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  1. #1
    Join Date
    Apr 2018
    Location
    England
    Posts
    34

    Default How did your emetophobia start?

    I'm curious how emetophobia became a problem for people

    For me personally when I think back to my childhood I used to be HYSTERICAL if someone in my house was poorly and I was a very anxious child but emetophobia was definitely not a daily problem. I can't think of anything in my childhood that could have caused my phobia. Although, I did have an accident when I was 3 where I knocked my front teeth out and I can't remember it but my mum is certain this is the cause becaus she said my mouth was full of blood and she thinks my 3 year old brain made some kind of association.

    Then on my first day of year 10 (I was 14) there was a boy in my class who was GREEN. I remember watching him like a hawk and I remember I couldn't think about anything except watching him incase he v*. Then he did. I saw it coming so I looked away and covered my ears. The whole class was pointing and laughing so I tried to do the same. But my face was burning and my fingers were white from pressing on my ears and my heart was going crazy. Then he left the class and went home or whatever. The lesson continued and it was like something just snapped in my head. All of a sudden all I could think about was v*. When I was certain the boy had been sent home I went to the school nurse and told her I felt n* and got sent home. Then I didn't go back to school for about a year. It was all I could think about.

    I'm now 23 and i've lived with severe emetophobia ever since.

    Is my story a common/unusual cause for emetophobia?

    What triggered you?

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Sep 2005
    Location
    United States
    Posts
    5,096

    Default Re: How did your emetophobia start?

    I puked in my sleep at age 8. Emet ever since.
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  3. #3

    Default Re: How did your emetophobia start?

    I was thinking about this the other day cos most people start off with a horrible childhood trauma, and I think the reason being is that as adults, v* is THE most dreadful thing, so imagine all of us going through it with only a bit of life experience with probably no chance of avoiding it (kid immunity) plus I reckon bad memories are magnified in general ..I actually think of how brave I was back in primary school, two girls I got on the bus with were always on the verge of v* and one time I had to not only look after one of them but my friend had her head against the window and said "I can't look or be with anyone sick..please help me".. and that's actually one of my biggest emet achievements as I was juggling both

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Aug 2009
    Location
    USA
    Posts
    286

    Default Re: How did your emetophobia start?

    My mother was emetophobic, although this wasn't something anyone realized until later on in life. I picked up her distress relating to vomit. She would tell me not to eat certain things or I'd get sick. If I ate too late at night, she would threaten me that I was going to get sick. (Yes, she was an abusive bitch as well.) So I became afraid to eat certain things, or I thought that if I ate food too late a night, I would throw up. Doing any of these things gave me great anxiety. She didn't let me do certain things, like let me go on field trips because "something might happen to me" and although she never really specified what it was, I think my mind drew its own conclusions. She gave this fear to my sister as well, but my sister managed to get over it in her 20s.

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Aug 2011
    Posts
    124

    Default Re: How did your emetophobia start?

    My earliest memory of being afraid of v* is when my dad yelled at me for doing it in front of him and my mom. I don’t even remember being afraid when I first got sick on the stairway on my way to telling them I didn’t feel good. A small part of me wants to as my dad why he yelled at me, but I am afraid he will deny that he did and it could just cause an argument.

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Jun 2018
    Posts
    12

    Default Re: How did your emetophobia start?

    This is going to sound weird but I literally don’t know. I didn’t have a bad experience of v*. As far as I remember I didn’t like it but it didn’t really bother me. I developed the phobia randomly I believe. I think it started as being scared I’d v* in public but now I’m just scared of v* wherever, whenever, I’m absolutely terrified to the core of v*. this fear is the worst ��!

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Dec 2012
    Location
    Rushden, England
    Posts
    161

    Default Re: How did your emetophobia start?

    I think it started when I got my first ever tummy bug. Well, as far as I remember it was my first lol. I was 4 years old. Only ever used to rinse my hands with cold water and that was it, so I caught it from thr nursery that I used to go to. Woke up early hours on a Sunday morning thinking 'what is this feeling?' I obviously didn't know at that age... and then I v*d in my bed and I was absolutely mortified. I had no idea what had just happened.

    I used to get unwell a lot as a kid anyways with everything you could imagine. But sv* were ALWAYS the worst. Used to catch them a lot and so did my brother.

    I had salmonella for 8 days when I was about 7 or 8 years old too, so now I refuse to eat chicken from anywhere apart from my own home. I pretty much turn vegetarian if I eat out anywhere lol.

    The last time I became REALLY unwell was almost 8 years ago. I was 14 and my friends all wanted to get a KFC. With my fear of chicken from my previous experience, I was hesitant but ate some anyway as I was starving and hadn't eaten KFC in years. 2 days later, I regretted it. I was laid up for 5 days feeling absolutely horrific. And what's worse is that it was a week before Christmas. So now I dread Christmas time because I think that its going to happen all over again 🙈.

  8. #8

    Default Re: How did your emetophobia start?

