I am terrified of surgeries because anesthesia causes nausea in many cases. I started to freak out when I woke up from surgery and they wanted me to get up while I was nauseated. I nearly cried in panic. They had to give me another medication to make it stop. I don't think I've thrown up in 20+ years because I try to be very careful. Not as careful as she mentioned, like no compulsions, but I definitely cautious.
Yep, same. I had a really bad case of stomach flu as a younger child, I'm talking vomiting like 7-8 times in an hour, that really left a mark on my brain it was traumatic for younger me.
Yep. I have a panic attack because I’m convinced I’m going to die. I can’t deal with anyone else vomiting, but that’s more because that makes me feel sick, and then I panic. It’s not that vomit itself makes me fearful, it’s the thought that I’ll vomit and die because I can’t breathe.
Pretty much the case for agoraphobia. I have agoraphobia and I call it the fear of everything. Just call me chicken little. Nearly everything I'm frightened by goes back to fearing my body's reaction to things. Vomiting, diarrhea, sweating, palpitations, dizziness, etc. Sound like fun ? Sign up today. 🤪
Yup. Makes sense. And sadly, our bodies do things we don’t like at times that are unpleasant or embarrass us, fact of life. Can be hard to accept especially for those of us that get easily embarrassed
Yes! It's definitely a control issue with me. Also, It's the gross out factor. When I was a kid I would throw up for no apparent reason, and not knowing why it was happening was terrifying, it was as if my body had gone crazy or was simply tormenting me because it hated me.
all the years I suffered with emetophobia taught me that I had to face some of these extreme fears to stop being restricted by them. eventually, I could hear the word "vomit" without having much anxiety, later I could watch a movie scene that involves throwing up without any panic attacks... I became more flexible when it came to eating out, and I started going to parties as well. the panic attacks decreased throughout the years, and today I can say that it gets a lot easier. don't ever lose hope, seek knowledge about it and put it into practice. you'll be okay!
@@jillpruett3444 it'll get better. What honestly helped me was owning a dog. Her vomit didnt bother me like human vomit, all my fear of it was eclipsed by worrying about why she had got sick and feeling bad for her, and her vomit just wasn't that gross. 🤷♀️
Crazy you put out this video today. My emetophobia was triggered today by someone getting sick while they were with me. I've been extremely anxious ever since. It's a very debilitating phobia that's hard to express to others. Most people don't understand and think you're just being dramatic. I've missed out on so many things because of it. I hope to be able to cope with it better someday.
What hurts is when people downplay it by saying "everyone is scared of vomiting." Like no, you don't. You haven't had to leave work because the person you share an office with had an upset stomach.
People be like “well it is disgusting so of course” or “everyone is scared of vomiting” but does someone like me literally running away from the area as far as possible, even if the amount that came it was extremely small, sound like something everyone does?? Last time I checked, most of my peers in school hardly ever did that, but I was the only one who had that reaction.
One day in school I overheard that some girl vomited right before class, so we had to leave the room. The kids were all talking about it and it triggered a panic attack in me, which then led to daily panic attacks due to the agoraphobia that i developed. I was terrified of being in a classroom where there was no escape (or at the very least a trash can nearby) incase I felt like throwing up. It got to a point where I skipped school due to the anxiety. That was about 2 years ago, and now I feel slightly better when hearing the word and handling panic attacks in public spaces. It was such hell
I relate to this!! I developed a phobia of vomiting in 4th grade so there was ample time after that for kids to get sick in school and it always sent me spiraling 🌀 especially because all the kids would gossip about the person afterwards!! That really added fuel to the phobic fire
Gee I thought I was the only one. I was terrified like this when I was a kid. I slept with a bucket in my bed for years because I was afraid I might throw up. At some point it got better for me.
I had this as a teen. My fear was throwing up (or someone else throwing up) in a car. It sucked when all my friends started driving and I was paranoid to go anywhere with them in case I threw up in their car. It did gradually go away as I got older, and now I'm not afraid of barf or barfing at all.
I experienced something similar in school! My classmates & experienced kids vomiting right in the middle of class quite often & with one kid, it was really severe- it really disturbed lol.
Emetophobia is really, really bad. I'm lucky that mine has decreased throughout yhe years, but when the fear feels imminent, oh, boy, it isn't pretty. It's very debilitating for the sufferer, but many people don't take very seriously...
Working in Healthcare care, I've kind of overcame my fear of seeing others vomit, however, I'm still petrified to commit the act myself. I'm even afraid of getting pregnant for this exact reason. Let's not even talk about if I get a stomach virus, I'd rather have diarrhea.
SO psyched to see a video on this! Emetophobia has legit ruined parts of my life already. It’s not AS severe now, but can still ruin my day if something triggering happens. I can’t watch or listen to someone else be sick. There’s just this primal fear….I can understand why some would rather die than to vomit.
I struggle with emetophobia daily so I'm so thankful you covered this topic. I wish people that didn't suffer with it could understand how awful it is! Thanks so much for all your awesome videos ❤
You would not be able to deal with one my roommates they don't believe in wash their hands ,I refuse to eat on days that they cook I re wash the dish in bleach when it's their day to wash their day to wash the dishes
I had the fear for 15 years . I’ve gotten sick two years ago. It actually helped with the fear . I got sick last weekend and that fear is starting to come back. I shall overcome it .
But if you have the stomach flu that’s unwise. Your body needs to get rid of the bacteria. Honestly id rather have diarrhea to get rid of it than throw up but, I’ve tried avoiding both when I’ve had the flu before and felt crappy for days. So I’ve decided id rather let my body get rid of it and get over it in a day, than taking several.
@@EphemeralProductions that's not actually true. By the time you vomit from a stomach virus or food poisoning it's already reached your small intestine. Vomiting more might make you feel better for a while afterward, but it doesn't 'get rid of it' any faster or shorten the duration of your illness in general. Source: severely emetophobic and have spent years researching the vomit response, norovirus, and food poisoning
I have struggled with emetophobia all my life. Then was diagnosed with gastroparesis after becoming very ill. Which is basically a disease tailor made to ruin an emetophobes life.
I relate to everyone in the comments, in my way or another. I thought I was the only one with this phobia unti later on in life and the internet was invented. 😆 Incredible, how the brain works against us... best wishes for everyone. I've lived with this freaking phobia for 46 years..I'm 50 now. Dr.MARKS IS 👏
WOW, almost 20% of people will develop a phobia at some point in their life!! I had a near-death experience with a bus accident in Costa Rica and for years after that I developed a fear of all public transportation -- mainly flying on an airplane. It made little sense to me at that time. But this video helps me connect this traumatic event with how it can manifest itself in unusual ways. Therapy helped me pinpoint triggers and taught me to overcome this phobia by preparing in advance for a flight, train ride, etc. Nearly 15 years later I have little problem with my phobia anymore. Thank you Dr. Marks!
I'm so glad you did a video on this. I'm very emetophobic and have been my entire life. For me it comes from a fear of a loss of control, and the fact that whenever I vomit it's always because I'm severely sick. Some people puke at small stuff like seeing something gross on tv. They puke once and it's done. With me though I rarely vomit. The last time I vomited it was because I had intestinal damage that landed me in the hospital. Before that it was because I had surgery complications and almost lost my life. Before that it was because I had a virus and was vomiting so much I was dehydrated, again, needing to go to the hospital. Because I don't vomit unless something is seriously wrong, I think my brain has made this association between nausea and 'I'm in danger/I'm going to die'
I had a friend in high school who was afraid she would vomit. Her dad was an alcoholic and she had to clean up his vomit at times. I didn’t know this fear was so common
emetophobia has ruined my life many times. I remember when I first developed it as a child, I started eating less due to my fear and my family never knew why I ate so little. I felt so ashamed to tell them why I didn't eat because I didn't want to be made fun of. there was so many times I'd starve myself bc I was afraid to eat anything and lost a lot of weight that I could've possibly even died which is terrifying. I even dropped out of high school to do online school instead all bc I started have panic attacks everyday at school related to emetophobia. I've had suicidical ideations when I've felt extremely sick in the past and I've kept all of this to myself. thankfully I've gotten much better but it still be quite debilitating. I hope I can get the help I need one day. emetophobia is no joke
I never had a baby or wanted pregnancy because the thought of a woman's 1st trimester morning sickness and a baby vomiting the rest of my life made me go "nope" I'd rather have cat hairballs on a floor instead annnny day xD
Me too! Always dreaded the thought of a spontaneous puke fountain (child). I don't even like being around other people's kids that much, because puke can just come flying out of them at any time without warning. No thanks! Am happily childless!
SAME! Luckily my mother never got morning sickness and I react very similar to her with things. Also for me if it is a one time thing that happens very fast and not repeatedly, I'd be okay with that. You know what I'm talking about? Where it leaves your body so fast you don't even barley feel it vs. It coming up multiple times in a row like with the stomach flu.... I assume morning sickness is more like the first one. At least for people who don't have it badly. Also as long as it's only in the morning, I just won't eat late at night and therefor I'd only have stomach acid in me which makes me a lot less scared than actual digested food.
I fear vomiting to the point that if I feel nauseous and I worry I might have eaten something bad, I'll get a panic attack. I have no problem seeing vomit in general or even smelling it, although obviously I'd much rather not! (Ironically, I have a strong stomach) I just fear feeling SO horribly sick and then the terrible physical act of actually throwing up, plus the aftermath of muscle aches, shivers, fever, exhaustion and general horrible illness for the following days. I check expiration dates, I smell milk and any dairy...the other day I went to open what I thought was a new bottle of peach iced tea, only to find it was already open. It wasn't quite full. I didn't recall opening it, even though I might have. I was too paranoid to drink it, in case someone at the supermarket had opened it and taken a sip, a week ago even, and the tea was germed or stale and rancid. However, I'll often eat raw food (sushi), and I eat out a lot, without much concern.
this is EXACTLY how i am, im terrified of vomiting, and because of that im terrified of eating something bad. if i feel even a tiny bit of nausea, i get extreme anxiety and even panic attacks
I’m a hypnotherapist and hypnotherapy is very good at dealing with phobias of any kind especially emetophobia. Have a chat with a local hypnotherapist who deals with this! Worth exploring at least. Some great content here and the tip about magnesium is terrific - thanks Tracey.
I have struggled with this for most of my life. It interferes with my daily life. I pay attention to every stomach sensation in order to decipher whether or not I’m going to be sick, which then leads to a full blown panic attack about getting sick. I avoid most social situations in fear of getting sick. When I’ve been around someone who has vomited I can’t bring myself to eat, I have panic attacks wondering if I’m going to be sick. My thoughts are consumed with my fear of vomiting even though I know this is not rational. I need help but don’t know who I should see or what type of therapy would be successful. I’m 58 and want to start living my life anxiety/ phobia free.
I absolutely relate to your post so much. I am the exact same. I'm 42 and have had this since age 8. It's awful!! I'm sorry you also deal with it! Right now my 6 year old was throwing up and diarrhea yesterday and the night before. I haven't eaten anything in 2 days except I hate some bread awhile ago and I've been anxious ever since. I wish I knew who to help me and you but I haven't solved it yet!
one thing that helped me a bit was to bring a bag everywhere, so it may be embarrassing to throw up but at least it won't be everywhere (which what mostly freaked me out)
This is a great video. I had it for 30 years, its now just anxiety and is related to attachment trauma. Learning to connect and be supported by my loved ones was a huge step in healing.
I’m glad i don’t have a phobia about it. I have a *fear * of throwing up, especially in front of people. I’m afraid people will get pissed at me for making a mess and or will make fun of me for it. I don’t want to always be remembered as “the guy that barfed”. I think its tied in a lot to my social anxiety.
That sucks. This makes me think of a friend I had when I was a kid who would always tell everyone the next day when he had vomited at home. Just as a way of making conversation, you know. He would really pronounce the word "vomited". Makes me laugh, remembering it 😂so, you know, he had friends and he took an almost boastful attitude towards throwing up. It's not universal but there are different approaches out there. I hope your anxiety abates some day. And also that I have not made it worse by telling this story lmao
I have had this phobia since age 5 or 6. It’s not as bad as it was when I was in middle school. It’s always about other people vomiting and not ME getting sick or vomiting. It’s so bad I immediately will panic if someone says they don’t feel good.
