Does anybody else get this...?

[ems]

Hi, I'm new to the forum and until now (I'm nearly 42) I never knew there was such a society.
Now, I don't I'm really 'phobic' since I don't spend quite so much of my life avoiding every possible situation that might induce V*. I'm allergic to crab so don't eat it and white wine/champagne can make me ill as it's very acidic.
OK - to the point!
Every time that v* becomes inevitable (such as with norovirus which I've had twice) or even possible (too much to drink and room spinning - I hate that), I do everything possible to avoid 'it'. I won't lie down (makes it worse), I'll stand out in the cold fresh air, I'll spend hours and hours all night pacing around trying to quell every wave of n* and I have also recently started taking anti-emetics (this is an aside).

So - sometimes I 'win' and it doesn't happen (the drink scenario). But sometimes I lose.

Question is, does anybody else go through this 'fight'?

And second thing - I don't think I have the same general anxiety levels, but my phobia is more based on the physical sensation (based on bad experiences as a child? I'm not sure...). But the fear for me doesn't start until the feeling that I may actually v* becomes pretty obvious. Is there anyone else like me out there??

I'm about to go skiing in France and I'm paranoid enough to be taking a lot of measures with me to avoid contracting norovirus again. It's bloody horrible.. to say the least.

ems

[luvinmybaby07]

I think I am about the same as you. I don't really freak out unless someone in my household is sick with a sv or someone I work with etc. Like if I hear there is an outbreak it does make me a bit nervous but it isn't on my mind 24/7 and I leave my house and usual and still eat out etc.

Now about fighting it, I will fight it for hours and hours and honestly it feels like I don't even try to fight it my body automatically starts fighting it. I remember I had a bug and just felt so completely miserable, I would lay down in bed and just feel it coming up so I would get up and run outside ( 1. I like the fresh air, 2. I don't v in the toilet, and 3. I don't like to admit I am sick so I don't like to run to the bathroom.) and then the feeling of being sick would go away. I would sit outside for like 30 minutes and then I would go back inside and try to go to sleep again, and of coarse as soon as I laid down there it was coming up again. I repeated this process I know for 5-6 hours. By the 4th hour I was so exhausted, my stomach was killing me and I just wanted to v and get it over with, because when I do get a virus after the first time I v every time after that I don't panic anymore, So I sat outside and I was pleading just let me v already just let me get it over with. The feeling would come again and I tried not to fight it and my body just automatically started fighting it. Eventually it happened, I cried, I panicked, then I went inside and was able to relax. I still felt horrible but not as bad as I did before it happened. It sucks sometimes. What I wouldn't give to just be able to feel sick run to the bathroom get sick and be done with it.

[Elski]

Loads of people have funny little quirks around their emet - there's probably loads of people that would want to only vomit in their own toilet if it ever happened, and loads like you who don't want to at all! Me personally, the thought of vomiting in a bucket or bowl or something I find absolutely repulsive. When people tell me they have been in bed all day with a bucket next to them, it absolutely disgusts me!

[Erica1649]

The bucket thing freaks me. I used to get sick in one as a kid. I think I try to fight every which possibility in order to not vomit. I panic more or less when I see or hear somebody else get sick. It sends my nerves flying but I do go out and do my thing like normal. This winter however I have been thinking twice about things.

[mollie.]

hey, I'm an 18 year old girl but I understand completely what you mean by 'fight', even from a young age I could not stand to be sick. So as soon as I feel sick that is it I'm up all night pacing around trying to do anything to take my mind off it. This will carry on until one of two things happens, either I will finally be sick after trying to keep it in for so long or I will finally fall asleep from exhaustion. So yes I know how you feel when it comes to this. Also my mum thinks that my phobia of sick started because of a bad experience I had when I was really little but I was too young to remember it so I dunno if she is right.

[luvinmybaby07]

Well I'm bad with plastic bags. I can't have an empty plastic bag anywhere near me or I freak because when I was younger we either got sick in the toilet or a plastic bag on a towel beside the bed. I honestly can't even clean the toilets my husband does it because I don't like to bend over a toilet at all. I can't even sit down to give my son a bath if there is a toilet right beside the tub.

[ems]

Mollie - my goodness - that's exactly me! I often end up falling asleep from exhaustion too ...propped up by pillows to make sure I'm upright so I feel less sick.

I also like lovingmybaby wish I could just be done with it and not go through hours of agony, mental torture, etc. etc.

There must be a way to 'get over' that phase and not fight, but I can't seem to figure out how or what to do..

[Orchid]

Loads of people have funny little quirks around their emet - there's probably loads of people that would want to only vomit in their own toilet if it ever happened, and loads like you who don't want to at all! Me personally, the thought of vomiting in a bucket or bowl or something I find absolutely repulsive. When people tell me they have been in bed all day with a bucket next to them, it absolutely disgusts me!

Yes, the dreaded bucket! Seeing a bucket by someone's bed or a couch freaks me right out and puts me into panic mode.

