Telling People

[mxw08]

Admittedly, I haven't told too many people, but have a lot of people on this site had traumatic experiences from telling family and friends they're afraid of throwing up?

I've told... I think maybe 5 or 6 people and of course my whole family knows. I've never had anyone laugh at me or do things to make me uncomfortable. They don't really get it... but they don't think it's insanely paranoid. Not like if I was deathly afraid of peaches or something...

Have I just been lucky and have great friends, or do people make too big of a deal out of it? I don't treat it or think of it as any kind of secret...

[fish demon]

I've never told anyone about my emetophobia, and only like four people (including therapists) know I have any sort of panic disorder at all. I'm very good at hiding my anxiety when necessary, though that doesn't make it any less horrible. I don't know why it's such a closely-guarded secret for me, I guess because I'm not normally a really emotional person, I don't want to appear weak or vulnerable. I can imagine myself being incredibly embarassed if I had to tell someone, like I think I will be on Tuesday when I meet with a new psychiatrist.

[kyle1989]

iv told most people i have a phobia, but iv only told half of them of what i have a phobia off.

im not ashamed of it, or afraid of others knowing

[taner]

Some people my age (high school) laugh and are like that's so weird and they don't get it. Others are surprisingly mature and are like "That's actually sensible, V* is really nasty, I can see why you'd be afraid of it."

My mom wasn't supportive at all. I told her and she would say the dreaded: "It's better to just get it over with". She wasn't supportive at all. She also used to yell at me for being upset about it...

Other than that people are generally very understanding about it...Sometimes weirded out but usually understanding.

[kendall]

most people are under standing and they do get it but they dont really
"remember" and say "i*feel like im gonna..." and then i look at them in
panic and then they stop.

but for the most part my best friend knows but none of my teachers
(post that rant later),friends, and no one other than imediate family nos
so its tough discision to make on whether you tell people or not

[prncesspnk]

i pretty much tell everyone, this is part of who i am. i'm not afraid of
being judged or made fun of. most people don't understand it and i
don't blame them or get annoyed, but they're not mean about it, they
still respect me.

[barbieluvsken04]

I really don't tell people. My boyfriend kind of knows, and really, I think I've met other emetophobes randomly because talking about v* (lol, weird subject) he/she will say something like, "Oh my gosh. I will try everything to keep from doing it." So there are more of us around than you would think.

Ha, I told a friend a couple months ago that I hadn't t*u* in years and years, since fourth grade, and he was like, "Uh, I thought people got sick more often than that." I usually never tell people that fact though because I'm afraid to. Afraid of what? I don't know.

[alycat27]

I never talk about it with anyone because everyone already gives me a hard time about my phobia of driving..and you would THINK people would be a bit more understanding about the driving thing, I mean cars kill people, people get killed in cars constantly, etc. But all they think about is how weird it is that someone wouldn't want to drive and have that freedom. So I don't dare mention the vomit phobia. They may have me comitted [img]smileys/smilies_05.gif[/img]

[taner]

I totally avoid cars too!
I just ride the bus.

[xmdslatx]

I've told a few of my friends...they don't really comment.

My mom knows and thinks that I can just get over it...yeah I wish it was that easy.

I don't even know if my dad knows or not.

edit: I told one of my "friends" yesterday and she advised me that I need to "grow up".

pfff. Whatever.Edited by: xmdslatx

[twilightrose]

One of my teachers who was on a trip where I had a panic attack knows, and she cautions my class mates about it, which is great, and my parents know, even if they try to ignore it.

[frankie100588]

I've only told my mum and my boyfriend and they are both really understanding so I'm lucky but I don't dare tell anyone else because I find it really embarrassing.

[wallflower]

I tell people all the time now, but I always screw it up by saying, "yeah, I have a fear of v*", and they say, "oh yeah, me too, it's disgusting", and I'm thinking, "NOOOO, I mean, panic, rather-die PHOBIA! You idiot!"[img]smileys/smilies_04.gif[/img] I pretty much tell people as soon as I meet them and the opportunity arises; I haven't told my closest friends that I've known for a few years, because we're so close that we can laugh at each other and play jokes on one another in the way that friends do. When I first meet people I find that they're too polite to be nasty about it and if they think I'm too weird to get to know any better, that's their problem! I wouldn't want to be friends with them anyway!

[jezebel89]

Wow, telling people about my phobia is almost as frightening to me as the phobia itself! The first person I ever told were therapists. The first one helped me tell my boyfriend. After my boyfriend I told a group of people I stayed with at an anime convention. They turned out to be the most supportive group of people I have ever met. I wish everyone was like them! They even go out of their way to not mention anything that might remotely scare them. Then I told a professor after I was done with his calculus class. He was very understanding too. My parents don't know; my dad never suspected anything because I, too, am fairly good at hiding it (and because I only lived with him a year - parents are divorced). My mom thinks I have a general fear of sickness because whenever someone had strep in the house I would freak out as well, however, she never knew that it wasn't strep I was afraid of, but the fact that I v* once from strep (omg, don't worry about this though, I've read that only young kids sometimes do this! We have stronger immune systems).
I haven't told my roommate or any of my past roommates but I am trying to get more comfortable with talking to people. I really want to find other emets at my university but I am terrified of posting a bulletin on a wall that would say HEY I AM SCARED OF T*U* COME TO ME IF YOU ARE TOO!!