    I honestly don't know what it was. Ever since I can remember I've been afraid of germs. When I was 4 or 5, I would scrub my hands and arms up to my elbows in the bathroom. I wouldn't eat out and I wouldn't eat anything I had to touch or others had touched. I wouldn't drink out of glasses because I was afraid a piece of glass would chip off and tear open my insides. At 5 years old!!!

    I got so starved that my teachers (when I got into public school) were calling social services because they thought my parents were abusing me by not feeding me. They didn't think that a little child could have such a phobia of eating! I was sent to a child therapist and he too was absolutely baffled at my complex symptoms. He concluded that I was very intelligent, and picked up on things adults worry about, but I didn't have the emotional maturity to "make sense out of chaos" like adults can. Then at about 8 I v*d at school and I snapped. I refused to go to school, I refused to go anywhere without my parents, and started having massive panic attacks over just about anything. I didn't sleep at night. I remember banging my head against a wall hoping that it would kill me. It was bad.

    I had some medical problems too. For about two years I would get strep throat nearly every other month. I also had severe chronic constipation, probably from being extremely anal retentive. My doctor now thinks I have a disorder called PANDAS that is caused by strep which for some reason causes emetophobia.

  9. #9
    Join Date
    Jun 2018
    Posts
    2

    Default Re: How did your emetophobia start?

    When I was 10 years old, my aunt used to pretend like she was about to throw up. I mean she would gag, cry and grab my arms begging for me to help her and when I would cry she would hug me and start laughing....Who does this?

    However,.....looking at the positive.....

    I am now 52 and have been through so much that I probably would've turned to alcohol and drugs. The only reason why I never indulged was because of the fear of throwing up.
    So, in some strange way, I truly believe this phobia has saved me from a lot of things. Don't get me wrong, this phobia is real!

  10. #10
    Join Date
    Jun 2018
    Posts
    1

    Default Re: How did your emetophobia start?

    Watched Monty Pythons Meaning of Life.
    The guy in the restaurant freaked me out.
    My mother bought the book and found it funny to open it on that page and make noises like she was going to v*.
    I was probably about 5/6 at the time, I'm 26 now and have actually just become aware that there is a name for what I've been dealing with, which is a great relief.

  11. #11
    Join Date
    Jun 2018
    Posts
    3

    Default Re: How did your emetophobia start?

    New here, good to meet everyone.

    *Warning, GRAPHIC**



    When I was in 3rd grade at the very beginning of the day a girl raised her hand and said she didn't feel well. Our jerk teacher asked her why she came to school feeling unwell, rather then helping her to the restroom. She leaned over and v* twice (the splashing was awful) and the smell was nauseating and another kid got sick in the garbage. We later learned she had a bowel blockage and apparently had vomited fecal matter which explained the smell. She ended up having surgery and was out for a while but when she came back months later I was terrified and asked to be moved to the back corner away from her.

    I know it wasn't her fault the sound and smell and mini chain-reaction are all why I have emetophobia.

  12. #12
    Join Date
    Feb 2018
    Location
    New Zealand
    Posts
    122

    Default Re: How did your emetophobia start?

    *graphic post*

    When I was small (about 11) my grandfather was diagnosed with terminal bowel cancer. We visited him in the hospital one day. He said he felt sick and called for a nurse. He suddenly violently vomited. His puke was dark red. The nurse looked very worried; but she didn't say anything. She had gone to get something to help my grandfather. I remember my mother saying we should go. An hour later we found he had died in hospital.
    Be easy to love,
    Hard to break,
    and Impossible to forget!

  13. #13
    Join Date
    Sep 2013
    Location
    Brooklyn, NY
    Posts
    349

    Default Re: How did your emetophobia start?

    Quote Originally Posted by blacklight3 View Post
    *graphic post*

    When I was small (about 11) my grandfather was diagnosed with terminal bowel cancer. We visited him in the hospital one day. He said he felt sick and called for a nurse. He suddenly violently vomited. His puke was dark red. The nurse looked very worried; but she didn't say anything. She had gone to get something to help my grandfather. I remember my mother saying we should go. An hour later we found he had died in hospital.
    Oh my goodness, how traumatizing and scary, especially at 11 years old.

    For me it was a SV at age 13. I hadn't V prior to that since being very, very little, so the sensations felt so alien and terrifying to me. I woke up really early in the morning, had D, went back to bed and felt N but I don't remember ever having a feeling of "this is it" and having to run to the bathroom. So I didn't, and out of nowhere V all over the floor. I felt so disgusted, afraid, and yet also detached from reality and "crazy," and it made a permanent impression on me.

    I believe there is something inherently horrifying about V. This is why TV shows love to depict it all the time, and worse, spring it on viewers out of nowhere to make it even more startling and revolting. And if V happens in an episode of a TV show, you can be sure they'll show it again in the recap next week, too, just to get maximum impact from it.

  14. #14
    Join Date
    Jun 2018
    Location
    California
    Posts
    27

    Default Re: How did your emetophobia start?

