r/emetophobiarecovery

Some backstory: I have a 20 month old baby boy, he has a HORRIBLE gag reflex and a weak stomach (thanks to my father for passing that on). My husband is “suppose” to be the “puke parent.”

Now for the exposure therapy: we were finishing dinner and my son decided he didn’t like anything but fruit, crackers, cheese and two pouches today. So at the end of dinner I gave him some more crackers to make sure he was full.

Well, a piece must of went down wrong. He started coughing, I stopped dead in my tracks. He kept coughing, a little gag and I knew it was coming. I grab my red solo cup (recently emptied of lemonade) and positioned in around his mouth. He fought to move it and actively vomited into it. My husband held his head still so he couldn’t puke outside of it. He puked a couple more times, into the cup and a little into his bib.

We started cleaning him up, he starts to hold his mouth open. I knew he wasn’t done. This time he fought so hard to not puke into the cup, my husband stood there like a wet noodled and gagged.

I am trying to get him to puke into the cup (which I had to switch out to a new one because it was so full) while he emptied everything he ate for dinner.

There. Was. So. Much. Vomit.

He finally was done, it was all over him. All over.

I was shaking but I did it. I was able to undress him and even carry him upstairs to the shower. I almost lost it a couple times (the panic was getting higher) but my husband was kind of useless.

I have come to accept that I am probably the “puke parent.” As I asked my husband “So I guess I am the puke parent” and he said “there was just so much.” I politely explained there will only be more as he grows up.

A win. I don’t want to do it again but a win.

Also, he was happy and laughing later that night. THANK GOODNESS.

Edit: my son decided to eat a piece of pear he threw up
AND
I was able to handle washing out his clothes while he was in the shower with dad!

hey everyone, i have had emetophobia since i was nine. i had some bad years and then good years where i thought i was fully recovered and now for the past (almost) two years i’ve consistently had the worst anxiety of my life.

i have tried cbt, emdr, and talk therapies as well as medications (buspirone briefly, now on max dose of sertraline, mirtazapine to help me sleep and eat, and as needed propranolol zofran and hydroxyzine) to help me recover, but unfortunately nothing is working completely effectively. part of the issue is that i have been getting anxious to the point that i wake up in the middle of the night and vomit even on medications (does this count as exposure therapy?? lol) i feel so exhausted from being anxious all the time and like my anxiety has taken over my life. sorry to trauma dump lol and i dont want to discourage others at all but my vomiting these past couple of years has only made it worse. i see so many people post about how they finally vomited and realized it wasn’t as bad as they thought, and im so happy for those of you who experienced this!! i just have a different experience.

so, the point of this post is to ask if anyone here has tried TMS therapy for emetophobia, and if you have, what are your experiences like? also, if you have any other advice for me, feel free to let me know :)

EDIT: thank you for the replies about ERP. i understand that it is the treatment option that is considered the most ettective, but unfortunately it doesnt work for everyone. it is hard for me to have effective exposure therapy when my baseline anxiety is already causing me to vomit often and enforcing my anxiety. because my emetophobia is bordering on ptsd with many traumatic experiences and flashbacks rather than just a fear, exposure hasn't worked for me and only made me more anxious. i am so happy for those of you who it did work for! :)

Does anyone else get frequent dreams about throw up? Like it’s never ME throwing up, it’s just in the places that i have the most trauma from. Pretty much every other night i have a dream about either my old elementary school, a HUGE dark bathroom, or an old friend. And there is just throw up everywhere. And i try not to step on it or touch it. Especially the elementary school, it’s like it’s everywhere and im so stressed out. I’ve also had a dream where i am stuck in the backseat of a car and kids start coming in and touching my face and coughing on me and I can’t get away. Unfortunately it’s all related to my fears and my past experiences but it’s gotten to the point that the dreams don’t even bother me anymore because they are so frequent and I’ve had them for years. Anyone else? I’d like to hear your experience!

