Hello everyone, I’m new here!

[fee22]

I have just joined and thought i would introduce myself. i am mainlydoing this to keep busy, cuz i have been feeling nauseous for the last 2 days, and my parents are both feeling the same. i'm pretty sure that im not gonna be sick, cuz i think i would have been by now.


My name is Felicity, but everyone calls me Fee.i will be 20 in october.


Anyway, I'm an emetophobe and have been since i was around 5 years old. I dn't know exactly how it all started but i have a few early memories of feeling scard of seeing other people vomiting.


The one that i believe started it all was seeing by mum vomit. she was just sat in the living room and all of a sudden she was vomiting andtoldme to fetch her a towel. my brother was there at the time and he ran upstairs with meto get towel. i wentback downstairs and saw my mum vomiting into th toilet. i remember just standing there watching...as i remeber it seemedquite violent and i was scared for her. I think this was the first time i was scared.


i havent vomited for years. in fact, i dont remember vomiting, but about 7 years ago i got a bug thay everyone in my family had.i woke feeing nauseous (i didntremeber feeling like that before, butsomehow i just knew wat i was. i didnt let myself vomit tho, although each time it got harder and harder to stop myself. even tho i knew what was happening i was in denial. my dad asked me if i felt sick and i said no! my sister asked me and i said no, even tho i was struggling to keep it down at the time! she then gave me some travel sickness tablets that stopped it! it was just so strange how i kept denying it evn tho it was obvious that my body wanted me to be sick!


i used to share a room with my sister, and i remember som nights she would wake up in the night vomiting, and i would just run so fast away frm her. it terrifies me, it aways hs. to be honest i dont really know how ive coped. ive never had therapy of any sort but am considering it, cuz since starting university it has become harder to deal with. i am scared of seeing other people being sick, but m,ost of all myself. it stops me doingso much. i cant go on big theme prk rides, i will never have kids cuz i couldnt look after them! and recently its becme difficult to even kiss my boyfrien cuz im scard that he will be carrying a bug and we will both become ill! its taken me a while but i realised that i dont want to live like this any more. i am going to do somthing about it now. i have decided to join the National Phobics Society as a first step, and i have joined this forum!


well sorry for rambling on so much! anyway, thats my story! hello everyone! x

[fliss]

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Hiya fee,


The stories of how we all got here are on sticky thread. It would be nice to talk to you if you have MSN add [email protected]. I am going to uni in Sept and Im really scared so it would be good to have someone to talk to!


Fliss x


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[crazy_me_84]

Hi Fee! welcome! If emet has started to take over your life to the extent it stops you from living your life 'normally', then it would be wise to get professional help. There are some good doctors out there and you might find that you have to persist to get the help you need. feel free to add me to MSN if you want to chat, my name is in my signature.


xxx

[stef]

hey all..i just joined and want to share my experience i am
actualy going through now due to emetophobia... firstly to introduce
myself (how rude of me!) im stef and am 18. i hav been scared
sh*tless of vomiting since i dont know when... i cant remember when
or how it started... i just cant stand being near anyone thats sick,
i shake and cover my ears and run for the hills... i cant watch it on
tv, i hate taking buses because im scared someone will be sick... im
scared just like fee of having kids bcos i wont be able to look after
them.... and also bcos of the morning sickness!



anyways, im going through quite a battle at the moment with my
phobia.. it all started 9 weeks ago when i drank too much out one
nighyt ( which is strange for me cos im usualy so careful bcos im
scared of getting sick the next day!) and i vomited for the first
time in 15 years that ,morning. never been so scared in my life. from
that day i hav felt nauseous ever since and no one can work out why.
iv been to two doctors over 14 times since then, had an endoscopy,
hida scan, ultra sound, and two blood tests and everyhtung is normal.
i started realising i was showing signs of severe anxiety. i wudnt go
anywhere cos i was so scared i wud vomit in the shop or the car...
vomiting in public and not being safe in the toilet at home
basically... so its been anawful experience to feel nauseous
for 9 weeks and live in terror and fear and be a hermit everyday of
ur life and not know why... so i am being treated for anxiety
disorder and getting therapy, etc, but this is all due to the fact
that i am so scared of being sick bcos i feel so nauseous all
thetime... the nausea caauses my anxiety and my anxiety causes the
nausea.. its just a vicious cycle...



i hav simplified this a lot but it has been a very tough road...
anxiety disorder is awful aswell as having to cope wit a phobia like
ours for so long!! now the awful hting is that antidepressant drugs
which im on make u extremely nauseous so im stil going to be anxious
and stil goignt o be nauseous and its just awful! i hate this
phobia.. its so debilitating... sometimes i wont even go out and
drink wit friends cos one of thjem is realy immature and always
drinks til shes sick so that stops me freom going out and having a
good time... anyways... so thats my little story... i hate vomit and
am soo soo scared of it... i dont know how im going to cope for the
rest of my life bcos there are goig to be times where im going to hav
to deal wit it and im not going to be able to... i wana travel but
when i htink of getting on a plane i htnk oh no ppl will get air sick
aruond me i cant go overseas... i wont eat meat unless its jsut out
of the fridge cos im scared of getting food poisoning... jsut so many
little things... it takes over my whole life... and im sure it does
for a lot of u guys too! isnt it awful... but anyways thats just the
way we were born and we all hav to deal wit it now i spose dont we...



but i had no idea there were so many other ppl wit this! i am so
amazed! i thought i was the only one! and was looking up wot the
phobia for vomit was cos i wantd to know if there even was one and if
i was just a freak but i hav peace at mind now knowing imnot the only
one!...



well thats all guys iv talked a fair bit huh.. sorry to bore u!!
catchya










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[tcsarah]

Hi, Fee and Stef, welcome to the group!


