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Emetophobia (Trigger Warning, TMI)

I once had such sentiments having gone through so many illnesses as a kid causing me to vomit. Something I learned to control in limiting my drinking alcohol, particularly anything with a high sugar content.

However as I got older I ended up with Gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) where having to occasionally vomit depends on my ability or failure to regulate what I eat. I loathe it, yet it's inevitable.

Making going to most any restaurant often somewhere between concerning and terrifying. At least in the case of seasonal outings to restaurants (Thanksgiving/Christmas) I can take Omeprazole for 14 days that mitigates it quite reasonably.

With GERD vomiting is uhhh...pretty easy given it's a primary way to stop extreme pain.
 
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Misty Avich said:
I have had a phobia of vomiting (emetophobia) since childhood, and it's worse than it sounds. I went 17 years without physically being sick, until I caught norovirus 6 years ago from the care home where I worked, and that has actually worsened my emetophobia to the extreme. Now whenever I feel sick I worry that I'm going to suddenly start vomiting and not know why, or have caught another norovirus and might vomit like 20 times before I'm better (I never thought that was physically possible but apparently it is).

I sometimes do wake up in the middle of the night feeling nauseous and fighting it off, so when I had norovirus that time I thought it was just one of my nausea attacks that will go on its own. I didn't know I had norovirus at first, as I felt fine and had eaten well the previous day. But for about an hour and a half I laid awake fighting off the nausea and wondering why it wouldn't go.
Then my body suddenly gave up on trying to fight it, and I threw up (luckily I kept a bucket beside my bed). Lucky for me I only threw up once, but it was the worst experience I have ever faced. I had difficulties bringing the vomit up at first, so from uncontrolled wretching I wasn't breathing, then as the vomit did come up I involuntarily sucked in air, which pushed the vomit down into my lungs. I nearly drowned in my own vomit but luckily my lungs threw it back out instantly, and after that I just sat on the bed shaking and crying and never wanting to experience that again.

Not only that was scary, it was also scary and distressing beforehand, where I spent an hour and a half or more battling with severe nausea and not knowing what my body wanted to do. I don't burp (maybe like once or twice a year if that), so it's like I don't have very strong muscles in my throat (or maybe the opposite, where the muscles are too strong) that makes regurgitating or burping almost impossible or at least very difficult and painful. So my emetophobia isn't just an irrational phobia that can be cured by therapy, it's also the physical strain that I find scary. Whenever I feel sick now, I start obsessing, thinking I have norovirus again and I keep thinking ''no, I can't go through with vomiting, I don't ever want to vomit again in my life''.

It's why I live my life doing everything I can to avoid vomiting, such as drinking alcohol, getting pregnant, eating foods I'm unsure of, working in a school or hospital where noroviruses are likely to spread, going on rides that spin around or drop very fast (in fact all rides now make me queasy), and arming myself with every antisickness remedy I can think of when traveling. I even have antisickness remedies at home too, like ginger, pills, wristbands, etc. I suffer from vertigo that can easily be triggered by motion or alcohol, even though I otherwise have a very strong stomach where I am very rarely sick, but I still don't want to chance it.

Can anyone else relate or understand this phobia? Not sure what triggered it during childhood exactly, but I know having norovirus 6 years ago has worsened it. I wish I were a rat because they don't ever vomit.
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I have the same and I just hate it and I do actually fear it
I have all my life where I always felt the need to carry vomit buckets but I am like u if I fear it I do whatever I can to avoid it whatever measure it takes.
I thought like gastro is one of the worse things ever invented like that is one of the worse things that could happen to you in your life and unless you are extremely hygienic you could get it at any time from anything you touch or if anyone spits in ur direction when talking to you if anyone is carrying it.
And I'm like wow every other disease is rational to some degree and manageable except covid but gastro is created by evil.
And who would want to get sick and be sick over and over again, worse thing ever
And when I was younger I got scared every single time I had nausea
And I am like no matter how you do it, toilets are germ ridden and the bucket is too close to your face and it is just repulsive.
 
