Is It Just Me???

[faliraki]

Is it me or is it true that the less you are sick, the more you panic about it? I have never been a sickly person and I wonder if that is the cause, because I don't know how it feels to be sick, I feel ill all the time! The last time I was ill was about 4 years ago and I remember feeling really rough, but now the slightest little stomach ache and I'm panicking. Most days I feel bad but I can deal with it most of the time and know it's 'JUST ME'. I then get angry with myself because I've spent all day feeling ill and not eating for nothing. I can understand how some people with emetophobia get mistreated as anorexics because sometimes it really makes me not want to eat (not that I could ever go too long without my food!).


Let me know your thoughts!

[clairethebear]

I can definitely relate to the bit you say about not knowing what it feels like to actually feel sick. Who would after not doing the deed for such a long time. Because of this I too think I feel sick when I probably don't but because I have no idea how it really feels I am not sure what I am really feeling. I guess the moral of the story is that it clearly doesn't do a person's thoughts any good not to have v'd for so long. I am 29 and the last time it happened to me was when I was 7 years old and had a well nasty stomach bug. Before that I think I only got sick once or twice as a kid. If I ever complained to my mum and feeling like I was going to be sick she would always say "you don't know what it means to feel sick". She was right but I cannot help but feel that that only makes the panic worse because if you don't know what it feels like then you cannot possibly know whether it is going to happen or not. I hope I am making sense!

[2jo2]

I know exactly what you're talking about and I have a small feeling that is what caused me to be an emet, if that's possible. I remember thinking at one point when I was about 14 that I hadn't been sick in along time and how I was hoping that wouldn't be the year I would get sick and how I didn't know if I'd remember how. Then I remember always feeling sick in the stomach. I didn't start the panicking about it until about 8 years ago.

[Jenneh]

mm i know wot u mean...


wen i hadnt felt proper nausea in about 6 years, i just thort ne slight stomach twinge was nausea... but then i felt it.. and realised what i had been worrying about before.. was NOT nausea in the slightest.


Jen xxxx

[Melikasa]

I think that it does contribute to it. I remember the REAL nausea feeling now from the night I gave birth and I realized the difference from what I THOUGHT was nausea before.

It has been long enough now that I am starting to get confused again. It turns out Iam just hungry or gassy or normal intestinal movements. I think that as soon as we (as Emets) feel "wierd" or sense something happening down there we start to panick and panck can lead to queasiness and then we panick more then the spiral begins.

[cwarren]

I know exactly what you mean - I feel sick every day (at least, I think I do!) and have felt like this every day for the past 5 years.


The thing is, when you feel sick ,the more you start to worry about it, the worse you feel until you get to the point where you really think you will be sick!


It seems that we think iourselves unwell!

[ejb199]

its the panic attacks that are making us feel so sick all the time guys. honestly, once i get a grip of my breathing, i dont feel so sick and yuk.

I dont think this theory is true anyway - lets not try and kid our selves into a false sense of hope - my parents are not emets and they havent been sick for over 15+ years. i know exactly where u are coming from tho coz i felt exactly the same when my emet was at its worse. i would feel that if i wasnt panicking then i had some what let my guard down. We HAVENT tho - what are we even guarding against? having been sick twice this year, i can honestly say that you will KNOW when it really is going to happen - and the sick u feel when panicking is totally different. i have found that yoga helps me relax and helps me focus on my breathing in these situations- and really talking to yourself positively in your head instead of letting those irrational thoughts creep through really can calm you down. it takes time and practice tho - really focus on ur breathing - really concentrate. dont let ur mind run away and imagining the worst things that will happen.

anyways - back to work, lots to do - until soon
xx

[aguerra28]

I know exactly what you guys are talking about. I have been sick twice in 20 years. So I don't even know, but I know I wont like it. SO any little thing in my stomach gets me in a panic. I read someplace that if you can imagine food and it doesn't completly make you feel ill, then you are not nauseaus. I try that. When I start to think I feel bad I will say to myself"I would like french fries"(my favorite food). If the thought of french fries does not bother me, then I know it is something else. I try to reason it out in my head. I tell myself I am just being silly, that nothing is wrong with me. I'm just fine. Alot of times that works. And of course breath deeply.


To ejb199: YOu have been sick twice this year? wow. I cannot imagine. you are a brave soul. I just don't know what I would do.

[sweetanya]

I know how you feel. I haven't been sick now since about 12 years, but i have nausea almost everyday. I'm doing anything to don't V**** when it happens but i'm really asking to myself sometimes why i'm so afraid and that can't be so bad after all, but i don't have the courage to experiment it. Everytime that i tried i had huge panic attacks....

