I'm new and I suffer from anxiety panic dissorder and emetaphobia

[katielou1028]

Hi!  I'm Katie.  I'm new in here but not new to this whole anxiety panic thing.  It's been going on all my life but has recently expoloded when my little girl got a tummy bug for the first time.  I have emeaphobia which is the fear of throwing up.  I know.  It sounds ridiculous and irrational and it is both.  I live in constant fear and can't drive long distances with my 3 year old.  We actually had a family member move in last year to try to help.

Well, that's the beginning of my story and I'm glad I found this group!

 

Katie

[LuvMyLivi729]

I believe I have a touch of that phobia too. All day today I have been absolutely ridden with anxiety because I found out that 3 kids in my daughters daycare got sick. I am literally watching my daughter every second just waiting for it.... and am terrified that she will throw up. I just know I won't sleep tonight. My husband keeps telling me that there is nothing I can do about it and that if she gets sick she gets sick. But that does not stop the paranoia. I probably didn't make you feel better but just wanted to let you know that you are not alone.

[MommyForLife22]

glad you found it too hope we can help you :) looking forward to talking!!!

[gyp5ym00n2]

 i have a fear of throwing up too, only not quite as severe as you. plus i hate when mydaughter throws up. glad you found us, anxiety/panic disorder sucks! :(

[S.Street]

Hey Katie, welcome.  Sorry you are going through this.  I was stricken with paralyzing anxiety in April of 2009 and it has slowly gone away.  You will be ok, try to tell yourself that you are stronger than the panic and that YOU have control over it!  Do you get physical symptoms?

[MommyForLife22]

Quoting gyp5ym00n2:

 i have a fear of throwing up too, only not quite as severe as you. plus i hate when mydaughter throws up. glad you found us, anxiety/panic disorder sucks! :(

what causes the fear?? you dont like the feeling of throwing up??? or something else?

[mamamishy]

I know what emetaphobia is.  I've had it since I was a kid and it's why I joined this group.   Sigh.  It sucks.

To answer MommyforLife's post: it's usually caused by a bad experience with vomiting as a child.  For me it was salmonella when I was 6.  Most kids throw up all the time - and while it's never fun - it doesn't lodge in their brains as something that is life-threatening.  But for a rare few it does and our limbic systems respond as if it's a gun to the head.

So it's not one thing about vomiting... but everything... feeling nauseous, someone else feeling nauseous, the sound, the smell, even the distant threat of a stomach bug - can trigger the panic response.  

Those of us with the phobia are hyper-vigilant against stomach bugs, iffy foods, places where there will be lots of drinking, motion-sickness and (in my case), little kids - which made having one of my own really challenging.  I had to undergo months of hypnotherapy for the anxiety and cognitive behavioral therapy for the OCD-like behavior.  It got me through pregnancy and child-birth, but I still have it.  Turns out, it's one of the hardest phobias to treat because exposure work is, you know, tough to re-create.

Katie - my son is 3 and a half, and for some reason, hasn't thrown up from a stomach bug or food poisoning yet.  It's almost weird.  Maybe it's because I'm a little nuts about hand-washing and what he eats.  Or maybe someone is looking out for me... I don't know.  But the fear is building back up, because I know my luck will run out and he will get sick at some point.  I literally lose sleep at night, listening for the sound of him getting sick and wondering if tonight is the night.  Sigh.  I need to go back into therapy.  My hands sweat just typing this...

Anyway, I hope it helps to know you're not alone in this... it's actually more common than you'd think.  I have 3 friends who have it too.  As an aside, I myself haven't thrown up since I was 12. Pretty crazy, right?

- Michelle