poll: What caused your emet?

[bethany]

please post and elaborate as much as you want. I am going to go ahead and do the causes since thats what most of you guys think i should do, plus i think i could gather more info doing this. i have to create a hypothesis and you guys' answers are going to be hella important for me to come up with one. maybe you could put your e-mail's down as well if you like. if not, if i have questions i'll just pm you

this is so great of you guys!!

-megan

[baseballplaya12]

my dad has really bad chlostrophobia and i think that makes me more prone to have a phobia.....i also have good genes from my dad that keep me from getting sick very often (he hasnt vd in at least 20 years and hes not emet) i think if i would have gotten sick more often as a kid than i would be used to it and not be so afraid.....

[x hannah x]

I said traumatic experience. I think thats it anyway.It was when I was younger, I was bullied fairly constantly in primary school and was always moving schoools. All that made me really anxious all the time, the anxiety led to nausea, which led to anxiety whilch led to nausea etc. I would go home form school almost every day, until they stopped letting me and then I was trapped. All that led to my emet and I'll never forgive the people who caused it. I haven't forgotten their names. I'm kinda obsessive I know, but they've wrecked part of my life.

[cat283]

Mine started in 1st grade, after seeing kids v* all the time, and being locked in the cafeteria once after a kid v*ed and being literally forced by the teachers to keep eating, while STILL LOOKING AT THE V*, and THE TEACHERS NOT CLEANING IT UP!

[susiep]

Cat282..... that is HEINOUS. what a terrible experience.


Megan


I am not totally sure about the cause of this. IDO know that my father was a terrible alcoholic and sexually abusive. It is strange that the sister who was the most abused, does not have emet. I and my youngest sister do. I remember being urinated on .......(sorry) [img]smileys/smilies_09.gif[/img]My sister and I wonder sometimes if he may have v* on us[img]smileys/smilies_10.gif[/img][img]smileys/smilies_10.gif[/img][img]smileys/smilies_10.gif[/img] Several therapists have said that this could be repressed or too painful to remember. I know SOMETHING caused it and is probably related to my fathershideous behavior.

[jptk]

Im not too sure myself, but i doknow that my mother is a very anxious person, so much so that she refuses to drive a car anymore cause of her anxiety, also my sister was anerexic(spell?) while i was about 8 years old and i remember going to family councelers at about the same time which actually led to the whole family walking out of a session once, as they were asking really stupid questions. My sister never fully recovered, i mean she does eat, but she dosnt leave the house much or work or have many(if any) friends. I remember stuff like that really bothered me as a kid but i cant be sure if it caused my emet.

[kellybean]

I said traumatic experience. I'm not sure what did it for me, but it was either one of these experiences. When I was little, my cousin was babysitting me and I guess she ended up projectile v*ing right in front of me (I don't remember this thankfully). Another time, I was sleeping over at my aunt's house, and someone became sick with a virus, and I didn't think anything of it. When I went home the next day, I told my mom, and she askedme why I didn't come home right away, that I was probably going to catch it now. That freaked me right out. I wasTERRIFIED and I remember just waiting for it to happen, and it did. That was a couple days after Christmas. The year before that, I was sickwith a virus at the same time. Now I don't like Christmas! Sorry so long! [img]smileys/smilies_03.gif[/img]

[spilled_milk]

I said don't really know. This is because I have had it since birth or very young toddler. My dad has always had fears, not paralyzing fears, but fears of needles and such. He is also a slight hypochondriac. When I wasa babyI had an esophogous problem, and would throw up many times a day, usually when I was in nice clothes (lol!) [img]smileys/smilies_09.gif[/img]Other than those two things there seemes to be absolutely no fathomable cause, which makes me kind of at a loss...no history of anxiety disorders in my family as far as I know! I haven't really checked out my dad's side though...there could be something significant there.


