Hello,

I am new here. I decided to post to this forum in hopes to get some advice from some of you who have emetophobia. My sister's daughter, who is currently 8 years old is showing signs of great fear of the "v" word. However, my sister doesn't think it's a very big deal, but I think my sister should get her daughter into some counseling. Basically, my niece is starting to show some very strange behavior that I have never quite experienced with any other kids before. For a while she was making my sister take her temperature prior to eating any kind of dairy product for fear that, if she has a temperature, eating dairy food will make her get sick. Fortunately, this behavior has begun to subside a bit. One time, when she was at my house a few weeks ago, she was all upset, and just sitting alone on my couch. I asked her what was wrong, and she said she was afraid she was going to "throw up". To alleviate her fear, I told her to take a Tums, and it would make her tummy feel better. Well this has become somewhat of a placebo for her, and now she consistently asks my sister for Tums on a regular basis. If my sister runs out of Tums, my niece becomes very upset. Two days ago, we had a little party at my house. After the party, I gave my sister some leftover fruit salad to take home with her for my niece. My niece refused to eat the fruit salad, because she had seen that I had fed my dog prior to dishing up the leftovers for them to take home, and she was worried that the raw meat that I fed my dog had somehow contaminated the food, despite the fact that I had thoroughly washed my hands prior to dishing up the leftovers. The first time my neice had ever gotten sick, she had eaten chicken that day, and since then, mind you it has been over 6 months now, she won't go anywhere near chicken, and refuses to eat it in any form. She is recently starting to develop a fear of swallowing water in the neighborhood public swimming pool for fear that the water is contaminated and will make her get sick. If my dog licks her, she gets very upset, and she wants to go home. These are just a few examples. Should my sister be concerned, or is this something my neice will grow out of? I personally think she needs to get my niece into counseling now, before this whole thing gets way out of hand. Any advice would be appreciated.