How much has your life changed?

[Mamafear]

Over the course of 5 1/2 years I've gone from having playdates at our house and kids visiting our older children daily, sometimes 3~4 extra kids at once, going out for coffee a few times a week, going out to my parents or inlaws farms every other weekend and friends for dinner at ours once a fortnight, to going out to get groceries (armed with my bleachy wipes), and coffee with my Mum once in a while. My children have playdates at riends houses, (friends who actually have the decency to let us know before we come that theres been an sv in their household). For a long time we had to find out the hard way which parents warned us and which didn't) . Now I have found I get anxious if I have to be out too long and will get anxious for days before if I have a commitment after midday because home has become my comfort. The few times I have broken my rituals someone has gotten sick. Im curious to know, how much has your life changed and has it stopped you getting sick as often?

[sdd]

Well, honestly, I was an emet in highschool and college and then it went away for a bit. It didn't hit me again full force until this summer when I v'd after 24 years. I have only started being extremely careful since the begining of December, when the media picked up and ran with the new noro strain story. Honestly, I've gotten sick twice since then with a sv. So, no...I didn't get sick less. I've gotten sick more. Usually I only got a sv about 1 every 2 or 3 years when I wasn't being quite as careful.

[Mamafear]

That's a bummer! Have you changed the way you live, or socialize less, or was it just your awareness that changed?

[julybabe]

Unfortunately avoidance behaviour will not help long term. It will only feed your anxiety. What you are describing is your anxiety taking over your life and controlling you, so you can't always do the things you would like to do, in case something bad happens. Practising good hygiene is always a good idea, for everyone, whether or not they have emet, and I would like to think that it would reduce the likelihood of getting ill, and medical research does tend to support this. But unfortunately it is not a 100% guarantee. Everything we do in life carries risks. However long term stress and anxiety can be counterproductive, as it is suggested that this can lower your immunity, and of course it reduces your quality of life in general.

[laura-rose]

My life has changed quite a bit. I used to meet friends everyday, eat out at restaurants all the time, be most happy when i was out of the house doing something, go on drives for hours. Now i barely leave the house, never eat out at restaurants and tend to panic if i'm out of the house for more than an hour. As you said, any plans that i know i can't get out of send me into panic days before and my house has become my safe place. I'm not so panicky about picking an sv up when out anymore, it's more that i'm scared to v* in public. But this past week i have forced myself to do more and last night i actually sat and ate at a restaurant for the first time in a year with no panic. So things can change

[butterfly91]

My life has started to change, i hate going out in public places, even if it's just to the shop, i hate it just incase i pick something up, i'm mean't to be going out 2night, but i'm tempted to stay in because i'm scared i will pick something up.. I've been cutting out food from my diet as well incase if i do v* i won't have nothing to v*, its starting to get me down

[simon99]

Life has changed massively from almost a normal life to eating disordered, anxious agoraphobic with severe OCD, but I like to view the positive side of emet, yeah sure I don't go out but I now have a perfect house thanks to hours of cleaning and DIY, I've learnt guitar quite well taken up painting and managed to run a business making and selling willow weaved products from home. Most friends I had have long gone but the ones that matter are the ones who stayed. Emet sucks big time but I've managed to work round most things now. All I gotta do now is find a cure until then life goes on as best it can.

[Mamafear]

Simon, I do the positive thing too and my house is tide and ordered and I love it! I have also taken up laandscape painting and selling landscapes. This wouldn't have happened if I hadn't changed. Butterfly91, it's miserable being so frightened huh! I would love to be normal again!

[Miss_Pink24]

I have suffered from this affliction for as long as I can remember so I don't think my life has been altered significantly because of the phobia, more that I have just lived with it. I have found that it has got easier to deal with the older I get. I mean when I was a child/teen and still living at home when my sisters took it in turns getting the dreaded *SV that was it, full blown panic mode as there was no way I could leave the house, I would have to just stay at home with them being ill. I could hide in my room, but my parents did not go for that always used to say "The germs are already in the house, hiding away from them will not protect you" and there would always be some excuse as to why I needed to go downstairs. Now that I am older and live alone, well with my boyfriend, I can just avoid people that are sick. Also, when I used to feel *N as a child, usually when I was in bed, I used to find that walking around helped me get over it, but when you are a kid at home with your parents you are supposed to stay in bed, not just randomly walk around... even though I had my excuses, like I could not sleep etc etc. Now that I am older I just don't go to bed or it is not a problem if I get out of bed and go and chill in the other room or keep myself busy doing things.