@@newgrowth74 exactly!!! I have literally sprinted out of the house barefoot and drove down the block in a panic when my mom was vomiting. Oddly through college I was able to go to parties and was a bit desensitized/not as panicky when super drunk… but definitely some bad moments I try to never think about from my partying days (that sounds bad haha but for us I just mean of others vomiting). Even the sick emoji stresses me out…
@SpkTrth2Pwr I’m still extremely triggered by people vomiting where they are supposed to vomit 😂😂 I guess I can usually run away at a party. All this vom talk is stressing me out And thanks for the warning I will not be watching that show
Same , I had this really bad in 4th-6th grade. It use to scare the absolute shit out of me when someone threw up or said they felt like they had too. I would literally shake, cry and run if someone said they were nauseous
@@Nuggets_theSauce pretty much same. I missed a lot of school from anxiety in 8th grade. Like wayyy too much school. But I’d wake up feeling nauseous (from anxiety) and then stay home sick. Partly I was anxious about other people being sick but also just anxiety generally.
Thank you for doing a video on this. I’ve had emetophobia for 22 years now & it’s like no one talks about it even tho it’s one of the most common phobias. This is a great educational video for those that don’t have it.
Exposure therapy, as in she was forced to watch someone throw up? I've heard of exposure therapy for a variety of phobias, but for this one? No way in hell - I'd rather get shot in the face.
Thanks for making a video about this! I've suffered with this ever since I was in 5th grade. I've learned to live around it but there have been periods where it has been quite debilitating. I've wasted so much food and offended so many people for fear of getting sick from food they've prepared. I also obsessively check dates on food packages as well and am insanely careful with meats. I've avoided many outings due to having even the slightest twinge of nausea and being afraid it'll happen while I'm out. What's interesting is that while I've survived having 'it' happen to me (even in public a couple times, with a panic attack of course), it doesn't make the fear of it happening again go away. Thanks for spreading awareness about what it's like for people like us who struggle with this! ❤
I have had family and friends both get so aggravated because they think since I am an adult now that I should have “gotten over it”. I’ve noticed over the years that I am very aware of my body sensations so if I even have a certain feeling that is “off”, the wheel starts turning with “Oh my gosh, remember that time…”. Thus starts the cycling and overthinking bringing on the anxiety symptoms that will CAUSE me to feel things that wouldn’t be there if I weren’t freaking out. I can “knowi it” in my head but I will always revert back to “yea, 99% of the time I ended up being fine BUT there is still that chance because it’s not like I am gonna go forever without it happening again.”
Thank you SO much for addressing this! I was headed into a state of agoraphobia due to my emetophobia. I finally got into therapy and began medication. It's not completely gone, but I can cope now. Thank you!
I feel so much less alone after hearing all of this! I was a MASSIVE bundle of various intense anxieties as a child, but fear of vomiting was the strongest of them all, second only perhaps to my fear of death... to the extent it, appropriately enough, nearly got me killed. My mom refers to my ages 9 to... about 11 or so... as my 'holocaust survivor' phase... because I looked an awful lot like a few of those liberation pictures. My arms were twigs, my cheeks were concave, my eyes sunken in. It got so bad I was forcibly hospitalized for a while. I remember a big part of why I was so hard to treat was because of how rare and specific my issue was. I saw plenty of therapists, but they tended to always try to approach my anorexia from the lens of body dysmorphia... Since most of the time for kids, that's where it comes from. This was the wrong track to take with me, though, because I didn't have that. I refused to eat simply because I was convinced if I did, I wouldn't keep it down, and that thought terrified me far more than the notion of starving to death. I remember as a kid I found my inability to articulate my issues and be understood more than a little frustrating. "Are you afraid of being teased? Do you feel like you're fat or ugly?" Er... no? Don't really care if I'm fat or not. Besides, have you seen me? "Are you bulemic? Have you ever eaten and then forced yourself to regurgitate?" Um... WHAT!? No!! That is LITERALLY the opposite of the problem I am having!!
Wow I didn’t realize so many people struggle with this!! Pretty sure I’ve had this since I was little (I’m 36 now). Ironically I went through nursing school in my early 30’s and realized that as long as I know that the person throwing up isn’t contagious, it’s easier for me to handle. (Morning sickness, nauseous from a medication etc) Being pregnant and throwing up/dry heaving has helped me not be as scared of the act of throwing up when it’s happening. But when my children are sick and throwing up, I get a little panicky and try to distance myself the best I can, which sounds horrible. My husband doesn’t have a vomiting fear so he’s always on the “front lines” with it, but he’s deployed right now so my greatest fear (other than something happening to him) is dealing with a stomach bug while he’s gone. We were at the playground the other day and my 3 year old found a juice box and drank out of it, and I was kinda freaking out and soooo worried about what if the kid who drank from it before had a stomach bug and then my son was going to get sick?? I gave him some natural remedies when we got home in the hopes of staving off any germs. He did not end up getting sick and probably would’ve been fine even if I hadn’t done the remedies. 🙈 I really wish I could get over this fear especially with my kids, because I don’t want to pass the fear to them! I hate it when I see people on social media posting about themselves/their kids having stomach bugs, because then I’ll start seeing a trend and then know that it’s “going around.” So then I’ll be even more cautious when we’re out and about. I have even been avoiding taking my kids (2 toddlers and a baby) to the library because I can just imagine it’s crawling with germs, some of which could be stomach bug germs. (I am not scared of other illnesses - I can deal with fevers, coughing, mucus, etc! I’d also rather deal with blood then vomit!) I also am diagnosed with OCD and am on sertraline which greatly helps control the OCD.
I had this as a child after having a very bad stomach bug where I threw up for days. My mother had to take me with her somewhere and I threw up on the subway platform. I think that’s what triggered it. For years afterward I slept with a bucket in my bed and would have panic attacks at the thought of throwing up. I’ve been sick since then, but have literally forced myself NOT to throw up. Of course it prolongs the sickness but I don’t care. The funny thing is I have kids and their throwing up, while gross, doesn’t panic me- I actually get very calm trying to comfort them. Weird. My son has the same fear too.
I am the same way! Even though I have teens now that can take care of themselves, if that happens, I will go for DAYS on crackers, toast and chicken soup to “prepare” in guess I get it. I am 42 freaking years old and it’s so embarassing!
Thank you so much for this video. I have had emetophobia my entire life, I think it was caused by a long stint of sickness I had as a very young child at 3 or 4 (most of which I don't remember because I may have repressed it, but my mom said it was so bad that I would vomit in my sleep). Now in my 30s, for the most part, I'm less anxious if I'm sick because I know I can hold it, but I am significantly more anxious if someone else gets sick. Over time, I've come to realize it might be something of a control issue. Like what you said with avoiding parties, I can't control how much someone drinks. I even try avoiding children because they often aren't able to control their body functions yet. My coworkers know of my emetophobia because kids have gotten sick where I work and I had full blown panic attacks without even having seen what happened and luckily they are all very understanding even though it's embarrassing. If I hear a weird noise, my first thought is "someone's throwing up" and my heart starts racing until I find out what the noise is. I even avoid seeing new movies until hearing about them from friends because I'm afraid a character will get sick. I remember if a movie I saw say 20 years ago had a scene in it even if I haven't seen it since. I also always thought my food paranoia was separate from emetophobia, but everything you said like throwing out perfectly good food or reaching more often for packaged or processed foods now makes total sense. I'm very afraid of exposure therapy and don't know if I'd be able to handle it :(
Thank you, Dr. Marks, for putting up this video! I agree with Elena about the fear of losing control of the body. I even pinpointed the catalyst...when I about 4 I had a tummy ache. It was a Monday night (Little House on the Prairie aired Mondays) and the show was over, it was time for bed. My dad, an old sailor who was not the most nurturing parent, asked if my belly still hurt. (Not sure where Mom was that night...she would have handled it differently) I said it did so he took me to the bathroom and handed me a glass of water to drink. No explanation. Except it wasn't just water, it was salt water. An old sailor remedy for seasickness...just get it over with. I drank the water and, of course, this terrible, revolting, sudden, unexpected, and uncontrollable thing happened. The worry of it happening again pretty much ruled my life for the next 30 years. So many points Dr. Marks makes in the video described me that she might have been looking in my window. I can describe in vivid detail every episode of vomiting I experienced or witnessed (I try not to think of it). My mother would take me to the doctor, but, of course, by the time I was seen, the "pains" were gone. They said I was on the verge of an ulcer at age 9 and to take antacids if I didn't feel well. (I was drinking Mylanta like it was going out of style!) During my teens and early 20s I didn't like to eat in restaurants, I didn't like being in the middle of crowds or large stores (long way to the restroom). I needed to know where exits, bathrooms and trash cans were. I didn't see popular movies in crowded theaters. I've never had a hangover. I put off having a baby until I was 34 because of potential morning sickness (I never had any) and babies barf (it wasn't that bad after all). I didn't like to travel and I certainly didn't want to fly (what if I, or someone near me, needed the little bag?!). Interestingly, I have memories of being in a fun situation and suddenly being quite sure I was about to be ill. I've only just realized those were probably anxiety attacks triggered either by a mistaken bodily function or just the unconscious realization that things were going too well and I could lose control at any moment. If you've made it this far, you're probably thinking, "Okay, Lady...blah, blah, blah...what's the point?" The point is this: There's hope and not only that, but a world where every waking thought doesn't revolve around how your stomach feels. I'm in my "F-It Fifties" now and I travel, I fly, I even eat in restaurants. I slowly came out of the darkness by continually reminding myself I was having the right reaction just at the wrong time. And if, by chance, I really was ill I would deal with it. People around me would likely be sympathetic, not revulsed (a large part of the fear in general). Funny thing...I never was ill in public. I missed a lot of fun because of my fear and life is already too short to miss a moment of fun. If you've been nodding your head as you read my story, continue to nod as I say you (yes, even You) can get past it. I still close my eyes and don't watch that part in a TV show or movie (I don't find it entertaining) but I don't have to change the channel.
So many fears but phobias are a whole other thing to deal with. Same in difference of stress and anxiety. The way physical health is effected long term of dealing with mental health can be a struggle too. Thanks for sharing.
thank u so much fr making this video I didn't know other ppl actually experience this. it has made school so hard for the last few years and I tried to explain it to ppl but no one gets it.
Since I have emetophobia I feel that my life is no longer useful, I want to be free to eat everything I want without being afraid of vomiting, I want to go wherever I want without being afraid of vomiting in a panic When I saw this video I said: finally, finally someone talks about this topic. Thanks
I had this phobia during childhood and early high school. It was just the worst!!! I hated going to school because at times I would witness the sight of someone vomiting or seeing the sight of vomit on the school playgrounds and it would leave me so anxious. I was so scared that I could not have a proper sleep pattern or even appetite for days/weeks!!! I had the worst anxiety from a young age and always avoided school bathrooms and other public places because of this. I never told anyone about it at school because I was afraid people would think I'm a weird freak! I'm now 25, married and pregnant with my son. It has gotten so much better over the years! It really does get better. Trust and believe ❤
The timing of this video is uncanny. I contracted COVID a few days ago and my symptoms started appearing yesterday morning. Most of my symptoms so far consist of an upset GI tract, stuff like nausea, pain, loss of appetite and I narrowly avoided being physicall ill by eating a piece of ginger and taking paracetamol. It feels more like a stomach flu than a respiratory virus. It's so weird that out of the entire list of COVID symptoms I get the ones that scare me the most but what would normally be considered benign for people without emetophobia. My fear has subsided over the years but when I'm close to being physically ill my entire system goes into extreme fight or flight mode so there's still a latent part of the phobia in the back of my mind.
I’ve suffered with this for 50+ years and I get scared when people around me are getting the flu- because that’s something I can catch and can be a potentially horrendous event- I can’t think of anything worse besides food poisoning. It’s a horrific time period watching or hearing about this invisible monster creeping around infecting people and that’s when the rituals come out. Washing my hands, the wipes, cleaning the bathroom spotless, not leaving the house unless I have to, not buying food that’s prepared from other people and even holding my breath if I’m around someone I think might have it. It’s a horrible way to live and God help me if I get sick that’s a whole other level as it rarely happens - but I almost took myself out to avoid it one time- the fear is so extreme. People couldn’t begin to understand - I will be so happy when my life is finished not to have to carry this anymore.
