Does this happen to anyone else?

[unaware27]

First of all, I just wanted to say today was a really tough emet day for me. I convinced myself I was getting sick and I was out of it all day.

Anyway.

I was at work the other day, and a colleague of mine said she was feeling n*. That immediately made me very nervous because I hate the idea of catching a bug, and I work in very close contact with her. I guess it got bad enough for her to go home, which sent me into full panic attack mode. I was freaking out, sanitizing everything in sight with a bleach cleaner. Then I texted my friend (who only knew the basics about my phobia) and told him what I was going through. At that point he basically said things like "I'm sorry" "Deep breaths" "If you do get sick it will be fine" generic things like that. So i guess my question is, has anyone else had a similar experience? When he told me to take deep breaths and that i would be fine (which i clearly wouldnt be), it made me angry! He has phobias of his own but he completely made mine feel worthless.

[olschesky]

it's hard for a non emet to really understand just how scared we get.......so don't be mad at her sounds like she's doing the best she can to be supportive.

i tell people to take deep breaths in here alot........they really do help if you concentrate while doing them.......so don't hate me

[KaydeeJayde]

Yeah, telling you to take deep breaths isn't really bad advice, it just sounds generic. He's not trying to belittle your phobia or anything, he was trying to help you calm down. I do sometimes get a bit angry when my parents get on my back when I'm panicking, I just have to remember that my mum is just trying to help.

[Erica1649]

I've had co workers come in sick and leave sick, so of course I was mucho paranoid....we even had one of the docs who has three young kids come in after being sick like through the night with a bug I was wearing a surgical mask and wearing gloves haha...

[JaneGoodallFan]

yeah i get mad when people do that

[haylz113]

It is a normal reaction to get angry when you feel like people aren't saying the right thing and don't understand your situations.

If you look at it from his perspective though, he was probably doing the best he could. Would you know what to say to someone with a phobia you don't have? It's not easy.

I know how you feel, because I get angry for the same reasons sometimes. But I do try to remind myself to step back and take a look at the bigger picture. The person is obviously just trying to help, not make things worse. Perhaps trying to teach him more about your phobia would help.

[Dino_101]

I completely understand how you feel. A couple of months ago I went to a therapist because I first admitted I had a problem. But the therapist kept trying to tell me I just need to face my fear and totally didn't get how terrified I was. I got so frustrated because she was making me feel like there was something more wrong with me. This was back when I didnt know about emetophobia, and thinking about it she probably didnt know either, but it still made me feel scared and upset and alone because she didnt understand.
I know what your going through, all I can say is I understand and I hope you are doing well.

[person54321]

I totally understand. It makes me SO irritated/upset when people tell me, "well everyone hates throwing up." "It's not THAT bad." "You'll be fine." As far as I can tell, there's no way to get through to people how serious this really is. It really isn't possible to get other people to understand. I try to think of it like, if someone told me they were terrified to sneeze, I would simply be unable to understand how it's possible.

[TheSweetThinker]

Yeah, my mom did something similar to that a few days ago....when I was starting to worry if I'd caught West Nile virus, I told her about my anxiety (since she knew about my emetophobia and how serious it is), and she just looked at me for a bit and said, "You'll get over it if you do have it"....

That sure didn't help my panic and I found it very insensitive of her to say something like that. I agree with everyone else on here about how non-emets really just don't fully understand this phobia....to most of us, the generic phrase "You'll be fine even if you do get sick" is about as reassuring as being told, "You'll have a nice funeral even if you do die tomorrow"....

[person54321]

Well the good news about west nile is that v* is not a symptom. The other great news is that only 1 in 10 people shows any symptoms whatsoever. 90% of people when exposed show NO symptoms. Most of the 10% who do show symptoms have no idea they have west nile and think they have a minor flu or cold. I looked this up because there's some kind of "outbreak" where I am.

[TheSweetThinker]

Well that's a relief! I've been too afraid to actually look up the symptoms of West Nile since I'm a hypochondriac, lol....but yeah, last week on my local news they were talking about a typical West Nile outbreak around my area, so of course I freaked out when I stepped outside one day and ended up with lots of mosquito bites!

Someone else on here did tell me that any symptoms of West Nile are much like a mild cold or something...but of course, being an emet, I automatically attributed the word "virus" with nausea and v*

Thanks for the information and statistics! =)

[person54321]

Nah you'll be fine. No n* or v*. Even in the severe cases it's not a symptom, though it can cause nerve damage...