Has anyone lost their fear after vomiting?

[chris_alice]

I always read how emetophobia gets worse instead of better after a person gets sick to their stomach for any reason so I'm wondering if there's anyone here who's had the opposite and lost their fear after they got sick. And I don't mean lost it for a few hours or a few days I mean lost it permanently or at least did the fear significantly go down and stay down? It scares me to read that the fear gets worse after because that tells me vomiting really is as bad as I think it is. Is that wasn't true why do people get more scared after the fact instead of less scared. I'm rambling so I'll shut up now.

[gumdropper1]

Please read the cases of people getting cured and not cured on my web site: http://emetophobia.byethost15.com

[KaydeeJayde]

I'm not afraid of myself vomiting, so I can't answer this question on a personal level, but I'd think that it'd take a few vomiting events to really cure someone. Those who are cured after one time, that's fantastic, but I think they're in the minority. Think of it sort of like a really real version of the exposure therapy you might do in therapy.

As for why some people are more scared, perhaps they weren't ready to face their fear that full on, or maybe the event of vomiting was a particularly traumatic one, it's hard to know without being a mental health professional.

I hope this has been a little helpful

[jkl81]

Kaydeejayde is right. I have become less emet in one case and more anxious in another case after v*. It's unpredictable which way it will go, except I think it has a better chance of being a relatively positive thing if you have decided that you want to face your fear and are done with avoidance. If you still are in emet mode it's really a tossup as to what the outcome will be like, based on my own experience and what I've seen in 5+ years on IES and talking with other emets.

[nikinlove927]

Kadee, I wish I had your emet! I know that sounds odd but I'd rather not be afraid of myself being I'll. Of course, I am also terrified of others being sick too. Ugh...stupid phobia!!

[KaydeeJayde]

Kadee, I wish I had your emet! I know that sounds odd but I'd rather not be afraid of myself being I'll. Of course, I am also terrified of others being sick too. Ugh...stupid phobia!!

No you don't. It's just as awful.

[cycle]

Kadee, I wish I had your emet! I know that sounds odd but I'd rather not be afraid of myself being I'll. Of course, I am also terrified of others being sick too. Ugh...stupid phobia!!

I used to think that, bc people vomiting doesn't bother me at all. But then I realized it would be just as bad because you have ZERO control. Emets emet, a phobia is a phobia. The grass is always greener, man.

[KaydeeJayde]

I used to think that, bc people vomiting doesn't bother me at all. But then I realized it would be just as bad because you have ZERO control. Emets emet, a phobia is a phobia. The grass is always greener, man.

Thank you Cycle. I don't think either is better or worse, you've hit the nail on the head, the grass is always greener.

[RainbowRaea]

Mine doesn't go away for long periods of time, but when I know I'm going to v*, I come to a general acceptance with it, and after I have v*ed, the concept doesn't bother me as much. Because I know it's my body trying to make itself feel better.

[chris_alice]

Everybody - thanks for your input. I guess I was questioning if anyone really ever overcomes this phobia despite the very few recovery stories. About which phobia is better, I too wish I was afraid of others vomiting but that's because I don't have that fear but if I did, like KaydeeJayde, it would be just as bad as my fear. All phobias are irrational and it doesn't matter what you're phobic of, the fear and terror are all the same, whether you're afraid of vomiting or if you're afraid of spiders. It's all the same shit.

[KimberlyP]

I think it also matters what you considered 'cured'. As much as we all hate this sentence, it's true...nobody really likes throwing up. My friend told me that she gets a little scared before she does it and will even sometimes pray she doesn't do it, but Neither she nor I consider her emetophobic. I guess at this point in my life I can be seen as lost my fear of vomiting, or being cured. I don't think about it like I used to, I sleep better, when something triggers my g reflex I don't hold it back anymore and I just let it happen. But I still shake when I do it, I am terrified when it's happening and have to have my husband calm me, and after it stops, I hope it doesn't happen again. I'm also still really scared of getting a stomach virus or food poisoning to the point it's still a phobia. I guess it depends on an individual person if they believe I'm cured or not.

Also, I agree with others, no offence to Niki. I personally would rather have arachnophobia (spiders) than this phobia but to a person who suffers day in and day out of arachnophobia, I'm sure they'd trade places with us in a heart beat. I'd just rather have no phobia and just learn to deal with things like a normal person.

[caz457]

Yes, I've lost my fear for the most part. I still feel a little nervous/anxious about it, but I think that's normal, just because it's not pleasant. It is nothing compared to how I used to feel (having panic attacks on a daily basis just at the thought of vomit). After my first episode of vomiting, the fear lessened for a few weeks/months (can't remember exactly). However, after a few episodes over a course of a few years, the fear has more or less gone.

The last time I was sick was November. I woke up in the morning about 7am and felt extremely nauseous. I was a little nervous about, but I just watched TV to distract myself until it happened. It wasn't a pleasant experience and I did feel nervous about it, but I didn't panic or feel extreme anxiety or anything like that.