I have this and it means I'm terrified of going into opioid withdrawal as it causes me to vomit, making it harder to treat my addiction, and making things worse. :(
I'm 43 and have had this phobia since I threw up for the first time at 3 years old. I thought I was dying. After that I forgot it until third grade when I saw a kid puke in the desk in front of me. I had to go home. I stopped going to school after that. Prayed every night I wouldn't puke. I actually got my GED at 18. The only thing that got me a step further with puke was working at a night club and having to clean up puke. I knew they were just drunk and I couldn't catch it. That was only about 5 years ago
I suffered from this when I was a teen, took me a lot of years to get through it, I thought I was crazy but then I decided to go to therapy and it helped me a lot.
Thank you for this informative video!! I’m so happy to see that I’m not the only one who’s been struggling with this! I’ve had Emetophobia ever since I was 9 years old. It was triggered by a stomach flu that I had at that age. The phobia has pretty much dictated all of my teenage, and young adult years. There was a time that I avoided eating all together! I had the believe that I could end up vomiting whatever I ate, so I decided not to eat anything. It got so bad, that I pretended to eat in front of my parents. I would keep the food in my mouth and spit it into a tissue when my parents looked away. I was literally starving myself and eventually my parents noticed and took me to a hospital. At the hospital I was fed through IV and was kept there for 2 months as I was severely underweight. Strangely enough they never diagnosed me with any phobia then. When I started eating again, I only stuck to the same foods that didn’t make me vomit when I had starting eating again. I also developed the routine of not eating breakfast (as I had to go to school and I would not be at home, at my safe place), I would also not eat lunch at school, I only ate 1x a day as soon as I got home from school. I avoided friends or any social activities, because my main concern was running back home after school. When I had any event to attend outside of home, when I went to church, etc - I would just decide not to eat anything and rather eat when I got back home. This was literally my life until my early twenties!! That’s when I started CBT and taking antidepressants for my anxiety. This phobia is truly a debilitating condition, thank you for shedding light on mental illnesses through your videos!
Ive suffered from this phobia since age 8. It was devastating for me, i had daily panic attacks, couldn’t go to school for months, had trouble eating all foods, couldn’t go to parties and so on. I went to cbt many times but it didn’t really work. Exposure was horrible. I feel like this phobia never really goes away, it can get a little bit better but this is me now. I’ll always feel some degree of panic, more or less
OMG! Thank you, thank you, thank you! I thought it was just me. I hate to see, hear or talk about throw up. I paranoid about going out to parties like you said. I don’t like being close to a lot of people fear of someone getting sick. If I see someone who’s sick, I’m all but running from them. I try my best not to go to public restrooms fearing someone maybe in the restroom sick. If I see throw up I dream about it. I think about it I can’t get it off my mind for a long time. I hate that I’m like this. I don’t know what to do. Just typing this out my mouth is starting to water. I’ve very rarely throw up. I don’t allow myself to throw up. If I do throw up I probably should be in the hospital. Again thank you and thank to the person who reached out to you.
Omg I've suffered this my whole life and I didn't know it was a thing and that other people suffered from it too. Is one of the most hard things in my anxiety, it has affected so many aspects of my life and a lot of the things I do now are related to this. Thanks for the video, I'll search for more information because I really want to feel normal, it's been really hard.
Vomiting is literally the worst case scenario. For example Im not scared of severe injuries like a stab wound or broken bones because of the pain, Im scared because it might make me throw up.
I have this. I hate it, I have 3 kids and when one gets sick I panic. I clean obsessively to the point my hands cracked and bled once. Terrible my only bad phobia
@@donnawiseman3686 always standard procedure in my house! It’s bad I have ocd tendencies and routines when it hits the house. Exposure therapy doesn’t work for me on this one. It’s worked on my fear of spiders though
My teenage grandson has this but I didn’t no it had a name. He’s so afraid of vomit, or someone that may vomit. Thank you for telling us about this. I won’t poopoo it anymore.
It can be really bad. I had this as a teen, and I was terrified to eat anything besides apples, because I felt like they wouldn't make me sick. I was a nervous wreck in school, afraid someone was going to throw up in class, afraid to get in a car in case me or someone else got sick. I ended up dropping down to an unhealthy weight, and was put through all kinds of tests to make sure it was just mental. It seems like a lot of people grow out of it...I did, thank God, but it is a terrible fear to have. It really effects every minute of your life, because anytime you're around people, someone might throw up and then give you their vomit germs. And you're also really afraid you might be the one to throw up, and then everyone else will hate you.
@@myadorablefostersdoes it really get better? Im a teenager and its really bad. I am trying to get better and i dont wanna just sit and say im scared im scared- like most people do. I wanna learn that its not even that scary its just not comfortable. But i dont know im terrified and i have nightmares cant sleep school can be bad like when i feel like i cant escape when im in school but i have a best friend who is really supprotive and everything feels much better with him and he makes me laugh so much to make me think that it isnt even that scary. So i just forget about it when im distracted but then when i understand that one day ill have to deal with it- i get terrified. Im scared of the feeling and what is gonna happen. I had a stomach flu 2 years ago and nobody was there for me my mom was in the hospital, my sisters werent there for me and i was crying thinking i was gonna die because it was so new to me. I pray to God but i dont know why He doesnt take this fear away from me. Im really scared
I would love to know about something called "misophonia" (specific sounds that trigger a strong disgust response) and how it is (or isn't) related to sensory sensitivity. When people suck their teeth to remove food between them I get very upset and get the urge to punch their faces, which is of course embarrassing and disrupts relationships.
I have thissss it’s terrible! I have an adhd diagnosis as well and I believe there is a relationship between the two. (This sounds pretentious but) something that has helped me with the misophonia is practicing non-attachment (in the Buddhist sense). When I hear a sound that make me irrationally furious, like someone’s car stereo outside my apartment, or my upstairs neighbor dragging furniture around, I’ve started saying to myself “I am not attached to silence.” Obviously there’s a lot more to it, but emotional self-regulation has been a hugeee challenge for me and as I’ve been working on it, I’ve found I can tolerate triggering sounds more easily without becoming consumed by spiteful rage. Oh also, ear plugs. Seriously. Game changer.
Yeah, breathing loud and chewing a certain way can make me break down in tears if I can't stop it in time, frickin' sucks man. Often I resort to violence to get it to stop(I'm a kid and only at my sister) I'm ashamed to admit it but yeah just sharing my experience.
Thank you for talking about this! Since vomiting isnt something most humans enjoy, it's easy for people to dismiss someone's emetophobia as disliking the normal unpleasant feeling of vomiting. I've been dealing with this issue since I was around 8 years old and it totally gets worse when my depression and anxiety also increase in their intensity. What I find interesting is that during the few times I actually ended up vomiting in the last 10 years I remember thinking "yeah, okay, this sucks, but it's not as bad as my fear makes me remember it" and still, here I am, fearing this thing as if I'm gonna desintegrate if and when it happens. On another note, I'd like to share something my therapist, who's actually a psychoanalyst, did regarding this issue of mine. I couldnt talk about some sensitive issues that I wanted to because they triggered my panic attacks, which made me feel like I was gonna throw up at any moment, which in return increased my anxiety. This situation got so intense that I was leaving mid session or even avoiding going at all. One day I got to her clinic and in her office next to where I usually sat she had put a blue plastic bucket (blue is my favourite color) and when I asked about it she said "well, you say you feel like you're gonna throw up right on my carpet. I told you there's no problem If that happens but I know it's not that easy, so I bought you this just in case". It totally worked. I started losing the fear of vomiting in front of her or not having time to get to the restroom. As this fear died down, so did the anxiety.
Thank you for this!!!! I have cyclic vomiting syndrome and I definitely have panic attacks when an episode starts and it's so hard to describe what&why I'm feeling what I'm feeling, and why things like people talking about puking really bothers me
I had this phobia when I was a kid but seemed to outgrow it but since having kids it’s brought that fear back. My daughter just had some kind of virus the other day and now I’m panicking. I have OCD and autism which I believe is why I have emetophobia. I think any move I make or anything I do or even where I sit will make me sick. When I was taking care of my daughter I didn’t even think of myself but now that she’s better I am falling apart
I have this issue. It’s seriously ruined my life. I’m 25 years old and I’m terrified of throwing up or getting sick with the stomach flu or food poisoning. It’s turned me into a picky eater, and I want to travel but I’m scared to be sick and away from my home. It’s seriously horrible :( and if my stomach feels weird I instantly get panic attacks, or if anybody around me says their stomach hurts I instantly panic and need to get away.
My college roommate had this. She was terrified of throwing up, so she couldn’t be around anybody sick or drunk. As a grown up, she got married and wanted kids but was so scared morning sickness that she waited as long as like womanly possible to start their family.
Why I am afraid of throwing up is because when I feel like it I start to plan my funeral. I'd rather die than throw up. Even saying the word " throw up" triggers my anxiety and I start my funeral planning
Remember_________ ( Positive attitude) We need to Demonstrate the result of positive attitude , And all of these symptoms will go away! My doctrine is very simple, eat right And Treat people right. This is why I didn't Master psychology because I think people should know these things anyway.
I developed Emetophobia when I first ever saw my mother vomit from food poisoning. This was when I was 8. I still have it today. Now, everytime I hear or see someone vomiting or about to vomit, I end up getting panic attacks and there is no way that I will overcome my fear. When I end up panicking when I hear or see someone vomiting or about to vomit, I end up covering my ears and needing to find an exit to get out of the room/area I am in with the person vomiting. Then, I might run away as far as possible. But if I can't find an exit or if I can't leave the room/vehicle/area, then I feel like I am going through severe terror and I end up being forced to stay. I may either cry, scream, yell out help, or get a huge panic attack and start smacking/kicking objects. Even the door. I may aggressively bang on the door and screaming *"LET ME OUT!!! HELP ME! SOMEONE LET ME OOOOOUT!!!!!!!!!!"* Also, if I am trapped with that person who is vomiting, then that can make my panic attack 7 times worse. I do not like hearing or seeing people vomiting or about to vomit. Also, sometimes people don't give me a heads up whenever someone is vomiting or is about to vomit which will definitely increase the existence of the Emetophobia. I might also not sleep or WEEKS OR MONTHS! While that is happening, the vomiting incident will get stuck in my head for months, or even years. Also, sometimes TV Shows, Movies, or Videos of characters/people vomiting in it will also trigger the Emetophobia. Even when I hear the following phrases: "I think im gonna throw up", "I feel like I'm gonna throw up", "He's gonna throw up", "I need to go to the nurse because I am about to vomit" or any other phrases, that's when my heart will start beating fast, and I'll end up being worried or start panicking bc I can't leave. I am trying to overcome this fear but whenever I see someone about to vomit or is vomiting near me, that's when I will develop it back.
Thank you very much Doctor ❤️My 10y old daughter has been suffering a lot lately because of the emetophobia. She’s in therapy, but it doesn’t seem to help much. Your description of the phobia was quite elucidating.
wow hearing her say your brain grants you an exception made me feel a lot better. I am so scared of not being able to take care of my kids one day when they’re sick.
Can you do a video on an overview of DBT? I’m wondering if it’s worth trying out for my intense emotions. I love your videos and thank you for all that you do!!!
My mom says I don’t need therapy but, I need help with my emetophobia, today I was scared to eat even though it was my favourite food, cause when it’s night I think a lot, and when I think I fear. And it makes me nauseous. Whenever someone vomits near me, I’ll stay away from them for 2 days i’d rather die then vomit
I have OCD and emetephobia. It has been greatly improved by duloxetine/cymbalta, and CBT. The meds help me be more able to use CBT methods to help "talk myself down" or "logic myself" out of a high degree of anxiety where its about to become a panic attack, and that literally makes all the difference! I also want to recommend anxiety relief meditation (great guided meditation vids on youtube!) as a slower means to help oneself. At first it feels like the anxiety is getting WORSE, but let me tell you from personal experience, that is NOT so. It is simply that you are now paying attention to the anxiety, instead of the usual attempts to distract oneself from it (understandable!). If you keep trying, keep practicing, it DOES get better, and that feeling of increased anxiety goes away. The benefit? Your brain and body learn to do the deep breathing (etc) exercises AUTOMATICALLY as a response to the tell tale usual feelings of panic/anxiety!! It becomes SO ROTE, SO COMMON that it is AUTOMATIC, and thus immediately starts working on the high anxiety levels! It gives you that couple of minutes to think critically and go "hey self, you should put on one of those saved anti-anxiety meditation videos", whereas normally we don't usually even have the presence of mind to think that way to begin with. PLEASE comment if you'd like to have someone to vent about this issue, because it's been so prevalent in so much of my life, and while not "cured" it's SO MUCH better now! I would love to help anyone with this if I can!