[ashleigh864]

Hi everyone.. im new i just found this website and im incredibly releived that im not the only one with this fear! But i agree that the less you throw up the more you fear it. Just like sweetanya ill do anything i can to avoid throwing up and when i feel sick i have a total panick attack. I havnt thrown up in about 5 years, but a few months ago i was on a bus trip and everyone on the bus got the stomach bug but me. I of course totally freaked out and they had to put me on this stuff to knock me out. Luckily they cut the trip short but for the next 4 days i couldnt eat and could barely sleep because i feared that i was going to get the stomach bug like the rest of the people i was with. However i think that if i wouldve just gotten sick it wouldve shown me that it wasnt that bad and i probably wouldve felt better afterwards.

[rachelle]

Yeah its the whole avoidance thing. Ppl that get sick often aren't bothered by it at all it seems.


My mum always tells me that i put myself thru hell every single day with my anxiety andyet if I ever was sick then it would be over within a few seconds. It always gives me something to think about and slowly its enabled me to stop feeling so tense and anxious every second of every day.


Rachel xxx

[2jo2]

I think that is what really revved up my emet about 10 years ago, is the fact that I consiously thought that hey, I hadn't been sick in a long time, since I was a child and that I don't remember what it feels like. It's a scary thing, something that is unknown.

[Melikasa]

Well if you think about it there are a lot of phobias that involve the unknown. Misinformation, movies, lack of experience. Some people can get over their phobias just from proper information and exposure. I am thinking of people afraid of insects, spider and snakes mostly but it is one of the ones that popped in there first.
(probably because I HATE anything with lots of legs like spiders and millipedes.*screeetch*)
I know I haven't been sick a lot. I was nauseated a lot but never sick. So I think that has contributed to my fear. Of course there are other things tied in like embarassment and loss of control but I know that IT just not happening has not helped me out.

[jazz]

i agree with rachelle. It IS over in a couple of seconds. I have never been a sickly person, but they say that nausea is worse than the vomiting. Probably true, because with the nausea, there's this t-e-r-r-i-b-l-e climax until you're either sick,or just feel even worse.
I drive myself mad with anxiety, because it just tugs away at me until the nausea becomes a perminant fixture which i have to live with.
Worrying is worse.
When i feel sick, I panic! I can't sleep! I have to sit upright with peppermint stuffed up my nose. grr i hate emet

[bethie_bear]

yeah i freak out at the slightest little stomach ache coz i dont get ill often i had a stomach ache the other week and ended up freaking out so much i had to go into hospital over night because they thought if i was that scared it must b something for them to realise it was nothing except growing pains lol!

[ateamchick]

i also freak out at the slightest feeling of nausea... but can usually tell the difference between the feeling being brought on by anxiety or being brought on by actual sickness. i can tell when i'm actually going to get sick and when it's just my head telling me i am... but it's still difficult to deal with. but i find that when i know i'm not actually going to be sick that it's easier for me to calm myself down...

[mbs730]

I think there maybe some truth in that. I mean my emet
started when I was 4 after a terrible experience I had with syrup of
ipecac but if I had gotten sick again (and I have but hardly) and more
often I may be less phobic, hard to say. My sister in law (okay now
I'll try to control spitting out the venom, I cant stand her) she v's
all the time and I could SWEAR she is proud of it. She enjoys
attention, she overdramatizes everything, she is a control freak, a
disgusting little freak, ooookkkk I better settle down lol. Well its a
damn good thing I dont see her very often and has never v'ed around me
thank Heavens. Anyway she is definitely not an emet. I know my brother
and her are trying for a baby, I just shutter to know what kind of
morning sickness she is going to experience!!!! Knowing her she'll
probably flaunt it! As for me, I had none with both, except for maybe
the odd wave of nausea here and there when I was pregnant with my
daughter. I didnt find out I was pregnant with my son until I was 3
months along, for that time to pass! Heck I thought I was late all due
to stress, my brother was marrying the hissy control freak Anyway
this is getting a little off topic but yeah I think there might be some
truth to that!



Miriam

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[amch512]

I completely agree...I have only V**** twice in my life. Once when I was about ten, and once when I was drunk (but don't hardly remember the drunk V***...although ever since I have limited myself to one or two drinks...) Sometimes when I think I feel n*****, I almost wish I would v*** just to get it over with and that maybe I wouldn't be so freaked out about it after I did it. Of course...I never just let go and let it happen...I swear I have trained my body not to V***....I would rather be n**** all day than to V*** and feel fine for the rest of the day. And I would be completely fine about being n**** if I knew for sure that I wouldn't v****....