the reality of emetophobia - a thread by someone who has suffered from emetophobia for 9 years since no one takes phobias seriously

[ rts are appreciated ]
proper trigger warnings will be included throughout this thread

tw ! this thread will include mentions of vomit , food poisoning , the word “sick” & “nausea” . i will not be censoring anything as i know people have these words muted. this thread may also include mentions of suicide (with tws) !

also the majority of this thread is my personal experiences with this phobia , i will include other people’s experiences as well if im able to. this is a very debilitating phobia and it ruined my life so this thread might be long. i have a lot to say.

// vomit mentions
emetophobia is a phobia of vomit. some people with emetophobia have a fear of just themselves vomiting, some may just have a fear of others vomiting, and some have both. this is a very common phobia but it’s rarely talked about and so misunderstood

every time i tell someone about my emetophobia they respond with “well no one likes being sick” and it angers me so much because i’m so tired of having to constantly explain to people that this phobia is not just a dislike of being sick.

// vomit mentions

for me, vomit is traumatising . if someone around me vomits i will think about it for years after. if i vomit i will think about it for years. i still remember and think about every single time i’ve been exposed to vomit / vomited myself.

// vomit

i think about it nearly EVERY DAY. i get intrusive images in my mind of people vomiting. i get intrusive images of myself vomiting. i have nightmares of it happening to me or someone around me. this is what i’ve been living with all my life. i don’t think there’s a

// vomit

single day that has gone by that i didn’t think about feeling nauseous or vomiting. i also feel nauseous every day from anxiety. this is a really common thing people with emetophobia experience. many people get physical symptoms of sickness when anxious

and for someone with emet, these symptoms can be so scary which creates more anxiety & more physical symptoms and it’s like a never ending cycle of feeling sick because you’re worried about feeling / getting sick. the cycle is the worst thing ever.

this phobia has also negatively impacted my social life. i’ve canceled plans due to the fact that i was too afraid to leave my house because i was terrified of getting sick or someone near me getting sick. i was terrified of going to restaurants / fast food places in fear that

i would get food poisoning. this phobia also makes it very difficult for people to be around me i guess ? i don’t know how to explain it well but i’m constantly asking for reassurance like “do i like sick” & if someone mentions that they feel ill i will immediately get anxious &

start asking them hundreds of questions about how they feel like “do you feel like ur gonna vomit” “are you nauseous “
“does your stomach hurt”
“do you think you have food poisoning? stomach flu? are you sure?” because i am terrified of them getting sick around me & im terrified

of getting sick from them. i don’t really leave my house anymore because of this phobia and fear that i may catch something from someone. so i’ve lost many friends & basically isolated myself from everyone. if i do leave my house (even before covid), it’s very distressing for me

because i have to be so cautious and careful not to touch anything. grocery shopping is very difficult for me as well because i literally cannot touch anything in the store & i have to examine everything before i buy it & check every single expiration date. if it does not have an

expiration date, like fruits or veggies, i literally stand there for like 30 minutes examining every single fruit / vegetable i buy to make sure it’s not going to give me food poisoning.

// mentions of blood

once i get home from the store or being outside, i straight up have to wash my hands until they bleed. if i don’t do it, i’ll have a panic attack. it’s very painful and my hands are pretty much bleeding & in pain 24/7.

// disordered eating , arfid ?

my phobia also makes it very hard to eat & it feeds into my anorexia. i feel sick every time i eat. i am pretty much convinced every single food i eat is going to give me horrible food poisoning. i tend to eat the same things every single day

because of this. after every meal i have to set a timer for 3 hours and monitor how i feel physically to make sure i don’t have food poisoning. during those 3 hours, i cant leave my house, i cant do anything. the only thing i can do is lay down & try to distract myself.

i also cant eat certain foods that i got sick from in the past. & if someone tells me they got food poisoning from a certain food, i will never eat that food ever again in fear that it will happen to me. i also struggle to drink water bc im afraid i’ll drink too much & get sick

// mention of alcohol

this also applies to alcohol & pretty much every beverage to ever exist. so it’s very hard for me to stay hydrated. im also afraid to take medication bc of the side effects & i also struggle taking supplements sometimes (mainly just ones i’ve never taken

before). all of this combined w my ed has destroyed my physical health. i also cant go on long drives & get extremely anxious when i have to be in a car / in a plane bc i fear that i will get motion sickness. i’ve never even struggled w motion sickness, but my brain will convince

me that im sick & i’ll immediately start feeling nauseous which makes me anxious which makes me nauseous and it’s just so debilitating.
tw // suicide
i almost attempted suicide bc of this phobia, but i was never able to go through with it bc i was afraid my method would make me

// suicide , vomit
vomit / nauseous that’s literally the only thing i was worried about.
another debilitating thing about this phobia is that every single body sensation scares me. i could have a mild feeling in my throat or a small stomach ache and my brain will immediately

convince me that im sick . im also terrified of hospitals & at one point ( before covid ) i stopped going to school completely bc of my phobia of getting sick. i also cant wear certain clothes that i got sick in & go to certain areas of my house bc i’m afraid it will happen again

certain clothes, colors, places, sounds, words , and feelings make me feel nauseous & it’s so exhausting i can’t even describe how much distress it brings me. sometimes even just looking at the word vomit or nausea can trigger a panic attack

the absolute worst part of this phobia is how no one takes it seriously. it is almost impossible to get proper help & treatment for emetophobia because how misunderstood it is. my phobia constantly gets invalidated. everyone thinks “it’s not a big deal” when it ruined my life

// vomit mention

// vomit mention

// vomit mention

yup :/

that’s the end of the thread ! it’s honestly so hard to put into words how debilitating this phobia is. i cant even describe how much this phobia traumatised me. how much suffering i had to go through bc of this fear. and the worst part is that no one takes it seriously

also writing this made me anxious so sorry if some parts don’t make sense this was kinda rushed