I need help, I keep getting panic attacks each meal even though the food is good to eat, I try to ignore being nauseous, before I can ignore being nauseous but since my emetophobia got 10x worse is more harder It's hard for me to do daily tasks I used to eat a lot before my emetophobia got worse I loved eating, but now I eat way less. I'm already skinny (because of my high metabolism) and eating more less will make me malnourished I have a strong stomach, but my brain keeps telling me that I'll throw up when I feel nauseous I need help pls
@@cheto_unknown dude, I don’t know if this is an option for you but this is very serious and you need to go to therapy for this. You can’t keep living like that. If therapy is an option please go
I used to suffer from emetophobia. Everytime I saw someone vomiting I my heartrate would raise and start sweating, feeling like I was about to faint. After the episode, I was not able to talk ever again to that person bc of the irrational fear of being explosively vomited over me. When I felt sick, I would resist as much as I could the possibility of vomiting, no matter how sick I was feeling. Also, if I threw up, I would cry myself out. Luckily I have overcome this phobia with several years of therapy, now I feel normal.
I never knew this was a thing. About 10 years ago I got sick and needed to vomit. I held my vomit inside for 3 hours before I gave in to the need to throw up. The fear that I felt was crazy. And also I now have IBS so in the beginning stages of my diagnosis the nausea used to cause me to panic because I was scared that I had to throw up. Then when I got pregnant I never threw up (I was so grateful) but I dry heaved which was still torture for me because it's like throwing up nothing but air. So yes I believe I have this diagnosis
@KidrAdventures i have ibs. I take medication for nausea and GI flareups. Nothing has changed. I just have to pay attention to when the flareups start and take my medicine for it. It's about timing
I have Emetophobia and all my friends think I’m weird. I can’t control it! 😭 It’s up to the point where I miss school camps and I freeze up and have a panic attack if I see, do, hear or smell it. I haven’t met people with my condition before...
I had the fear of throwing up since I was a kid, but as I got older the fear seem to grew stronger, I’m 44 years old now, I don’t drink alcohol because of that fear, I get annoyed when people tell me I have to drink too have fun
I've been able to take care of people who are vomiting. I feel incredibly uncomfortable and disgusted, but I can do it. On the other hand, if it's me who feels sick, my panic attacks just start.
I had no idea there was a link between emetaphobia and agoraphobia... but it makes so much sense. I have both. If I do anything that I know can cause nausea it can trigger my anxiety which creates nausea and can quickly spiral to panic... and once I panic every time I start to calm the nausea from the anxiety is still there and I set myself off again. With much therapy I can usually calm myself now but it's still a struggle. I have tried exposure therapy a couple of times which has helped but when not in therapy I tend to slip back.
I used to have this phobia bad as a teenager until I tried pot for the first time. I threw up after smoking and instead of having a panic attack or stop eating for days (to avioid it) I laughed and joked that I was still hungry. To this day the phobia has subsided.
I am seeing a psychologist next month to help me deal with emmetiphobia. I haven't been well the last few months and have REALLY battled with this. I've had it most of my life.
Thank goodness this doesn't happen to often but,When ever I feel like I'm going to vomit,it triggers a panic attack when I am standing in front of a toilet,I start to shake,breathe heavily,and try to calm down but it's not easy to do.What a horrible feeling.I can't help it,it just happens.Its a weird feeling.I used to be worse when I was younger with being around anyone who was sick,or hearing someone vomiting,it would trigger bad anxiety.I hope that any one reading this can try to get through your anxiety and I hope it gets better for you.Mine has gotten a little better since I was a kid.
I’ve been dealing with it for many years :( I’m in therapy finally for other things but I will bring this up to them. I don’t avoid situations that could have vomiting be a possibility, but if someone starts to feel sick I get a fight or flight response, usually a strong urge to flee the area and then I have a panic attack. I am 23 years old and (so far) I haven’t been sick since 5th grade (10 years old), so it doesn’t help that I have a streak going and I do fear breaking ghat streak. I have had panic attacks where I worry I may be nauseous, but the anxiety is what makes the feeling occur in the first place, since I don’t actually get sick and if I was to it would be entirely involuntary. I have a tiny bit of safety behaviors around food that may be ‘unsafe’ (pretty much exclusively food that has not been kept cold or hot enough, like food when it has been sitting out at a potluck for 3 or 4 hours) but I generally do not restrict my food. Like another commenter mentioned, I am also scared of pregnancy (when I am ready for that time of my life, if it occurs) partially due to me wanting to avoid possibility of morning sickness. I also do not drink, but that is due to childhood trauma with alcoholism in the family (where my father would end up very sick). I do also have the feeling of being scared of ‘what if’ moments in public, but I don’t avoid public places. Also I am scared of needing to have surgery under anesthesia due to nausea afterward (my father has had many surgeries)
This phobia is really debilitating for me. Whenever the nausea gets really bad, I have a panic attack, my heart beats so fast and I feel paralized. I've been suffering with this since I was 8 years old and tried everything I could to get rid of it. Nothing worked for me yet. I often find myself feeling really hopeless and even suicidal because I would rather die than keep living like this.
I’m dealing with this too. The only thing that kinda helps me is that it lasts only a couple of seconds and apparently the worst part is the nausea not the actual getting sick part. If we can deal with the nausea, i think we can deal with the getting sick part. ❤️ we’re strong! we can’t let this take over our life even though sometimes its all we can think about. we have to learn to live because we only have one life and we’re ruining it by being fearful all the time over something so dumb. We won’t die. It’s disgusting but why let a couple of seconds ruin your entire life when you have so many more seconds in your life that could be filled with other thoughts and happiness. Idk. I haven’t done it since I was in the 4th grade and I do everything to prevent it but recently I stopped trying to prevent it. If it will happen, it will happen & then i’ll just move on with my day. Hope this sort of helps. ❤️
I did EMDR for this very reason. IDK if it was the EMDR or normal therapy, but I'm not scared of this anymore in my daily life. If I hear vomiting I have a full visceral panic attack. So I'm not like "cured", but it's manageable now. I had a lot of anxiety clicking the video. Morning sickness and a sick child is 100% the reason leading reasons I don't want children. I wish I would have found this video in the midst of my worst parts. Still don't want kids, but when I was in my prime, it was a huge factor.
I have this and I have two thoughts. 1) they say that people who fear vomiting rarely vomit, in fact that rarity of vomiting is exactly what allows the fear to develop. In the past 25+ years, I’ve vomited twice. And 2) the last time I threw up, it was followed by giddy excitement. I had (unwillingly) faced my fear and survived. I remember thinking, “well if I threw up and survived, maybe there’s hope for my other fears, like talking to women” lol
I have suffered this phobia MY ENTIRE life. To the point that I actually caused myself a full on " accidental eating disorder" because I was so terrified that ANYTHING that I ate would be contaminated and make me sick. I am terrified of, not only, myself throwing up but other around me. If someone is sick around me I will will go into such a panic attack that I have full paralysis in my hands and face! I under went a full year of EMDR and have become so much more functional of a human. I recommend this form of therapy to Anyone struggling with this phobia. I went from allowing Emetrophobia to control my life: to me control the way that I respond in a situation if someone around me is sick. Fortunately, I have not become ill myself in MANY years. I pray that I have the a better time easing my this same situation should I become sick! GOD-FORBID!
I dont personally get sick from travelling, but I freak out just with the thougt of someone in the plane or bus vomiting! Also had problems with my ex when he got sick and I was so disgusted I could not help him. I was told to be inconsiderate and heartless.The thought of not being able to take proper care of a child also terrified me. It's quite difficult to explain to someone who doesnt have it. You're suposed to "get over it" and have more empathy,... The only thing that works for me travelling is wearing a scarf with a strong perume, and headphones just in case i need to dumb my senses.Also reading or doing other activites to distract my mind. Thank you for your videos, you do a great job making us feel "normal"! Please do the disgust video!
I used to be like this as a kid. It went away when I got older, mainly because it’s really difficult to vomit for me, unless I’m sick or in a lot of pain. I have a weak gag reflex and I can’t burp either. My sister is the same way. I can say that my fear went away because I watched people do it, and I reassured myself that it’s a body function that makes you feel better sometimes and I remember once being sick as a kid and feeling better after I vomited.
OH MY GOSH! People say I am lying every time I have said I can’t burp! It’s not like I am physically trying to hold anything back, just not there! I wonder if it is related to this?
@@Heatherlambertofficial no I don’t think so I always couldn’t burp. I got emetophobia because of a painful experience vomiting and I was starting to develop anxiety issues. It has to do with the muscles in our throat. I can vomit but it’s difficult to make myself do it not because I’m scared, it just takes a lot out of me to vomit. My sister also doesn’t have emetophobia and the same troubles.
i’ve had this phobia for as long as i can remember (my mother as well), and as i have gotten older and gone through therapy i have found ways to cope with it :) one thing that has helped me is carrying hospital grade vomit bags with me. they are small enough to fit in a purse and ease the worry of not being able to have somewhere to get sick. i just ordered a pack of 20 on amazon and it has done WONDERS in giving me a comforting feeling. also carrying lavender hand sanitizer with me! it helps me relax when i start to panic about being nauseous and makes me feel clean when i can’t get to a sink to wash my hands when i start thinking about vomiting. hope this helps :)
If I feel like I'm going to puke, I'll automatically have a full on panic attack.
I have no problem with seeing other people around me vomit.
I immediately start to cry. This came from my appendix ruptured an I vomited so much I don't ever want to see it again. 🥺😔
I am terrified of surgeries because anesthesia causes nausea in many cases. I started to freak out when I woke up from surgery and they wanted me to get up while I was nauseated. I nearly cried in panic. They had to give me another medication to make it stop. I don't think I've thrown up in 20+ years because I try to be very careful. Not as careful as she mentioned, like no compulsions, but I definitely cautious.
Yep, same. I had a really bad case of stomach flu as a younger child, I'm talking vomiting like 7-8 times in an hour, that really left a mark on my brain it was traumatic for younger me.
Yep. I have a panic attack because I’m convinced I’m going to die. I can’t deal with anyone else vomiting, but that’s more because that makes me feel sick, and then I panic.
It’s not that vomit itself makes me fearful, it’s the thought that I’ll vomit and die because I can’t breathe.
I remember reading that emetophobia is connected with fear of losing control over your body
omg that make sense!
-------------- post some cancer surgeries one has No control w/certain body function(s) but guess what ? It's the far lesser evil ...
Pretty much the case for agoraphobia. I have agoraphobia and I call it the fear of everything. Just call me chicken little. Nearly everything I'm frightened by goes back to fearing my body's reaction to things. Vomiting, diarrhea, sweating, palpitations, dizziness, etc. Sound like fun ? Sign up today. 🤪
Yup. Makes sense. And sadly, our bodies do things we don’t like at times that are unpleasant or embarrass us, fact of life. Can be hard to accept especially for those of us that get easily embarrassed
Yes! It's definitely a control issue with me. Also, It's the gross out factor. When I was a kid I would throw up for no apparent reason, and not knowing why it was happening was terrifying, it was as if my body had gone crazy or was simply tormenting me because it hated me.
The worst thing is when you’re scared of vomiting and the you get a panic attack that makes you nauseous
all the years I suffered with emetophobia taught me that I had to face some of these extreme fears to stop being restricted by them. eventually, I could hear the word "vomit" without having much anxiety, later I could watch a movie scene that involves throwing up without any panic attacks... I became more flexible when it came to eating out, and I started going to parties as well. the panic attacks decreased throughout the years, and today I can say that it gets a lot easier. don't ever lose hope, seek knowledge about it and put it into practice. you'll be okay!
Your own graduated exposure. That's great. Thanks for sharing this Sarah. 😊
What caused it?
I really really needed to read this today. Thanks for giving me hope. 😔🙏🏼
@@jillpruett3444 it'll get better. What honestly helped me was owning a dog. Her vomit didnt bother me like human vomit, all my fear of it was eclipsed by worrying about why she had got sick and feeling bad for her, and her vomit just wasn't that gross. 🤷♀️
What a lovely comment and thread
I have this phobia and it can be debilitating at times. I would literally rather be stabbed than vomit, that’s how much it terrifies me.
Same here ! :(
@@candylove49 sending hugs. I know how tough it can be.
Ditto. 😭
I’d gladly take a broken bone over puking
I worry i will OD myself with something to keep from puking-i even scared myself just typing the word puke!!:(
Crazy you put out this video today. My emetophobia was triggered today by someone getting sick while they were with me. I've been extremely anxious ever since. It's a very debilitating phobia that's hard to express to others. Most people don't understand and think you're just being dramatic. I've missed out on so many things because of it. I hope to be able to cope with it better someday.