Fee, definitely go for the therapy. Go to your doctor and tell him/her how anxiety and panic attacks are restricting your life, s/he will put you onto a therapist and may even offer you some medication to help get you through the really bad times.


Stef, I can totally relate to how you are feeling and the vicious circle you mention! When I get anxious my stomach churns so badly and I feel so very nauseous. My biggest fear is being sick in public - in the past I have got so worked up about going somewhere and the possibility of me v*ing in public, that I've actually ended up being ill just through panicking about getting ill! It really is awful.


I don't suffer as much now as I used to thank goodness because I have found a medication that works for me and helps me lead as normal a life as possible when you have all these daily fears. It did take a lot of trying out of different meds and different therapies for me to find one that worked though! Everybody is different and what works for some may not for others, it's worth trying anything and everything that you think may help. One thing for sure is, it does help to come to this group and share your feelings. There are some great people here who are always willing to offer advice and support when needed, and it always helps to know you are not alone in the way you feel. I too used to think I was the only person in the world who had all these bizarre fears about a normal bodily function! It was so good to find out there were others that felt exactly the same way.


Anyway, sorry for waffling on! Good luck to you both!


Tracey x

[murphy]

Hey Stef,


I just read your story and it sounds just like mine. I know exactly how you are feeling. It is such a vicious cycle. Every morning I wake upI get worried today may be the day I get sick, then I start getting anxious and start feeling sick which causes me to get more anxious and so on and so on. I can tell you with complete certainty that you have anxiety disorder. The same thing happened to me about 10 years ago. I got a 24 hour stomach bug but for weeks I never felt better. My mother finally figured out I was having panic attacks over and over. I finally had to go to the doctor for help b/c I was losing so much weight. I currently take prozac and xanax if necessary which controls the attacks. It has been a struggle but I have learned to control it. I have come a long way over the years. I even have kept my job as a Kindergarten teacher. Believe it or not this was our first week of school and a terrible stomach bug is going through the school. 2 in my class(I saw it happen both times.) Needless to say I have been in a state of anxiety the past couple of days. It is to early in the year for this crap!!! There is soooo much more I could say b/c I understand completely but I don't want to overwhelm you. I will talk anytime you need to. I wish you lots of luck. Murphy (aka Kelly)Edited by: murphy

[fee22]

Thanks everyone for all the advice and support!
It's great to talk to people who really understand what its like! I'm feeling very positive about where i go from here. I was always scared of going to my doctor, jus because I always thought it was such a strange thing to go to a doctor about! But i now realise how common it is and that there really is help available and ways of coping with this........wow, just to have some sort of coping strategy would be fantastic. I do have a few of my own that i use when i start to panick ( just keeping busy, watching tv and talking to people really) but i use these when i think im gonna be sick from a bug or something, but luckily i quickly realise that its all in my head, and i havent got a bug at all! im just making myself feel nauseous. i just wouldnt know ho to cope if i was actually sick. i dont thinki could let it happen. i will hopefully be seeing my doctor next week, and see where things go from there!


Fee x

[isabel]

Welcome Fee, I could'nt help but notice your post. I am alsoa new member, I did not realize such a group existed. Your post is so familiar to my own background!! I started with this phobia as a small child, I still go into full panic mode anytime I think I or others around me may be sick. I know it is irrational, that does not make it easier. I once ran out of the house in the middle of the night b/c one of my sister's got sick. I am completly out of control when I know someone is sick. I remember being in the hospital when I was 9 years old, the girl in the room with me threw up during dinner, that was it, I ran, full speed out of the room, and spent the rest of the evening in the play room.One of the nurses finally lured me back at 2 am insisting that it wouldnt happen again, I refused to eat anything for the rest of thestay, for fear that I would throw up. I love children, but am scared to death to have them b/c of the throwing up.

[tcsarah]

Fee, there is an excellent article under the treatments thread by Sage, 'Information to give your doctor or family': http://www.emetophobia.org/forum/for...sp?TID=1925&am p;PN=1 It may help to take a print out of it along to your doctors.


Please let us know how your doctors visit goes.


Tracey x

[fee22]

Thanks for posting the link to that article. i will be taking tha along wih me when i see the doctor. unfortunately i have been unable to yet as i am in the middle of moving back to university, but i am already registered with a GP there, so i can go and see him straight away when i am moved into my new house! i have also received a news letter from the national phobics society, which has soooo much information in it, its hard to process it all! there is a phone-in service especially for emetophobes! (dont know the number yet tho!) and info on different therapies and locations of where you can access those therapies.


Fee x