It doesn't make any sense for me to be scared, because she is not even in the same country as I am. She is on vacation with her family and is miles and miles away, but she has a stomach bug, and it terrifies me. Some completely irrational part of my mind thinks that somehow I will get it too, even though I haven't seen her for weeks and won't see her for another week (plenty of time for her to get better). It's making it hard for me to eat much, because I'm scared I'm going to v*. It's completely irrational, and I know that, but I don't know how to make the thoughts go away.

On top of that, when she tells me details about how sick she is (she knows about my phobia, so she's been careful not to tell me that she v*ed, though it's been implied by her use of the term "stomach bug", but she's telling me details about her general illness) it really freaks me out. I don't like thinking about sickness in general, because I associate it with v*ing. Plus, I keep picturing her v*ing, and it's incredibly distressing, but I can't make it stop. I want to ask her to stop telling me about her illness, but I know that would be selfish and that it is important that I can be there to talk to when she is not feeling well.

My phobia isn't usually this bad, so I just don't have the skills to cope with it. Can someone please give me some advice on how to stop freaking out about this?