Life without Emet???

[vicki5011]

Hi all,
i was just wondering about life without this phobia?
It restricts us in so many ways and was just wondering in what ways it restricts you guys?
What things would you be able to do if you didnt have emet?
For me i would:
*Be able to go abroad again
*Go on a rollercoaster
*I would be able to have a social life again
*Go to parties
*Drink alcohol
*Eat any food i like
*Be around children
*Go on a boat
*Allow my kids to go to school

The list is endless

[classycaro1]

For me I'd be able to
-Travel more often
-Eat delicious, greasy food (lol)
-Be around kids
-Go to parties
-Things would take less time because I wouldn't have to stop at home between every place I went to
-Carry a smaller purse
-Take care of sick people
-Go to the doctor without fear
-Go to school more often
-Eat in restaurants rather than carry-out
-Live with other people
-Take medicine when I need it


That's mostly all I can think of.

[kyle1989]

traveling

eating out at restaurants etc

its effecting my choices of study at uni (concerned about picking career interests that involve travelling abroad etc)

it limits how much alcohol i drink, which i don't mind too much, because its that very reason im not an alcoholic.

it makes me concerned about having children in the future (bringing in nv etc)

puts me off going doctors/hospital. has made me easily worried when it comes to things that could make me need to go hospital.

its made me a bit of a cold, introverted person (unless iv had a drink.. that lossens me up), this has made me less open towards people, making it harder for me to make decent friends, and be open about my feelings towards romance interests.

the combination of all these things makes me envy people living a normal life, who do all these things without any worry or concern, it makes me very depressed, i'd rather i wasn't born than live with this phobia, this phobia just makes life alot less enjoyable. limits freedom of joy.

all of this depresses me heavily.

Edited by: kyle1989

[swtcatastrphe]

All these lists are very similar to me. The big ones:

*Enjoy eating food
*Take pleasure in travelling to unfamiliar places
*Have children and not be scared
*Stop endlessly popping various GI and anti-emetic drugs
*Drink alcohol
*Gain weight

Pretty much everything that you guys have listed applies to me. It is kind of nice to see such similarity here ~ I feel less bizarre.

[stella9]

All of the above.

Even with emet, I went to college and grad school, have held two very high demanding jobs with two of the top 10 companies in the country, have had children, traveled abroad numerous times, eaten in restaurants to name a few.

I know the few things that disturb me like the school nurse's office, being around mobs of kids,taking a cruise --- all of which do not disrupt my life.

Yes, emet can be crippling. I have learned not to think what like would be like "if" I didn't have it. I learn to live my life with it --- like any other illness that people have to cope with. The less I fight it, the more I am able to objectively recognize what triggers it and work through it.

Stella

[swtcatastrphe]

That is an inspirational outlook Stella.

[paulinek]

This is a bit long, sorry..Pretty much all of the above too, although i went through a great patch in my early twenties where i was almost emet free and I managed to go to crowded pubs and clubs and even went backpacking round the world which involved eating what i regard as dodgy foods and using public showrs/toilets, then a while after i got back my emet came back with a vengeance and i was virtually housebound by it for a couple of years and since then, a bit like Stella, i've resigned myself to the fact it will never go away so i've just adapted my life to fit round it.

I will go to restaurants but i'm careful where i go and only eat foods that are "safe", if i can't get out of going to the theatre or cinema then i make sure i sit on an aisle seat near an exit, i carry anti emetics, i carry a drink, i carry a bag in my bag, i use anti-noro hand sanitizer, i spray my whole house with dettol(lysol) spray etc in other words i do as much as i possibly can to gain control over protecting myself which enables me to live a fairly normal life.

And I did get noro before christmas, and yes i totally freaked out, but did get through it but couldn't work out HOW i'd got it, then found out that normal anti-bacterial hand sanitizer doesn't protect against noro, so I found one that does and I feel a lot happier (ie in control) again.

[alwaysafraid]

Life without emet? It's hard to even imagine it. I get along fairly well in life without many extreme behaviors. I mostly suffer privately with it. If I were "cured" I would:
- care for sick family/friends when they need me
- go out with friends/hang out with groups free of anxiety
- stop taking so many pills to reassure myself
- go on a cruise because the thought of illness on a boat terrifies me

There's more, but those things would mean a lot to me. Hey! On a positive note those things can be goals, right?