Misty Avich said:
I heard they were going to bring out a vaccine for norovirus. I wonder how that's going. I'd even pay if I had to, then my life would be a lot happier, as I'm usually living in fear that I have somehow caught norovirus and will be throwing up 50 times for the next 2 days.

My grandmother died from norovirus. I know it's more common in the elderly to die from any virus but I could have died when I choked on my own vomit that time, even though I was bent forward. It's scary. Like I said, being sick is not just a bit unpleasant for me, it's frightening because of the way I don't regurgitate that easy like most people do. All it takes for some people to puke is just a few coughs. But me it takes a while of gagging, hawking, while not breathing for over a minute, and it'd would be so embarrassing if I done it in front of anyone. Ohh, it's so horrifying.

I rather die than be sick, although I wouldn't want to die while being sick.
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Yeah I was afraid of lying on your back and choking on it. That was a fear in me as well.
Also...
I always got a bit fearful of choking on food but that is a different related thing. In the sense I would not swallow something properly and choke and other people choking.
So I think u have to be careful to take small bites and have almost choked a few times before and swallowed hairs where I was nearly sick.
And also...
Other people vomiting and avoiding other people vomiting because it is disgusting the noise and fearing it then excessive fears they have gastro and you just wait to get it.
 
I avoid all things that could make me vomit. But there are some annoying things people say to me that I wish they wouldn't.

I avoid drinking alcohol for the fear of a hangover. Predictably people say "but you won't get a hangover if you just have one or two". Actually, when I had one glass of wine one time, I did feel sick after. My stomach kept making weird noises and I came over all hot and clammy, even though I was not drunk, far from it. So after that I decided it's safer to just not drink alcohol at all.

Although I'd love a baby, I am terrified of pregnancy. Morning sickness is common, although people annoyingly say "not everyone gets morning sickness". But if there's a chance I will then fear gets the better of me. I think vomiting while pregnant would probably cause distress for me, as I find it physically painful and difficult.

People have said "sneezing is out of your control too but you aren't afraid of that" and "like a sneeze, vomiting is over quick, just a few seconds more than a sneeze". If only that were true, Miss Clueless. There is no point in comparing vomiting to a sneeze.
A sneeze occurs every day for me, it is just air, there is nothing unpleasant about it at all. Vomiting is much more painful and difficult and unpleasant to pursue.
Apparently for some people vomiting is as quick and easy as sneezing. This is probably why they don't fear vomiting. If vomiting was as quick and painless as a sneeze then I wouldn't be phobic of it either.

I do belong to an emetophobia Facebook group but people there don't like it when you talk in depth about vomiting, but I feel it helps to. I really want people to understand that my fear of vomiting isn't completely irrational and throwing logic at me won't help. It's caused by vomiting taking much longer to happen for me than for most others. It's horrible.

[TRIGGER WARNING] Do not read if eating.
The last time I vomited I couldn't catch my breath. It took longer than it should for me to bring it up, even though I was leaning forward. I was uncontrollably gagging that sounded like I was being strangled under water. Then as the vomit was finally coming out I involuntary inhaled air, due to lacking oxygen from taking such a long time to vomit, so a lot of vomit shot into my lungs and I choked and thought I was going to die. But I survived, although I could taste it for a couple of days after that, no matter how much I rinsed my mouth out with mouthwash.

This has traumatized me. I do not ever want to vomit again, and hearing people cluelessly dismissing my anxiety by saying stupid things like "it ain't pleasant but just get on with it" and "just remember that vomiting is good for your body" and "it doesn't last long" is just triggering for me.

About the second one, "just remember that vomiting is good for your body", this isn't reassuring either. Vomiting isn't always caused by toxins in the body. It can be caused by anxiety, pregnancy, migraines, pain, or motion sickness. I do wish nausea or vomiting wasn't involved when you lose your balance. I know it's caused by mixed messages but I wish the mixed messages would make you do something else instead, like trigger a sneeze or make you itch or something. Why nausea and vomiting? Surely that action should ONLY be when your body has dangerous toxins, not for any other reason ever.
 
