Off-Topic: Emetophobia - the fear of vomiting

"timateo81" (timateo81)
02/06/2014 at 08:20 • Filed to: None

All my life I've had this insane anxiety related to vomiting. I can't be around someone who is retching else I'll toss myself. More incredible however, is that when sick I'll go to great lengths to avoid vomiting, even when the end result is continued and prolonged nausea and misery. I just assumed everyone was like this until I heard Scott Stossel, editor of !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , on !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! talking about his (many) anxieties, and mentioning !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! - an intense, irrational fear or anxiety of or pertaining to vomiting. Stossel comments:

The fear of vomiting, which for me is one of the most original and most acute of my fears, is actually fairly common. Emetophobia, it's called, and by some estimates, it's the fifth most common specific phobia. ... There are these online communities where these people seek each other out.

Both in terms of the duration of the time that I've suffered from it and its intermittent acuteness, [it's] the emetophobia [that causes the most suffering]. It infects ... many of my other fears. For instance, the fear of vomiting, it makes me afraid of travel because I'm afraid I'll vomit far from home. It makes me afraid of flying not for the conventional reason that I'm afraid that the plane will crash, although I also have that, but I'm afraid I'll get motion sick and get nauseous. ... The fear of germs is obviously directly tied to that. The horrible kind of self-fulfilling vicious cycle of emetophobia is that if you're prone to acute anxiety and nervousness, as I am, it often manifests itself with stomach symptoms.

Unlike Stossel, who hasn't vomited since 1977, my possible affliction with this phobia is not severe enough, and my paranoia not great enough, to achieve a multi-decade avoidance of illness. Sadly. Once a year I'll throw up, and it's easily the least enjoyable part of the year.

GTCL, who apparently is suffering through a case of food poisoning, mentioned in !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! a hate (but not necessarily a fear) of vomiting, and it got me wondering how common this feeling is, and where the line is between fear and dislike.

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Anyone else out there have Emetophobia?

DISCUSSION (17)

Slow4o > timateo81
02/06/2014 at 08:27

My wife has a mild version of this I think. She was able to overcome it some in college whenever we partied a little too hard. It still would take her like 30 minutes to throw up, and that was with me giving her salt water to drink.

GTCL > timateo81
02/06/2014 at 08:29

I was reading the post and thought, "this sounds a bit like me." Then I saw you bring in my post from last night. I do hate vomiting. I would say it is borderline fear, but not to the extent of the guy who won't fly. Maybe it is because movement, thrill rides, etc don't turn my stomach. Foods do mess with it sometimes, and if I'm enjoying food a bit too much and over eat od the like, I will do everything I can to avoid it. Suffering through many miserable hours just to avoid vomiting is pretty much standard. I despise the feeling, the cold sweat, and the after feeling of it. I would almost say I have a hatred for vomiting, even so far as a mild fear, but it does not incapacitate me.

Also, to follow up from last night, I'm doing much better this morning. I'm going to take it slow, and see how the day progresses. I normally go into work at 12:45pm, so I have some time to see how I feel.

Yowen - not necessarily not spaghetti and meatballs > timateo81
02/06/2014 at 08:30

Although I don't think I've vomited in over a year, I don't have a fear of it however, I haven't gone to lengths to avoid it. But this does remind me of a friend, he won't go number 2 unless he is at home. We once went on vacation for a week and he held it till he got back home. I think over the years it's gotten less severe and he's found some other places he is comfortable going. I wonder what his phobia is called?

Is it something specific about vomiting that is feared, or is it one of those irrational things that you just can't help? Sort of like being OCD for instance.

Yowen - not necessarily not spaghetti and meatballs > Slow4o
02/06/2014 at 08:31

This brings me to an interesting thought, if your fear is great enough, perhaps it is then coupled with a fear of drinking?

timateo81 > Yowen - not necessarily not spaghetti and meatballs
02/06/2014 at 08:37

The best way I can describe my anxiety is like this: If I'm nauseous and know vomiting is either imminent or ultimately relieving, I will be unable to allow myself to vomit. the actual moment of retching, where stomach muscles contract involuntarily, is intolerable. It's not worth that experience to gain a sense of relief. So I will avoid until my body cannot tolerate anymore, until I can not longer hold it down, and it just happens.

Slow4o > Yowen - not necessarily not spaghetti and meatballs
02/06/2014 at 08:39

Possibly, but drinking isn't a problem for her haha.

timateo81 > GTCL
02/06/2014 at 08:39

This is exactly what I experience! Glad you are feeling better.

