Emetophobia - any fellow sufferers? What do you do to cope?

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RachRN86 said:
You've done so well dealing with it. I work in schools and I'm just constantly terrified of picking something up at the moment. I just want to get in bed and hide until April
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Thank you! It's been bloody hard as you can imagine! With my husband being away I've had no choice. I'm hoping it helps me though.
Oh I'd love to work in a school but I can't bring myself to, I'd be so scared of catching something. I'd take every cough/cold under the sun everyday to avoid a bug!
 
Ok so my little one has had D about 6 times today now. Hasn’t stopped him playing or running around like a lunatic but every now and again he will hold his tummy and go to the toilet.

And being 4 years old he has absolutely no awareness on hygiene so I am now a sitting duck myself.

I’ve only just gotten over a D stomach bug that had me running to the toilet for 6 days and I lost over a stone. That was 2 weeks ago. Now I am petrified that it’s going to be a different strain and come back my way.

And a message from the nursery to say they’ve had lots of other children with the same thing. At least it’s not vomiting. But I’ll be blunt and say I’m so bleeping pissed off. This is the 3rd time since September that nursery has had tummy virus and the teacher said she’s getting quite fed up of parents not following the 48 hour rule. So am I! I’m furious
 
It sounds like the same thing you had doesn't it, so hopefully it's just a D bug 🤞🏼 totally understand the frustration, nay anger, about the 48hr rule. They need to address that with the parents who are flouting the rule. It's so annoying when they tell the masses rather than the individuals, our school does it too 🙄 totally understand the hygiene and 4 year olds too, my littlest is 3 and I'm a helicopter parent with her when it comes to hand washing! 😂
 
I feel like I’m going OTT now. But I’m wondering if this could be his issue? Because the episodes of “diarrhoea” today have been no bigger than the size of a 10p coin. And I’ve put a nappy on him because he’s been passing wind and leaking small amount of poo.

He’s never had a D bug before. But I have obviously and it’s been full on D every half hour or so.

But he’s fine in himself, eating ok, hungry and playing normally. No fever.

He does suffer from really hard stools like pellets and hasn’t done a big poo for about 3/4 days now. So I’m wondering if this js the overflow diarrhoea.

Sorry to anyone reading this I know I’m going off subject but the phobia has consumed my life and I look into things much further than I probably do but I can’t help it x
 

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swimming said:
I feel like I’m going OTT now. But I’m wondering if this could be his issue? Because the episodes of “diarrhoea” today have been no bigger than the size of a 10p coin. And I’ve put a nappy on him because he’s been passing wind and leaking small amount of poo.

He’s never had a D bug before. But I have obviously and it’s been full on D every half hour or so.

But he’s fine in himself, eating ok, hungry and playing normally. No fever.

He does suffer from really hard stools like pellets and hasn’t done a big poo for about 3/4 days now. So I’m wondering if this js the overflow diarrhoea.

Sorry to anyone reading this I know I’m going off subject but the phobia has consumed my life and I look into things much further than I probably do but I can’t help it x
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Definitely sounds like constipation coupled with overflow. Get him seen at go they will be able examine and feel if there's a lot of poo there and prescribe lactulose
 
I'm exactly the same @swimming. Now you say this, we had the same thing with my littlest when she was toilet training. She was holding the poop in and then we got the overflow. It absolutely threw me as I'd never seen/heard of it before and I also panicked and jumped to conclusions. If he's constipated that'll cause him discomfort, and then the overflow looks like D - makes sense.
 
RachRN86 said:
Definitely sounds like constipation coupled with overflow. Get him seen at go they will be able examine and feel if there's a lot of poo there and prescribe lactulose
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He’s got lactulose already as we had this problem before @PennyPop (just tagging you in this reply too!). About a month ago I took him to the doctors for not pooing and Lactalose just gave him 2 or 3 big episodes of diarrhoea and I assumed that was the end of it. But now I’m remembering that this past week he’s only been passing tiny hard lumps so it could be overflow again.