[Capegirl]

Yes I think every emit has weird quirks. I never fully realized them until i started therapy. Some of my quirks:
1. I actually like sleeping with a bucket by the bed just incase it strikes in the night and i cant make it to the br
2. Everywhere I go I spot an Exit or trashcan in the event I or someone else has to v*
3. I always have a bottle of water or gingerale on me, just incase
4. After I prepare any sort of meat I wash my hands like 10 times and use serveral utensils while cooking
5. I also would much rather v* outside because then youre in the refreshing air and there's no clean up and other people in your house wont be exposed

[Treal1980]

Hey Capegirl,
I know what you mean. I have a trash can on the side of my bed too. I also feel more comfortable outside due to the no clean up. At one time i went to a hypnotherapist and he told me he had a patient that had this fear and she found out that it was because she got sick on her uncle's suit and he freaked out. Because he freaked out, she internalized it be because he was mad at her, but it was more like frustration of having to clean up. He said when she figured this out, she realized it wasn't about her.

Right now I'm doing pretty well, but last week I was anxious because a co-worker had noro. I decided to purchase the Emetophobia Recovery System. I was skepitcal, but I think it might be working. Here's hoping. Best of luck to everyone!

[Capegirl]

Treal let us all know if it works! I would do anything not to have this kind of anxiety. I know this sounds weird but part of me is attached to my emet cause I've had it so long and I feel like if I didn't have emet I wouldn't be as cautious, possibly exposing me to a sv*. Weird logic, i know.


I actually know where mine stems from but it still doesn't help. When I was in 4th grade I went to the bathroom after lunch. As I was in my stall, a girl ran in and v*ed infront of my stall, found an open stall and then v*ed about 9 more times. I was stuck in there the whole time (like 20 mins) and had to hear/see/smell it until another girl came in and told her teacher who got a janitor and cleaned it up. I remember standing on the toilet and my whole body shaking. Once I got back to my classroom I couldn't stop shaking and just started crying. Although I didn't get the sv* from this experience it was very tramatic for me.

[Treal1980]

Capegirl, that experience would be traumatic. I know when my emet started too. I was in first grade and told the teacher i was sick and she wouldn't let me leave the classroom. She made me go to the back in the trashcan and everyone was staring at me. Then another time at home i was in a ball on the floor because my stomach hurt. When I got to the toilet to v*, my mom tried to help by pushing my stomach. She said she was trying to help me get it all out and I believe her. She wasn't mean, but it still made for a bad memory.

Anyways, I've had emet i would say since I was about 8. I have not v* since, thankfully. But I think the longer I go, the more scared I become because now its been about 24 years. I've noticed I've gotten progressively worse in the last 5 years especially in winter when the stomach bug goes around.

I've tried the ERS for the last three days and it seems to be helping. My husband said i needed to do something and with my job its hard to take time off during the day on a regular basis. I'm staying hopeful. I've been much more relaxed these past three days and today since its Friday I tried to induce my anxiety which is one of the exercises. Don't worry its not by actually v*. Anyways, i found it kind of difficult to make it come on at will when before it seemed to be a thought i could not escape. I started searching the noro on the internet to see if that would encourage it and then I came upon this website. I'd seen it before but never posted. I got a little anxious but not like before.

I thought I'd post to see what was going on. I know how bad it can feel when you're experiencing the pinnacle of anxiety with this and you wake up and get on the computer to look for help. Here's hoping!

[Capegirl]

OMG i can't believe a teacher would do that! I was 8 too, weird.. and it's been 13 years this april for me. In the summer I hardly think about it, winter is deifinitely a trigger. Once I get going I can go on the computer and google for hours researching every little detail I can find about noro, emet, anything pertaining to v*. It's awful and probably pretty unhealthy mentally. I also have an awful habit of checking my friends and familys facebooks and twitters incase they post they have it.

[Treal1980]

Best of luck to you Capegirl! We're coming up on summer so at least that's something to look forward to.

[pinogirl3321]

I don't know why but I feel so much more comfortable v* outside then into the tiolet! Honestly I think cause if I have in my toilet it will make me feel uncomfortable in my house since that would be my last memory of v* and id just get horrible flash backs, and I don't want to feel that way at home cause its my comfort zone. Although I have v* in the toilet now but I wasn't a bad emet then. But I def get you guys points.

[Orchid]

I too feel like outside is safer, esp. in the dark cause of the fresh air. But you would have to clean it up if it was by your house. My husband got sick outside the door and I wouldn't look that way until he washed it with the hose.

I too got the ERS and have been reading through it. I was so excited to get it. But there's a couple things that I find hard, if not impossible for me to do. Like encouraging your feelings of panic to tell yourself that you can control them. Well, with this I feel like I hit a wall. My main symptom of panic is nausea, severe at times, to the point if I think anymore of any little thing disgusting I will actually v*. So I honestly don't think I can follow through with this. Any tips from those who are going through it right now? I am working on letting the anxiety or panic 'ride' so to speak and learning what's happening to my body but that's as far as I'm getting. And were guys able to do the first thing about describing in detail how you feel about it, like creating a movie script? I want to do this and at least reduce my fear so it doesn't overtake my life.