<3 Anya--

[michelledenise]

I answered that I don't know what caused it. It seems like it may have been just a result of a whole bunch of things from childhood that added up. I would say that I was sick a little less than normal for a kid, but it's not like I've never gotten sick. I remember being a very anxious kid from about age 9-14, but I can't pinpoint a reason why I was like that. I also don't know why my fear still exists and why it is so controlling. I threw up most recently last March, and it was like the nausea and feeling bad part was worse than the actual act. I can think rationally and I know that I am in no real danger, but for some reason the bad phobic part of my brain takes over. There is a history of anxiety disordersin the family, and although I don't know of anyone who has a phobia, those genes could be the reason I have what I do.

[alliecat]

I have no idea what caused my emet... I've been an emet since I could possibly make a memory. So I have no idea lol.


xoxo


Allie

[rcurran]

I'm not really sure what caused my emet, I did have many experiences when i was young, with seeing other people vomiting, maybe thats why I'm mostly afraid of other people vomiting and not really myself. I don't really know. I wish I did.

[spilled_milk]

Oh! I forgot! My emet got really bad around six, because my dad was going through treatments for a new strain of hepatitis (now in remission, yay!) and was always seeing him with needles in him and in pain, and i think on a few new medications he threw up. Soo, that could be a big part of it. It could also be why when i am afriad for no reason, it is usually that my dad (or me) will throw up.


<3 Anya--

[sweetfreak]

I picked a traumatic experience, although that is not the only factor. Anxiety disorders also run in my family.

[abbey_normal]

I went with don't really know, since it is a combination of things.


My dad was a "weak stomach" kind of person, so if us kids got sick, or even the dog he ran for the hills, since stuff like that would make him sick, not sure if that affected me or not.


First time I remember being scared was in 2nd grade, I went to catholic school and we were in church one morning, a kid got sick during mass and I remember freaking out that night when I got home, I think I've been scared ever since.


When I was younger it used to come and go....few years it would consume me, and then be gone. I remember being scared for about one year when it started and then it went away until I was 11.


When I was 10 my father was diagnosed with cancer, and that lead to chemo and radiation, he only got sick in front of me once (and I wasn't too scared, since I knew what caused it) Shortly after his diagnosis, I started to get scared again. Then it went away until I was about 19... and it hasn't gone away since. That was 1994.


Many therapists try to argue the I associated v*g with dying since I saw my dad get sick and he did eventually die from cancer in 1989, but I have a hard time buying that sometimes....since I started getting scared about 3 years prior to his diagnosis.


Hope this helps, need anymore info, IM, PM or email me.

[luckistar2]

I am not positive but I believe it all started with a vitamin eating incident when I was about 5. I ate too many and my mom gave me syrup of ipecac and I had to sit in the kitchen in front of a trash can and expel them all.


The fact that I remember it vividly makes me think it was a traumatic enough incident to start that emet ball rolling.

[madleigh]

My father was an alcoholic. He had quit drinking for a while and then when he started again it was awful. I would wake up every morning to the sound of him vomiting very loudly. I would cover my ear, turn my radio on loud, hum, anything but he was so loud I could still hear him. Eventually his tolerance level went up and he didn't get sick anymore. I was 11 then. I did not vomit myself after that until I was 20 but I was terrified of the possiblity. Being scared started not too long after my father started drinking again, that's why I think my emet was caused by this.

[rachel_81]

My emet was caused by a traumatic experience when i was
10. Got nasty food poisoning and vowed never to be sick
again. Since then i have got more and more phobic about it.
Hope that helps! </font>

[matmysunshine]

I put trumatic experience, because my step mother use to physical abuse me, and I think once I was sick, and V** in my bed, and she got so angry and beat me, I think it started from there. I somehow associate being sick and getting hit, and I am 30.. I wish I could somehow change this.