What hurts is when people downplay it by saying "everyone is scared of vomiting." Like no, you don't. You haven't had to leave work because the person you share an office with had an upset stomach.
When I talk about it people laugh. They think it's a joke so I avoid telling this to people.
People be like “well it is disgusting so of course” or “everyone is scared of vomiting” but does someone like me literally running away from the area as far as possible, even if the amount that came it was extremely small, sound like something everyone does?? Last time I checked, most of my peers in school hardly ever did that, but I was the only one who had that reaction.
I missed out on a lot of stuff also . If I didn’t miss out then I was always thinking about it.
Fr
One day in school I overheard that some girl vomited right before class, so we had to leave the room. The kids were all talking about it and it triggered a panic attack in me, which then led to daily panic attacks due to the agoraphobia that i developed. I was terrified of being in a classroom where there was no escape (or at the very least a trash can nearby) incase I felt like throwing up. It got to a point where I skipped school due to the anxiety. That was about 2 years ago, and now I feel slightly better when hearing the word and handling panic attacks in public spaces. It was such hell
I relate to this!! I developed a phobia of vomiting in 4th grade so there was ample time after that for kids to get sick in school and it always sent me spiraling 🌀 especially because all the kids would gossip about the person afterwards!! That really added fuel to the phobic fire
Similar story here. It does lessen over time. It really affected my education, though.
Gee I thought I was the only one. I was terrified like this when I was a kid. I slept with a bucket in my bed for years because I was afraid I might throw up. At some point it got better for me.
I had this as a teen. My fear was throwing up (or someone else throwing up) in a car. It sucked when all my friends started driving and I was paranoid to go anywhere with them in case I threw up in their car. It did gradually go away as I got older, and now I'm not afraid of barf or barfing at all.
I experienced something similar in school! My classmates & experienced kids vomiting right in the middle of class quite often & with one kid, it was really severe- it really disturbed lol.
Emetophobia is really, really bad. I'm lucky that mine has decreased throughout yhe years, but when the fear feels imminent, oh, boy, it isn't pretty. It's very debilitating for the sufferer, but many people don't take very seriously...
You're right. I think it's because its not something anyone likes. So it's hard to relate to the phobic level of fear.
I was too ashamed to tell anyone as a child.
What drives me crazy is the "well, just don't think about it". Jeez, now why didn't I think of that? 🙄
Sorry if this triggers the phobia but I just wanted to know, in the event that "it" happens, how do you... survive?
@@whome2289literally same :/
Working in Healthcare care, I've kind of overcame my fear of seeing others vomit, however, I'm still petrified to commit the act myself. I'm even afraid of getting pregnant for this exact reason.
Let's not even talk about if I get a stomach virus, I'd rather have diarrhea.
Yeah, can't stand the thought of getting a stomach bug either :-'|
Omg I would gladly take diarrhea over vomiting I recently had norovirus and I was sicker than ever
@@dri_driella1227 hey how do you manage the phobia?
SO psyched to see a video on this! Emetophobia has legit ruined parts of my life already. It’s not AS severe now, but can still ruin my day if something triggering happens. I can’t watch or listen to someone else be sick. There’s just this primal fear….I can understand why some would rather die than to vomit.
I struggle with emetophobia daily so I'm so thankful you covered this topic. I wish people that didn't suffer with it could understand how awful it is! Thanks so much for all your awesome videos ❤
You're welcome Rachel. Hang in there. 👍🏽❤️
You would not be able to deal with one my roommates they don't believe in wash their hands ,I refuse to eat on days that they cook I re wash the dish in bleach when it's their day to wash their day to wash the dishes
@@lrowe6494 Oh my goodness..that sounds terrible! I'd be doing the same as you!! 😖
I had the fear for 15 years . I’ve gotten sick two years ago. It actually helped with the fear . I got sick last weekend and that fear is starting to come back. I shall overcome it .
@Jordy40Growing Sending good thoughts your way. It's such a difficult thing to overcome.
If you’re so nauseous you think you may vomit, put rubbing alcohol on a cotton ball and sniff it until the nausea goes away. Works for me.
But if you have the stomach flu that’s unwise. Your body needs to get rid of the bacteria. Honestly id rather have diarrhea to get rid of it than throw up but, I’ve tried avoiding both when I’ve had the flu before and felt crappy for days. So I’ve decided id rather let my body get rid of it and get over it in a day, than taking several.
@@EphemeralProductions yeah, probably right about that, but sometimes nausea is born from anxiety alone. In that case, this is a nice crutch.
Try not to do that too frequently, inhaling alcohol definitely isn't good for you
@@medusareigns understand. It may happen once or twice a year.
@@EphemeralProductions that's not actually true. By the time you vomit from a stomach virus or food poisoning it's already reached your small intestine. Vomiting more might make you feel better for a while afterward, but it doesn't 'get rid of it' any faster or shorten the duration of your illness in general.
Source: severely emetophobic and have spent years researching the vomit response, norovirus, and food poisoning
When I say.. You are sent from Heaven 💜💜💜💜
Thank you Claudia! ❤️❤️
I agree, her timing is mind blowing 💜👍🏽
I have struggled with emetophobia all my life. Then was diagnosed with gastroparesis after becoming very ill. Which is basically a disease tailor made to ruin an emetophobes life.
I relate to everyone in the comments, in my way or another. I thought I was the only one with this phobia unti later on in life and the internet was invented. 😆
Incredible, how the brain works against us... best wishes for everyone. I've lived with this freaking phobia for 46 years..I'm 50 now.
Dr.MARKS IS 👏
WOW, almost 20% of people will develop a phobia at some point in their life!! I had a near-death experience with a bus accident in Costa Rica and for years after that I developed a fear of all public transportation -- mainly flying on an airplane. It made little sense to me at that time. But this video helps me connect this traumatic event with how it can manifest itself in unusual ways. Therapy helped me pinpoint triggers and taught me to overcome this phobia by preparing in advance for a flight, train ride, etc. Nearly 15 years later I have little problem with my phobia anymore. Thank you Dr. Marks!
My Aunt as well. She refused any kind of bus trip. I'm glad you're doing much better. Rooting for you😊
That's a great therapy result Justin. Thanks for sharing. 👍🏽
@@purplesoul9927 Thank you Leslie! I have a 14-hour flight to Japan on Wednesday. I am mentally preparing now for it:)
@@DrTraceyMarks Strangely enough it took a few years before it manifested itself
This is awesome. Thank you for sharing.
I’ve struggled with this my entire life and always felt secluded.
That must have been really hard for you to deal with it for so long. I wish you well. 😊
I'm so glad you did a video on this. I'm very emetophobic and have been my entire life. For me it comes from a fear of a loss of control, and the fact that whenever I vomit it's always because I'm severely sick. Some people puke at small stuff like seeing something gross on tv. They puke once and it's done.
With me though I rarely vomit. The last time I vomited it was because I had intestinal damage that landed me in the hospital. Before that it was because I had surgery complications and almost lost my life. Before that it was because I had a virus and was vomiting so much I was dehydrated, again, needing to go to the hospital.
Because I don't vomit unless something is seriously wrong, I think my brain has made this association between nausea and 'I'm in danger/I'm going to die'
Same!
Omg. I feel the same
I didn’t know there’s such thing in a official capacity! I’ve always had a fear of vomiting. I literally will cry if I feel it coming
I had a friend in high school who was afraid she would vomit. Her dad was an alcoholic and she had to clean up his vomit at times. I didn’t know this fear was so common
emetophobia has ruined my life many times. I remember when I first developed it as a child, I started eating less due to my fear and my family never knew why I ate so little. I felt so ashamed to tell them why I didn't eat because I didn't want to be made fun of. there was so many times I'd starve myself bc I was afraid to eat anything and lost a lot of weight that I could've possibly even died which is terrifying. I even dropped out of high school to do online school instead all bc I started have panic attacks everyday at school related to emetophobia. I've had suicidical ideations when I've felt extremely sick in the past and I've kept all of this to myself. thankfully I've gotten much better but it still be quite debilitating. I hope I can get the help I need one day. emetophobia is no joke
How are you now ?
I have this and it's horrible! It also goes with my health anxiety, so it's a vicious cycle. Glad Dr.Tracey is addressing this.
You're not alone, sadly we're in the same boat. 😔
I never had a baby or wanted pregnancy because the thought of a woman's 1st trimester morning sickness and a baby vomiting the rest of my life made me go "nope" I'd rather have cat hairballs on a floor instead annnny day xD
Me too! Always dreaded the thought of a spontaneous puke fountain (child). I don't even like being around other people's kids that much, because puke can just come flying out of them at any time without warning. No thanks! Am happily childless!
I classify hairballs way too close to puke. My husband is a gem and gladly cleans it up. I can handle poop if he can handle the puke.
I never had morning sickness during my 2 pregnancies
Same here, but I willingly got pregnant & go figure I had HG both times 🤦🏻♀️
SAME! Luckily my mother never got morning sickness and I react very similar to her with things. Also for me if it is a one time thing that happens very fast and not repeatedly, I'd be okay with that. You know what I'm talking about? Where it leaves your body so fast you don't even barley feel it vs. It coming up multiple times in a row like with the stomach flu.... I assume morning sickness is more like the first one. At least for people who don't have it badly. Also as long as it's only in the morning, I just won't eat late at night and therefor I'd only have stomach acid in me which makes me a lot less scared than actual digested food.
I fear vomiting to the point that if I feel nauseous and I worry I might have eaten something bad, I'll get a panic attack.
I have no problem seeing vomit in general or even smelling it, although obviously I'd much rather not! (Ironically, I have a strong stomach)
I just fear feeling SO horribly sick and then the terrible physical act of actually throwing up, plus the aftermath of muscle aches, shivers, fever, exhaustion and general horrible illness for the following days.
I check expiration dates, I smell milk and any dairy...the other day I went to open what I thought was a new bottle of peach iced tea, only to find it was already open. It wasn't quite full. I didn't recall opening it, even though I might have. I was too paranoid to drink it, in case someone at the supermarket had opened it and taken a sip, a week ago even, and the tea was germed or stale and rancid.
However, I'll often eat raw food (sushi), and I eat out a lot, without much concern.
Wow you have quite the collection of experiences. i didn't know this was one of them. I'm glad this doesn't keep you from eating sushi. 😀
this is EXACTLY how i am, im terrified of vomiting, and because of that im terrified of eating something bad. if i feel even a tiny bit of nausea, i get extreme anxiety and even panic attacks
I bought myself a food thermometer to ensure that my food is properly cooked and won't give me food poisoning.
I’m a hypnotherapist and hypnotherapy is very good at dealing with phobias of any kind especially emetophobia. Have a chat with a local hypnotherapist who deals with this! Worth exploring at least. Some great content here and the tip about magnesium is terrific - thanks Tracey.
I have struggled with this for most of my life. It interferes with my daily life. I pay attention to every stomach sensation in order to decipher whether or not I’m going to be sick, which then leads to a full blown panic attack about getting sick. I avoid most social situations in fear of getting sick. When I’ve been around someone who has vomited I can’t bring myself to eat, I have panic attacks wondering if I’m going to be sick. My thoughts are consumed with my fear of vomiting even though I know this is not rational. I need help but don’t know who I should see or what type of therapy would be successful. I’m 58 and want to start living my life anxiety/ phobia free.
I absolutely relate to your post so much. I am the exact same. I'm 42 and have had this since age 8. It's awful!! I'm sorry you also deal with it! Right now my 6 year old was throwing up and diarrhea yesterday and the night before. I haven't eaten anything in 2 days except I hate some bread awhile ago and I've been anxious ever since. I wish I knew who to help me and you but I haven't solved it yet!
one thing that helped me a bit was to bring a bag everywhere, so it may be embarrassing to throw up but at least it won't be everywhere (which what mostly freaked me out)
This is a great video. I had it for 30 years, its now just anxiety and is related to attachment trauma. Learning to connect and be supported by my loved ones was a huge step in healing.
I’m glad i don’t have a phobia about it. I have a *fear * of throwing up, especially in front of people. I’m afraid people will get pissed at me for making a mess and or will make fun of me for it. I don’t want to always be remembered as “the guy that barfed”. I think its tied in a lot to my social anxiety.