The last time I saw someone else be sick was about 1 month a go and it didn't phase me in the slightest.

I can't speak for everyone, but in my own personal experience, vomiting reduces the fear of it afterwards. I don't consider myself emetophobic now. About 6 years a go, I used to worry about being sick every single day, to the point that eating or drinking anything would regularly cause me to experience extreme anxiety/panic. I'd wake up in the middle of the night experiencing panic attacks, terrified that I was going to be sick. It was hell and I'm so glad to be rid of it. Now, I barely think about being sick and only experience mild anxiety in the short period before it happens (and even then sometimes I don't get this).

Vomiting is horrible, but emetophobia is much much worse.

[Mila]

Vomiting is horrible, but emetophobia is much much worse.

This is exactly it!

I have had emet since the age of 14 (so 15 years nearly), but it comes and goes. Some years are fine and I barely think of it, some years are tough and I wake up worried every night. I think it has to do with loads of other factors, the good years have been generally years in which I was happy and well overall and the bad years have been the years were emotional trauma of other sorts bothered me. Not always but in general.
I am not one of those people who has gone for eons without vomiting, I am at 2 years now, and that is one of my longer stretches (I had a like 8 year stretch in there initially, but since then it has been more or less once a year or every 2). While I panic when it doesn't actually happen, when it is inevitable, I can sort of deal with it. And it is always fairly short lived. i am still absolutely terrified of "vomiting for hours on end" which hasn't happened to me (the one time it was bad I went to hospital and felt better once they gave me drugs).

But having it happen does not cure me, being in a good emotional state, happy with my life and active with sports, etc... does make it a lot better!

[rebecca1976]

Hi guys, I am new yet not new, I was a frequent member on this site 2010/2011 when my phobia had a huge hold of me and my life. Unintentional exposure worked for me. My son who was 5 at the time started to get frequent bouts of tonsillitis usually with an ear infection too, the high temps he had as well as huge tonsils that used to swell so much that they triggered his gag reflex, needless to say he used to vomit a lot, so badly that he was hospitalised twice. The first few attacks of vomiting that he had would send me into severe panic attacks, I would ring my mum who would come round and deal with the situation until it was over. my son had a bad bout of tonsillitis when my parents were away on holiday and my 18yr old daughter (who was back up in these situations) was staying at her boyfriends miles away. It was just gone 2am when I woke up to the sound of him retching, I panicked at first, then thought about my darling little boy and started a mantra in my head, I can do this, he needs me, I can do this, he needs me! I put on my surgical mask and gloves that I keep in my bedside drawer and went to him (yep, I'm an emet, always prepared) my heart was thumping and my whole body was shaking as I went into his room, I sat next to him and put a blanket over my legs and started consoling him, he was then very sick and started crying, seeing my boy so distressed spurred me on to continue being brave, I sat him in his beanbag and stripped the bed and then him, took the lot downstairs and straight into the washing machine, rushed back upstairs with a beaker of water and encouraged him to take sips, I ran a him a bath and popped a few toys in too, I bathed him, colour was coming back into his face and lips so I knew he wasn't going to be sick again. I got him into clean pj's and tucked him up in bed with me, I grabbed a roll of kitchen paper and his sandcastle making bucket and put them next to the bed and stuck a Harry potter DVD on we both fell asleep. A couple of weeks later he had his tonsils out and problem solved. Last month I had a call from his school to pick him up, he was running a temp and had the sniffles, I got him home and he refused all food but drank diluted coke, I had a feeling that he would be sick at some point so prepared myself for it, mask, gloves, towels, kitchen paper. He was sick at just gone 4am in my bed and I dealt with it, I was a bit shaky but I was there with him and helped and cuddled him and cleared up. Bizarrely his temp broke about half an hour after being sick and we went back to sleep. I want to make it clear that about 5 years ago I was as meet as an meet can be, I was on antidepressants and had a repeat for diazepam, I needed a diazepam to go to the supermarket, I would obsessively clean everyday, would question my daughter about who had been off school and what was wrong with them, I was severely underweight from worrying about being sick, an empty stomach can't be sick I thought at the time. I won't say I'm cured as I still panic if I feel queasy and keep motilium in my handbag and next to my bed, I still look at people suspiciously if they look 'off colour' I still worry if I hear there is a stomach bug going round but I don't obsessively think about it all day and I lead a relatively normal life. Sorry about the long post but I wanted to share my story, there is hope out there for all of you who are at rock bottom! I HAD to deal with sick and I did it!!

[sdd]

Well, I had a v'ing episode after 24 years and it actually made me much worse. I think, though, that it was because we were in a tiny hotel room and ALL of us caught it. It was rough only having one bathroom. The v'ing wasn't actually bad at all.

And, I don't fear other people v'ing at all...only if it's contagious. But, I think it would be just as hard. I hate this phobia.

[Hannah A.]

My fear started in 2011 and last December in 2013 I got sick and threw up... I went back to fearing it - and worse - the very next night.