Tom said:
Interesting. I had heard of people eating clay, but thought it was traditional remedy (or maybe superstition) with no actual beneficial effects, other then maybe the placebo effect. But a quick google scan suggests there is actually some newer study evidence for positive results (for people).
Click to expand...

There is an eating disorder/mental illness known as pica. People eat dirt, clay, and many other non-food and often toxic things. Dirt and clay usually contain parasites and other dangerous microorganisms. For clay-eating to be beneficial, it would have to be sterilized clay, which doesn't exist in nature.
 
A norovirus vaccine would help the cruise ship industry. They probably invested in the research. Those ships are floating Petrie dishes. :eek:
 
Mary Terry said:
A norovirus vaccine would help the cruise ship industry. They probably invested in the research. Those ships are floating Petrie dishes. :eek:
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That's why I'd never go on a cruise lol.

I don't think CBT or any other type of therapy will cure me from emetophobia. The only thing that might ease it is vaccines for norovirus, but I guess that doesn't include the 24-hour bug. But if there was a vaccine for all stomach bugs then it would probably help reassure me that whenever I feel nauseous for no reason it definitely wouldn't be a bug. That just leaves food poisoning, which scares me. I often avoid barbecues because of this, as I've heard of horror stories where people have got sick after a barbecue because the meat wasn't cooked properly.
 
Misty Avich said:
I avoid all things that could make me vomit. But there are some annoying things people say to me that I wish they wouldn't.

I avoid drinking alcohol for the fear of a hangover. Predictably people say "but you won't get a hangover if you just have one or two". Actually, when I had one glass of wine one time, I did feel sick after. My stomach kept making weird noises and I came over all hot and clammy, even though I was not drunk, far from it. So after that I decided it's safer to just not drink alcohol at all.

Although I'd love a baby, I am terrified of pregnancy. Morning sickness is common, although people annoyingly say "not everyone gets morning sickness". But if there's a chance I will then fear gets the better of me. I think vomiting while pregnant would probably cause distress for me, as I find it physically painful and difficult.

People have said "sneezing is out of your control too but you aren't afraid of that" and "like a sneeze, vomiting is over quick, just a few seconds more than a sneeze". If only that were true, Miss Clueless. There is no point in comparing vomiting to a sneeze.
A sneeze occurs every day for me, it is just air, there is nothing unpleasant about it at all. Vomiting is much more painful and difficult and unpleasant to pursue.
Apparently for some people vomiting is as quick and easy as sneezing. This is probably why they don't fear vomiting. If vomiting was as quick and painless as a sneeze then I wouldn't be phobic of it either.

I do belong to an emetophobia Facebook group but people there don't like it when you talk in depth about vomiting, but I feel it helps to. I really want people to understand that my fear of vomiting isn't completely irrational and throwing logic at me won't help. It's caused by vomiting taking much longer to happen for me than for most others. It's horrible.

[TRIGGER WARNING] Do not read if eating.
The last time I vomited I couldn't catch my breath. It took longer than it should for me to bring it up, even though I was leaning forward. I was uncontrollably gagging that sounded like I was being strangled under water. Then as the vomit was finally coming out I involuntary inhaled air, due to lacking oxygen from taking such a long time to vomit, so a lot of vomit shot into my lungs and I choked and thought I was going to die. But I survived, although I could taste it for a couple of days after that, no matter how much I rinsed my mouth out with mouthwash.

This has traumatized me. I do not ever want to vomit again, and hearing people cluelessly dismissing my anxiety by saying stupid things like "it ain't pleasant but just get on with it" and "just remember that vomiting is good for your body" and "it doesn't last long" is just triggering for me.

