Dr. Phil.com - Messageboards - Replies to 09/05 Phobias

User Mood
Happy

Message Emote

September 5, 2005, 3:17 pm PDT

A fellow emetophobe from Canada

Quote From: paula1267

I'm a 37 yr. old female who's lived with this same phobia pretty much my entire life and i'm not sure what triggered it. I'm sure most people hate vomiting but what makes it that we are so deathly afraid of it??? I literally runs my life! It definitely keeps me from living (what i feel is) a normal life. I have passed on many vacation trips due to it...sadly, i will not have children because of it, for fear of morning sickness, let alone the fact that small children vomit quite frequently, and what kind of mother would i be when i would want to run away when the poor child gets sick? :-( I even become fearful of going to church now because once a poor man suffered what i believe was a heart attack and started vomiting and eventually was taken away by ambulance. That event replays in my mind each time in church and at times it brings on horrible anxiety attacks to the point where i want to just run out of there, but the thought of people seeing me leave brings on another fear, that of embarrassing myself. So i can surely relate to your situation, hunny!! I feel too, like certain therapies that cure most phobics, just could not cure one like ours! Such as the desensitization terapy...what do they think they're going to do...make us vomit until we're desensitized??? I THINK NOT!! It's a bummer that you and I, along with others who share our specific phobia cannot get together whenever we want to, although it's sure comforting to know we are not alone in this. May God bless you, and may He one day grant us a miracle, which is freedom of this paralyzing fear!!

I too understand what living with emetophobia is like. I am a 28 year old emetophobe wo has lived in fear every single solitary day for the last 22 years of my life with my anxiety at its worst for the last 2 years. Like the rest of us, I am embarrased to share this with people unless absolutely necessary and I was thrilled to know that I am not alone. I see myself as a "freak" and as "crazy" and I know only too well how irrational this phobia is. I am a junior high teacher and have to be a teacher at this level because I feel that my students have enough of an understanding of their bodies to leave the room if they are sick. I love my job, but now I even fear field trips with my students because I had a student get motion sick on a bus last year. I identify with Carey completely because I just returned from my honeymoon to Europe for three weeks on which I thought about people being sick on the plane the whole time(of course it never happened!). I am tired of living like this and I won't take it anymore. I have begun to seek help and have been going to a cognitive behavioural therapist since January. I don't notice any major changes yet because of course because it takes a long time to unravel 22 years of avoidance behaviours, but I am learning to look at the positives in a perceived "threatening" situation, to reduce the anticipation of worrying that someone will throw up that causes 97% percent of my anxiety (think about it, how many times do we worry and how many times is it actually warranted?) and to reinforce myself for the chances I do take. For example, I did get on the plane for my honeymoon, I did survive my student getting sick on the bus and this summer, I was able to teach summer school to 6 and 7 year olds for a month (this was a very threatening situation for me), and most recently I started some exposure therapy; that is, I have been able to look at some pictures of people actually throwing up and have been able to keep my anxiety level down. This phobia is all about the fear of not being in control for me and I'm hoping that one day soon I will be in control of my anxiety and will be able to cope. I don't expect miracles, just a chance at a normal life. It would be nice to think "Ew, gross!" and not "Danger! Danger! Danger!" when someone gets sick.

Hang in there all of you, I'm trying!

M.

Read Replies to this Message

workingk9

Message Emote

September 27, 2005, 7:18 am PDT

You're not alone

Quote From: paula1267

I'm a 37 yr. old female who's lived with this same phobia pretty much my entire life and i'm not sure what triggered it. I'm sure most people hate vomiting but what makes it that we are so deathly afraid of it??? I literally runs my life! It definitely keeps me from living (what i feel is) a normal life. I have passed on many vacation trips due to it...sadly, i will not have children because of it, for fear of morning sickness, let alone the fact that small children vomit quite frequently, and what kind of mother would i be when i would want to run away when the poor child gets sick? :-( I even become fearful of going to church now because once a poor man suffered what i believe was a heart attack and started vomiting and eventually was taken away by ambulance. That event replays in my mind each time in church and at times it brings on horrible anxiety attacks to the point where i want to just run out of there, but the thought of people seeing me leave brings on another fear, that of embarrassing myself. So i can surely relate to your situation, hunny!! I feel too, like certain therapies that cure most phobics, just could not cure one like ours! Such as the desensitization terapy...what do they think they're going to do...make us vomit until we're desensitized??? I THINK NOT!! It's a bummer that you and I, along with others who share our specific phobia cannot get together whenever we want to, although it's sure comforting to know we are not alone in this. May God bless you, and may He one day grant us a miracle, which is freedom of this paralyzing fear!!