I don't think anyone wants to be that person 😀
That sucks. This makes me think of a friend I had when I was a kid who would always tell everyone the next day when he had vomited at home. Just as a way of making conversation, you know. He would really pronounce the word "vomited". Makes me laugh, remembering it 😂so, you know, he had friends and he took an almost boastful attitude towards throwing up. It's not universal but there are different approaches out there. I hope your anxiety abates some day. And also that I have not made it worse by telling this story lmao
@@w.lester255 so funny. :)
I have had this phobia since age 5 or 6. It’s not as bad as it was when I was in middle school. It’s always about other people vomiting and not ME getting sick or vomiting. It’s so bad I immediately will panic if someone says they don’t feel good.
This is me! I can vomit but other people vomiting gives me horrible anxiety. If someone says they’re nauseous I’m gone
@@newgrowth74 exactly!!! I have literally sprinted out of the house barefoot and drove down the block in a panic when my mom was vomiting. Oddly through college I was able to go to parties and was a bit desensitized/not as panicky when super drunk… but definitely some bad moments I try to never think about from my partying days (that sounds bad haha but for us I just mean of others vomiting). Even the sick emoji stresses me out…
@SpkTrth2Pwr I’m still extremely triggered by people vomiting where they are supposed to vomit 😂😂 I guess I can usually run away at a party. All this vom talk is stressing me out
And thanks for the warning I will not be watching that show
Same , I had this really bad in 4th-6th grade. It use to scare the absolute shit out of me when someone threw up or said they felt like they had too. I would literally shake, cry and run if someone said they were nauseous
@@Nuggets_theSauce pretty much same. I missed a lot of school from anxiety in 8th grade. Like wayyy too much school. But I’d wake up feeling nauseous (from anxiety) and then stay home sick. Partly I was anxious about other people being sick but also just anxiety generally.
Thank you for doing a video on this. I’ve had emetophobia for 22 years now & it’s like no one talks about it even tho it’s one of the most common phobias. This is a great educational video for those that don’t have it.
My child had Emetophobia so bad it controlled their life. They went through exposure therapy and it has helped so much.
Exposure therapy, as in she was forced to watch someone throw up? I've heard of exposure therapy for a variety of phobias, but for this one? No way in hell - I'd rather get shot in the face.
Thanks for making a video about this! I've suffered with this ever since I was in 5th grade. I've learned to live around it but there have been periods where it has been quite debilitating. I've wasted so much food and offended so many people for fear of getting sick from food they've prepared. I also obsessively check dates on food packages as well and am insanely careful with meats. I've avoided many outings due to having even the slightest twinge of nausea and being afraid it'll happen while I'm out. What's interesting is that while I've survived having 'it' happen to me (even in public a couple times, with a panic attack of course), it doesn't make the fear of it happening again go away. Thanks for spreading awareness about what it's like for people like us who struggle with this! ❤
I have had family and friends both get so aggravated because they think since I am an adult now that I should have “gotten over it”. I’ve noticed over the years that I am very aware of my body sensations so if I even have a certain feeling that is “off”, the wheel starts turning with “Oh my gosh, remember that time…”. Thus starts the cycling and overthinking bringing on the anxiety symptoms that will CAUSE me to feel things that wouldn’t be there if I weren’t freaking out. I can “knowi it” in my head but I will always revert back to “yea, 99% of the time I ended up being fine BUT there is still that chance because it’s not like I am gonna go forever without it happening again.”
Thank you for making videos 💚 you really help me and I can’t thank you enough.
You’re welcome Richard. So glad to help!
Thank you SO much for addressing this! I was headed into a state of agoraphobia due to my emetophobia. I finally got into therapy and began medication. It's not completely gone, but I can cope now. Thank you!
I feel so much less alone after hearing all of this! I was a MASSIVE bundle of various intense anxieties as a child, but fear of vomiting was the strongest of them all, second only perhaps to my fear of death... to the extent it, appropriately enough, nearly got me killed.
My mom refers to my ages 9 to... about 11 or so... as my 'holocaust survivor' phase... because I looked an awful lot like a few of those liberation pictures. My arms were twigs, my cheeks were concave, my eyes sunken in. It got so bad I was forcibly hospitalized for a while.
I remember a big part of why I was so hard to treat was because of how rare and specific my issue was. I saw plenty of therapists, but they tended to always try to approach my anorexia from the lens of body dysmorphia... Since most of the time for kids, that's where it comes from. This was the wrong track to take with me, though, because I didn't have that. I refused to eat simply because I was convinced if I did, I wouldn't keep it down, and that thought terrified me far more than the notion of starving to death.
I remember as a kid I found my inability to articulate my issues and be understood more than a little frustrating.
"Are you afraid of being teased? Do you feel like you're fat or ugly?"
Er... no? Don't really care if I'm fat or not. Besides, have you seen me?
"Are you bulemic? Have you ever eaten and then forced yourself to regurgitate?"
Um... WHAT!? No!! That is LITERALLY the opposite of the problem I am having!!
Wow I didn’t realize so many people struggle with this!! Pretty sure I’ve had this since I was little (I’m 36 now). Ironically I went through nursing school in my early 30’s and realized that as long as I know that the person throwing up isn’t contagious, it’s easier for me to handle. (Morning sickness, nauseous from a medication etc) Being pregnant and throwing up/dry heaving has helped me not be as scared of the act of throwing up when it’s happening. But when my children are sick and throwing up, I get a little panicky and try to distance myself the best I can, which sounds horrible. My husband doesn’t have a vomiting fear so he’s always on the “front lines” with it, but he’s deployed right now so my greatest fear (other than something happening to him) is dealing with a stomach bug while he’s gone. We were at the playground the other day and my 3 year old found a juice box and drank out of it, and I was kinda freaking out and soooo worried about what if the kid who drank from it before had a stomach bug and then my son was going to get sick?? I gave him some natural remedies when we got home in the hopes of staving off any germs. He did not end up getting sick and probably would’ve been fine even if I hadn’t done the remedies. 🙈 I really wish I could get over this fear especially with my kids, because I don’t want to pass the fear to them! I hate it when I see people on social media posting about themselves/their kids having stomach bugs, because then I’ll start seeing a trend and then know that it’s “going around.” So then I’ll be even more cautious when we’re out and about. I have even been avoiding taking my kids (2 toddlers and a baby) to the library because I can just imagine it’s crawling with germs, some of which could be stomach bug germs. (I am not scared of other illnesses - I can deal with fevers, coughing, mucus, etc! I’d also rather deal with blood then vomit!)
I also am diagnosed with OCD and am on sertraline which greatly helps control the OCD.
I had this as a child after having a very bad stomach bug where I threw up for days. My mother had to take me with her somewhere and I threw up on the subway platform. I think that’s what triggered it. For years afterward I slept with a bucket in my bed and would have panic attacks at the thought of throwing up. I’ve been sick since then, but have literally forced myself NOT to throw up. Of course it prolongs the sickness but I don’t care. The funny thing is I have kids and their throwing up, while gross, doesn’t panic me- I actually get very calm trying to comfort them. Weird. My son has the same fear too.
I am the same way! Even though I have teens now that can take care of themselves, if that happens, I will go for DAYS on crackers, toast and chicken soup to “prepare” in guess I get it. I am 42 freaking years old and it’s so embarassing!
@@Heatherlambertofficiallol I can relate
Thank you so much for this video. I have had emetophobia my entire life, I think it was caused by a long stint of sickness I had as a very young child at 3 or 4 (most of which I don't remember because I may have repressed it, but my mom said it was so bad that I would vomit in my sleep). Now in my 30s, for the most part, I'm less anxious if I'm sick because I know I can hold it, but I am significantly more anxious if someone else gets sick. Over time, I've come to realize it might be something of a control issue. Like what you said with avoiding parties, I can't control how much someone drinks. I even try avoiding children because they often aren't able to control their body functions yet. My coworkers know of my emetophobia because kids have gotten sick where I work and I had full blown panic attacks without even having seen what happened and luckily they are all very understanding even though it's embarrassing. If I hear a weird noise, my first thought is "someone's throwing up" and my heart starts racing until I find out what the noise is. I even avoid seeing new movies until hearing about them from friends because I'm afraid a character will get sick. I remember if a movie I saw say 20 years ago had a scene in it even if I haven't seen it since. I also always thought my food paranoia was separate from emetophobia, but everything you said like throwing out perfectly good food or reaching more often for packaged or processed foods now makes total sense. I'm very afraid of exposure therapy and don't know if I'd be able to handle it :(
Thank you, Dr. Marks, for putting up this video! I agree with Elena about the fear of losing control of the body. I even pinpointed the catalyst...when I about 4 I had a tummy ache. It was a Monday night (Little House on the Prairie aired Mondays) and the show was over, it was time for bed. My dad, an old sailor who was not the most nurturing parent, asked if my belly still hurt. (Not sure where Mom was that night...she would have handled it differently) I said it did so he took me to the bathroom and handed me a glass of water to drink. No explanation. Except it wasn't just water, it was salt water. An old sailor remedy for seasickness...just get it over with. I drank the water and, of course, this terrible, revolting, sudden, unexpected, and uncontrollable thing happened. The worry of it happening again pretty much ruled my life for the next 30 years. So many points Dr. Marks makes in the video described me that she might have been looking in my window. I can describe in vivid detail every episode of vomiting I experienced or witnessed (I try not to think of it). My mother would take me to the doctor, but, of course, by the time I was seen, the "pains" were gone. They said I was on the verge of an ulcer at age 9 and to take antacids if I didn't feel well. (I was drinking Mylanta like it was going out of style!) During my teens and early 20s I didn't like to eat in restaurants, I didn't like being in the middle of crowds or large stores (long way to the restroom). I needed to know where exits, bathrooms and trash cans were. I didn't see popular movies in crowded theaters. I've never had a hangover. I put off having a baby until I was 34 because of potential morning sickness (I never had any) and babies barf (it wasn't that bad after all). I didn't like to travel and I certainly didn't want to fly (what if I, or someone near me, needed the little bag?!). Interestingly, I have memories of being in a fun situation and suddenly being quite sure I was about to be ill. I've only just realized those were probably anxiety attacks triggered either by a mistaken bodily function or just the unconscious realization that things were going too well and I could lose control at any moment. If you've made it this far, you're probably thinking, "Okay, Lady...blah, blah, blah...what's the point?" The point is this: There's hope and not only that, but a world where every waking thought doesn't revolve around how your stomach feels. I'm in my "F-It Fifties" now and I travel, I fly, I even eat in restaurants. I slowly came out of the darkness by continually reminding myself I was having the right reaction just at the wrong time. And if, by chance, I really was ill I would deal with it. People around me would likely be sympathetic, not revulsed (a large part of the fear in general). Funny thing...I never was ill in public. I missed a lot of fun because of my fear and life is already too short to miss a moment of fun. If you've been nodding your head as you read my story, continue to nod as I say you (yes, even You) can get past it. I still close my eyes and don't watch that part in a TV show or movie (I don't find it entertaining) but I don't have to change the channel.
So many fears but phobias are a whole other thing to deal with. Same in difference of stress and anxiety. The way physical health is effected long term of dealing with mental health can be a struggle too. Thanks for sharing.
thank u so much fr making this video I didn't know other ppl actually experience this. it has made school so hard for the last few years and I tried to explain it to ppl but no one gets it.
Since I have emetophobia I feel that my life is no longer useful, I want to be free to eat everything I want without being afraid of vomiting, I want to go wherever I want without being afraid of vomiting in a panic
When I saw this video I said: finally, finally someone talks about this topic. Thanks
I had this phobia during childhood and early high school. It was just the worst!!! I hated going to school because at times I would witness the sight of someone vomiting or seeing the sight of vomit on the school playgrounds and it would leave me so anxious. I was so scared that I could not have a proper sleep pattern or even appetite for days/weeks!!! I had the worst anxiety from a young age and always avoided school bathrooms and other public places because of this. I never told anyone about it at school because I was afraid people would think I'm a weird freak! I'm now 25, married and pregnant with my son. It has gotten so much better over the years! It really does get better. Trust and believe ❤
The timing of this video is uncanny.
I contracted COVID a few days ago and my symptoms started appearing yesterday morning. Most of my symptoms so far consist of an upset GI tract, stuff like nausea, pain, loss of appetite and I narrowly avoided being physicall ill by eating a piece of ginger and taking paracetamol. It feels more like a stomach flu than a respiratory virus.
