Do you know why/how you became an emet?

[AGirlWithACamera]

Some people say they had a certain traumatic memory or event that triggered their emetophobia. I can't remember mine (if there was one, that is), but am curious if other people can remember theirs or know what may have caused it. You don't have to go into detail if you don't want to. I'm just wondering.

[mamacat]

Yes Memories are interesting, though. For many years, I was sure that I knew the root of my emet. When I was about 9, my father got FP on our family vacation to DisneyWorld. I was trapped in a hotel room with my family. I can clearly remember hiding under the hotel bed and sobbing with my hands over my ears. For a long time, I thought that episode was the cause of my phobia. However, just recently, I was talking with my mother (another emet) and she told me that when I was about 5 years old, I was riding on a parade float with my cousin (also 5) and he v-ed all over himself and me in the middle of the parade. Apparently, I was pretty upset. Like, cried myself sick upset. I seriously did not remember this at all, but she had pictures taken before the parade started and I can sort of remember that now, but not the actual v-ing. I think it's very possible that I don't remember it because it was so scary for me. I also think it could be the cause of my phobia.

I have seen others post about this same issue in the past. I think for most of us, the phobia begins sometime in early childhood.

[Razzle]

I'm not really sure what started mine. I used to ask my mom every night (around age 6) if I was going to TU* and one night, she said no and guess what happened? Let's just say after that night I stopped asking


I had a bunch of sv's as a kid, so I am not sure what triggered it. I don't recall being THIS bad, but as a kid our inhibitions are lower. Plus it's been so long for me, v'ing is a foreign concept.

*Possible trigger warnings below, slightly graphic.

I'm going to say though, that it was probably when I had noro at 4 years old. It. was. AWFUL. Not just the v'ing, but everything. Sometimes you get lucky (well, not as "unlucky") and get a 24-48 hour bug that is annoying but crappy. This one was no joke and had the potential to put me and my 4 relatives in the hospital. V and D came simultaneously out of both ends, fevers, highly contagious. I was 4, my sister was 10, brother was 16, and then there were my parents. All under one roof in an apartment with one bathroom. My mom was the last to catch it and hardly ate, she still v'ed just not as much.

But yeah, it was no fun. The SVs I had thereafter not only were milder but no one else except for maybe my sister caught them. I always fear that particular caliber of sv.

[khernández99]

I ate too much junk food when I was 4 years old.
My story is on my signature.
That is just a 1 sentence conclusion though.

[Sammi1990]

I don't know what started it.

i know what made it worse though.


if I knew what started it, it might be easier to stop this fear!

[Rls1994]

Mine started when I had some 'virus' in 2004 and I was v* for two weeks straight, ended up seriously dehydrated and ended up in hospital. I've been phobic ever since but, oddly, only realized it was a phobia in 2012. Things have been worse since then.

[SparkleSwirl]