I think I've made a couple comments or posts about getting the dreaded Ohio virus for the first time in 30 years last year. I was in bed when I started getting that "rock in the gut' feeling I used to when I would do shots of Scotch, minus the justified social judgement. I decided to just give in, purge, and then went to bed. Combined with the fever and the long sleep, it was almost like a psychedelic trip and the vomiting sort of "commenced" the journey. I was better in a couple days. In a weird way I enjoyed the experience, like I'd been cleansed of something that had plagued me for decades.

These last couple months, for some reason I've had dramatically increased anxiety around illness and will get nauseous from it. It comes out at night and I get a weird urge to hide, so I go in the spare bedroom to sleep, which makes me suddenly feel better. One night the nausea was particularly bad, and I started having symptoms during the day. My husband started having much worse symptoms and that's the only way I was able to tell I was actually sick. We are both several days into it and slowly starting to feel better, meaning that this is a particularly bad case...but my anxiety is still a little lower than before.

Unlike last time, I haven't thrown up, and the anxiety hasn't gone away completely. Something about saying, okay, I'm going to let go and let this happen, changes things. I don't think I'll throw up, the waves of nausea are too brief and not intense enough, but a part of me actually wishes I'd done it, like I missed an opportunity to challenge my thinking. I feel sort of cowardly.

There's not really a point to this post except to add to the chorus of people who have had the virus and can testify that it's the phobia, not the virus, that makes you truly sick. It's a lesson I'm still learning, and I'm not as far along as I thought, but if that dreaded moment comes, I think I'll be better for it.

Hi, I've got the stomach flu. Luckily so far it's just been my bowels but I feel today might be the day I throw up.

The most fear comes from the fear I won't be able to breathe.

Please give me tips on how to not freak out and how I camly can let it happen, I'm super scared.

Planes certainly don't help, but it's the full deal that really does it

I'm flying to a wedding in like 3 weeks. Every time, the lead up is a nightmare. Surrounded by people I don't know on a plane of questionable cleanliness, likely sleep deprived, eating foods prepped by random people, everyone in this scenario are all using public bathrooms, frequently sleeping in hotels that are also of questionable cleanliness, then getting through that gambit and counting down the days just to return to a flight while still sleep deprived.

Feel like all these factors group together in some evil equation to equate to a 100% chance of food poisoning or norovirus. That's what my brain screams at me, at least

Now...I know this is irrational. I'm not asking for reassurance, just hoping I'm not alone in this whole "travel amplifies my anxiety by a million" issue. It's deeply irritating that the little life breaks we get which are meant to be fun get turned into nightmares

That’s it. Fake it until you make it I guess. I managed to gaslight myself A LOT, about a lot of things in my life so this one might work and I might believe it at some point. I am not emetophobic anymore, it’s all fine.

I had emetophobia for most of my life. At my worst, I was food restricting, very underweight, avoiding most social situations, and skipping things I wanted to do because I was afraid I'd get sick while I was out.

Two years ago, I got sick. I threw up for the first time in 15 years. (I was on a film set, actually, when it happened.)

I filmed a video of myself a few hours afterward, just to prove to myself it wasn't as bad as I'd spent 15 years believing. I remembered it last week and posted it on Instagram. 114,000 people watched. I didn't expect that at ALL.

I'm now in pre-production on a short film called ACTUALIZATION. It's a surreal fable about a newly pregnant woman who has to face her emetophobia. It's the story I wish existed when I was at my worst. We start filming in June. I never imagined I would be recovered enough to make a film about my biggest fear but here I am!

But today I'm not here to talk about the film. I'm here because I have a lot of lived experience I've never really shared publicly.

Ask me anything:

• What recovery actually looked like for me (it wasn't linear)
• How emetophobia affected my career as a filmmaker
• The moment I threw up and what happened after
• How I told people close to me about it
• What I'd tell myself at my worst
• What making ACTUALIZATION is bringing up emotionally
• Literally anything!!!

