Hello all, hope you're all well tonight.

I've been going on and off through bouts of anxiety, a lot of which either relate to my emet or cause n* or both.

I am here because last time I was sick, I found that humor really helped. Including cursing in mid v* and overall making fun of myself (my boyfriend had to hold in laughter as he said I looked like a seizing chicken when I was dry heaving, such a sweet guy!)

Sometimes we often take v* too seriously. My BIGGEST fear is noro and fp*. I think v* from other things is downright disgusting and still awful but not nearly as horrific if it's a one-off, or I know I am not ill/in danger/uncomfortable for hours.

That said, I wanted to make a light hearted thread around accepting v* at least in a humorous way to defuse it a little. Maybe you're like me and just hate it all around but are more terrified in cases of illness - or maybe you're just terrified about every little thing of v* (sound, smell, taste, act, hearing about it in any context)

For those of you who wish to get better and are looking into exposure therapy, I will offer you this. I also have a bonus question at the end of this thread! So if you want to skip this bit and just go into the question part feel free to add your 2 cents.


I am not sure how many of you ever heard of Good Mythical Morning, but it's a small web series made by two friends and some videos feature cool facts, or them doing silly stuff. Some of my favorites are their food challenges. They either try to blend foods together ("Will it pancake?" "will it pizza?" etc..) and sometimes these combinations are...unappetizing. Some other challenges they have had include smelling one food but tasting another. Or eating really hot peppers. They are adventurous in their eating for the sake of "internentainment"

So Link, the guy in the glasses, has a sensitive stomach/pallet. He dry heaves A LOT with the gross or hot foods. SO much so that they made him a custom b**f bucket. One thing I love about these videos (the ones that these clips are from) is that everyone is so chill about it, no one is panicking, and Link soldiers on like it is nothing. As a matter of fact they - and the crew - are laughing, because there is truly nothing wrong. I think it is something that helps me because it adds some humor to an otherwise terrifying situation and makes it seem less threatening.

Here is the link or the clip - it is a compilation of dry heaves. WARNING: GROSS NOISES AND THE V* WORD IS SPOKEN. THERE IS ABSOLUTELY NO V* IN THE CLIP THOUGH! Just noises and lots of laughter. I've watched it several times, I crack up every time. If those are you are trying or are looking into Exposure therapy, I would say this is a good starting point as there is NO actual v* whatsoever!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c5gNd4dhSy0

Okay, now for those of you who are not into that bit. I have a question - If v* tasted better OR were a more attractive color (say baby blue or bright pink, whatever your favorite color is) would you be a terrified of it? Like, is the color or taste of it what makes it so unpleasant that we find it terrifying? I've often asked myself that question.