I’ll give him some lactulose in the morning and see if it helps.
 
I'm a bit of an expert on childhood constipation (sadly) as my daughter has suffered badly with it. Lactulose is ok for mild constipation, but what works for us is Laxido (or a similar macrogol). I'd try and get it on prescription but you can also just buy adult macrogols and just halve the dose. If constipation is really bad you'll need to disimpact and flush the system. ERIC is a really good website for this. :)
 
maytoseptember said:
Agree with everything @PillowsofFluff said.

It doesn’t sound like it’s D at all if it’s just a tiny splat (forgive the description!)
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Thank you, and to @PillowsofFluff too! Yes I agree. If a person of any age is unwell with diarrhoea it’s a full blown toilet episode sorry tmi haha. But this is him saying “my tummy hurts”, pulling at the skin below his belly button, and sitting on the toilet and then shouting “I’m finished” after 2 seconds. And yeah, it’s a tiny splat. This happened 6 or 7 times today.

I’m wondering if this is happening because he’s not got time to sit on the toilet. He’s too busy playing with toys and mucking about to let himself finish properly and that’s what’s likely caused the backup.

Bloosy kids honestly 😢
 
PillowsofFluff said:
I'm a bit of an expert on childhood constipation (sadly) as my daughter has suffered badly with it. Lactulose is ok for mild constipation, but what works for us is Laxido (or a similar macrogol). I'd try and get it on prescription but you can also just buy adult macrogols and just halve the dose. If constipation is really bad you'll need to disimpact and flush the system. ERIC is a really good website for this. :)
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100% this is the exact advice we give parents x
 
My daughter who is now an adult knew of my phobia all through her childhood. She is absolutely fine and has no fears like I do with sick. Never has had. So try not to worry on that. I actually think the pressure of trying to hide it from your children makes the anxiety worse.
Kids are very resilient. I think she just thought I was daft as a couple of brushes 🤣
 
Drea1984 said:
My daughter who is now an adult knew of my phobia all through her childhood. She is absolutely fine and has no fears like I do with sick. Never has had. So try not to worry on that. I actually think the pressure of trying to hide it from your children makes the anxiety worse.
Kids are very resilient. I think she just thought I was daft as a couple of brushes 🤣
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same as my children 29 and 23 they seem ok, they know of my fear, we live with it daily but when they are actually ill they hate it, but im glad they dont have my phobia
 
Literally can’t believe I’m saying this but I’m not well again.

I’ve felt fine all day. Had my dinner which was 2 thin pork steaks and some cucumber (not a big appetite), and within 15 minutes of finishing my dinner i had a bad upset stomach and it’s been 3 times since.

Food poisoning wouldn’t come on that quick would it? I feel sick too but that’s just nerves I think.

Maybe an intolerance to pork? I’m usually fine but I dunno. I honestly give up. I’m going to ring the doctors Monday morning because I am feeling so low and quite rightly fed up of being unwell all the time with my stomach.
 
swimming said:
Literally can’t believe I’m saying this but I’m not well again.

I’ve felt fine all day. Had my dinner which was 2 thin pork steaks and some cucumber (not a big appetite), and within 15 minutes of finishing my dinner i had a bad upset stomach and it’s been 3 times since.

Food poisoning wouldn’t come on that quick would it? I feel sick too but that’s just nerves I think.

Maybe an intolerance to pork? I’m usually fine but I dunno. I honestly give up. I’m going to ring the doctors Monday morning because I am feeling so low and quite rightly fed up of being unwell all the time with my stomach.
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Eating a meal which quickly triggers your gut to empty itself out sounds like either IBS or IBD. Look up dumping syndrome - it usually applies to people who’ve had gastric sleeve surgery but the symptoms are pretty similar.

It’ll definitely be worth keeping a food diary to see what your triggers might be. Mine is dairy, although to complicate matters somewhat, it’s not like I necessarily have an immediate reaction when I do have dairy… sometimes it has a cumulative effect and I get the upset stomach later.

