Insight from my non-emet friend who has Noro!

[thecheesecake17]

One of my best friends who lives three hours away from me texted me two days ago around midday stating "I've been so Unwell had D* all night then woke to throw up.." .. We both met and immediately bonded six years ago when we attended the same college and he has quite a severe case of GAD...We talk to eachother daily and try and explain our anxieties..his is all about social anxiety and he shakes from day to day as he works in a big cinema in his city. I, on the other hand, don't have GAD but have awful emet(as you all know) especially if my stomach is playing tricks with me...

Turns out he has a very bad bug...I'm guessing it's Noro cos his sister in law(with kids) seemed to spread it.... so ive been regularly checking up on him on WhatsApp, giving him anti-emet remedy advice. But I'm also using his attitude towards this as a learning outcome.... I said to him "that, what you're going through, would be hell times a thousand for me..can I ask what you felt like before you were sick? Like, did you feel extremely panicky and anxious?!" And he said "Yeah, but only cos of the pain"..... that intrigued me. As much as I despise v* severely,i have never felt 'pain' during a bug from what I can remember..and so he went on "Yeah.. no food in my stomach meant acid was proper burning, I'm scared but only cos of the horrible chest pain!".... so basically, ALL the things I'm scared of...he didn't mention...I found it enlightening..he didn't once say "I just wanna die and I'm scared and ohhmygoshhh what do I do!" But every hour he'd say "still feeling rough. Gonna get to bed with some water and get some D* tablets." His texts regarding the illness have been textbook and simple and direct.... even if I feel n* from pms or too much food, the pattern of my texts or forum posts will stem somewhere between "OMG GUYS HELP IM DYING I CANT BE SICK, ITS NOT AN OPTION!" To literally "I just wanna die right now rather than v*"... and so I've been trying to think of the outside-the-box attitude, as my friend Dan has.... to be honest,despite the obvious unpleasantness noro provides, his concern was actually very understandable.... acid can ruin your oesophagus and that was literally he only comment he made regarding the v* ....I wonder whether focusing on this "pain" would distract me in the future when I get sick.....

Not sure if this will help anyone but he has been helping me as he's underestimated this horrible thing despite the fact he's bed-ridden for the third day today... received an unfortunate WhatsApp from him around seven hours ago saying "Urgh, I'm not out of the woods yet. Can't believe it. Hate it" and I asked further and he said "I just can't believe I'm not gonna be able to cover my friends shift on his anniversary!!so annoyed"... once again he was fixated on the things OUTSIDE the box ... I applaud him...he didn't once go into detail and when he did he said "its the D*... its annoying cos I can eat but it goes through me so I can't leave the house yet!"...

When people make noro seem like number 20/21 on worry-list in comparison to other worries and anxieties, I dunno about you guys but it kinda helps me think "Umm its a stupid irritating uncomfortable mean virus. It will pass in 52 hours"... I know I'm not IN the situation but I think it's healthy to surround ourselves with non-emet sometimes,just to see how they deal with our personal hells

[maeflower]

Thanks for posting. I always find it fascinating to hear the point of view of someone without this phobia.

[j.florence]

this is a great post and is def. helpful!

[anna81]

I used to be of the mindset that 'I'd rather die than v'. Before I had children I had maybe 12 years v free, but a couple of years ago I caught a dreaded bug! I spent so long fighting it and feeling awful but it came to the point where I knew it was gonna have to happen. Once it did happen I felt so much better it was almost euphoric!! I felt like dancing, I'd managed to survive this awful event that I'd dreaded for so long!! Now I try to hold on to the memory of that feeling and if I'm feeling ill or my daughters are ill I focus that if I/they v it will make us feel better rather than feeling so awful. V still terrifies me, especially if it's one of my daughters but this thought does ease the fright partly for me. Hopefully it may help someone else too

[mdgirl1977]

very helpful post