NAUSEA - looking for advice/if anyone can relate

an aspect of my OCD that i’ve struggled with for a while is anxiety induced nausea and vomiting. in romantic situations where most people would get butterflies, i sometimes get extreme anxiety that leads me to throw up. this experience is always very scary, and it has, in the past, led to me having trouble eating enough because i’m worried i’ll throw up during a meal, especially if i’m eating around around the person i’m attracted to. something else i’ve noticed is that the anxious nausea tends to act up first thing in the morning, as i’m coming into consciousness. this doesn’t happen every morning by any means, but when it does, i notice that it starts by me having thoughts about whatever (or whoever) is stressing me out and they make me feel nauseous. but i’m going in and out of sleep so i’m also going in and out of nausea. but by the time i’m fully awake and not half stress dreaming, the nausea kicks in full force and sends me running to the bathroom. no matter if it’s in the morning, during a meal, whatever, once the pre throw up mode kicks in, it’s really hard for me to just move on from it. like my mouth starts to get filled with saliva and i keep swallowing it until i can’t take it anymore and i have to vomit. once i’m in that state, it’s hard to apply what i’ve learned in therapy bc i’m in such a panic mode. my therapist said that the goal is to not have to get to that panicked state in the first place, which i agree with, but still have trouble doing. i’m in ERP therapy right now and have been specifically focusing on this vomiting facet of my OCD, writing my worst case scenarios of throwing up daily. i think that’s been helpful, but i wanted to post this to the community or whatever in case anyone can relate to this or has some other exposures they’ve worked on that are related. so yeah if anyone can relate to any of this, let me know i want to chat! and if you have any advice for me regardless of if you’ve experienced this before, i’d love to hear it as well.

Anonymous

Date posted: 1y

I really struggle with this around my partner. I can’t hold down a solid meal when I’m around her for some reason. I’d like to chat about it if you have the chance. I thought I was the only one

Anonymous

Date posted: 1y

@Anonymous I’ve considered going on anti nausea meds to help me out. Have you ever considered that?

floweronapos...

User type: OCD Conqueror

Date posted: 1y

@Anonymous yeahh for sure that would be great to talk about it. i’ve also sometimes thought im alone in this. i’m not in a relationship right now but in the past i’ve totally dealt with that same thing and it’s awful. do you have any ways you cope with it?

floweronapos...

User type: OCD Conqueror

Date posted: 1y

@Anonymous an old therapist recommended i try ginger or dramamine but i don’t think those ever really worked for me. dramamine just made me dizzy and if it ever worked i think it was more of a placebo effect type thing like i thought i was maybe better because i was on the medicine but i wasn’t really

Anonymous

Date posted: 1y

@floweronapostcard I just got some non drowsy Dramamine. Gonna see if it works. The nausea is almost like a self fulfilling prophecy for me though. Once I feel it just a little bit, it’s impossible to get it out of my mind and hold the food down. It causes me such shame bc it happens so often around my partner. I try going to the bathroom and pacing around to hold it in but I just can’t. Do you have any tips or is it the same for you?

floweronapos...

User type: OCD Conqueror

Date posted: 1y

@Anonymous yeah that’s very true same goes for me for the most part. i get a decent amount of intrusive thoughts about “what if i got nauseous right now” and they usually don’t “come true” i suppose, but when i was in a relationship and around my partner those thoughts tended to have more weight. i feel that once i get to a certain point of panic mode, it’s hard to shake it off and not throw up. the anxiety starts in my chest and neck and then i feel a lot of saliva in my mouth and at that point i feel like it’s too late. i also definitely get the shame thing. whenever it happened around my ex partner, i felt very embarrassed and guilty because i felt like i was being a burden. why can’t i just be normal in a relationship you know? in terms of advice, this facet of my OCD is definitely the biggest mystery to me right now. i’ve been working on it with ERP homework and doing things like writing down the worst case scenario if i were to throw up. (like why would it really be that bad?) and doing things like looking at pictures or watching videos of someone i’m attracted to while eating. i think all of this has been helpful but then again, in the moment, the nausea still seems to be taking over so im still kind of lost at this point.

Lavender Fie...

Date posted: 1y

Try ginger mints from Trader Joe’s or health food store.

Claire Thomp...

User type: OCD Conqueror

Date posted: 37w

Hello, do you still struggle with this? I have been on and off for about a year now. What has helped you? I sometimes do a meditation before I get up, but sometimes I still feel nauseous or I am sick. Once it's passed, I usually feel better. I have also been on beta blockers for nearly 4weeks now. They help to a point. I'm on Fluoxetine 40mg a day fir around 13 years, but wondering if they are as effective now.

wassapbru

Date posted: 24w

ocd symptoms?? emetophobia

i randomly started a fear of vomit in 1st grade, i think it was because of a big chaos that happened when someone did it in my school. i’ve been scared of hearing it, smelling it, seeing it, being around it, hearing about others stories etc. i don’t know if this could be signs of ocd, neither do i know if i’m right to post here. i can’t eat in public without washing my hands / using hand sanitizer. i wash my hands, then while i wash them, i think about everything i’ve touched, which makes me wash them more. my hands are pretty dry. i can’t touch anything after washing them. not even chairs. when i sanitize them, i use around 4-5 sprays. then i spray my nails. i am the worst while travelling. i keep distance from everyone, i hold my breath while walking past people, i can’t touch anyone, and i avoid public bathrooms. i need to make sure everyone at my table sanitize their hands before they eat too. i almost never eat chicken unless my mom or my friends parents has made it, i’m extremely afraid of food poisoning, i barely eat meat (pork, beef), because i can’t trust anything. i always take a plate that looks visibly clean. it can never have dirt/stains. in buffé’s, i have to grab food from the back of the pan/plate. i dont trust random resturants with 3.6 star in reviews, i need ABOVE 4.2. i get tons of images in my head of vomit. i have nightmares. i have this thing where when i play guitar, i NEED to play the part perfect, or else i will be stuck like that unperfectly forever?? i have to do it again and again until its perfect. every day i have to tell myself «today is good. this food is safe. we are having fun. im super excited.» words like that in my head 24/7 and i even tell myself that while im singing, doing maths in my head which is weird. it takes so much space and i can’t stop. if i get images in my head, i repeat «no, no, no, im healthy», if i don’t, i might get sick. i cant even go to playgrounds, soft plays, places where many kids are. im so sorry if this was hard to read. if you are an expert, please tell me if this is something i should talk to a psychiatrist/psychologist about, and if its signs of ocd. thank you.

Contamination OCD

kesi

Date posted: 20w

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.

confused writer

Date posted: 19w

Does your ocd make you deal with nausea?

I have HOCD and ROCD and it makes me wanna puke all day I live with my husband

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NAUSEA - looking for advice/if anyone can relate

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