- Date posted
- 2y
emetephobia
does anyone else have really bad emetephobia? any advice?
does anyone else have really bad emetephobia? any advice?
I’ve been dealing with emetophobia for years my thing that really helps me is finding out where the toilets are in places I’m in and always having a bag to use incase it ever happens but mine is related a lot to being sick in public and infront of others not just the sick itself
@peskybee me too! like the fear of being in a position where i’m not comfy to throw up or being far away from home.
@user837479201847 Do you suffer from anxiety? I get nauseous a lot from when I get anxious and panic attacks etc and a really good way is changing your temp really fast by putting something cold on your head so that helps a lot when I get really anxious
@user837479201847 I think my ocd has ways of messing with me on it too cause my intrusive thoughts will just be like “ur gonna be sick rn” and makes me anxious all over again and it’s always in the worst scenarios like in college or on a bus
@peskybee yeah i get nauseous when i get anxious. i’ll try this thanks
@peskybee yesss the intrusive thoughts make it so much worse like it’s a constant loop of my mind trying to convince myself i’m going to be sick
@user837479201847 Brains are so silly and so difficult to understand. I think part of it is trying to learn not caring about what others think and I’m still unable to do it I just want everyone to be nice to me and be happy with me🤣
@peskybee Omg same. I thought this was just me!!!
Mine is so severe that I have panic attacks and start shaking If I think I’m getting sick of food poisoning. The only way I have learned to cope is saying to myself “f it if I throw up I throw up”. It’s still so hard though.
@Itsheathersocd yeah i just don’t know how to sit with the uncertainty
@user837479201847 I think the only thing that’s helped learn how to do it is time. Each time this happens I tell myself “looking for certainty never made it better so f it if you get sick you get sick”.
omg i’ve found my people haha. i’m starting hypnotherapy for my emetophobia alone, no one understand how draining it is. i used to wake up having panic attacks every night because i was afraid i had gotten food poisoning or i had gotten an illness from someone else. it definitely gets better though! my panic attacks haven’t been as frequent and i’m learning how to calm myself down when im having a panic moment. it also doesn’t help when your ocd is constantly showing you scenarios of being sick, but just remember that those are all just made up and aren’t going to happen!! also if you are fearful of getting food poisoning, taking activated charcoal pills is a great way to keep this from happening. it absorbs toxins in your stomach before they get into your body and cause any issues. also it may be hard to believe, but people like us very very rarely, if ever, get sick! our minds are very powerful, and they can make us or keep us from doing just about anything. another quick tip is to buy something with ginger/raw ginger, it helps stomach aches and nausea. i hope some of this helps!! i wish you the best, and we can beat this condition!!
@sierrabear Omg the food poisoning one is so annoying cause it makes you feel as if you are physically gonna be sick I have a family member that will buy reduced food that’s way way out of date and will use it and it I don’t know how they can do it it makes me so anxious
@peskybee oh me too, if any food gets within a week of the expiration date my brain automatically assumes that it’s literally poison. kind of silly of you think about it😅 and my family doesn’t understand my fear so the will literally eat whatever and it freaksss me out
@sierrabear ohhh i didn’t know that. can i get those pills off amazon
@user837479201847 yes! or really at any store that sells supplements. just make sure to not take any charcoal within two hours of taking any antibiotics , as it will absorb them and keep them from working
@sierrabear ohhh ok thank u sm
Recently, I’ve been struggling a ton with what I eat/put into my body? I’m a first year college student with a few different health issues (including IBS), and lately it’s been hard for me to find food on campus that doesn’t upset my stomach. I also have pretty severe emetophobia, and feel extremely anxious when I feel sick. The ironic thing is that being anxious makes me feel even worse, so I end up sticking myself in an impossible loophole. My OCD has taken hold of these fears over the past few months, and it’s been such a struggle. Especially since people have been getting food poisoning from various dining halls on my campus lately. My OCD has gotten so bad that sometimes I’m too afraid to eat food other than what I buy myself. I feel so trapped. I don’t want my OCD to affect my physical health or prevent me from eating, bc I love eating!! It’s the fear of getting sick that’s the problem. And it’s even harder when everything is so unfamiliar. Just wondering if anyone could relate. Advice is appreciated!
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.
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)?
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