Hi everyone,
Usual story here, I've been an emetophobe for as long as I can remember (I'm in my twenties now) and picked up plenty of OCD habits to go along with it. I used to be equally fearful of other people being ill and myself, but since I became incredibly good at fighting nausea I lost a lot of the panic about myself and now I feel that side is managable.
Unfortunately, if anything, my phobia has gotten worse where other people are concerned. I got into a relationship about 6 months ago after avoiding them for a number of reasons, emetophobia being a big one, and now that which I feared most happened - my partner was very ill and noisily so this morning. I handled it badly and didn't expect anything else, but my main concern is that I can't seem to get past the anger and disgust directed at him because of it. I left as soon as I could and the resentment set in heavy once the panic attacks stopped. Of course there's guilt there too that I feel this way, but mainly I just feel violated and that I can't trust him anymore.
I understand the whole 'it's not his fault he got ill' thing but I find it really difficult to accept when people don't even try to fight the nausea or be quiet about it. He knows I have this phobia and his attitude is that it had to happen eventually and illness is a part of life - fair enough. I still resent him for being so damned noisy and disgusting about it, so does anyone have any tips on handling this?