Tiny fear of eating?

[plushiesaremyjam]

Over the past year and a half I started being afraid to eat. No not cause of body image issues (Love your body its the only one you get!) its cause I have such bad emetophobia that I am terrified of throwing up. I love food. Its a great thing! But when I am out in public I fear eating, I am so terrified I am going to throw up my food. Now, I have to say that I don't throw up that often. I can name 3 times in my life I have thrown up. The last time was 6 years ago after taking acne medicine right after I ate a sandwich (I cant eat original chik-fil-a sandwiches because of that day) and it wasn't even traumatic. But because of this weird fear I do not like to go out eating, and even after eating at home I sometimes get really nervous of throwing up my food. Again i have never actually thrown up any of my food that I am so scared of throwing up, but gosh darn it i dont want this time to be the first time! I'm really scared of becoming anorexic or bulimic, no I dont hate my body and no I dont think I am over weight (i am perfect in all of my curves) and even tho I want to lose a little weight i want to do it safely and be a healthy weight.

About a year and a half ago I had a (now ex) friend who was bulimic, it was really scary for myself because I have this huge phobia of vomiting and here my friend is vomiting up all of her food. We stopped being friends for other reasons but ever since then...I have had a tiny fear of becoming anorexic or bulimic myself.

Does anyone have any tips for managing emetophobia?

[Hidden]

Have you had a chat with a doctor about it?

It sounds like a hard thing to deal with.

[plushiesaremyjam in reply to Hidden]

I have. She just told me that i need to work on ways to manage my anxiety

[Hidden in reply to plushiesaremyjam]

Did she tell you how to work on your anxiety?

[plushiesaremyjam in reply to Hidden]

She gave me some relaxation techniques

[Hidden in reply to plushiesaremyjam]

You have tried them?

[mkri]

So, what if you throw up? What is so bad about that? Especially when you are at home. Sure, there will be a mess to clean up. But that is no big deal. Surely, you can relax at least at home. In any case, as you have yourself realised, it is not even going to happen.

[Mariapalmer]

Hi I suffer with emetophobia too but I don’t struggle to eat because of it but I’m very wary about what I eat because of it etc. If I didn’t eat I’d feel even more nauseous and it’s still possible to be unwell even if you don’t eat so you might aswell even if it’s not massive amounts make sure you do eat x

[Kathush]

Fellow emet here. It is hard and it all has to do with our anxiety. So yes, your dr. is right on that.

What i do is graze throughout the day, mostly nutritious items like nuts, shredded carrots and monterey jack cheese with crackers.

What mostly helped me with this is ativan. I was scared to take meds because of side effects but i had to risk it and try it to see if it would help.

It did, even at the smallest dose. I finally got my anxiety lowered to where i dont take the med daily anymore but always have on hand "just in case".

[plushiesaremyjam in reply to Kathush]

I graze throughout the day too. Its getting better each day that my anxiety isnt so high.