About the second one, "just remember that vomiting is good for your body", this isn't reassuring either. Vomiting isn't always caused by toxins in the body. It can be caused by anxiety, pregnancy, migraines, pain, or motion sickness. I do wish nausea or vomiting wasn't involved when you lose your balance. I know it's caused by mixed messages but I wish the mixed messages would make you do something else instead, like trigger a sneeze or make you itch or something. Why nausea and vomiting? Surely that action should ONLY be when your body has dangerous toxins, not for any other reason ever.
Click to expand...
Pregnancy is the one thing I'd vomit for.
Because having a little baby is worth the pain but it helps to have a partners support
 
I've developed this fear of vomiting or having diarrhea while out, and I worry that it's getting worse. I don't get it at work or when visiting family, but if I try something new (which I love doing), like a day trip or vacation, I start fretting. Sickness and diarrhea can occur at any time, like you could suddenly have picked up a vomiting bug. And I hate when people say "it could happen to anyone", because I know that other people don't even think about these things when they go out. But I do.
When I was last on a plane I was sandwiched between my husband and a stranger, and although I had come prepared with doing all I could to prevent vertigo, I still had vertigo once the plane was up in the air. Then I started panicking (without showing it) thinking "what if I start uncontrollably retching? I can't do that here, it will be very embarrassing. What if I get bad diarrhea all of a sudden and have to rush to the bathroom, only to find someone is in there? What if I need to go during the time nobody is allowed out of their seats?" The panic got worse, I began feeling all hot and clammy, and I couldn't focus on anything else but my stomach. I suddenly felt relief when the captain announced that we were landing.

Maybe I need therapy for this. But it's finding the time to attend appointments.
 
Do you believe it's likely that these anxious feelings will
go away on their own?
 
tree said:
Do you believe it's likely that these anxious feelings will
go away on their own?
Click to expand...
No. I blame the norovirus I had back in 2017. It just fueled my phobia. It's a shame because I'd love to work with toddlers but I know I'll just be arriving to work every day on edge that a child is going to start throwing up and the virus will circulate around the nursery.
I just wish there was a vaccine for norovirus. I heard they're working on one but I haven't heard anything more. I'm more scared of norovirus than I've ever been of covid.
 
Misty Avich said:
I've developed this fear of vomiting or having diarrhea while out, and I worry that it's getting worse. I don't get it at work or when visiting family, but if I try something new (which I love doing), like a day trip or vacation, I start fretting. Sickness and diarrhea can occur at any time, like you could suddenly have picked up a vomiting bug. And I hate when people say "it could happen to anyone", because I know that other people don't even think about these things when they go out. But I do.
When I was last on a plane I was sandwiched between my husband and a stranger, and although I had come prepared with doing all I could to prevent vertigo, I still had vertigo once the plane was up in the air. Then I started panicking (without showing it) thinking "what if I start uncontrollably retching? I can't do that here, it will be very embarrassing. What if I get bad diarrhea all of a sudden and have to rush to the bathroom, only to find someone is in there? What if I need to go during the time nobody is allowed out of their seats?" The panic got worse, I began feeling all hot and clammy, and I couldn't focus on anything else but my stomach. I suddenly felt relief when the captain announced that we were landing.

Maybe I need therapy for this. But it's finding the time to attend appointments.
Click to expand...
I have problems with both motion sickness-induced nausea and benign positional vertigo. BPV happens when rocks (Seriously. They are called otoliths. - ear rocks.) get loose and roll around your inner ear, where balance is determined. The medical literature claims it only lasts for a minute, but for me, it can last an hour and prevent me from doing anything at all. Certain head maneuvers are supposed to improve it, but I get mixed results.

www.healthline.com

Benign Positional Vertigo (BPV): Causes, Treatment, and More

Benign positional vertigo (BPV) is the most common cause of vertigo, the sensation of spinning or swaying. Learn about causes, symptoms, risk factors, and treatments such as the Epley maneuver.
www.healthline.com www.healthline.com

www.healthline.com

Home Remedies for Vertigo: Treatment Tips

Learn about home remedies for vertigo that may help treat your symptoms.
www.healthline.com www.healthline.com

I often do prophylactic Dramamine (dimenhydrinate) before an airline or boat trip or if I'm stuck as a passenger in a car for any length of time. If I can't get that, then Meclizine (meclizine HCL). I have been told that Dramamine is better with nausea, but Meclizine is better with vertigo. Dramamine makes you sleepy so Meclizine is sometimes called "non-drowsy Dramamine" or "Dramanine II" because Dramamine is a brand name and not a scientific name. (Doesn't bother me because I like to sleep through airline flights.) Always read the label closely.

