Vomit phobia

[Lou27]

I have a massive phobia of vomit, whether it’s me or someone else - can’t even deal. I have just recently booked my honeymoon in Vanuatu and I’m excited to travel there but I’m terrified to get on the plane because I might get air sick.. I already have anti nausea medication sorted by the way.. but we don’t go until October and I have months of panic attacks waiting to happen.

I also really want to start a family but I’m terrified I’ll get morning sickness.. I feel terrible because I’m letting this phobia dictate my life somewhat.

Even when my family members are ill I can’t help them, I become a mess, rocking, sweating, shaking, full blown fight or flight mode..

i have tried to see a few psychologists about this but it’s the exposure therapy that I can’t deal with. If anyone suffers with the same phobia or even coping techniques for another phobia, any suggestions and advice is welcomed!

[stroppytom]

Many people who suffer with anxiety have a trigger. In my case it is the fear of cancer...in yours, vomit. Apart from exposure therapy (which works really well for fear of flying, snakes, spiders, rodents...etc...) there's not much else you can do apart from medicating yourself (which would take too long in your case) or using positive self-talk. In my case I keep telling myself that even if I am diagnosed with what I fear the most it doesn't necessarily follow that I am going to die from it and that treatments are improving all the time. When I have a general anxiety attack (like I am going through at the moment) I just keep telling myself that it is going to pass and, eventually, I will be okay again. The only way to deal with phobias of concrete things is to confront them, as uncomfortable as that might be. Look, I have a friend who is terrified of red light cameras and he will do anything to avoid turning at a camera-controlled intersection for fear of being caught in the intersection by the camera. He was cured of this by me taking him to the camera office in the city and one of the people there explaining, in fine detail, how the cameras work and that unless he did something intentionally wrong the chances of him being pinged by a red light camera were very, very low. It worked! He lost the phobia there and then. So I suppose I am trying to say that you musn't give up on exposure therapy because it may work really well for you. Best wishes...Hope I've helped.

[fred4761]

I too have a fear of vomit - in particular I worry about getting gastro after I had it three times in one year (all from different nieces and nephews) after not having had it since I was a child. I found that CBT with my psychiatrist helped me and also EFT - Emotional Freedom Technique Tapping. I have not tried exposure therapy for this - nor do I particularly want to! Positive self talk and affirmations have helped me too.

My psychologist felt that preparing for potential gastro was like giving in, however my psychiatrist felt that putting together a plan for just in case I caught gastro was better for my overall state of mind as part of the anxiety and ocd was from not being prepared. So I planned and put together a 'gastro kit'.

At home I have a kit that I keep in the laundry with a bucket, disposable vomit bags, hair ties, disposable gloves, Glen 20 disinfectant spray, hand sanitizer, toilet wipes (toilet paper can be too sensitive sometimes), soluble electrolyte tablets, new toothbrush, garbage bags, over the counter anti-diarrhoea medication, anti-nausea medication and anti-vomiting medication that is prescribed.

I travelled overseas last year and was very concerned about stuck on a plane and getting sick so I made a mini version of the above that I took with me. I haven't been sick since that awful year, which was now four years ago, therefore haven't needed to utilise this 'gastro kit', but it makes me feel so much better knowing that if I do happen to get sick I have the resources to handle it. I hope that this helps.