My story.
Hello everyone! I'm new to the site. I just want to share my story with you all. To start off I got the norovirus around the start of this year. Honestly it wasn't that bad. I woke up around 3 am I think, with this tingling feeling in the back of my throat and a slight stomach ache. I was pretty sure that I was going to get sick, but it didn't really bother me. I remember that I had laid out a towel on my floor (the thought of sticking my head in the toilet is not appealing!), I switched back from my bed to the floor. I had always felt more secure and stable on the floor when I felt sick to my stomach and still do to this day, I think it is the fear of falling face first while getting sick on the bed, haha. Well finally I had gotten sick and I was very calm, it was not bad at all to my surprise! Funny thing is that I was actually smiling after I had gotten sick, it was a relief and I had felt tons better! After I had got sick I thought I was done and had got it all out, but then about 20 minutes later it came again. So I decided to just lay on my floor. After the second time I had gotten sick I started to become very tired and sleepy. So I decided to lay down and sleep, sadly I kept waking up every 20 minutes or so to get sick. I also had to get up to the bathroom about five times, to use the bathroom, since I had the runs. It seemed every time I got up to use the bathroom I'd come back to my room to get sick afterwards. I think the worst part of me having the noro virus that time is that I kept waking up every 20 minutes to get sick and I was frustrated more than anything! I wanted to sleep dang it! The getting sick part defiantly wasn't the first thing on my mind, not over wanting sleep. Over all I only got sick about 4 or 5 times during the process of the norovirus. I think what really got me through was laying on the floor with a blanket, pillow, fan, ice cold water, and wash rag to wipe my mouth after getting sick. After the v- episodes had ended I had the greatest sleep that I've ever had in my entire life! I woke up and felt so thirsty that I downed about 5 cups of cold water in under 20 minutes! I felt so refreshed and new, ready to take on anything! I had honestly felt like I slept for days, but it was a great sleep I tell you. Even though I felt refreshed and new after waking up, it only lasted through the day, then when it came time to go to bed I started to become very anixious and nervous. I didn't know what emetophobia was at that time, so I started to wonder if something was wrong with me. It stayed that way for about a month. I was in my room all the time laying down with my towel beside me along with my water and wash rag, thinking I was going to get sick. Well I never ended up getting sick, but it constantly felt like I was going to. My mother had started to notice that I was losing weight, questioning why I was always sick. Those few weeks after having the noro virus were horrible. I was actually questioning myself. "Why is it worth living if I'm constantly sick?" I had not been out of the house in at least a month and a half, where I felt like I was trapt. I didn't want to go out of my room let alone the house in the fear that I would get sick. Knowing that I didn't have my fan, wash rag, towel, and cold water beside me if I were to get sick scared me. Well my mother finally had enough with me being sick, so she decided to take me to the doctors. The doctors asked me basic questions, like if I was pregnant, how long the dizzy spells and sick feeling had lasted, if I had any bleeding. They pointed out that I had lost 20 pounds in just a matter of a month. The one thing that actually caught their attention though and actually started to show some concern to was my blood pressure. It was way to high! (Which was most likely due to my anixiety.) Well they suggested that it might be a stomach ulcer, so they tested my blood for the certain bacteria that caused stomach ulcers, it came back clear! But they still had prescribed me on some anti-acid pills and I had took them for the first month or so. After the results had came back negative, I started to feel better, it was a relief of course. I was feeling alright during the day but when night came I felt ill. I was so confused and I felt so hopeless. I actually felt worse when I had no clue what could have been wrong with me, then I do knowing that I have emetophobia. My mother had bought me vitamins and got my pills every month, I took them every day. I finally had started to slowly start eating. The first two weeks I was only eating toast, but it was better than nothing at all. Then the next week I started to eat more solid foods, which I noticed started to make me feel anixious. When I had a full stomach, I felt like I would get sick. I had been online for days searching for any illness or virus that was common to my symptoms, which I noticed started to make me even more weary and scared. But there was always certain symptoms of the illnesses that made me cross them off the list. But while on my search online I came across emetophobia, which matched up perfectly to what I was feeling. Let's just say trying to explain emetophobia to my family was very struggling, they didn't understand at all. They simply told me "Well of course no one likes getting sick.". I could tell that me rambling onto them about it was starting to make them annoyed and frustrated, but it made me feel amazing, that I could open up to them. I even walked to my room crying at times just from the stress of them not listening to me. But after awhile I think they started to open up to it more and they try to keep my mind off of it. I do have to say that my family and I forcing myself to get out of my room and to start doing activities that took my mind off of getting sick worked! But it still effects me at night time. I honestly don't think the actual act of getting sick effects me, it's before getting sick. The stomach ache and the tingling feeling in the back of my throat, the waiting game, it effects me more than anything! Sometimes I even stick my finger down my throat to try to force it to happen on my own, but nothing comes up. I never even had that gagging/tingling feeling in the back of my throat since I had the noro virus, yet I always thought I would end up getting sick, but I didn't! I started to notice that it IS all in my head, I'm not actually going to get sick. I would know if I was going to get sick. I tell myself that I would gag first before even getting sick, just as a warning and it helps! I noticed that even sticking my fingers down my throat just about two times when I get feeling anixious helps a lot. But what effects me the most is waiting on fall/winter for the noro virus to come back around. I don't mind getting the virus, I just don't want to have to wait to get it. But I can say that I've been doing great compared to what I was. I do honestly believe that you can get rid of emetophobia, or at least tame it.
Here are some things I remind myself of if I start to have a panic attack.
1. The chances of you getting the norovirus every year are slim. (I went over seven years without getting it and that's just from what I can remember.)
2. If you do get norovirus it only takes 2 days to get rid of, in most cases.
3. You get some great freaking sleep from recovering from the norovirus, heck yeah!
4. Chances are you got family or friends around you that will be there for you during the short time that you have norovirus.
5. Just about everyone has gotten sick in their lifetime and it's completely natural!
6. Try to smile and be cheerful during your time of sickness, know that it doesn't have to be that bad of a experience.
7. When getting sick don't try to hold anything in, just let your body go loose and let it all out. It goes a lot more smoother.
8. There is thousands of people out there getting sick then moving on with their lifes like it was a simple cough.
9. You're not alone. There are other emetophobics out there that go through the exact same thing. There are sites like this one that brings us all together in our rough times.
Some things I do to help relax myself during my panic attacks
1. Put a cold ice pack below my chest, close to my ribs.
2. Having a trashcan close to my bed. (Not because I'm actually going to get sick, but because it helps ease my mind knowing that you have something right beside you just in case.)
3. Watching t.v. distracts me and helps almost instantly.
4. Have a fan blowing cold air against you, or having your AC on.
5. Taking deep breath about 10 seconds apart from each other.
6. Remain sitting up an hour after you eat.
7. I never let it be dead silent in my room, I always want something to listen to, even the fan!
8. I noticed drinking green tea with honey helps my stomach ease, you can pick one up right at your gas station too.
9. Keeping myself busy during the day, never letting myself just sit around wondering what to do next. Just always being on the go.
If you all read down this far, thank you. I really hope to become friends with you all and help each other.
(Excuse me for my bad grammar!)
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Re: My story.
Originally Posted by vicktrola
