Emetophobia

[Hannahzid]

Hello everyone! I hope you are enjoying the start of the weekend.

Alongside my OCD, I struggle mostly with Emetophia. I have been especially triggered this week from impromptu/real life exposures. I always find it tough during these times and feel like I am going back to square one. I become afraid to eat certain foods again and I am hyper vigilant about my hygiene. It feels like this part of my OCD does not exist anymore unless I have someone in my life who is sick.

It can feel discouraging but I always remind myself that I have made it through worse.

Do you struggle with Emetophobia? Do you find it difficult to completely get over?

[mrmonk]

Hello Hannahzid,

I have had emetophobia and emetophobic-related OCD for over forty years -- most of my life. My experience has been that one never completely gets over it. I just co-exist with it and find ways to cope.

[OCDhell]

You taught me something g new. I didn't know what emetophobia was. Does sticking to certain foods work for you? Maybe there's more to it just trying to help. I wish you luck.

[Sjdjdiudehdhd]

I have terrible emetophobia, but i noticed recently that it has reduced significantly. I had two random spells of sudden and unexplained sickness (it only happened one time each) and that triggered me again for about a year. i could not eat anymore and lost 15 pounds, drink alcohol, or do much of anything and felt perpetually ill. Because these spells were so random I had the "what if" game going in my head 24/7, saying well if this happened randomly those two times then how will I ever know whats going to make me sick again. My anxiety makes me extremely nauseous, so I used to think that was me coming down with something, and I had panic attacks almost daily thinking this was it, I was going to randomly be sick again. Because nausea is a symptom of my anxiety, it is a vicious cycle, as my panic attacks are triggered by feelings of nausea, which is usually caused by my anxiety, and that sensation sends me into complete derealization and spiral because I get triggered by the nausea. But I never got sick, and eventually I learned to process these feelings without associating them with danger and getting sick because I knew after 1000000 times of going through this that I was fine every time. Eventually somehow this part of my ocd and anxiety was no longer at the forefront of my life. Now I am just scared of more tangible things, like taking certain medications, eating certain foods, or drinking in excess, or exposure to someones sickness. I know that stomach bugs are only spread through close contact with bodily fluids, and that is not easy to catch unless you share a bathroom with someone or you are around them while they are sick. I am hypervigilant about everything, and my hygiene ritual is excessive, and feel threatened 24/7 by possible exposure, but I do not panic at first sight because I know that the likelihood of being exposed to things that will make me sick is not very high, and this is just from experience of trying to live life and discovering I am ok every time! I still need to go on medication for extreme anxiety/depression/ocd and I have been reluctant because of the very fact it causes nausea and sickness, but I need to face the possibility as life is too short to be spent worrying about these things all the time. It is a waste of time, and I wish it would just leave us all alone. It is exhausting, and I am so sorry you are experiencing this. I know my story is not helpful in any way and cannot take that fear away from you but I wanted you to know you are not alone in this.

[Against_the_current]

I have since i was always sick as little and it's so terrible

[cooperhawk]

I feel the same way! I feel like I make progress, but when someone or some event happens, it causes me to feel like a complete and utter failure and that all the progress I have made is for nothing.