My story
Hi everyone so I just thought I would share a story about how my emetophobia got to the extreme height that it is right now. This may be slightly triggering for some but I will keep it as non-graphic as possible because I can’t even type the word v*!
So basically it all started when I was 11 and my aunt invited me over literally a few days after having the stomach bug and she mistook it for food poisoning. A few days later I woke up at 3 am and the thing happened and there wasn’t really much warning so it literally happened in my bedroom. Then I was really sick for a few days and eventually recovered.
I was a bit shaken up after that experience. Then in class the next week I started feeling nauseous and I started panicking. This would happen to me out of nowhere for many days and I tried everything and nothing helped except for long breathing exercises.
I realized I had emetophobia the next month when I was in the car with my mom and she said she felt like she was going to v and I was panicking and praying that it wouldn’t happen.
Then I got another bug but didn’t actually tu, but that’s where it started to take a turn. My stomach hurt constantly after that because of post infection, and I had to restrict my diet a lot. That was when I was prescribed the “holy grail”, zofran. I would take it every time I felt even slightly nauseous and I thought it was like a miracle cure. My emetophobia became so extreme that I would feel anxious if someone even used triggering words.
Then the school DC trip… this may have been the most traumatic 3 days of my life. On the first day, I saw my friend faint at Arlington National Cemetery and then I began feeling super nauseous and nearly fainted myself. The whole trip I was hyper vigilant and carried my water bottle everywhere because I was so scared it would happen again. And then a girl got freaking motion sickness on my bus and I put a cleaning wipe directly on my nose so that I wouldn’t smell it and I was frozen in absolute terror because I was stuck there for 30 minutes.
After that I started avoiding school and having panic attacks every time I left the house. That was when I discovered that there are lots of ways to prevent v* so I became super cautious about hygeine, food safety, motion sickness, and literally anything that involves risk.
I now can leave the house without panicking and I’ve gotten a lot better with general anxiety, but my emetophobia is still dictating basically my entire life. I still do extreme things for food safety and avoiding triggers.