I'll be answering for the next 24 hours. This is a safe space and so is my inbox!

know nausea is a common side effect of Lexapro. Any tips to help with nausea? I'm so scared to start because of it 😔 taking 5mg for
First two weeks. Is it common to vomit?

28F
Let me start this by saying - I have extreme emetophobia. If sexual pleasure causes me to vomit I may never engage in activities again. I am married, and I have always enjoyed my sex life with my husband, so this is having a significant impact on me (and him).

I have always had some degree of stomach issues, probably linked to my anxiety around nausea/vomiting. I was diagnosed with GERD as a teen, and I have gained 57lbs in the past year from sugar addiction. I also just started my period again after not having one for four years due to pregnancy and breastfeeding.

The nausea usually starts when I get fully aroused during foreplay, sometimes I can push through and reach climax but we often have to stop before either of us are finished and I just feel so guilty for ruining the moment, and ashamed of myself for letting my health get away from me like I did.

Why is this happening? It’s every time now.

Hi all! I'm moving back to New York State post-grad and I'm looking for a therapist who specializes in Emetophobia and Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP)/CBT. I had to leave behind a wonderful therapist who helped me improve so much (thanks to exposure therapy). I'm struggling to find people who offer telehealth and specialize specifically in emetophobia/phobias in NY. Please let me know if you've had a good experience with anyone. Any advice is greatly appreciated!

hi!!! here to share an ERP success story to anyone who is considering starting it. i'm 28 and have had emetophobia for as long as i can remember, starting in grade school mostly linked to a traumatic medical incident. i tried talk therapy several times throughout my life, as well as EMDR and CBT. all were helpful but ultimately didn't do much for me, ive dealt with this a long time and became very self aware and felt like i knew all there was to know about my phobia, the why, etc. i've experienced ebs and flows with this phobia, some periods more intense and others mild.

this year my phobia came back in a more intense way and i was ready to be rid of it. scared, but determined i found a place by me that specializes in EMDR and emetophobia. i started weekly sessions in november and just completed my last one today.

i always thought avoidance and my safety behaviors were the only way i'd get through severe anxiety. instead, doing exposures made a lot of parts of the phobia much less scary. i did things i never imagined id be capable of doing (one huge one that came organically, someone got sick in front of me at work, i had to clean the trashcan... and i was FINE!)

my therapist was really sensitive to how difficult it could be, and we created a hierarchy personalized to me that had exposures we conquered each week.

i now feel like i think about vomit so much less, like to the point i have to ask myself "did i think about it yesterday?". and when it does come up - "what if i throw up?" i act nonchalant. "yeah what if i do? and what if i dont?".

just wanted people to know it can get better!! i'm happy to answer specific questions :)

Looking for advice/tips on how to get over or manage germ anxiety better

I’m a mom of 1 and have always had a fear of throwing up, and a fear of norovirus/gastro viruses however it wasn’t this intense until I had my child

We’ve had a stomach bug once since having him and ever since then my anxiety around it has spiked and it’s causing me to be afraid of going anywhere, touching anything

I still go out and don’t hermit inside but I’m incredibly anxious and won’t take him to play groups and things involving other kids

I’d like to put him in preschool eventually but the thought of him being sick and us all being sick from gastro bugs just cripples my mind

How do you parents deal with this?

Do any of you get anxiety about bowel movements? specifically soft poop or diarrhea? How do you guys calm down or not let this freak you out?