It's kinda sick to admit it, but I love that moment when the nausea escapes me and I'm left with a monster appetite, a need to catch up on 1+ days worth of missed meals, and best of all - no guilt in indulging (to a degree).

Slow4o > Yowen - not necessarily not spaghetti and meatballs
02/06/2014 at 08:40

Also she didn't necessarily try to overcome it by drinking, it just happened. My phrasing was a little off.

spanfucker retire bitch > timateo81
02/06/2014 at 08:40

For as popular as it apparently is, I'm surprised I've never heard of it. I don't think I know anyone with that phobia.

Interesting nonetheless. I suppose I shouldn't be surprised though, as there's a phobia for just about everything.

Jayhawk Jake > timateo81
02/06/2014 at 08:46

I do.

I can't watch vomitting on TV, and the reason I consider it to be a phobia rather than a distaste is I get physically uncomfortable if I know it's coming or see it or feel sick enough to the point where it's a possibility: nervous, heart rate increases, etc.

I rarely ever vomit, I go years without it. I got food poisoning of some sort the last week of December, vomited for the first time in 6 years. It sucked, but it wasn't as bad as my phobia has led me to believe.

I still don't want to do it again.

BlazinAce - Doctor of Internal Combustion > timateo81
02/06/2014 at 08:51

Not me... Though now I'm not sure I've ever vomited in my life at all. o_o

BJ > timateo81
02/06/2014 at 08:52

I may have a mild case of this - I regularly suffer a whole night and part of the following day trying not to get sick, hoping it'll pass in the other direction, when I know that letting it out will just make it go away. I get cold, I get the shakes, I hyperventilate a bit, it sucks.

I'm not that picky about seeing people vomit, and vomit jokes/sketches still make me laugh. Although, when my kids are sick I often feel unwell. That may be because (a) I have the same bug they do, or (b) I'm concerned about their welfare, or (c) I'm a wuss.

Now I have a name to put to those symptoms I can tell my wife I'm not a hypochondriac - I'm an emetophobe. Thanks, Oppo!

Leadbull > timateo81
02/06/2014 at 08:53

What's the treatment for that? Like, if you're afraid of snakes or something, they'll repeatedly expose you to snakes. So... "REPEATED VOMITING SUCKER"?

Also, I haven't vomited in over two years (knocks on wood).

fhrblig > timateo81
02/06/2014 at 09:27

I don't have that fear, mostly because over the years I've become conditioned to the fact that 9 times out of 10 you feel significantly better after vomiting. And on that 1 time where you don't, see a doctor. The last time I didn't feel better after vomiting, it was appendicitis.

Tekamul > timateo81
02/06/2014 at 09:37

I'm surprised this has come up today.

I definitely have it, and have done a sufficient job most of my life avoiding vomiting. But I just got over a case of food poisoning from Monday. It was very horrible.

Prior to that, I vomited in 2009 when I had the flu, before that, it was 1993. I had made it a long time without vomiting, based mostly on mental focus and overwhelming discomfort at the thought. My 16 year streak included my 21st birthday, and in fact, my entire twenties which was filled with binge drinking events. I often was in terrible pain, but not once succumbed.

I also know exactly what it comes from, a bad experience when I was 8. I went to school not feeling well, and vomited on the school bus. The bus driver kept me on the bus at the school, and made me clean it up instead of going inside. It made me vomit again. In the end, it was a pretty bad day for him, too, but I fought tooth and nail against vomiting ever since.

Yowen - not necessarily not spaghetti and meatballs > Slow4o
02/06/2014 at 10:05

Haha, that's not the assumption I made.

timateo81 > BJ
02/06/2014 at 10:21

So my 5-month-old son has had re-flux pretty bad since birth. He spits significant amounts almost every single feed. Medication has helped and every indication is that this stuff peaks around this time and gets better over time. None-the-less I'm vomited on pretty much daily.

Infant spitup is fairly tolerable I'm guessing - it looks the same as the input - but I really think it's helping me get over some of my anxiety related to seeing/hearing someone throw up. Also, the first and third trimester of pregnancy had my wife barfing tons. Baptism by fire I guess, but I grew up fast because it didn't seem fair, given all the suffering she was going through, to also make her hold her own hair back, fetch her own glass of water and mouthwash, or scrub the bathroom after she puked.

This conditioning has done absolutely nothing for my fear of MYSELF throwing up. Hopefully that will come in time as well.