It's so weird that out of the entire list of COVID symptoms I get the ones that scare me the most but what would normally be considered benign for people without emetophobia.
My fear has subsided over the years but when I'm close to being physically ill my entire system goes into extreme fight or flight mode so there's still a latent part of the phobia in the back of my mind.
I'm sorry to hear you got sick. I hope you recover soon and your symptoms don't trigger a relapse of your fears.
Hope you feel better very soon.
I’ve suffered with this for 50+ years and I get scared when people around me are getting the flu- because that’s something I can catch and can be a potentially horrendous event- I can’t think of anything worse besides food poisoning. It’s a horrific time period watching or hearing about this invisible monster creeping around infecting people and that’s when the rituals come out. Washing my hands, the wipes, cleaning the bathroom spotless, not leaving the house unless I have to, not buying food that’s prepared from other people and even holding my breath if I’m around someone I think might have it. It’s a horrible way to live and God help me if I get sick that’s a whole other level as it rarely happens - but I almost took myself out to avoid it one time- the fear is so extreme. People couldn’t begin to understand - I will be so happy when my life is finished not to have to carry this anymore.
I have this and it means I'm terrified of going into opioid withdrawal as it causes me to vomit, making it harder to treat my addiction, and making things worse. :(
I'm 43 and have had this phobia since I threw up for the first time at 3 years old. I thought I was dying. After that I forgot it until third grade when I saw a kid puke in the desk in front of me. I had to go home. I stopped going to school after that. Prayed every night I wouldn't puke. I actually got my GED at 18. The only thing that got me a step further with puke was working at a night club and having to clean up puke. I knew they were just drunk and I couldn't catch it. That was only about 5 years ago
That’s a great step in your healing ❤
Please do a video on disgust and self-disgust specifically. Thanks!
I suffered from this when I was a teen, took me a lot of years to get through it, I thought I was crazy but then I decided to go to therapy and it helped me a lot.
Thank you for this informative video!! I’m so happy to see that I’m not the only one who’s been struggling with this!
I’ve had Emetophobia ever since I was 9 years old. It was triggered by a stomach flu that I had at that age. The phobia has pretty much dictated all of my teenage, and young adult years. There was a time that I avoided eating all together! I had the believe that I could end up vomiting whatever I ate, so I decided not to eat anything. It got so bad, that I pretended to eat in front of my parents. I would keep the food in my mouth and spit it into a tissue when my parents looked away. I was literally starving myself and eventually my parents noticed and took me to a hospital. At the hospital I was fed through IV and was kept there for 2 months as I was severely underweight. Strangely enough they never diagnosed me with any phobia then.
When I started eating again, I only stuck to the same foods that didn’t make me vomit when I had starting eating again. I also developed the routine of not eating breakfast (as I had to go to school and I would not be at home, at my safe place), I would also not eat lunch at school, I only ate 1x a day as soon as I got home from school. I avoided friends or any social activities, because my main concern was running back home after school. When I had any event to attend outside of home, when I went to church, etc - I would just decide not to eat anything and rather eat when I got back home.
This was literally my life until my early twenties!! That’s when I started CBT and taking antidepressants for my anxiety.
This phobia is truly a debilitating condition, thank you for shedding light on mental illnesses through your videos!
Ive suffered from this phobia since age 8. It was devastating for me, i had daily panic attacks, couldn’t go to school for months, had trouble eating all foods, couldn’t go to parties and so on. I went to cbt many times but it didn’t really work. Exposure was horrible. I feel like this phobia never really goes away, it can get a little bit better but this is me now. I’ll always feel some degree of panic, more or less
OMG! Thank you, thank you, thank you! I thought it was just me. I hate to see, hear or talk about throw up. I paranoid about going out to parties like you said. I don’t like being close to a lot of people fear of someone getting sick. If I see someone who’s sick, I’m all but running from them. I try my best not to go to public restrooms fearing someone maybe in the restroom sick. If I see throw up I dream about it. I think about it I can’t get it off my mind for a long time. I hate that I’m like this. I don’t know what to do. Just typing this out my mouth is starting to water. I’ve very rarely throw up. I don’t allow myself to throw up. If I do throw up I probably should be in the hospital. Again thank you and thank to the person who reached out to you.
Omg I've suffered this my whole life and I didn't know it was a thing and that other people suffered from it too. Is one of the most hard things in my anxiety, it has affected so many aspects of my life and a lot of the things I do now are related to this. Thanks for the video, I'll search for more information because I really want to feel normal, it's been really hard.
Vomiting is literally the worst case scenario. For example Im not scared of severe injuries like a stab wound or broken bones because of the pain, Im scared because it might make me throw up.
This sounds helpful. I’ve been having that fear for so long and it got so much worse over the years.
I have this. I hate it, I have 3 kids and when one gets sick I panic. I clean obsessively to the point my hands cracked and bled once. Terrible my only bad phobia
Yes I have two toddlers as well and every morning when I wake up I pray that no one is sick. I hate this phobia
Its awful. I would keep a bucket handy near my ,kids if i thought they were going to vomit 🤐
@@donnawiseman3686 always standard procedure in my house! It’s bad I have ocd tendencies and routines when it hits the house. Exposure therapy doesn’t work for me on this one. It’s worked on my fear of spiders though
My teenage grandson has this but I didn’t no it had a name. He’s so afraid of vomit, or someone that may vomit. Thank you for telling us about this. I won’t poopoo it anymore.
It can be really bad. I had this as a teen, and I was terrified to eat anything besides apples, because I felt like they wouldn't make me sick. I was a nervous wreck in school, afraid someone was going to throw up in class, afraid to get in a car in case me or someone else got sick. I ended up dropping down to an unhealthy weight, and was put through all kinds of tests to make sure it was just mental. It seems like a lot of people grow out of it...I did, thank God, but it is a terrible fear to have. It really effects every minute of your life, because anytime you're around people, someone might throw up and then give you their vomit germs. And you're also really afraid you might be the one to throw up, and then everyone else will hate you.
@@myadorablefostersdoes it really get better? Im a teenager and its really bad. I am trying to get better and i dont wanna just sit and say im scared im scared- like most people do. I wanna learn that its not even that scary its just not comfortable. But i dont know im terrified and i have nightmares cant sleep school can be bad like when i feel like i cant escape when im in school but i have a best friend who is really supprotive and everything feels much better with him and he makes me laugh so much to make me think that it isnt even that scary. So i just forget about it when im distracted but then when i understand that one day ill have to deal with it- i get terrified. Im scared of the feeling and what is gonna happen. I had a stomach flu 2 years ago and nobody was there for me my mom was in the hospital, my sisters werent there for me and i was crying thinking i was gonna die because it was so new to me. I pray to God but i dont know why He doesnt take this fear away from me. Im really scared
I would love to know about something called "misophonia" (specific sounds that trigger a strong disgust response) and how it is (or isn't) related to sensory sensitivity.
When people suck their teeth to remove food between them I get very upset and get the urge to punch their faces, which is of course embarrassing and disrupts relationships.
I have thissss it’s terrible! I have an adhd diagnosis as well and I believe there is a relationship between the two. (This sounds pretentious but) something that has helped me with the misophonia is practicing non-attachment (in the Buddhist sense). When I hear a sound that make me irrationally furious, like someone’s car stereo outside my apartment, or my upstairs neighbor dragging furniture around, I’ve started saying to myself “I am not attached to silence.” Obviously there’s a lot more to it, but emotional self-regulation has been a hugeee challenge for me and as I’ve been working on it, I’ve found I can tolerate triggering sounds more easily without becoming consumed by spiteful rage. Oh also, ear plugs. Seriously. Game changer.
Yeah, breathing loud and chewing a certain way can make me break down in tears if I can't stop it in time, frickin' sucks man. Often I resort to violence to get it to stop(I'm a kid and only at my sister) I'm ashamed to admit it but yeah just sharing my experience.
Thank you for talking about this! Since vomiting isnt something most humans enjoy, it's easy for people to dismiss someone's emetophobia as disliking the normal unpleasant feeling of vomiting.
I've been dealing with this issue since I was around 8 years old and it totally gets worse when my depression and anxiety also increase in their intensity. What I find interesting is that during the few times I actually ended up vomiting in the last 10 years I remember thinking "yeah, okay, this sucks, but it's not as bad as my fear makes me remember it" and still, here I am, fearing this thing as if I'm gonna desintegrate if and when it happens.
On another note, I'd like to share something my therapist, who's actually a psychoanalyst, did regarding this issue of mine. I couldnt talk about some sensitive issues that I wanted to because they triggered my panic attacks, which made me feel like I was gonna throw up at any moment, which in return increased my anxiety. This situation got so intense that I was leaving mid session or even avoiding going at all. One day I got to her clinic and in her office next to where I usually sat she had put a blue plastic bucket (blue is my favourite color) and when I asked about it she said "well, you say you feel like you're gonna throw up right on my carpet. I told you there's no problem If that happens but I know it's not that easy, so I bought you this just in case". It totally worked. I started losing the fear of vomiting in front of her or not having time to get to the restroom. As this fear died down, so did the anxiety.
Oh, and I ended up never throwing up during the sessions.
Thank you for this!!!! I have cyclic vomiting syndrome and I definitely have panic attacks when an episode starts and it's so hard to describe what&why I'm feeling what I'm feeling, and why things like people talking about puking really bothers me
I had this phobia when I was a kid but seemed to outgrow it but since having kids it’s brought that fear back. My daughter just had some kind of virus the other day and now I’m panicking. I have OCD and autism which I believe is why I have emetophobia. I think any move I make or anything I do or even where I sit will make me sick. When I was taking care of my daughter I didn’t even think of myself but now that she’s better I am falling apart
I have this issue. It’s seriously ruined my life. I’m 25 years old and I’m terrified of throwing up or getting sick with the stomach flu or food poisoning. It’s turned me into a picky eater, and I want to travel but I’m scared to be sick and away from my home. It’s seriously horrible :( and if my stomach feels weird I instantly get panic attacks, or if anybody around me says their stomach hurts I instantly panic and need to get away.
My college roommate had this. She was terrified of throwing up, so she couldn’t be around anybody sick or drunk. As a grown up, she got married and wanted kids but was so scared morning sickness that she waited as long as like womanly possible to start their family.
Why I am afraid of throwing up is because when I feel like it I start to plan my funeral. I'd rather die than throw up. Even saying the word " throw up" triggers my anxiety and I start my funeral planning
Remember_________
( Positive attitude) We need to Demonstrate the result of positive attitude , And all of these symptoms will go away! My doctrine is very simple, eat right And Treat people right. This is why I didn't Master psychology because I think people should know these things anyway.
I developed Emetophobia when I first ever saw my mother vomit from food poisoning. This was when I was 8. I still have it today. Now, everytime I hear or see someone vomiting or about to vomit, I end up getting panic attacks and there is no way that I will overcome my fear. When I end up panicking when I hear or see someone vomiting or about to vomit, I end up covering my ears and needing to find an exit to get out of the room/area I am in with the person vomiting. Then, I might run away as far as possible. But if I can't find an exit or if I can't leave the room/vehicle/area, then I feel like I am going through severe terror and I end up being forced to stay. I may either cry, scream, yell out help, or get a huge panic attack and start smacking/kicking objects. Even the door. I may aggressively bang on the door and screaming *"LET ME OUT!!! HELP ME! SOMEONE LET ME OOOOOUT!!!!!!!!!!"* Also, if I am trapped with that person who is vomiting, then that can make my panic attack 7 times worse. I do not like hearing or seeing people vomiting or about to vomit. Also, sometimes people don't give me a heads up whenever someone is vomiting or is about to vomit which will definitely increase the existence of the Emetophobia. I might also not sleep or WEEKS OR MONTHS! While that is happening, the vomiting incident will get stuck in my head for months, or even years. Also, sometimes TV Shows, Movies, or Videos of characters/people vomiting in it will also trigger the Emetophobia. Even when I hear the following phrases: "I think im gonna throw up", "I feel like I'm gonna throw up", "He's gonna throw up", "I need to go to the nurse because I am about to vomit" or any other phrases, that's when my heart will start beating fast, and I'll end up being worried or start panicking bc I can't leave.
I am trying to overcome this fear but whenever I see someone about to vomit or is vomiting near me, that's when I will develop it back.
Thank you very much Doctor ❤️My 10y old daughter has been suffering a lot lately because of the emetophobia. She’s in therapy, but it doesn’t seem to help much. Your description of the phobia was quite elucidating.
