A
female
age
30-35,
anonymous
writes:Hi! I'm 16 years old and I have had a huge fear of throwing up for 6 years. I'm embarassed to even tell you I'm scared of throwing up because everybody I have told just laughs at me. You probably think I'm just scared of it. You don't understand how serious this is. For the past 6 years all I hav thought about every day was how scared I am of throwing up. Every single day I always worry 24/7 about if I will throw up, other people throwing up, and everythign that ahs to do with throw up. I've gone to many psyciatrist about this, but nobody helps. Some of them even laughed at me! I can't concentrate ins chool and I have severe panick attacks worrying about throwing up. I wash my hands obsessively, so I won't get sick, and I always examine my food before I eat it because I'ms cared it will be moldy and make me throw up. I even have a hard time syaing the word throw up. My abnormal fear of throwing up and other people throwing up is taking my life away. It's very hard going through every day for 6 years day after day only thinking about this. This fear has caused me to do bad in school, not be able to hang out with my friends, hating my life, being depressed all the time, not be able to eat, and just feel miserable all the time. Sometimes I just want to kill ymself so I won't have to go through this anymore. This fear has taken over my life! I would do anything to have just one day where I'm not terrified of it and not constantly thinking about it.Please help me get over this! I don't even remember the day when I wasn't afraid of this. Please help me!!! I want my life back!! Thank You
View related questions:
depressed Reply to this Question
Share |
Fancy yourself as an agony aunt? Add your answer to this question! A
male
reader, anonymous, writes (8 September 2007): I have the completely same problem, like I have physically stopped myself from throwing up for over 7 years.
A
female
reader, anonymous, writes (1 June 2007): yer im glad i have found someone so much like me? im absolutly terrified of being sick and the worst thing is im nearly in tears writing this because my little brother has just been sick and ive just sprayed germ killer all around my house so i wont get it im really scared im so scared. i have terrible anxiety and see phcistrists (you know what i mean) because i think im dying of a brain tumour and im scared of being sick if i do get one even though ive been to 5 doctors and 4 nurses and had a blood test so there is no evidence but im just scared still of being sick all the time everyday its so awful. but this is a tip if you feel sick have a mint they always help me.
...............................
A
female
reader, anonymous, writes (28 May 2007): I have the same thing as you. accept i am 14 years old and ive been like this since like 3rd grade.. im afraid of people throwing up like seriously. I am not too scared of ME throwing up but i am of other people. And trust me it has wrecked my life. and i have had people laugh at me also..I have severe panic attacks just if someone says like they dont feeel good. ive went to counsilers and people to see but they never helped me. I know this is not much of a help but i know how you feel.
...............................
A
female
reader, anonymous, writes (7 March 2007): hello, i am 35 and have had this fear for like 10 years..i too have been laughed at and also have panic attacks like you do..so bad that ive driven myself to the local er to get a shot of zofran to stop the nausea that i felt..there is actually a name for this fear. it is called "emetephobia". if you google this word, you will be surprised how many people have this fear.there are actually websites for people like us who have this phobia. i have actually bruised my wrists from accupressure to stop nausea before. but i promise you are not alone. please check out the websites and you will see.
...............................
A
reader, anonymous, writes (26 February 2007): I have a colleague who is 24 and she has gone 10 years without being sick because she too has a phobia of it.
First, you are not alone in this problem. There are countless people like you, and I am saddened to hear that psychiatrists have laughed at you. Psychiatrist's are not the right kind of people to help you deal with this phobia. You need to find a properly qualified and experienced therapist in CBT (Cognitive Behavioural Therapy) and preferably NLP (Neuro-linguistic Programming) and/or Hypnotherapy.
You very likely have an experience in your childhood that caused this phobia. A phobia is a fear of fear. Something happened in your past with regards to sick that overwhelmed you with fear.
Maybe you were sick and were humiliated by people? or perhaps you have witnessed extreme sickness (someone in your family was very sick and perhaps died?)
I am guessing you change your diet to make sure you aren't sick. And what about the future? You fear pregnancy and being a mother too, I am sure?
Sadly I can't refer you to anyone (wrong country) but I can promise you that phobias like this can be addressed and cured.
The basic idea around getting over this is that you need to address the initial sensitising event, e.g., the first time that you associated sick with fear. You need to replay the experience in your mind. If it is too difficult, try this: Imagine what is happening on a cinema screen, now imagine you are sat in the cinema screen, and you are watching yourself in the cinema. This way you are twice-detached from the events, you will find they aren't so disturbing. You can also make cinema screen black and white. You need to go through whatever experiences you have of your past, and see them for what they are. You will accept that being sick will not kill you, and the worst that can happen is that you will be in discomfort for a few moments. You can do this, but professional guidance will make it happen much, much quicker.
I can probably put you in contact with someone who had a sickness phobia, if you would like to talk to them.
...............................
|
