What was your most recent panic attack experience triggered by Emetophobia?

[Jess44246]

Hearing stories from other emetophobics about their experiences with panic attacks help me (and I assume most emetophobics) feel like I'm not alone. You can interpret this as either your most recent severe panic attack or the most recent time panic has been triggered within you. Please share an actually story (not only the approximate date or only what caused it). Also, please don't be too graphic. Use v or v*.

[Smudge1017]

Strangely, my most recent panic attack was yesterday. We had been at an auditorium for an orchestra rehearsal and my friend had v*ed. It was trying my best to control myself, but I kept thinking about how I spent all day with her. I even posted on here. Anyway, having so many peers around me, it wasn't that bad. It was kind of embarrassing through because I began to convulse and cry. From afar, people just assumed I was cold!

[Jess44246]

Well, I would've ran! I always have escape routes. Was it from the heat of the stage? I'm a Trombonist, so I get that. It's hot with the light on you so long and you have to maintain perfect posture. Thanks for sharing!

[crd08]

Tonight, basically right now. I'm trying to calm down.

I just am not feeling well, so I automatically assume I caught something or ate something bad. The usual

[Jess44246]

Sit upright, don't eat anything or drink a lot, and take deep breaths. Distract yourself, too. Tell yourself that you won't v. Panic is awakened inside us due to others actions and our own bodies.

[julesbutterfly18]

Last week, I was lying in bed and all of a sudden I jumped out and was hunched over the garbage can, shaking and sweating. My bf is now aware of the routine. He went to get the ice pack and turned the fan on so it was blowing on me. Luckily it only lasted a few minutes. I've had worse.

[Jess44246]

That sounds awful! It must be nice to have him there to understand what you go through. I wish I had that in my physical life.

[tinnie]

I'm not sure if I've ever had a full on panic attack, but I had something pretty close to it a few times. As usual the last time it happened at night it was probably about a month ago. I'm not sure exactly. It always seems to happen before going to bed or as I'm trying to fall asleep. I guess it's because most of us are scared of getting sick at night even more than during the day and also if I don't fall asleep quickly, I think too much and my stomach starts feeling weird and it's all going downhill from there. I think when it last happened I was feeling kinda full that evening and then I had a rather soft BM right before going to bed, which is the quickest way to send me into panic mode. And then as I was trying to fall asleep my stomach was feeling really tense and shaky and my legs started shaking a lot (it's always the bottom part of my body shaking) and I was freaking out. So I consider that a panic attack or something close to it. Thankfully I fell asleep after maybe like an hour or two. Great night.

[Jess44246]

The best thing to do when you know you're fine but you wan't believe it is to sit comfortably upright. Then, distract your mind. Watch a show that you know will has nothing in it with the potential to trigger panic, play some game that you know has nothing in it, or talk to a friend you know you can trust to not say anything.

[thecheesecake17]

Had one on the main road of a countryside today! Had too much coffee which irritated my stomach like hell and the sun was blazing and the combination made me think I felt n*! Did my nervous ticks like biting nails and picking at my skin until I went into the village store to look at makeup xD it helped haha

[Razzle]

Any time I feel n*, headache, dizzy, gassy, having to go #2, no appetite or general malaise I start to panic. What's sad is that certain things like not having an appetite or having to use the bathroom are totally normal (no appetite to an extent) and that all of these symptoms are also symptoms of my anxiety so it's self-fulfilling.

Usually it starts as someone I know, a friend or relative or coworker or my boyfriend/parents fell unwell. Or are actually sick or say things like "ah there is something going around!" Lately it has been facebook posts of people with he "sick" emoji posting vague statuses like "this is hell" and/or "living on crackers and ginger ale" (I can only imagine that that means /s)

It plants a seed in my head that even though they aren't right in front of me, that they are close to me in my general area and that they caught something. That I could touch a doorknob or railing or something, and then unknowingly catch something. Or even if I do those things and then wash my hands before I eat, I most likely touched my phone or my car steering wheel or something equally "non-threatening" and transfered germs onto it, and then touched it and then ate without washing up. This thought process is what is better known as "germaphobia" and it's god awful. Everything I touch scares me and I've actually bought special cleaning products to wipe down my phone, purse handles/zipper, steering wheel, keys and doorknobs off with and left some of the same cleaner at my desk at work.

The triggering comes in when I imagine noro germs on something that I have no transfered onto my phone, and my cleanliness has been breached. Makes me anxious, which sets off my gurgling stomach/dizziness/nervous poops/n* and then I think "Oh god it was because I touhed that part of the railing and didn't wash my hands! I'm DOOOMMMEEDD!"

I went a little OT there but I really needed to get the off of my chest.

[Jess44246]

Cheesecake and Razzle

Cheesecake: Try not to get too worked up. Your mind is tricking your body into slight n* just from some pretty much harmless coffee and the heat of the day (OT, but I'm out of town and it's reaching 90 farenhight tomorrow). Don't let your mind wonder so much when you can help it, although I know driving down a long country road is quite boring which leaves your mind to wander too much.

Razzle: I'd say working in an elementary school is really bad for an emetophobic. My mind would wander with worries about cleanliness to the point where thinking about how clean everything in the environment was while my salad container was cleaned after it's last use. Keep in mind that being extremely clean while under exposure to germs in the public and the school will keep illness away. Noting should be able to get you.