I never used to have a problem because I have IBS and used to have diarrhea all the time. long story short, got an eating disorder and constipation became my norm. now any soft bms or frequent bms kinda freak me out that Im sick, even though I know it's normal.

long story short, i’ve had this phobia since i was too young to speak - when my twin sister threw up as a baby, i would pass out, no idea why.
i had some sort of virus in summer 2013(?) i think i was about nine, i did freak out before but i don’t remember much about that incident anymore.
from 2013 up to yesterday, the number of times i had SH or had suicidal thoughts is beyond belief - i had been put on medications, gone to all different types of therapy, and always thought that if it happened, i would either die or i would get over my phobia completely.
well, it happened and im still not sure why - i had diarrhoea, didn’t actually feel too nauseous other than waves of having to try and swallow my saliva down and getting really hot flashes, but they would pass quickly. i managed to sleep for about half an hour, then woke up and drank some water due to how much fluid i had lost from the diarrhoea. bad idea, as the sensations all came back again and i tried to stop it but my body took over and it happened.
don’t get me wrong, it was NOT fun, it hurt (probably due to my RCPD), but i remember laughing after and just being a bit worried in case it would happen again.
cut to now (34 hours later ish??) and i still have bad diarrhoea, probably due to not eating much, and no appetite. i’m finding myself still really anxious which has really knocked my confidence considering i always thought that if it happened i would feel less anxious.
i don’t know.
anyone else with a similar story? and how can i use this experience to prevent my anxiety getting as bad as it was?

I am prioritizing recovery above everything else right now. I am meditating 2x a day while doing somatic shaking 1-2x a day. I am also doing CBT. I signed up for hypnosis therapy and curious what your experience has been. I am at the point where I will do ANYTHING, to recover. Thank you.

This weekend there was a festival called Sonic Temple and I had tickets for thurs and saturday. Thurs I drank a little too much and was not feeling great on Friday, not nauseous but just weak and tired and not hungry. I ate once on friday. Saturday I woke up feeling good and we got there around 2 and my friends bought little shots (pink whitney and fireball) to sneak in and when we got inside they asked if I wanted one so I took one of the pink whitney shots thinking it would be fine and because I did eat some food otw there that morning. I was wrong!
I don't think I felt nauseous, i think i just got really bad acid reflux feeling but my anxiety dog piled onto it.
My friends and I went into the temple stadium and they went on the floor and I went into the stadium (per our wristbands, but i had been sneaking onto the floor all day thurs lol) and spent an hour scared I was going to throw up, and I also was struggling to cool down so I was also scared I was going to get heat exhaustion and throw up from that. I kept moving around the stadium sitting in various spots to relax, but did eventually end up calling my mom to come get me, knowing I wouldn't be able to see two of my all time favorite bands (bmth and miw). Once she was on the way for about 5-10 minutes I realized I felt completely fine and better, so I called her again and told her I was fine and that I didn't need her to get me anymore.

And I stayed for the entire night! I had a few other small reflux feelings throughout the night because I didn't eat anything else (wasn't hungry after that) but it wasn't anything too bad and I was distracted enough by other things to get past them quickly.

But honestly this weekend was pretty good exposure therapy! I walked by a lot of people and heard lots of convos. 2 of them were talking and Laughing about how they had gotten sick that day. One was a group of friends laughing and joking with one as he mentioned he already threw up 3 times that day. I saw a lot of people also that were being carried and taken by medics and all I did was wish for their wellbeing rather than panic if they were going to throw up near me or not.

I had a really awesome time and am so happy I was able to make it through and see my favorite bands. Thursday I saw the used, magnolia park, pierce the veil, dayseeker and my chemical romance. Saturday I saw pop evil, black veil brides, motionless in white, the amity affliction, mayday parade, and bring me the horizon. I had such an amazing time, but now im suffering with a sunburn on my back, blisters on my feet, sore wrists from crowdsurfers and sore thigh muscles from all the walking. But it is all so worth it.

Hello to you all. I am laid in bed now wondering about the phobia as per usual again. I am severely emetophobic and it’s ruining my life and I am sick and tired of it. Is it possible, has anyone reached the point where you just said fuck it, I am gonna live despite it, so what if I will throw up? Therapy does not work on me and I feel like I am dwelling on everything so much. I have always had the phobia but it wasn’t neaaarly as bad as it is now. I feel like I keep putting myself in this constant loop of thoughts and I am tired of it. I just wish one day I could wake up and say fuck it, I am done, let the phobia be there but I will live.