I have Emetophobia, along with millions of other people around the world. This is the intense and irrational fear of vomiting, seeing/hearing someone else vomiting, or seeing vomit itself. It has become so common, that it has its' own name to it.
Almost every single person that I have ever come into contact with have been clueless to the fact that this phobia does exists and it can be very debilitating to the person who is suffering from it.
Emetophobia usually stems off of a personal traumatic event that someone has gone through associated with vomiting. The event could have caused that person to become afraid of the next time it will happen. This causes anxiety with becoming sick again, and the person will go to great lengths to avoid getting sick again.
I am Emetophobic. I have been diagnosed with specific phobia disorder this past year because of my intense and irrational fear of vomiting. It has become so bad that I have told myself multiple times that I would rather die than vomit to this day. I, along with a lot of other people, cannot explain the reasons as to why I fear vomit, but I can thoroughly explain the debilitating struggle that I go through every day living with this fear.
It started for me around age 10. I never had a specific event that caused my phobia, but my already-growing anxiety disorder caused me to have feelings of nausea all day and every day. I never got any relief from this awful feeling, and I ended up developing a fear due to the everyday feeling of vomiting without an end. I started to carry around medicine with me everywhere I went as well as peppermints to soothe my upset stomach. I would never leave the house in fear of getting carsick. I missed out on so many great opportunities in my childhood because of my irrational fear. I would be in the nurses office at school everyday due to my nausea and fear of getting sick, and I would often stay home from school in fear of germs spreading across the kids, especially during the flu season.
Currently, I still stay far away from other people who have recently been ill and the sight of people being sick will send me into a full-on panic attack. I still wash my hands excessively. I get nervous eating meat because of the fear of getting food poisoning. I barely drink, if I do, I will only have a few sips before my anxiety over getting sick kicks in that I stop. I avoid public transportation. I stay away from medicines that could cause me to be nauseous or vomit.
This phobia is real.
"Well, nobody likes to throw up!"
True, but do you go along these great lengths to avoid it? Do you go into full panic mode when faced with this? Do you realize that Emetophobics do not have a chance to avoid their fear? Do you realize that to us, vomiting is pretty much the end of the world for us. We will do anything and everything it takes to not vomit or be exposed to it.
There is hope though. If you suffer from this, you are not alone. It's more common than you think.