Hi Paula,

This is Carey from the show. I totally relate to your fear! Probably the biggest thing this phobia holds me back from doing is traveling. My husband travels frequently for work and always wants me to come along. He flies to beautiful places like Vegas, California, Florida & New England. All places I would love to go but can't at this time due to my phobia. As I'm sure you saw on the show, I don't fear flying, I fear getting airsick or seeing others around me airsick. Someday I WILL overcome this phobia, or at least learn how to manage it so I am able to travel and see the world!

I agree that desensitization and exposure therapy do not work for emetophobia-- it's an internal phobia, as opposed to an external phobia, and one that is not easily treated. Dr Phil sent me to a hypnotherapist. I was only able to go a few times before I got pregnant and had to stop going because I felt sick and wouldn't leave the house. Now that I have had my baby, I am going to contact the DR again and hope that he will still treat me, as I believe it was helping. I no longer freak out at the thought of flying-- in fact, it excites me, now I just have to start out slow-- maybe go for a 45 minute plane ride, then work my way up to longer and longer ones...

take care,
Carey

Read Replies to this Message

willpa

User Mood
Nervous

Message Emote

April 28, 2007, 4:58 pm PDT

I totally relate...

Quote From: paula1267

I'm a 37 yr. old female who's lived with this same phobia pretty much my entire life and i'm not sure what triggered it. I'm sure most people hate vomiting but what makes it that we are so deathly afraid of it??? I literally runs my life! It definitely keeps me from living (what i feel is) a normal life. I have passed on many vacation trips due to it...sadly, i will not have children because of it, for fear of morning sickness, let alone the fact that small children vomit quite frequently, and what kind of mother would i be when i would want to run away when the poor child gets sick? :-( I even become fearful of going to church now because once a poor man suffered what i believe was a heart attack and started vomiting and eventually was taken away by ambulance. That event replays in my mind each time in church and at times it brings on horrible anxiety attacks to the point where i want to just run out of there, but the thought of people seeing me leave brings on another fear, that of embarrassing myself. So i can surely relate to your situation, hunny!! I feel too, like certain therapies that cure most phobics, just could not cure one like ours! Such as the desensitization terapy...what do they think they're going to do...make us vomit until we're desensitized??? I THINK NOT!! It's a bummer that you and I, along with others who share our specific phobia cannot get together whenever we want to, although it's sure comforting to know we are not alone in this. May God bless you, and may He one day grant us a miracle, which is freedom of this paralyzing fear!!

I am a 37 y/o male who has suffered from this since I was in Kindergarten. And again, I can't name the exact event which caused it; but since I was a kid, people throwing up (especially from a virus or something else airborne, etc...) absolutely freaks me out. Cold sweats, anxiety and for days afterwards, I think I have been "contaminated" and obsess over every little feelings in my belly.
The worst part is I KNOW this is a totally irrational fear, but I can't make my rational mind override the irrational thoughts. There are times when I rarely think of it, but then for months at a time, it becomes an obsessions and I lose weight, lost sleep etc.
I guess the good news I can share is that my phobia has gotten much better over the years--specifically when it involves witnessing other people get sick. What helped was just general cognative work with a good therapist who taught me self-care: deep breathing, self-reassurance, etc.
But really, it seems like such an odd thing to be afraid of --it's a relief to know that i'm not the only one.

Read Replies to this Message

Replies to '09/05 Phobias'

A fellow emetophobe from Canada

You're not alone

I totally relate...