It's so hard to do things with emetophobia sometimes!

[leilanimessenger]

I've had emetophobia since I was in middle school and have always struggled with going out. Concerts, bars (not in middle school lol), and particularly the downtown areas of the cities I've lived in.

Does anybody else have similar troubles? It's really hard to go out to places that I don't have an easy route out of. My digestive system is really iffy, so I feel queasy with alarming frequency sometimes.

I get so anxious when my husband and I are going downtown. The first time we visited Eugene we were going to have dinner at a restaurant and bar downtown and I couldn't even make it past the parking garage. I had been feeling kind of sick and it got worse after we got out--so I asked to go back to the hotel room (a request I make with alarming frequency it seems). We drove for just a few minutes and my stomach got worse and worse until I asked to pull over. I wasn't sick, but I made my husband sit with me while I was paralyzed with fear in an abandoned parking lot. Fear of being sick, fear of being away from home while I was feeling sick, and terrified of making a mess on myself or the car or my shoes etc.

Who else as problems with this? I feel like such an asshole when we're out and I make my husband take me back home. I NEVER go out in someone else's car because then I'm not in control of transportation out of the public place. I don't go out with other people that often, and never out late to a bar for fear of being around someone else who's sick.

I do still make myself go out and I try not to let myself run back home if I'm feeling kind of crappy. Usually it's just air bubbles in my stomach! Why doesn't it matter that I KNOW intellectually that I won't be sick while I'm out??

I know it's good to push my boundaries, but it never seems to make a difference! It's just as hard to go out every time. I feel so helpless about this! There are tons of really cool things to do downtown, but I make myself sick with worry about getting motion sick from all the turns or feeling sick and needed to leave-and it not being easy to get back home. It makes me feel helpless and terribly guilty for ruining my husband's good time. I know he doesn't mind, but it doesn't make me feel an ounce less guilty.

Please tell me I'm not alone in this!

[olschesky]

i was that way for a long time. the dr put me on prozac about 10 years ago and it has made a world of difference for me. i still get panicky sometimes when i know i have social plans.....and usually i can push through it now..........the "having to leave" episodes have almost completely gone away. it keeps me from obsessing 24/7 about v. it also seems that distractions work better for me now and so once i get out somewhere and start having fun the panic leaves me.

hope you find something that works for you......it is such a bad feeling.......but you are sooooo not alone in it

[Mhopp11]

You just have to breathe deeply an realize that it's not actually your stomach it's just your anxiety. Chewing mint gum helps for me and making sure that I'm with people that I feel comfortable around. Good luck!

[netty]

My emets is more focused on others v* rather than myself but i understand how you feel. My partner is really sociable, likes to have a drink in town etc but i get so nervous going out esp when their is drinking involved. He tries to make plans to do things and i either freak out and say no or say yes and want to leave early. I feel like i'm spoiling his social life and we don't have many friends because of me and my emets. I'ts really hard and sometimes i feel really guilty.

[sherri62s]

Wow, reading your story is almost like reading my own biography. I have struggled with this my entire life - for as long as i can remember I have been afraid of vomiting myself and being around anyone who has recently vomited, is feeling nauseated, or has been drinking to excess. Another thing that very much worries me is being around large groups of children, such as in a school or daycare centre where GI illnesses are common and can run rampant. This ridiculous fear has basically controlled my life for so long now that I fear I will never get it under control. I too avoid bars and have trouble eating out. I have severe anxiety related to food and when I know that we are planning a meal out, I rarely make it through the meal without having to leave the restaurant because I feel I may throw up. When one of my kids are ill, I either have to leave the house completely (after basically sterlizing myself) and anything that I may have touched that they did, or if leaving is not an option I will go to the furthest part of the house and turn on loud music so that i don't have to listen to them being ill. Also anytime anyone i know is ill my entire house gets disinfected and all laundry gets washed in the hottest water possible. All door knobs must be wiped with disinfecting wipes, as well as light switches, counter tops, etc. I live on Gravol as it give me some sort of comfort to think that this may decrease my chances of vomiting. I am so tired of this and I know of no one else personally who has this fear, which makes me feel very alone and isolated. The fall and winter season when the typical flu bugs tend to circulate are a living hell for me and I basically don't leave my house other than to go to work. My doctor has suggested BMT for me, but I am terrified that this will involve some sort of exposure therapy. When I tell most people about this they look at me like I am some kind of side show freak. Either that or they just don't appreciate the extent of my fear and think of it more as a "dislike" of vomiting - well, seriously, who LIKES vomiting? There is not a day that goes by that this phobia does not consume me. When I actually do feel super nauseated, I am quite literally paralyzed with fear - I lay in my bed having hot flashes, my mouth salivating, shaking like a leaf and completely unable to move. I am so glad to have found this group so that I can see that I really am NOT alone.

[Pupluv3]

I feel that way all the time! Same exact thing. But my parents get mad when it happens. I hate going to school and church. It's where most of my issues occur. Don't feel alone, it's like u told my story for me.