So it might not have been the pork, it might have been herbs, spices or sauce you might have had on the pork (assuming it wasn’t plain) or it might have been something you had earlier, but your body only got triggered when you sat down for your evening meal.

Weirdly, I find that if my body is going to kick off, it’s going to be after the evening meal and not any other time 🤷‍♀️
 
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maytoseptember said:
Eating a meal which quickly triggers your gut to empty itself out sounds like either IBS or IBD. Look up dumping syndrome - it usually applies to people who’ve had gastric sleeve surgery but the symptoms are pretty similar.

It’ll definitely be worth keeping a food diary to see what your triggers might be. Mine is dairy, although to complicate matters somewhat, it’s not like I necessarily have an immediate reaction when I do have dairy… sometimes it has a cumulative effect and I get the upset stomach later.

So it might not have been the pork, it might have been herbs, spices or sauce you might have had on the pork (assuming it wasn’t plain) or it might have been something you had earlier, but your body only got triggered when you sat down for your evening meal.

Weirdly, I find that if my body is going to kick off, it’s going to be after the evening meal and not any other time 🤷‍♀️
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That’s interesting, thank you. It does sound like dumping syndrome. I’ll do the food diary

And the pork was plain and boring 😂 just done in the air fryer. I’m a very plain eater due to this phobia anyway so nothing gets too exciting in my kitchen lol.
 
@swimming it definitely sounds like there's something going on rather than it being a bug of some sort. @maytoseptember makes a very interesting point so defo worth looking into. Might be worth talking to your GP again though? The weight loss was rapid last time wasn't it, and dehydration is a concern too. It would be good to get an answer/diagnosis for whatever it is so you can deal with it properly - and put your mind at rest.

Hello @Ladeepfriedmarsbar and welcome, glad you've found us and hopefully we can offer some support if you ever need it!
 
Hello 👋🏻
I’m new to this thread. I have tried to read through the previous pages but found 21 pages of essentially vomit a bit too much.
I have for as long as I can remember (I’m 33) suffered with the most severe anxiety around vomit/feeling sick/being sick
I am exhausted and don’t physically think I can take anymore, I am drained.
I think about/ worry about/ overthink and stress about being unwell/vomit 24/7. I am obsessed with cleaning down the doors and switches at work (I started a new job 6 months ago and now in a bigger office with more people - more people mean more germs, which was my first thought) I clean my hands so much they’re pretty red raw. I have family that are nurses who I will avoid especially at the dreaded N-virus time of year. I avoid the news and social media as talk about winter germs sends me into a spiral.
I have a ‘safe’ list of foods that I will eat, everything else I will avoid and I think it’s causing an eating disorder. I rarely drink alcohol out of fear, I don’t do fair rides or essentially ‘fun’ just Incase. I won’t eat anything that I can’t physically see/check is cooked at a restaurant (ie, the sauce must be separate from the meat so i can see it)
If anyone around me mentions being/feeling sick I will starve myself for as long as possible, I can comfortably do around 28hours currently (when I next eat though my tummy hurts) I will also be on high alert for the next 4 days stressing I will become unwell.
I spend every minute thinking are we going to catch something. I go to bed and have panic attacks worrying I’ll be woken up during the night. My daughter is 13 and when she mentions someone has been ill I’m sent into a spiral. If anyone gets up in the night I clock watch to make sure they’re okay and question if I feel like they’ve been unusually long.
I categorically won’t have any more kids out of fear of being unwell during pregnancy and then the germ balls they are when they go to nursery. We are now a blended family and the worry I feel that the kids go between two houses, two schools, double the germs is all I think.
luckily my boyfriend is so understanding and supportive, however I know first hand how debilitating it is and I don’t want him to worry about me worrying as it seems very irrational to the average person.
sorrry for the long winded message - I typically hide my fear and have only recently accepted it myself and I’m learning to talk about it before I crack up with exhaustion or insanity or maybe both 🤷🏼‍♀️
 
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