Fear of Vomiting

[Lynne]

I have a very intense fear of vomiting-I'm not sure why. Perhaps it's because I'm also afraid of choking. And I'm a control freak. Anyway, I wonder what the technical term for this phobia is.

[hey-its-ok]

Hi Lynne, ask yourself, what is it about vomiting that you are afraid of? when you think of vomiting, what goes through your mind? Is it just that illogical fear that is not based on anything, or are you able to relate it to something?

[Chrissy]

I have a fear of throwing up.. like it's really bad... lately i haven't had any episodes.. but i sometimes make myself think that i'm going to throw up and it's really bad.. like i can't sleep or even close my eyes.. im petrified of it.. i would rather die than throw up... it's really weird.. cause i can't even remember the last time i threw up so idk why i'm like this... last year i wouldnt even be able to write the word vomit.. so i guess i'm getting a little better... O.K. but yeah I can relate to you.. I was actually going to write my own thread on this but then I saw this one was at the top. ha.

[Warmsoul/Jeanie13]

Emetophobia is an irrational or excessive fear of vomiting. But nobody likes to vomit. A phobia is distinguished from an ordinary fear by the irrational and excessive anxiety caused by the stimuli for the phobic individual. For example, many people would not want to explore caves because of a fear of snakes. But some people with a snake phobia, called ophidiophobia, are afraid to walk on the sidewalk in downtown Chicago because a snake might be there.

So, hundreds of millions of people may fear vomiting, but they don't alter their daily lives because of it the way emetophobics do. The fear is also all-consuming; for most emetophobics, vomiting is their single worst fear. In casual conversation, many phobics say they'd rather die than vomit. (We hope that's overstated.)

It's not an overstatement that for many phobics, anxiety about vomiting ruins almost every day. There is another phobia related to emetophobia called social phobia. (Social phobia is a general fear of being judged by other people.) People who are social phobic often have a fear of vomiting in public, but this is not the same as emetophobia. People with social phobia vomit in private with no more anxiety than a normal person would have. (Of course, emetophobics fear vomiting in public at least as much as social phobics do. And some people have both emetophobia and social phobia.)

Social phobics make sure they can get to a bathroom if they need to vomit (and this can go to an extreme as well, like insisting on an aisle seat in crowded places), but they don't do all the things that emetophobics do.

[Chrissy]

O.K. well I think I have that. . . it used to consume my thinking (like i said, i'm a little better now).. i even wrote those exact words in my journal (last year). . and i'm always thinking about it like i'm afraid that i will see someone throw up and i'm afraid i will, even when i don't feel sick..

[Chrissy]

so yeah... i definitely have a irrational and excessive fear of vomitting.. that's like the perfect way to describe how i feel...idk if that automatically means i have a phobia.. but maybe.

[brayanfraser]

Emetophobia or Fear of vomiting, is surprisingly common. The phobia can begin at any age, although many adults have suffered so long as they can remember. Emetophobia can be linked to other fears such as fear of food, as well as conditions such as eating disorders and obsessive-compulsive disorder.

[Warmsoul/Jeanie13]

brayanfraser

More phobia's?

The forums are for people to express their feelings, and not get lessons on phobia's.

For adding the information, thank you, but that isn't the purpose of a this support forum.

Warmsoul/Moderator

[emilyhockey94]

I've had emetophobia for as long as I can remember, I think it's one of the worst phobias someone can have! It makes me feel nauseas all the time and my one wish is that it would just go away, it gets so bad it controls my life!

[keepholdingon]

I've had this ever since I got a bad stomach bug when I was 6 years old. I actually didn't get another one until I was 18 (!), but it traumatized me so much that I couldn't use the downstairs bathroom (where I got sick) for months. I get so anxious whenever I hear that something's going around, and I have this obsession with making sure that things like meat, seafood and baked goods are all fully cooked because I don't want to get food poisoning.

This phobia is terrible. :\

[CitM]

I think other than the 'yuck' factor, which is pretty obvious, there is a certain feeling of a loss of control of one's bodily functions. When I was in an ED support group, I was surprised to learn that people who preferred purging through vomiting absolutely hated the stomach flu. I was like.. but.. you vomit all the time?

And they said that the difference was the feeling of the loss of control with the flu, instead of being in control.

Certainly at the age of six years of age, there is the embarrassment factor and being frightened if you didn't know what was going on either. I can totally understand it.

[Ender]

I have a fear of vomiting as well. Though I can link it to the thought, or irrational fear that vomiting=dying. This I most likely got from one or many science fiction or end of days movie I may have seen in my early years. As I have been afraid of vomiting for as long as I can remember. I am also afraid of being around people who are sick. I do not like to hear when someone else is vomiting either. It causes intense panic, to the point that I need to get as far away as possible.

Then there has been news stories of viruses that cause people to vomit themselves to death...which of course only fuels my fear of it.

People get sick all the time. People vomit all the time, I myself have had a stomach bug a couple of times. and have lived to tell the tale lol. therefore I recognize that my fear of vomiting=death is truly irrational. But it still makes me very anxious. If someone says they don't feel well, I start to feel anxious.

Children especially tend to get sick often. When my children are sick I am very very very anxious. Even when one of my children develop a slight fever my initial reaction is to call their doctor or rush to ER. Obviously that is not necessary for every slight fever a child develops but people being sick, and especially people vomiting causes so much distress and anxiety, leading to panic.

[Etarcos]

For my part, I've got this since June 2016, when I suddenly woke up and felt very nauseous. I had to go to school in order to pass my German exam, and then I quickly come home and vomit for the rest of the week and since that day, it's kind of a big deal to me to feel nauseous again.

And now, when I get theses, it's not like a fear to die of it or so, for me, but more like a social fear of throwing up. And it's constant, and I never found out how to cope with it.

It happens almost every morning when I have to go to class, and at these moments I also can't talk or something about vomiting, or food, or even move, sometimes. But after, when something "passed", generally when I return home or go out of the class, everything is alright again, until the next class. So yeah, can really relate to this fear!

[CamGirl]

Emetophobia or Fear of vomiting can be the cause of anxiety. It is a difficult thing to experience and the only treatment that I know that helps is a cognitive behavioral therapy.

[Prycejosh1987]

I have a very intense fear of vomiting-I'm not sure why. Perhaps it's because I'm also afraid of choking. And I'm a control freak. Anyway, I wonder what the technical term for this phobia is.

Vomiting is harmless. There is no guarantee that you will not vomit ever. You can vomit over eating uncooked chicken and pork or drinking too much alcohol, you can vomit eating too much, etc. You vomit when your digestive system doesnt agree with you. You dont really choke when you vomit its mainly pressure on your throat to release food or drink. It doesnt hurt and you can control it to a degree. It doesnt last very long usually but that depends on how much your putting on your digestive system (with uncooked meat, or how much drink you had,etc).