www.healthline.com

Meclizine: Side Effects, Dosage, Uses, and More

Meclizine oral tablet is a prescription medication used to treat vertigo (a condition that causes you to feel like you or the room is spinning). Meclizine oral tablet is only available as a generic drug. It doesn’t have a brand-name version. Learn about meclizine’s side effects, warnings...
www.healthline.com www.healthline.com

www.healthline.com

Dramamine and Kids: Safety, Side Effects, and More

Dramamine is an antihistamine that can help treat motion sickness. It's safe for children to use. Learn more here.
www.healthline.com www.healthline.com

Zofran (ondansetron) works better for me, but it is a prescription. Try to get the tablet that dissolves under your tongue and can be absorbed directly through mucous membranes. A pill that has to be swallowed isn't much use if you can't keep it down.

www.healthline.com

Ondansetron | Side Effects, Dosage, Uses, and More

Ondansetron orally disintegrating tablet is used to prevent nausea and vomiting caused by certain medical treatments. This medication is available as a generic drug and as the brand-name drug Zofran ODT. Learn about side effects, warnings, dosage, and more for the orally disintegrating tablet.
www.healthline.com www.healthline.com

A non-drug treatment that helps nausea a lot is ginger. A stewardess once told me they would serve warm flat ginger ale to passengers with moderate airsickness.

www.healthline.com

Ginger for Nausea: Effectiveness, Safety, and Uses

Ginger is often recommended for its stomach-settling effects. This article reviews the effectiveness and safety of ginger for nausea, as well as the best ways to use it.
www.healthline.com www.healthline.com
 
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I also have a phobia of throwing up and always have my whole life. It doesn’t help that I have a strong gag reflex and can gag by just thinking about gagging. If someone around me threw up or if I saw or heard it, I would be in distress the rest of the day. I hate the dentist because of my gag reflex and am always scared I’ll gag or throw up when they are working on my teeth so I don’t go to the dentist nearly as much as I should. I also have generalized anxiety disorder and panic disorder and unluckily for me I get nauseous when I’m anxious which is all the time, I get anxious about getting nauseous but get nauseous because I’m anxious. I went through a very hard time a few months ago when I tried Prozac (big mistake) for two straight weeks I had 24/7 anxiety and was gagging and throwing up all day uncontrollably. I lost 18 pounds because I was too scared to eat in fear of throwing it up. Nowadays I’m back on Lexapro (which is much better for my anxiety then Prozac) so I don’t get nauseous as often but I usually take zofran (anti-nausea meds) and chew gum whenever I know I’m going to get anxious or have a panic attack.
 
Warning: TMI. Please don't delete this, as I feel it needs to be said and is spoken about in a mature manner.

When I was 15 I went through a phase of not eating because of the fear that I might throw up. I think it's because I heard that someone I knew had a vomiting bug and they thought they were better and felt hungry but as soon as they ate a few mouthfuls they threw up violently. So I was afraid that I might have had an underlying vomiting bug and that if any food touched my stomach I'd throw up violently. Luckily this phase didn't develop into anything more serious and it fizzled out.

When I was age 9-11 I went through a strange phase of having a fear of diarrhoea. I had a random attack of diarrhoea one hot summer's day when I was 9, and for some reason it really scared me and I freaked out so much that I kept it in after that and had panic attacks whenever I sat on the toilet unless I was just doing a pee.
My mum got so worried, that she made me sit on the toilet and pleaded me to just get it all out. I made her stay with me and cuddle me as I did it. I finally did it then I was so happy after that and felt free.
But the fear returned when I was 11 and had just started high school. I kept thinking I was going to suddenly get diarrhoea at school, so I avoided pooping altogether, which caused some problems and made me temporarily incontinent. But when I saw my mum had written diapers on her shopping list, I went straight to the toilet and finally pooped, because I really did not want to resort to wearing diapers.
I have learnt from that experience never to hold in poop ever again.

I still have a bit of a fear of diarrhoea, not as much as vomiting of course. The thought of ever having a colonoscopy scares me more than bowel cancer itself, although bowel cancer scares me too, as cancer can cause vomiting.
 
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