my emet phobia, please read so i know im not alone!

[emynrosie]

My emetophobia has been with me for a long time. I reckon it started when I was a little child when I always had reflux after I ate. In 2003, I got extremely sick from eating really bad food and had to go to hospital. I threw up a lot, it came through my nose and mouth at the same time. I've been petrified of it ever since. I don't remember being scared of it everyday though, it was only when I started to feel sick that I would start freaking out. Unfortunately this year I ate too many lollies and yet again I threw up twice. Now ever since I have had that experience, my emetophobia has gotten TERRIBLE. I think about it everyday, I worry constantly about it everyday. It has now gotten to the point where I worry about eating out at restaurants because I don't want to get food poisoning. Even at home I worry about the food I eat because I'm petrified of it making me sick. If someone says to me that they are sick, I freak out completely. I have to make sure they are not feeling the throw up type sick and if they do I make sure I get myself out of that situation if I can. If a friend says to me just over the internet that they have been sick and throwing up, I freak out too. My mind plays silly tricks on me and it makes me start to feel nauseous! This phobia basically controls my whole life and yes, I do in fact avoid situations like parties where I know that people might throw up from being over intoxicated. People think I'm crazy and that I worry too much about it but the thing is, they have no idea what it is like to be in this situation! I hope there are some people out there that can tell me they feel the same and have been in the same situation!

[paulinek]

Hi and welcome I think you will find the majority of people on here feel or at some point in their life have felt alot of the things you do, so you are definitely not alone.

I think you will find it useful to read up about the facts to do with stomach viruses as they are harder to catch than you think and it will get rid of any myths you may believe about how you can and can't get them. The link is: http://www.emetophobiahelp.org/ you just need to click on "norovirus" at the top of the page when it comes up. The website has been written by a member from here so it's not at all scary!

As for food, I used to live on crackers and toast when i was a teenager but over the years what has helped me massively with food is

a) educating myself - i.e learn about the correct way to store and prepare food, correct cooking times for meat and what ones can be served pink and what ones must be cooked through etc

b) Learning to cook! Get a good cookbook like a Jamie Oliver or Delia Smith (or whoever is the good chef in Sweden!) and make some recipes yourself, you will know exactly what is in it, how it's been prepared and that is cooked properly so you know it is safe.

If food is stored correctly and prepared correctly you have nothing to fear, things like campylobacter and salmonella can all be killed off if the food is cooked right.

Most cases of what are considered food poisoning are in fact things like norovirus that has been spread by an infected food preparer, so if it helps, when eating out go for cooked foods that you know won't have been touched by human hand after cooking.

have a good look at the website i've given you the link to and at all the info available on here too, and maybe have a look into CBT (cognitive behaviour therapy) as alot of people have foudn that useful in controlling the anxiety and sometimes the emetophobia itself, it's not for everyone but could be worth looking into.