[Jess44246]

I just had a panic attack today, but I was able to hide it. A student walked into the room i'd been in for twenty minutes. The teacher asked "do you feel better?' (head shake), "are you going home?' (nod), and "did you get sick, honey?" (nod). I know i'll be fine, but every damn thing makes me panic. And yes, "sick" means v. My rational brain is 100% sure of that.

[Charzy14]

My most recent panic attack was a couple of weeks ago. My husband and I were about to walk out of a grocery store's exit doors and we saw a big puddle of v* that had just happened right before we were leaving; we almost walked in it. The store employees were wearing gloves and pouring that powder stuff over it to clean it up. That haunted me for days.

[Jess44246]

Well, I would've walked away very fast. I would not return to there by free will for a while, and I would never be able to walk in or close to that spot. It's good that you stayed calm!

On May 17 this year, I saw a place in school where there was a substance on the floor. Without my friend I would've panicked. She was able to get me to just walk away really fast. I still think of it every time in school. I didn't see it close at all, but I saw it roped off with caution signs and a janitor walking with gloves on. Not a good day.

[ggbird787]

My last experience was about 3 days ago, I have a sinus infection and I'm on an antibiotic which is never good for your stomach. My reflux got way worse than usual and I was so n* I started racing around the house and pulling my hair out and crying and doing this weird breathing thing I do when I'm panicking. I hate this because I'm so terrified to take meds even when I need them because my emetophobia makes me very hyper aware of my body. (This is my first post, I'm 19 and I've had emet since I was 12, I'm happy to see there is a community of people just like me).

[Luksky]

A few months ago I was in Chik fi la eating lunch with my husband, daughter and some friends. It was lunch time and really crowded, something that makes an emet very uncomfortable anyway. I was about halfway through my meal when a smell wafted by. Being the emet I am, I knew that smell and immediately went into panick mode.

I started to look around for the source of the smell and noticed that some older child had v* EVERYWHERE about 2 booths away from where we were sitting. It had spewed so far that I noticed that was on the back on the chair I was sitting in. If it had not been so noisy and crowded in there and me being busy talking to my friends, I would have definitely heard it before I smelled it.

Nobody else I was with noticed anything had even happened. I just jumped up, and ran out of the restaurant. I didn't even go back in to say goodbye to my friends. I was felt sick for weeks after my experience. Matter of fact, I will probably never venture into that particular Chik Fi La again because I will forever hold that memory in my mind of the sight and smell.

it will forever be known to me as Vomi Fi La.

[Charzy14]

Well, I would've walked away very fast. I would not return to there by free will for a while, and I would never be able to walk in or close to that spot. It's good that you stayed calm!

On May 17 this year, I saw a place in school where there was a substance on the floor. Without my friend I would've panicked. She was able to get me to just walk away really fast. I still think of it every time in school. I didn't see it close at all, but I saw it roped off with caution signs and a janitor walking with gloves on. Not a good day.

Oh believe me... I still won't go around that spot. In fact, it took several weeks before I'd even go back to that store... and that is the one we go to several times a week. That day, I even took my shoes off (even though I am sure I wasn't close enough to it) when I got home and sanitized them; it was awful. I can still visualize it... ugh.

In regards to your story... Ugh... I would have been the same way as you.

I guess I had a recent worse panic (a few days ago). I started my new antidepressants that was too big of a dosage for me; I felt n* an hour after taking it and an hour after that I v'd twice, although nothing really came up. It was awful. I forgot how horrible n* is and how much I hate v'ing/retching.

[blackrabbit]

This thread was a good idea. Helps to know I'm not a freak

[Jess44246]

ggbird: actions such as yours when your body is acting up and that's what you fear are normal. Try things that can help you relax to stop the majority of lightly harming yourself and freaking out. Maybe safe tv or games or music.

[Jess44246]

Luksky: Wow, that's so traumatic! You acted just as I would've in that situation! Immediate full blown panic attack, running like hell away from the restaurant (I've only been to a Chik Fil A once, an that was on vacation last March), and never returning. Even just driving by it or seeing that read C chicken logo would make me very uncomfortable and give me slight anxiety-induced n. Being in a crowded restaurant like that to begin with would make me very uncomfortable as well. Only once this year did I eat my lunch in the school (still in school) cafeteria, and I first desperately begged the lunch detention teacher to give me lunch detention because there was nowhere else to go!

Everyone:
I have a long story to share about a horrible panic attack I had last winter when a girl almost v in a trash can after she passed out on top of me during school. I ended up hiding in a storage closet for over half an hour while shaking and such. I have it typed up and I'll paste it in when I can!

[Jess44246]

Char: It's good that you're going back now. In a way that's helping. As for the n and v from medicine, that's why I fear any medicine with the side effect of n and/or v. You're brave... It sounds like you handled that very well too! I would've been "God, take me now, don't torture me to death so horribly!!!"

[Jess44246]

Black rabbit: I love how much better this society makes me feel about what I face 24/7. It's like I'm not alone i my struggles, and I get to help others (which is rewarding). Could you share your last panic attack, please?