hello ocd community! my obsessions and fear of throwing up and compulsions of praying about it cause me to have physical anxiety and my stomach hurts almost every night before i sleep. this triggers my ocd because i am deathly afraid of throwing up which causes me to act on obsessions when i start to feel sick. the anxiety and stomach aches can trigger each other, and when one happens, it is a vicious cycle and they make each other worse. i have a hard time getting out of this headspace or relaxing without taking xanax or drinking alcohol, and if i don’t, i will stay paralyzed in fear for 1-2 hours. any suggestions for healthy coping strategies? anybody have similar fears?

Contamination OCD

MissLovely

Date posted: 6y

I have a fear of throwing up too. Why don't you try to take travel sickness meds? May help the anxiety of being sick

moe5

Date posted: 6y

For fear of throwing up I would look into a couple things. Number 1. Am I actually scared of throwing up? Or am I scared that something bad will happen if Im not careful with my health hygine like will my mother get cancer. If so I would highly recommend reading about thought action fusion before you run to any excersises/exposure. You first want to recognize that just because I had the thought that something bad will happen through throwing up doesn't mean it's true. It's known as obssesion about obssesion while really throwing up isn't the problem but obssesion that if I throw up than something bad might happen... Besides for that I would look into medication for this if you are experiencing Hyperawernes and on maybe even Depression. Do you see yourself thinking in all or nothing. Are you having thoughts like Did I just do that? I just did that ? Did that really happen? What if it's not ocd? Why this thought? If any of the above thoughts occur I would really look into medication as it does wonders for health anxiety/ Hyperawernes/ emetephobia - fear of vomiting. Now even more f you are currently on a medication you can still go for an evaluation m In my experience with health anxiety - emetephobia since the obssesion are body related it's very hard to believe that a medication change will help because I'm already feels ng my body. At it's all you want to give me a medication. That was my thought for two years but than I switched ssri from Zoloft to Prozac and things got a lot better. If you still like not interested in medication I believe Emdr can really help because it targets fear of fear and with throwing up we are also scared that this fear will be there forever . Or what else will the fear indicate. So Emdr can really help with fear of fear. Remmember w obssesion about obssesion it can get very confusing. Please note I'm not a clinical proffesional and my advice shouldn't substitute a professional but I strongly believeif you are experiencing symptoms for more than an hour a day than it should indicate a licensed clinician.

moe5

Date posted: 6y

Good luck

anna banana

Date posted: 6y

ive had this my whole life too! erp helps. start really small. like think of the word “vomit” for two minutes. when that doesnt freak you out, imagine someone vomiting. step it up a little, piece after piece personally, i still have the fear, but ive managed to rid myself of many aspects of the fear. when i was a kid, just seeing someone vomit would make me go crazy. now, i dont have any problems at all if people throw uo because of alcohol, because i know it wont be contagious. i know i can get rid of this fear the same way ive made it affect me less. i totally know the cycle of feeling unexplainably nauseous, then panicking, then becoming even more nauseous from panickinh and then doing this for hours on end. one time, i actually ended up trowinh up because of it, and you know what? i was way better afterwards. the “worst” had happened, and it was over. i know this isnt a good thing to say because you might start worrying your panic will make you throw up too, but i highly doubt it. if i would have to guess, ive probably had about a thousand panic attacks because i was afraid of throwinh up, and only once i did. but yeah, erp helps A LOT

bnicole5

Date posted: 6y

OMG i have the exact same thing, we’re gonna be ok, yep, i feel sick too when i start to worry and have those obsessions!

kesi

Date posted: 24w

Emetophobia/OCD

This has recently developed into something much bigger than it originally was. When this past winter season started, i noticed more people were getting the stomach bug than usual. I was fine at first, until I was noticing almost one person in every class was saying they recently had it. I researched about it, and I found what I was looking for unfortunately. Norovirus cases were surging across the U.S because of a new strain of NoV that recently had been spreading. This immediately altered my way of thinking. Everywhere I went, I would be overly cautious of what’s around me and whose around me. The first obsessive compulsive problem I had was that I couldn’t eat at lunch anymore unless I washed my hands. One time, I didn’t have an option to wash my hands, so I didn’t eat lunch. That’s when I knew it was interfering with my daily life, and it was becoming a serious issue. There was another time where some guy threw up near me in the hallway trash can. My mind was spiraling. all. day. long. It felt like it was consuming me alive. Not a minute would go by where I wouldn’t think about it, and the high possibility of me catching this virus. There’s been so many other scenarios where I feel myself losing it. I’m not the best of explaining in detail how my mind feels when it spirals, but the best thing I could say is that I could feel myself slowly losing my mind. It takes over my life. I HAVE to act on my compulsive acts, if not, i’ll have these obsessive thoughts until it consumes me whole. I’ve had nervous breakdowns, panic attacks, anxiety attacks, insomnia, and it almost feels like it’s causing me to have an eating disorder. Most recently, I went to use the bathroom and saw what looked like puke on the toilet seat. I was already using it, so I just finished my buisness and rushed out there asap. I figured, if I fasted for two days, what’s there to puke if I do catch NoV? So, I did. I missed school because on the second day of fasting, I became very dehydrated. I was weak, and couldn’t move. I realized what this all rooted back to. That’s when I knew I needed help.

taylorrpaigee

Date posted: 20w

Any tips?

This is my first time posting - I have a fear of throw up and I’ve been told it is cause from my OCD (repetitive thoughts) which makes sense because if someone gets sick it replays over and over again and I can’t get it out of my head. It’s gotten a lot worse in the past maybe two years. I’m always on edge that someone is going to get sick around me. I’ve heard the “best or most common” way to help with this is exposure therapy and OBVIOUSLY I don’t want to do that. Anyone have any tips or anything for this (or maybe have done the exposure therapy)?

lilss

Date posted: 7w

any tips on how to get rid of terrible thoughts?

hi im a fifteen year old girl with really bad ocd and emetaphobia nobody knows my fear except for my best friend and my sister. its so hard to even say the word or even type the word so i just say “sick” even typing this out makes my heart race and my hands sweaty. ive been really struggling with ocd for almost a year its gotten worst about every month. its always on my mind. i have a therapist but i cant even tell them about my anxiety and thoughts that go on in my head. my whole family is watching me fall deeper and deeper into this dark whole that i dont know how to get out of. its feels awful to see everyone around you watch you fail over and over again. please forgive me if this was graphic thank you

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