[elizam]

- go on a cruise because the thought of illness on a boat terrifies me

Oh gosh, that is one thing I would do too. My husband loves to fish and loves being out on the water. He was in the Navy when we were first married and loves everything about being on the water. I have decided that this summer I'm going to go fishing with him. He will be so happy.

[swtcatastrphe]

And I did get noro before christmas, and yes i totally freaked out, but did get through it but couldn't work out HOW i'd got it, then found out that normal anti-bacterial hand sanitizer doesn't protect against noro, so I found one that does and I feel a lot happier (ie in control) again.

I can not tell you how huge of a freak out I had the day that I found out the standard alcohol sanitizer I had been using for years wasn't protecting me. I still can't even fully trust the benzalkonium/benzethonium chloride and eat everything with a fork or a napkin :|

[paulinek]

And I did get noro before christmas, and yes i totally freaked out, but did get through it but couldn't work out HOW i'd got it, then found out that normal anti-bacterial hand sanitizer doesn't protect against noro, so I found one that does and I feel a lot happier (ie in control) again.

I can not tell you how huge of a freak out I had the day that I found out the standard alcohol sanitizer I had been using for years wasn't protecting me. I still can't even fully trust the benzalkonium/benzethonium chloride and eat everything with a fork or a napkin :|

Hmmm... me too I'm a little iffy over the benz chloride ones..I'm using one called Quosh at the moment that contains benzalkonium chloride but it doesn't claim to kill noro and surely if it did they'd make a big song and dance about that? And it's hard to find out conclusively from the web if it does or it doesn't cos when you google benzy whatsits it just brings up academic type sites that are way above my head! [img]smileys/smilies_09.gif[/img]

I did buy one called zapp-it (which doesn't contain benzy things but other stuff) which was recommended by another poster on here which is only available online and it DOES claim to kill noro but it's not the cheapest by the time you've added on p&p and someone cast doubt on its claims to kill it saying that you can only kill the cat&dog version which is close but not exactly the same as the one we get.
Edited by: paulinek

[jandub]

I would be able to go to sleep every night without a sleep aid. I don't know what it feels like to fall asleep on my own anymore.

[mxw08]

- Go on a cruise. The norovirus is often known as the "cruise ship virus." How cruel...

- Take care of children, friends, and family when they're sick.

- Not endlessly have it parade through my thoughts day after day. It's ridiculous.

- Take medicine without being afraid it will cause nausea. (That includes anesthesia that comes with surgery.)

- Do lots of on the edge stuff, like bungey jumping, riding insanely fast and scary rollar coasters, parasailing, hang gliding, sky diving. I've been blessed to have no fear of heights, needles, flying, or any other common irrational fears. But unfortunately none of that matters, because this fear overrides and concerns them all.

[xxsophiaxx]

For me I would:
*travel more frequently, like to Greece
*share food w/ friends
*go to more parties
*Go to parties
*Drink alcohol
*experiment...
*Have a family (in the future)
*probably develop an eating disorder

So in a way I am thankful for my emet.

[paulinek]

For me I would:

*probably develop an eating disorder

So in a way I am thankful for my emet.

Yes...that's one thing my mum never had to worry about with me, there was no way i was EVER going to get bulimia [img]smileys/smilies_11.gif[/img] ...

[rentaduckie]

i could travel without panicking. i could eat on an airplane.
i could sleep on an airplane. i could spend more time with
my brother. i could take care of people when they're sick. i
could be a teacher. i could be a nurse. i could party. i could& nbsp;
share food and drinks with people. i wouldn't obsessively clean doorknobs.

but without it i might not have found what i really wanted
to do; be a librarian. i wanted to be a nurse when i was
much younger but emet has defiantly closed that door.
however i am a counselor at a camp for kids with cancer
and i love it so much but i am useless when someone feels
ill. without it i might not be as conservative about drinking
as i am. i might be one of those party girls who gets drunk
every weekend. my apartment would be messy. i would probably get sick more often as i wouldn't Lysol doorknobs
and light switches. without emet i wouldn't be ME, and as
much as i hate the emet, i like the person i am. i do wish i could care for my friends when they are sick; i always
WANT to but i panic. but my friends and family love me
anyways