    What triggered my emetophobia was when I was 12 years old my cousin who was old enough to drink got really drunk and he came home like that. The next morning he woke up and v* into a bucket by his bed he made his way to the bathroom and almost didn't make it he vd* again one the floor it was bad I heard it and luckily didn't see it. I locked myself in our clean bathroom for about 5 mins and the went outside. He sounded like a dinosaur it was so loud and ever since then I've been afraid of v* good luck to all you other emets.

  15. #15
    Join Date
    Jun 2018
    Location
    Sweden, Västernorrland, Sollefteå
    Posts
    28

    Default Re: How did your emetophobia start?

    My sister who is really good at getting s***, infected like the whole daycare when i was 4-5 with SV and i saw like 4 people v* around me only minutes between, it was fucking terrifying. I ended up getting s*** also. .It was such an uncomfortable feeling to know that "You're probably going to catch it". I never v*ed since that time except for one time when i got severe constipation. After those times, i was really scared of v*ing. But i managed to get away the horrible "Emetophobia thoughts" and live a normal life. I actually kind of forgot why i was so scared of it, that's how good i managed to get away from my phobia. But in April this year, i got stomach problems which has scared me alot. I don't know if it's anxiety or acid reflux or something else, i'm planning to see a doctor to know what it is. Anyways, the stomach problems made me constantly think about "What if i'm going to v*". And the constant thoughts gave me thoughts close to the ones when you get an existential crisis, they will end up keeping you awake at night and will probably leave you scared.

    So yeah, that's my story in a big block of text.

  16. #16
    Join Date
    Jan 2018
    Location
    Sydney, Australia
    Posts
    11

    Default Re: How did your emetophobia start?

    I don't even know! I just always hated v*. I remember in preschool, my teacher told me how much she v*d while carrying her son. Although I really wanted to marry a prince and have kids with him (lol preschoolers), even then as a child I immediately thought "oh heck no I am NEVER going to have kids!"

  17. #17

    Default Re: How did your emetophobia start?

    I have had a fear ever since I was little (like I can't remember a time when I did not have that fear). From work with my therapist we think it is likely that I just understood what death was at a young age, and began associating being sick with death.

  18. #18
    Join Date
    Jul 2018
    Posts
    4

    Default Re: How did your emetophobia start?

    Though she's never admitted to it, my mum has it about as bad as I do. I think I picked it up just watching the way she acted and attaching a huge amount of stress and fear to it. It only got really bad for me at about 16 and even now i go through stages with it.

  19. #19
    Join Date
    Nov 2017
    Posts
    25

    Default Re: How did your emetophobia start?

    I had a really bad SV when I was 7, for which I ended up in hospital with a drip in my arm. The V and D lasted for a week, it was unbearable. After this, during my recovery, I developed severe bouts of N that nobody could diagnose and i had to go in for all these tests. Turned out it was anxiety N. It went away when I was 12 or 13, but has come back recently after my mum got a SV and I got so worried about catching it - this was just the first trigger that set off a downwards spiral. The other half of it was that I worked at a cancer hospital for a while and seeing people in there gave me the worst health anxiety. I went to work every day feeling N for 6 whole months. I had to eventually quit the job and it's been with me ever since. It's more mild now and I don't get N as often, but whenever something triggers it..... I just wish I could go back to that beautiful window between age 13 and 22 where I was fine and had no fear

  20. #20
    Join Date
    Apr 2017
    Posts
    1,023

    Default Re: How did your emetophobia start?

    Do you have children ? How have you not vomited in 42 years ?

  21. #21

    Default Re: How did your emetophobia start?

    Late post to this thread... mine started at age 4ish. It's kinda hard to remember, I blocked a lot of it out.
    Basically, my sister, who was 16 or 17 at the time, was bulimic. One day, on Halloween, I was at a little holiday party at my preschool. My mom got a call from my sister and my mom told me we had to go home immediately. She didn't tell me why. When we got home it turned out that my sister was p*rging and had choked while doing so, so v* was all over the toilet seat and in the hallway and on the baby gate. When I walked down the hall to the bathroom, I froze, and at this point, she was still v*ing because she was choking. I couldn't move, I was just staring at her and watching my mom clean up the v*. I didn't feel scared or anything but I definitely didn't go into fight or flight, just freeze. I was like a deer in the headlights. I guess you could say I had some type of cognitive change starting then. When I could finally move I asked my mom what was happening because I didn't understand. I had never had noro or anything (at least not at an age that I could remember at the time as I was only 4), so I didn't understand. I also didn't know that my sister was bulimic and that that's why she choked at the time. I remember feeling really embarrassed and like my face was hot when I was talking to my mom. I was looking down at my feet like I had seen something dirty.

    Anyways, so from then on I became petrified of v*. I got noro right after I turned 5, then noro again and food poisoning once when I was 10, but nothing ever since. The whole thing is really weird and layered because that sister who was bulimic molested me as a child and then took her own life when I was 6 and I deal with OCD and an eating disorder of my own.

 

 

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