I eat it (attracting a lot of questions - you'd have thought it was obvious!) Last winter my brother got noro and was very ill - I washed my hands every time I passed a sink and actually made them crack and bleed. I was in a blind panic until I philosophically accepted that I'd probably get it. But I didn't and neither did anyone else in my family. Just goes to show if you follow all the precautions it is near impossible to catch. There's a really good section someone posted in another discussion on here about how it is and isn't transmitted - I can't post the link as I haven't posted enough to be able to have links in my messages but it's on emetophobiahelp dot org slash norovirus.
I found it really helpful, more info and more honest than a lot of stuff on the web.

Anyway hope you find it useful, I'm new too and already seeing the benefits.

[KaydeeJayde]

That fact sheet is on Sage's website. There's some really awesome stuff on there, both for us emets and for people to read who might not understand.

Welcome to the site, I hope that you find as much comfort and support here as I have. Its really nice knowing a group of people know exactly what you're going through.

[hairyfairy]

Hi, & wellcome to the site, I do the same things, washing hands all the time etc. I get stressed about silly things, like if I absentmindedly suck my fingers after touching stuff that others have been handling, & worry about all the bugs that are around at this time of the year, but I`ve been lucky so far as I have`t had any stomach viruses since I was a teenager. I just hope that I haven`t jinxed myself by saying that!

[easty-b]

I'm sure you haven't jinxed yourself, luckily it doesn't work like that although many including myself think it might! I always think if everyone could be emet for a day, noro would probably nearly disappear - how simple is it to wash your hands well and not take risks??
However bad the fear is, at least we're clued up on how to minimise the risk!

[SaSa]

Welcome to the club! ^_^