Obviously, through experiences I have learnt the places to avoid because of the risk of *V, such as theme parks, pub/club toilets after a certain time at night, but I do believe I do just live a normal life despite having this phobia. I do not stay indoors, hide from the world etc etc as for one I would get bored and I find that doing nothing means that you have more time to think and obsess over things. This site has definitely shown me that I could be in a much worse of situation and that I have quite a handle on my phobia.

What I will say though is you do not need to avoid the world to stop you getting sick, just take a few precautions and you should be fine. I mean like not putting your fingers in your mouth (I have always found this disgusting anyway and can not think of anything worse, just think of all the places your hands go throughout the day, no thank you) or making sure you wash them before eating with them. And if for whatever reason you do unfortunately do become ill there are plenty of ways to stop yourself from actually *ving... I have never taken an anti-emetic in my life and I have been *V free for about 17 years.

[mamacat]

I have struggled with this phobia since childhood. Sometimes I am almost "normal", for years at a time, but it always seems to come back
At this point I have been in a hard place for about 2.5 years. Before, I used to take my son to baby gym, storytimes, and playdates several times a week. At my worst last winter, we only left the house for groceries once a week. We became near total recluses over this.
I am trying to get better. I challenge myself now to get mt kids out at leas twice a week. I am going to send my son to preschool in the fall. I really want to be "normal" for them.

[SUM1]

I did get the norovirus in February 2008, and then again (at least I think it was, it could have been food poisoning) in February 2010. This last event spawned a multitude of anxieties, obsessions and compulsions. I haven't been sick since, so so far for me they've worked. I actually think a contributing factor as to why emetophobes aren't sick as often as other people is because of our compulsions. I think that even though we're highly over-protective, our precautions actually work to prevent us being sick (but not always feeling sick, especially in my case).

[Mamafear]

Sum1, I SO agree with you! I am dead scared of getting seen by a phsycologist, because the average person gets sick more often for a reason and there seems to be this method the therapists use where you're not allowed to use anything other than soap and water, like using Lysol,or othr Noro killing wonders is a BAD thing. If the general population used hand cleaner that worked and the 48 hour rule then we probably wouldn't have a problem now would we! aaaaah the life of an emet huh!

[sdd]

Mamafear, sorry...I just saw that you had asked me a question above.

No, I don't socialize less. I don't eat out less either (although that probably wouldn't be such a bad thing if I DID eat out less...lol). I am often tempted to stay in but, I refuse to let this phobia win. I am much more careful when I do go out though. I wash my hands much more often at work and I don't eat with my hands unless I have gotten to wash my hands (I don't just trust hand sanitizers anymore).

Maybe I wouldn't have gotten sick those times this year if I had stayed in more....but then I don't think I'd like the life I was living.

[mary922]

My emetophobia didn't take over my life until I started college. Moving 1000 miles away from home at first seemed like a great idea, but when I started to notice that I was becoming more homesick and lethargic, I began to realize that it may not have been my best one. It wasn't until October of this past year when I heard that a bunch of girls on my floor had gotten sick, and the emetophobia really kicked in. I had to go see a psychiatrist at school because my parents were so concerned. After being diagnosed with anxiety and IBS, I have gotten a handful of medications, but none have really done the trick. Like everyone has said before, because it's difficult to feel good with this phobia, my anxiety is usually quite high and it's made my quality of life at school incredibly low. Just in the past 6 months of being at school I've lost almost 25 pounds, and have become severely underweight just from my fear of eating anything that may be "infected" with the virus.
Thankfully, when I am at home, the phobia is much less severe, and I find myself being much more willing to eat and live a normal life. Just hoping that eventually I'll be able to be as relaxed at school as I am at home!

[SUM1]

I don't consider this phobia a seperate entity. I think of it as me, and my thoughts, it's just they're so strong sometimes I can't control them. When people say, "I'm not letting this phobia win" or "I'm gonna face my fears" I don't feel it is possible to since the phobia is you.