Hi guys, I am new yet not new, I was a frequent member on this site 2010/2011 when my phobia had a huge hold of me and my life. Unintentional exposure worked for me. My son who was 5 at the time started to get frequent bouts of tonsillitis usually with an ear infection too, the high temps he had as well as huge tonsils that used to swell so much that they triggered his gag reflex, needless to say he used to vomit a lot, so badly that he was hospitalised twice. The first few attacks of vomiting that he had would send me into severe panic attacks, I would ring my mum who would come round and deal with the situation until it was over. my son had a bad bout of tonsillitis when my parents were away on holiday and my 18yr old daughter (who was back up in these situations) was staying at her boyfriends miles away. It was just gone 2am when I woke up to the sound of him retching, I panicked at first, then thought about my darling little boy and started a mantra in my head, I can do this, he needs me, I can do this, he needs me! I put on my surgical mask and gloves that I keep in my bedside drawer and went to him (yep, I'm an emet, always prepared) my heart was thumping and my whole body was shaking as I went into his room, I sat next to him and put a blanket over my legs and started consoling him, he was then very sick and started crying, seeing my boy so distressed spurred me on to continue being brave, I sat him in his beanbag and stripped the bed and then him, took the lot downstairs and straight into the washing machine, rushed back upstairs with a beaker of water and encouraged him to take sips, I ran a him a bath and popped a few toys in too, I bathed him, colour was coming back into his face and lips so I knew he wasn't going to be sick again. I got him into clean pj's and tucked him up in bed with me, I grabbed a roll of kitchen paper and his sandcastle making bucket and put them next to the bed and stuck a Harry potter DVD on we both fell asleep. A couple of weeks later he had his tonsils out and problem solved. Last month I had a call from his school to pick him up, he was running a temp and had the sniffles, I got him home and he refused all food but drank diluted coke, I had a feeling that he would be sick at some point so prepared myself for it, mask, gloves, towels, kitchen paper. He was sick at just gone 4am in my bed and I dealt with it, I was a bit shaky but I was there with him and helped and cuddled him and cleared up. Bizarrely his temp broke about half an hour after being sick and we went back to sleep. I want to make it clear that about 5 years ago I was as meet as an meet can be, I was on antidepressants and had a repeat for diazepam, I needed a diazepam to go to the supermarket, I would obsessively clean everyday, would question my daughter about who had been off school and what was wrong with them, I was severely underweight from worrying about being sick, an empty stomach can't be sick I thought at the time. I won't say I'm cured as I still panic if I feel queasy and keep motilium in my handbag and next to my bed, I still look at people suspiciously if they look 'off colour' I still worry if I hear there is a stomach bug going round but I don't obsessively think about it all day and I lead a relatively normal life. Sorry about the long post but I wanted to share my story, there is hope out there for all of you who are at rock bottom! I HAD to deal with sick and I did it!!