[skinnyme]

My life, I had always been a little weary of v**. myself, others, etc. But it didnt consume me. I guess i was just a borderline emet. I started to have stomach problems a couple of years ago and a few times a week I would experience terrible nausea, to the point where i had the cold cloth on my forehead with the shakes. I think this reminded me of " the awful moments" before doing the deed. I mean I came so close. And then my 2 girls got stomach bugs within 3 days of each other, and thats the first time I really panicked and starved myself for a week afterward in fear of catching it. But i think for the most part it was my tummy troubles and "the feeling" i would get that would remind me of the feeling before you V***. I think that is what finally set the emet into a full blown phobia.

[pippi]

I believe it started in kindergarten when a little girl vomited on MY desk.
The fear wasn't horrible like it is now...But I believe having children has made me worse. My oldest was hospitalized with vomiting for 5 days!!! That experience scared me beyond belief!~ My emet is not only my getting sick but my kids. The loss of control is I believe what is the stem of it all. The worry of someone getting so sick (myself or those I love) that they might die.
Also the feeling of nausea is so awful and I hate not only feeling it but knowing others are feeling it.

[sarahx]

I know exactly what triggered my emet, it was 2 and a half years ago. Iwas in my parents garden with my boyfriend and my daughter and he had been drinking heavily the night before, well he threw up right infront of me and ive never been the same since. That 15 seconds of hell has ruined my life forever. Thats why im more scared of others vomiting but still very scared of myself vomiting too. I dont get it cos ive seen ppl vomit before that, even my boyfriend, and that one time it just sent me mad????


Sarah xxx

[Sun666]

- My granny vomited every day, when I was 4,5 years old. And I always saw that.


- I had a really bad childhood (my father hit me often and forced me to eat and he controlled me totally)


-My mother shut their eyes and didn´t help me


Hmm, anymore yet? I think this are already enough reason...but get a mental illness in this case emetophobia.


JennyEdited by: Sun666

[jennyleigh1975]

I honestly dont know what caused mine, I just always remember being this way. I wish I could be more helpful. I wish I did know what caused it, then maybe I could work through it and fix it. Sometimes I wonder if something traumatic happened to me when I was very small that I dont remember. I just cant pinpoint anything. Im sure some bad things went down between my biological father and my mother that I was too young to remember when they happened. My father was abusive to her and she was killed in a car wreck when I was small. Sorry to ramble on, I still dont know what caused mine.

[rhinoseri]

I chose traumatic experience, Although it was over the course of about three months. Anyways, when I was five I constantly felt sick, I could barely sleep at night, and I hardly ever ate. The slightest mention of sickness would freak me out so much. The first ever panic attack I had was during that time, when my brother, who was two at the time started throwing up in our living room. My dad picked him up and ran out of the room, and then I started screaming and crying into the sofa.


That little period offeeling sick ended abrubtly after I finally got sick myself. But up until then, it waslike constantly what you feel when you're about to be sick.


My Grandma on my Mom's side does have a bunch of anxiety disorders, but no specific phobia. She also has depression, OCD, etc. My Grandma on my Dad's side does have sort of a mild version of emet, kind of. She's only gotten sick twice in her life, and dislikes more than most people, being around people who throw up/throw up itself. But, that didn't stop her from having five kids, being a school teacher up until she recently retired (and still work as a substitute now), and being able to clean up my brother after he got sick a couple summers ago.


Also, my Aunt on my Dad's side is an emet (just found out this past Christmas), but we're not bloodrelated, so it's not genetics.

[wing]

I think that mine was tramatic, but i really dont wanna say what happened sorry! [img]smileys/smilies_11.gif[/img], lets just say there was lots of tension between my parents when i was little at periods during the time i was 4 and 8 and that just made me really anxious as a kid, and my sister also used to get sick alot.

[uidactinide]

Like matmysunshine, my mother isn't exactly worth sending Christmas cards to.



It's a pretty graphic explanation...