I used to have this. I got over it when i got sick and threw up literally hundreds of times over two weeks
wow hearing her say your brain grants you an exception made me feel a lot better. I am so scared of not being able to take care of my kids one day when they’re sick.
Can you do a video on an overview of DBT? I’m wondering if it’s worth trying out for my intense emotions. I love your videos and thank you for all that you do!!!
You are amazing 🔥🔥
Thanks so much Aria!
@@DrTraceyMarks im inspiring to become a psychologist you are really helping appreciate your Great work 🔥
Thank you! This is incredibly well-timed. I'm so thankful that I can share this with my patients.
You’re welcome Melanie! Thanks for sharing it 😊👍🏽
Thank you for spreading awareness on mental health conditions. Much appreciated!
You're welcome! Thanks for watching. 😊
My mom says I don’t need therapy but, I need help with my emetophobia, today I was scared to eat even though it was my favourite food, cause when it’s night I think a lot, and when I think I fear. And it makes me nauseous. Whenever someone vomits near me, I’ll stay away from them for 2 days i’d rather die then vomit
I have OCD and emetephobia. It has been greatly improved by duloxetine/cymbalta, and CBT. The meds help me be more able to use CBT methods to help "talk myself down" or "logic myself" out of a high degree of anxiety where its about to become a panic attack, and that literally makes all the difference!
I also want to recommend anxiety relief meditation (great guided meditation vids on youtube!) as a slower means to help oneself.
At first it feels like the anxiety is getting WORSE, but let me tell you from personal experience, that is NOT so. It is simply that you are now paying attention to the anxiety, instead of the usual attempts to distract oneself from it (understandable!). If you keep trying, keep practicing, it DOES get better, and that feeling of increased anxiety goes away. The benefit? Your brain and body learn to do the deep breathing (etc) exercises AUTOMATICALLY as a response to the tell tale usual feelings of panic/anxiety!! It becomes SO ROTE, SO COMMON that it is AUTOMATIC, and thus immediately starts working on the high anxiety levels! It gives you that couple of minutes to think critically and go "hey self, you should put on one of those saved anti-anxiety meditation videos", whereas normally we don't usually even have the presence of mind to think that way to begin with.
PLEASE comment if you'd like to have someone to vent about this issue, because it's been so prevalent in so much of my life, and while not "cured" it's SO MUCH better now! I would love to help anyone with this if I can!
Yes yes yes. The breathing techniques, after a few months, have finally started to happen automatically for me. What an amazing payoff
@@user-xn3rs7tu5w Isn't it?!
I need help, I keep getting panic attacks each meal even though the food is good to eat, I try to ignore being nauseous, before I can ignore being nauseous but since my emetophobia got 10x worse is more harder
It's hard for me to do daily tasks
I used to eat a lot before my emetophobia got worse
I loved eating, but now I eat way less.
I'm already skinny (because of my high metabolism) and eating more less will make me malnourished
I have a strong stomach, but my brain keeps telling me that I'll throw up when I feel nauseous
I need help pls
@@cheto_unknown dude, I don’t know if this is an option for you but this is very serious and you need to go to therapy for this. You can’t keep living like that. If therapy is an option please go
@@user-xn3rs7tu5w another problem is i don't have money for that:(
I used to suffer from emetophobia. Everytime I saw someone vomiting I my heartrate would raise and start sweating, feeling like I was about to faint. After the episode, I was not able to talk ever again to that person bc of the irrational fear of being explosively vomited over me. When I felt sick, I would resist as much as I could the possibility of vomiting, no matter how sick I was feeling. Also, if I threw up, I would cry myself out. Luckily I have overcome this phobia with several years of therapy, now I feel normal.
Omg this is me literally. Im so glad im not alone with this.
@@kyanahskannal hey how are you felling i also have the same sypthoms how do you manage it
I never knew this was a thing. About 10 years ago I got sick and needed to vomit. I held my vomit inside for 3 hours before I gave in to the need to throw up. The fear that I felt was crazy. And also I now have IBS so in the beginning stages of my diagnosis the nausea used to cause me to panic because I was scared that I had to throw up. Then when I got pregnant I never threw up (I was so grateful) but I dry heaved which was still torture for me because it's like throwing up nothing but air. So yes I believe I have this diagnosis
hey how is it going did it get better
@KidrAdventures i have ibs. I take medication for nausea and GI flareups. Nothing has changed. I just have to pay attention to when the flareups start and take my medicine for it. It's about timing
I have Emetophobia and all my friends think I’m weird. I can’t control it! 😭 It’s up to the point where I miss school camps and I freeze up and have a panic attack if I see, do, hear or smell it. I haven’t met people with my condition before...
I had the fear of throwing up since I was a kid, but as I got older the fear seem to grew stronger, I’m 44 years old now, I don’t drink alcohol because of that fear, I get annoyed when people tell me I have to drink too have fun
I used to have this until i had children and dealing with their sick soon got me over it.
I've been able to take care of people who are vomiting. I feel incredibly uncomfortable and disgusted, but I can do it. On the other hand, if it's me who feels sick, my panic attacks just start.
Oh no, I wouldn't even think someone goes through this 😓
I had no idea there was a link between emetaphobia and agoraphobia... but it makes so much sense. I have both. If I do anything that I know can cause nausea it can trigger my anxiety which creates nausea and can quickly spiral to panic... and once I panic every time I start to calm the nausea from the anxiety is still there and I set myself off again.
With much therapy I can usually calm myself now but it's still a struggle. I have tried exposure therapy a couple of times which has helped but when not in therapy I tend to slip back.
Growing up, no one believed me that it was a real phobia because of my one experience.. but now thats its more open, my family still doesnt understand
I used to have this phobia bad as a teenager until I tried pot for the first time. I threw up after smoking and instead of having a panic attack or stop eating for days (to avioid it) I laughed and joked that I was still hungry. To this day the phobia has subsided.
Seeing and listening to this video itself is enough to trigger 😭😭
I am seeing a psychologist next month to help me deal with emmetiphobia. I haven't been well the last few months and have REALLY battled with this. I've had it most of my life.
Thank goodness this doesn't happen to often but,When ever I feel like I'm going to vomit,it triggers a panic attack when I am standing in front of a toilet,I start to shake,breathe heavily,and try to calm down but it's not easy to do.What a horrible feeling.I can't help it,it just happens.Its a weird feeling.I used to be worse when I was younger with being around anyone who was sick,or hearing someone vomiting,it would trigger bad anxiety.I hope that any one reading this can try to get through your anxiety and I hope it gets better for you.Mine has gotten a little better since I was a kid.
I’ve been dealing with it for many years :( I’m in therapy finally for other things but I will bring this up to them. I don’t avoid situations that could have vomiting be a possibility, but if someone starts to feel sick I get a fight or flight response, usually a strong urge to flee the area and then I have a panic attack. I am 23 years old and (so far) I haven’t been sick since 5th grade (10 years old), so it doesn’t help that I have a streak going and I do fear breaking ghat streak. I have had panic attacks where I worry I may be nauseous, but the anxiety is what makes the feeling occur in the first place, since I don’t actually get sick and if I was to it would be entirely involuntary. I have a tiny bit of safety behaviors around food that may be ‘unsafe’ (pretty much exclusively food that has not been kept cold or hot enough, like food when it has been sitting out at a potluck for 3 or 4 hours) but I generally do not restrict my food. Like another commenter mentioned, I am also scared of pregnancy (when I am ready for that time of my life, if it occurs) partially due to me wanting to avoid possibility of morning sickness. I also do not drink, but that is due to childhood trauma with alcoholism in the family (where my father would end up very sick). I do also have the feeling of being scared of ‘what if’ moments in public, but I don’t avoid public places. Also I am scared of needing to have surgery under anesthesia due to nausea afterward (my father has had many surgeries)
I would love to see videos on social phobia with agoraphobia and GAD too. Great channel 😊.
This phobia is really debilitating for me. Whenever the nausea gets really bad, I have a panic attack, my heart beats so fast and I feel paralized. I've been suffering with this since I was 8 years old and tried everything I could to get rid of it. Nothing worked for me yet. I often find myself feeling really hopeless and even suicidal because I would rather die than keep living like this.
I’m dealing with this too. The only thing that kinda helps me is that it lasts only a couple of seconds and apparently the worst part is the nausea not the actual getting sick part. If we can deal with the nausea, i think we can deal with the getting sick part. ❤️ we’re strong! we can’t let this take over our life even though sometimes its all we can think about. we have to learn to live because we only have one life and we’re ruining it by being fearful all the time over something so dumb. We won’t die. It’s disgusting but why let a couple of seconds ruin your entire life when you have so many more seconds in your life that could be filled with other thoughts and happiness. Idk. I haven’t done it since I was in the 4th grade and I do everything to prevent it but recently I stopped trying to prevent it. If it will happen, it will happen & then i’ll just move on with my day. Hope this sort of helps. ❤️
The way you described emetophobia with OCD is a perfect description on how you described me. Like almost to a T
I did EMDR for this very reason. IDK if it was the EMDR or normal therapy, but I'm not scared of this anymore in my daily life. If I hear vomiting I have a full visceral panic attack. So I'm not like "cured", but it's manageable now. I had a lot of anxiety clicking the video. Morning sickness and a sick child is 100% the reason leading reasons I don't want children. I wish I would have found this video in the midst of my worst parts. Still don't want kids, but when I was in my prime, it was a huge factor.
I have this and I have two thoughts. 1) they say that people who fear vomiting rarely vomit, in fact that rarity of vomiting is exactly what allows the fear to develop. In the past 25+ years, I’ve vomited twice. And 2) the last time I threw up, it was followed by giddy excitement. I had (unwillingly) faced my fear and survived. I remember thinking, “well if I threw up and survived, maybe there’s hope for my other fears, like talking to women” lol
I have suffered this phobia MY ENTIRE life. To the point that I actually caused myself a full on " accidental eating disorder" because I was so terrified that ANYTHING that I ate would be contaminated and make me sick. I am terrified of, not only, myself throwing up but other around me. If someone is sick around me I will will go into such a panic attack that I have full paralysis in my hands and face! I under went a full year of EMDR and have become so much more functional of a human. I recommend this form of therapy to Anyone struggling with this phobia. I went from allowing Emetrophobia to control my life: to me control the way that I respond in a situation if someone around me is sick. Fortunately, I have not become ill myself in MANY years. I pray that I have the a better time easing my this same situation should I become sick! GOD-FORBID!
I dont personally get sick from travelling, but I freak out just with the thougt of someone in the plane or bus vomiting! Also had problems with my ex when he got sick and I was so disgusted I could not help him. I was told to be inconsiderate and heartless.The thought of not being able to take proper care of a child also terrified me. It's quite difficult to explain to someone who doesnt have it. You're suposed to "get over it" and have more empathy,...
The only thing that works for me travelling is wearing a scarf with a strong perume, and headphones just in case i need to dumb my senses.Also reading or doing other activites to distract my mind.
Thank you for your videos, you do a great job making us feel "normal"! Please do the disgust video!
I used to be like this as a kid. It went away when I got older, mainly because it’s really difficult to vomit for me, unless I’m sick or in a lot of pain. I have a weak gag reflex and I can’t burp either. My sister is the same way. I can say that my fear went away because I watched people do it, and I reassured myself that it’s a body function that makes you feel better sometimes and I remember once being sick as a kid and feeling better after I vomited.
OH MY GOSH! People say I am lying every time I have said I can’t burp! It’s not like I am physically trying to hold anything back, just not there! I wonder if it is related to this?
@@Heatherlambertofficial no I don’t think so I always couldn’t burp. I got emetophobia because of a painful experience vomiting and I was starting to develop anxiety issues. It has to do with the muscles in our throat. I can vomit but it’s difficult to make myself do it not because I’m scared, it just takes a lot out of me to vomit. My sister also doesn’t have emetophobia and the same troubles.
i’ve had this phobia for as long as i can remember (my mother as well), and as i have gotten older and gone through therapy i have found ways to cope with it :) one thing that has helped me is carrying hospital grade vomit bags with me. they are small enough to fit in a purse and ease the worry of not being able to have somewhere to get sick. i just ordered a pack of 20 on amazon and it has done WONDERS in giving me a comforting feeling. also carrying lavender hand sanitizer with me! it helps me relax when i start to panic about being nauseous and makes me feel clean when i can’t get to a sink to wash my hands when i start thinking about vomiting. hope this helps :)
I can't handle being around any of my children if they have a virus. Thank God I've always had someone to help me