Three out of three have emetophobia

[emetfreak]

Ok, so I am one of three girls. Would you believe that all three of us, me and my two siblings have emetophobia? This is definitely not a coincidence, nor is it in any of our heads, because we are grown adults, 39, 32 and 30, and we all just confessed it to each other about 5 years ago. We all compare stories about what we did when one of us was sick at night, etc. It's crazy.

Does anyone else have siblings that have emetophobia AND if there is anyone out here who knows about the psychological end of this phobia, what do you think the reason is?[img]smileys/smilies_06.gif[/img]

[leann7123]

Not me...no one in my family understands! They all think im a little nuts!

[jandub]

My mom does...she's never admitted it but I see the signs since I have them too. My brother does not, and I am really thankful. He has other fear based issues though.

[emetfreak]

It's weird, I have tried to remember if my mom has any strange activities such as the ones I have (which match about 90% of the strange activities listed on this site [img]smileys/smilies_09.gif[/img] ) What I do remember, though, is my dad always took care of me and my sisters if we were sick. So, I guess in a passive way, that has made a huge impact especially since my mom and dad were equally active in all parts of our lives (they are still married).

[SimplyMe]

Wow, that's really interesting! I'm the only emet that I know of in my family. My brother is fearless (I'm so jealous lol). Its cool you can all support and really understand each other but sucks that you all have to suffer with it.

[emetfreak]

Yes, while it's great that we can support each other, we also feed off of each other too, which is bad! Although we do get a ton of laughs over our strange behaviour. Especially when all three of our husbands get together and compare weird-o stories! I have to admit, when I hear the stories when I am not having a panic attack about it - I laugh like crazy, because it is so strange [img]smileys/smilies_04.gif[/img]

[sage]

Emetfreak, that is unusual in a family, but not unheard of. Normally, as others have said, they have siblings who do not have any form of mental illness - or at least one sibling. Some families seem to have enough anxiety to spread around, however - which is obviously the case in your family, and that's a total bummer indeed.

There are genetic factors for mental illness (anxiety disorders being only one of them) but genetic factors alone do not "cause" phobias or anything else. The genes have to also be "turned on" and this id always due to environmental factors (nature/nurture). Each of nature/nurture only contributes about 50%. This is good news, of course, because you can do something about the nurture part - the part that build pathways for neurotransmitters in your brains. New pathways can be constructed with careful, thoughtful therapies. Anti-anxiety drugs help the 'genetic' part - the other 50% and some people have fine results just using those, although both together is preferred.

In my family, my sister does not have an anxiety disorder, but she's messed up in other ways - lol. She is also 12 years older than I and much of my childhood trauma happened when she was already 16.

Hopefully you and your sisters can support one another through treatment programs, and not slip into helping one another avoid the triggers for your anxiety. Such avoidance makes phobias worse.

Good luck!

[emetfreak]

Thanks for the response, Sage! How and where do I find treatment? I have talked to my primary Dr. and a psychiatrist about my problem, but it was before I knew it had a name and was actually a problem that others suffer from. I just don't know where to begin to get therapy. I am open to anything because with having two children, I have MANY nights where I stare at the ceiling and wait to hear one of them throwing up in their bed! It ALWAYS happens at night in my house!! Drives me crazy, especially during the months of December - March when the stomach virus goes around!! I soooo want to get over this!!! [img]smileys/smilies_07.gif[/img]

[wackydeli]

I find it very interesting how all three of you have it, and only found out 5 years ago!

I'm the only emet but there definitely are anxieties in my family. My brother has social anxiety, my mother has always been severely zoophobic, and my younger sister is frightened of blood. I'm not sure if it's as severe as a phobia. My sister is also a bit afraid of v*, mostly just seeing it on TV or something. But if a kid is sick in school, or she is sick herself, she doesn't freak out the way I do. Not even close.

[1234]

thats very interesting! Did all three of you hide your emetaphobia from each toher as you were growing up or did you kind of know?
Only, my mum has always been slightly emetaphobic, well i say slightly, she used to be pretty bad but has never been to the extremes i have. She has other anxiety issues that seemed to manifest toward emetaphobia for a while. I often wonder if thats how coe i eneded up with it as bad as i did? Perhaps i heard things over the years and just saved it up for one big breakdown in my 20's!