One time when I was about 12 she wanted me and my brothers to take
these huge vitamins, but I couldn't swallow pills so I ended up having
to spit it back out. She made me stand in the corner and keep trying to
swallow it until I drank so much water I was vomiting it back up over
and over and peeing on myself and crying and begging her to stop. She
kept laughing at me, then when I finally swallowed it (only because
trying to swallow it had dissolved it until it was small enough to
swallow) she beat me for peeing on myself.



About a year later, she had me make fried clam strips for my youngest
brother, and I made too many so she made me try to eat the excess. I
got about halfway through before I felt sick, but when I asked her to
let me stop she hit me in the back of the head and made me keep eating.
Eventually, I just refused to eat anymore because I felt so sick, so
she punched me in the back of the head, dragged me into the bathroom by
my hair, and choked me until I vomited on myself, then held me down and
wouldn't let me wash it off.



Sorry for being so graphic, but... Yeah...



This is the type of stuff that none of my friends know about, because
the few who I've told about it just ended up using it against me later.
I don't like it when people know these things about me because it makes
it too easy for them to say I use it as an excuse to do X or Y, or that
I'm lying, or whatever else they can come up with.



I figured, though, that a number of you have probably experienced
things just as bad if not worse, so I don't have to worry about any of
that here.

[jptk]

That sounds like a nightmare! I cant imagine how that must make/made you feel.

[bethany]

wow.. thanks so much for sharing guys. I really appreciate this. I am so sorry for what a lot of you have been through. again, thanks for sharing. this is really helpful for my hypothesis
-megan

[flying finn]

I'm not sure... I said I don't know. Maybe I've had it since birth, or
it might have started very soon after that. I spent a lot of time at my
grandparents and slept in same room with my grandpa. He had some kind
of trouble with his stomach and v*ed quite often. Maybe I have woken up
in the middle of the night to that sound and been frightened because it
was horrible...[img]smileys/smilies_10.gif[/img]



Then someone noticed my fear and that became a big fun. Mom and grandma
frightened me with that and used it as a discipline. If I wouldn't
obey, they started to pretend gagging or said that I'll get an awful
v*bug. My mother's brohter reminds me of that every time we meet; they
thought that was funny when I paniced when someone just said the
v-word.[img]smileys/smilies_12.gif[/img]

[sydoz]

I said traumatic experience, like most people who responded. This is my theory of why I have this problem anyway. I'm sure a lot of other factors played into it, but this is what I've finally drawn the conclusion was my biggest reason:


In 5th grade I became the kid everyone picked on. I lost all my friends and got a real reality check about humanity. Everyone always laughed at me, and made up horrible things about me. They would do things like dump pop on my bookbag and kick it down the stairs, or draw pictures of me on the chalkboard pointing out all of my bad features. It sounds stupid now, but in 5th grade it felt like my world was coming to an end. On top of that, 3 people that I was close to died and I was forced to go to all of their funerals. It was really traumatic to learn to deal with death and understand mortality. Then I ended up getting really sick, v*ing like 30 times in a night. I guess from all of the horrible things going on in my life, that just topped it off and I associated being sick with having a bad life.


I remember having panic attacks from birth. My mom said I actually used to have them before I could even talk, freaking out from nothing and hyperventalating in my crib. I spent most of my childhood sleeping in the hallway outside my parents bedroom door. They tried to fix my problems by not letting me in, thinking I would let it go and sleep, but instead I just curled up outside their door all night.


My fear was also increased by my parents trying to make things better. They have the best hearts and really wanted to help, but they just did all the wrong things. My mom used to tell me not to worry during the day because you usually v* at night, so then I would be up all night with panic attacks. Also, when someone I knew would get sick and I would be so nervous about catching it, my mom told me that I didn't have to worry because it usually took a week or two to develop the sickness. So still to this day I will worry for 2 weeks after anyone gets sick until I'm sure I won't get it. My parents always threatened me that they would take me to a therapist when I was young, and now I wish so much they would have. I didn't know what I had until a couple years ago, and I've been getting better ever since I've been able to face it.


Okay, that's probably way more info than you want or need, but I feel better after letting all that out!