stop being afraid to vomit

I’ve had the horrible fear of vomiting and seeing other people vomit for 18 years now (I, myself haven’t vomited in 14 years). I have tried to take medication, I have been to a hypnotist, practiced tapping, counseling, etc… Nothing seems to help. I don’t know what triggered it or why it freaks me out so much but it does. It’s to the point that I am thinking about it constantly, wondering when I’m gonna feel sick or my husband or child are gonna get sick (let me tell you, being an emet, the worst thing in the world is having a sick child). If someone knows how to control a fear with such power and impact, PLEASE share because my life has come to a shattering hault and vomit has been my main focus for far too long.

Well, the time has come that I’ve got to deal with this. For years I’ve known that I’ve hated other people being sick and feeling sick myself. I mean, I haven’t been sick for over 10 years and I’m only 23. But in the past few weeks my panic attacks and anxiety have brought this right to a head and I’ve realised that it’s not just the physical act of being sick or seeing others be sick, it’s what it means in my life, and it signifies a complete and utter loss of control. I mean, it’s all interconnected for me because I worry so much. My eating is really bad at the moment and despite already being slim I am losing weight. I worry about getting sick then not wanting to eat, and losing control of my life as a result…and that terrifies me because if I sorted stuff out my life could be SO good because it’s all there waiting for me to get better.

So yeah…my first ‘real’ step was telling my boyfriend the extent to which this bothers me. He was pretty supportive and roped in his brother to record The Panic Room (BBC3) episode on Emetaphobia (scary but it helped me to realise that it wasn’t just the physical act of being sick which bothered me). Following that I told my boyfriend’s mum because we get on well and I wanted a mum’s perspective on it, then I got up the courage to tell my mum because I really had reached breaking point with my life falling apart around me.

I told my mum on 14th June, a couple of days ago, and in the same day I got up the courage to phone my boyfriend’s mum’s hypnotherapist friend. She managed to calm me down in an hour’s phone session using a technique called Chinosis. After the session I got my appetite back a bit, which was great, but I realise I’ve got a long hard road ahead and that scares the shit out of me. But you know what scares me more? Living and wasting my whole life in fear of the “what ifs”.

im reallly afraid of seeing other people vomit. I dont mind if i vomit but just the fact of someone saything..I dont feel good..or im going to throw up..i get soo freaked out.. my heart starts racing and a have kind of like an axiety attack..theres the stomach virus that was going around…and alot of people had it..it was driving me insane because i was afraid they were going to throw up and id eather see it or hear it.. i just thought i was the only one who was afraid of vomit but i really dont know how to get over my fear…i try and push myself to help my friend out when shes sick but i just dont have the courage to do it..im so freaked out about it i dont know what to do..

i’ve kinda been scared to throw up since i was really little.
but lately ive been gaining weight. i’ve always thought i was fat but i ate whatever i wanted. and then i decided i was tired of doing nothing, so i took control of it and went on a diet. i ate about 500 calories a day and what i did eat was slim fast. and i lost weight. i saw results. i lost about 15 lbs in a month but my parents were freaking out and pretty much making me eat. it got to be to much work to argue with them. so i went back to eating the way they wanted me to. and now i’ve gained back all the weight.

so i figured if i can learn how to throw up. and get over the fear, it would be a nice compromise. i dont want to be belemic. i just want to be able to throw up when i feel really guilty about eating.

i heard that if your drink a ton of water and then try to gag yourself, you’ll throw up the food and the water…but im too scared to try. do you think it will work?

i need help and fast!

For the past 5 years I’ve had emetophobia, I’m terrfied of getting sick. Recently I’ve decided it’s time to stop pushing it to one side cos I’m sick of it running my life.

But I’m scared. I don’t talk about myself all that well. So really. It’s a never ending problem.

xxx.

Vomit scares me. If I see someone throw up, I run away from the site in under three seconds. I think my fear of vomit may be linked to a traumatic experience I had when I was younger, at a fair. I was standing in line with a friend, waiting to go on this ride when it stopped, and a guy covered in vomit came out of the car. I was scarred for life right then and there.

I didn’t realize that anyone else had this until I did some reaseach on emetophobia. but yeah, I dunno what to do about it… I am soon gona try hypmotisim(sp?)
let keep our fingers crossed

...the bane of my life!

Don't like this irrational fear as it is a perfectly logical process...even though, I think I suffer a little less than most with the phobia.

being sick much easier. I used to be terrified of vomitting. I’ve just come to accept it, and know that it hurts but it won’t really hurt me. It happens for a reason.

Out of the popular fears of clowns, heights, being inclosed in small places, even death, I am not afraid of any of those, I am stuck with the fear of vomitting. I don’t know why, I’ve never known why. I want to find out, because this fear actually takes over my life sometimes, to the point where I’m crying hysterically, and shaking uncontrolablly. Just thinking about it makes me want to cry. I can’t joke about it as others do because it is such an overpowing fear. It’s hard to understand, I know. I don’t know if it’s psychological or what, but I will conquer this fear and I am determined to find out why I have it.