***WARNING SOME WORDS AND DETAILS I USE MAY BE GRAPHIC TO PEOPLE WITH EMETOPHOBIA***
By the way, this is an extremely long post so please let me know if it does not show all of it.
I was diagnosed with Celiac Disease at age 2. Whenever I digest gluten/wheat I violently vomit for hours and then become anemic for 3 years. I was 6 years old (in kindergarten). I was at school during the class restroom break and everyone was talking about what they were going to do after school, and I had mentioned that my dad was going to take me shopping. And then after school, we did. We bought a lot of food. I was a foodie back then and so was my dad. I'm so surprised I was never overweight because I was always constantly snacking because my dad wouldn't stop buying me delicious snacks. Haha. Anyway, we were shopping around in a store and I wanted to buy some crackers because they looked really good. I asked my dad for them and I waited while he read the ingredient list and he said that they were okay for me. So he bought them and I was so excited I actually wanted to hold them instead of putting them in the cart. I began to eat them in the car and I thought that they were good, but they tasted a little different than what I was used to. Weirdly, my dad kept reading the ingredient list and that made me nervous. After a long time of snacking away on them, he said, "those have wheat in them." and he took them away. I was calm though. Kind of in denial. I knew what was going to happen. I knew I was expected to throw up but I was actually kind of in denial. Also because I felt fine. Then we went home and my mom let me lay down in her bed. Everyone was worrying and making a big deal out of me but I was all like, "I'll be fine!" I watched Disney Channel on the TV while my mom set a fish trash can next to me "just in case" and to come get her if I didn't feel good. After about an hour or so, I went downstairs. My sister (who is 2 years older than me) was eating rice and my mom offered me some. I said, "no, I'm feeling nauseous." (yes, I knew what the word nauseous was at that age) and then I said, "i feel like I'm going to throw up" and my dad started yelling at me to go to the toilet and so I did. I spent a lot of time just kneeling down in front of the toilet bowl and nothing came out. Until all of a sudden, I started vomiting. It was brown and yellow. I said, "mom, I threw up!" and then she came with me into the bathroom and just rubbed my back as I was throwing up into the toilet. I was vomiting for so long that eventually she just left to go do other things. I heard my parents talking and they were talking about how they might have to take me to the hospital if this kept up. About an hour later of consistent vomiting I had to pee. So I sat on the toilet and had a blue bowl in front of me just in case I started to vomit as I was using the bathroom. But I didn't. I flushed and then vomited again. It was going on for so long that I actually had to pee again. After a while I began to get exhausted. My mom set up an armchair in the middle of the living room for me and put towels on it. I wobbled out holding the blue bowl. I sat on the armchair and occasionally threw up on a towel next to me as I watched TV. Later when I FINALLY stopped, I brushed my teeth. I was pale. I stayed home from school for a couple days. When I went back to school, I remember everyone staring at me because of how pale and skinny I was. Ever since then, I had SEVERE panic attacks whenever someone threw up and for many years, I avoided what was involved on that day. For example, I avoided the fish trash can, blue bowl, that bathroom that same store, etc. I was nervous about anything that involved a big group of people and food (I also developed a fear of wheat food) In first grade when we were going to have a party in the next room, I remember pretending to be having trouble with an assignment so I can delay going in the next room. I was the last one left and was eventually forced to go in and enjoy the party. I was so nervous around everyone. And when someone threw up a couple months later, it was a normal school day in the first grade and we were switching classes for Language Arts. (I was one of the more advanced students in Language Arts. I had the reading level of a 4th grader) and I remember standing in line wondering why it was taking them so long to get the classroom ready. I saw a boy walk out with a trash can. When we entered, I saw throw up on the desk and smelled chemicals. I immediately went into panic mode and felt nauseous. I left the room and went home from having a severe panic attack. I then spent an entire week at home in bed. I was feeling nauseous and dizzy and I was too scared of going back to school and I began to become depressed. Now let's skip to third grade. I went into the lunchroom as usual on the first week of third grade (age 9) and soon I started to feel really crowded and the smells were overwhelming me. I ran out and started gagging as I was running into the hall. I went into the classroom and gulped down the water so much that the nurse said my temperature was in the 80s. I eventually went home and became depressed again. I developed this new weird safety mechanism. I HAD to have my water bottle in sight of me at all times. Even when I was sleeping, I fell asleep hugging my cold water bottle instead of a warm teddy bear because it made me feel safer. I eventually went back to school and i made my mom make my teachers let me carry my water bottle with me wherever I go. Then I was prescribed with Mirtazipine (a medication that helps anxiety and depression mostly) and I had to take it everyday. A really bad thing about my safety mechanism (water) was that my dad knew I panicked without it and so whenever I got in trouble my punishment would be to sit on the stairs and have him take my water away. One time he thought I was being too obsessed with my water bottle so he said that I can't have water for 3 hours. Of course that set me into panic mode but my mom talked him out of it. This story goes on forever but if I make it too long this forum won't even be able to display all of it. P.S. I'm 14 and a half years old now. Still an emetophobic and still have my water bottle safety mechanism but it's not nearly as bad as it was. For example, I can go for a bike ride (not too far from home) without my water bottle and I can hang out with friends without my water bottle and it doesn't have to be in sight. But I would never go to a store without it or anything like that. Goodbye and thank you for reading my story!

[ProudIntrovert]

Mine happened progressively since I can remember. The most traumatic memories are of being in kindergarten and normaly a kid (always boys for whatever reason) would do it next to me (once even happened ON me *shudder*) and the worst part would be how everyone around didn't seem to find it a big deal and I felt like I couldn't get out of there. I felt completely powerless as if I was imprisoned against my will and it angered me that the adults wouldn't even notice I was suffering!
From then on it just escalated...

[there-still-hope]

I don't really rember how....

My mom said I became scared of *v when I was 3 but back then I was scared of other people *v. Then when I was in 3rd grade i remember almost *v in school. That's when my fear became daily...then it stop at the end of 5th grade and came back in the start of 2014.

[emetobella]

I'm pretty sure mine stemmed from being very young (I was somewhere between 3-5). My mother decided to have a harmless alcohol filled gathering with some friends.. Long story short, she ended up being very ill.. several times.. in front of me. Meanwhile, a man (that I didn't know) at the gathering had me on his shoulders.. as I watched my mother be sick.. so the whole experience was pretty traumatizing for me as a child. I didn't really understand what was going on and nobody cared to explain it to me.. mixed in with the fact that strangers were around and I felt unsafe (and we were outside of a gas station at night).. Just a bunch of unsafe feelings as I watched my mother be ill. Scary at the time. This story makes my mother sounds pretty bad lol but I promise she was an amazing parent..

[Sjg333]

I don't really remember mine but my mum is an emetophobe too, when I was little and used to V she couldn't bring herself to comfort me and was a single parent so I was left to deal with it alone while she literally hid around the corner shaking with her hands over her ears, so I basically associated it as a bad thing all my life. I also got FP while on holiday when I was 7 and V'd almost constantly for the full 2 weeks, alone in the small hotel room bathroom while my mum hid and I guess that scared me not even having the comfort of my own home, just my trusty teddy!
I realised I had the phobia when I was about 10/11, I hadn't V'd since the holiday incident (or maybe just once since) I remember really clearly having a chocolate milkshake and suddenly feeling really N and in that moment I started shaking and crying and panicking as I didn't want to v, it was so scary, from that moment I literally didn't leave my bedroom for about 6 weeks (it was the school holidays in summer) as I was so worried that feeling would come over me again, I ended up in emergency therapy as I wouldn't attend school when it came back around of fear of feeling n and getting sick.... As it happens I didn't v at all until just two years ago. I panicked loads but I really really wanted somebody to be with me and hold my hand and reassure me, so I guess my experiences of being alone did have a big impact! Hmph hate this phobia!!