Frightened of being sick :'( *crying*

Oh Tanya , how sad.  I wish I could he but fear there is no medical reson you must see a therapist  and I mean this in the nicest possible way   I feel for you 

hello Tanya,

Im sorry to read your fears, however I too have the same fear It came out of no where for me when I started secondary school (11 yrs old approx) a girl in my class was sick in class and then I constantly felt sick

it took a good couple of years (eating polos & having tests why i felt ill all of the time) all come back clear and eventually I managed to get away from this black cloud over my head.

Then when I hit around 18 it all came back again, however I could manage it, it was generally when I was going out etc that the panic would take over however I knew once I was out I would be fine.

Again, this went away until just under 2 years ago and it has come back with evegence! I don't know if stress brought it on or what to be honest, last year I went and saw a councellor through the NHS and i have to admit I started to feel alot better and the councellor said I had really improved over the weeks of seeing her! However even though i felt so much better it then got worse (now suffer with constant upset stomach and not only a phobia of being sick but also a phobia of upset stomach )

Since October last year i was suffering literally EVERYDAY however it now goes in waves some days I actually feel normal other days terrible (today not a good day).

I have had lots of tests (endoscopy/colonoscropy/ultrasound/blood tests/stool tests) all clear...

I am just trying to keep a diary now and see if i notice any patterns myself.

Sorry I can't really help, however I hope you feel comfort in that your not on your own feeling like this and you will get past this!

My only recommendation is don't let this stop you from living as normal life as possible, i think thats all thats getting me through I still do what I want (whether i feel ill or not!)

Good luck xx

Hi Tanya,

So sorry to hear about your struggle. You're definitely not alone, though. Emetophobia is surprisingly common! When I was very small, someone vomited on me which triggered a very severe phobia of sick - I couldn't go into groups of people because I was scared one of them may be sick and pass their illness onto me, and then I would be sick. Completely irrational, but that's what a phobia is. As I got older I began to regain control, even to the point where I became a First Responder with the ambulance service and I regularly faced my fear of watching and dealing with people vomit. Inevitably, the time came 14 months later, where I caught a bug from a patient and was physically sick. I can tell you I got so much relief - I realised it's nowhere near as bad as I had told myself it was. Phobia overcome....or so I thought!

in the last 6 months my fearful feelings have returned to the point where I can't do the job I used to and now I work in the control room instead. I just don't get it??!! I've seen a counsellor who has helped to be fair. I've come to the conclusion that I'll always have a fear of vomiting, until the next time I'm ill and maybe that'll change me again. But it can't rule your life - there's so much more to life!

Some people go for NLP or hypnosis. I don't know if you've considered those options - personally, I think there's more to gain in trying to face the fear in control of yourself without any of those techniques. You can overcome it, you just need a lot of determination!! I wouldn't recommend you join any forums for people who suffer with the problem, as that will drag you down. Maybe find a forum for people who have actually overcome the problem. 

How old are you? Do you work? Maybe filling your spare time with work/a healthy hobby will alleviate some of the fear because you'll have less time to think about it. It certainly helps me. 

Hope I have been of some help.  :-)

Dec

Hello Tanya

Im going through the same thing as you, iv had a fear of being sick or anyone being sick near me for as long as i can remember, i have no idea why i just cant stand the sensation of vomiting or feeling sick. I feel sick 24/7 which is like a vicious circle, i feel sick because im worried about it, im worried about it because i feel sick. Im scared of long journey's, scared of going out for meals, even scared of going to work sometimes. I totally get how you feel and i really is like a living hell. I drink rooibos tea at night which helps relieve the nausea so maybe you could try that? It also makes you feel relaxed when you go to bed after. The mind does incredible things to your body it makes you feel so physically bad even tho there is nothing physically wrong with you, i hope my info helps

Just thought, have u tried montrillium? There anti nausea tablets u can buy from the chemist and they really do work! They may break the feeling sick cycle for u? 

Ok I CAN help you with this one, trust me this works: First you already know this is in your mind, this is the biggest step forward.  1: Imagine you're standing at the edge of a very very high cliff, now in your mind slowly take a step back, now this will be difficult trust me. As soon as you've taken one step back put a fence on the edge of the cliff, this stops you going back to the very edge.  You will at this point start to feel that tiny bit better (review your progress every Friday and only every Friday) some weeks you will take no steps back, some weeks you will take three back and two forward.  This is not a race.  Keep moving back and when possible build another fence, hey after a few months look where you are, you must view the edge of the cliff has your 'sicky feeling'. This will work for you, it may take time and your mind will sometime try and rip a fence up, just put a larger one back up.  Trust me this will work for you.  Good luck, oh if you wake up worried in the middle of the night just look at the fence and the edge, you're moving away from the edge you'll feel better, you feel more confident, look how far you're moving back.  Then the edge will be far in the distance, hey you're not worried about this any more, your winning.  That last high fence has worked.  You have to get there yourself, no-one else can do this for you. It may take months or years, I had a problem and this was the only thing that worked for me, it took me two years and when I look back I just can't believe what a massive problem I had. 

Hi Tanya! I also suffer with a fear of being sick that has reared its ugly head over the last few months. It's important to remember that phobias, although irrational, do occur due to very legitimate reasons. It's also been said by a few doctors and medical researchers that emetephobia (fear of vomiting) is a panic disorder within itself. Do you find you have panic attacks due to your fear? 

There are other medications you can try. Speak to your GP and describe how you are finding it difficult to cope. I take propranolol for my panic attacks and I find that although they haven't stopped completely, they are much milder and tend to be shorter. It also might help with waking up in the middle of the night in a panic. 

I hope you feel better soon!

Hi tanya, I suffer from the same problem as you I am 21 I have tried many different tablets for my phobia of being sick which causes me to have panic attacks, I have had this phobia for years, I cant work because of this illness, I don't socialise I feel like I have nobody to speak to about this illness

I know exactly how you feel I take anti-sickness tablets for the sake of it because I am so frightened of being sick. I struggle to sleep on a night and tend to stay indoors. I cant sleep out anywhere because of this phobia, I am currently on the same medication as you sertraline. I can't move out from my parents house because of this

I really hope you see this and reply would really help me if I had somebody to speak to about my phobia

Thank you

x