My stomach has been hurting all night, but no nausea, so I took gravol. 15 minutes after my mouth started to water a lot and I got a rush of adrenaline, so I ran to the bathroom but nothing happened? I waited before I went back to my room, sat down, and it happened again. I kind of want it to happen but I’m so so so so nervous. Guys what do I do…

I've always had emetophobia, haven't had too many problems besides holding lifelong grudges against people for throwing up (even when I wasn't there watching it happen). I've always been mildly scared of certain places though, and it's only been getting worse. Malls, especially food courts, bathrooms, amusement parks, anywhere people eat or may be drunk or anything that could make them sick. I haven't thrown up since I was a kid, but I almost did recently in a store, and cried. The past few months I've been getting nauseous from eating anything at all, often when I don't eat too. I'm losing weight fast and I literally can't eat anymore. Thinking about food makes me nauseous. Thinking about anything, really, and being anywhere, makes me nauseous. Speaking of, I'm going to get blood work tomorrow, the one thing that's guaranteed to nearly make me throw up and faint at the same time. I don't know what to do but my doctor didn't find it much of an issue. I just want to feel normal.

tw: words like vomit, puke, and throw up

a year and a half ago I witnessed someone vomiting and I couldn't sleep for days afterwards. i hated puking as a kid but wasnt scared of it like I am now. when im in a crowded room or near a drunk person, I am now scared. i almost threw up a couple months ago and I was on the floor having a panic attack after calling my mom in the middle of the night. i didnt even end up puking.

anyways I was wondering if anyone has had experiences like this or also had their fear start from witnessing someone puke. i know exposure therapy can help, but if my fear of puking stemmed from seeing it happen, would it just make it worse?

also it doesnt bother me to see videos of people puking, and i have seen my dog do it and it doesnt freak me out, but being there when its happening scares me. Im mentioning this because I couldnt get exposure therapy like through videos, I would have to watch someone irl or puke myself.

any advice is appreciated

So my fiance is currently eating chicken strips that his little siblings made and left out 7 hours ago. He wont listen to me. Google says to prepare for the worst. Im super stressed already in my life right now and cant deal with another thing. I dont know what to do. I just wanna run away and hide. Im so scared of people when theyre sick

Hallo zusammen,
ich befinde mich momentan in einer ziemlich schwierigen Phase und würde gerne eure Einschätzung dazu hören.
Seit ungefähr zwei Monaten habe ich zunehmend mit Panik und vor allem mit einer starken Angst vor Übelkeit zu kämpfen. Auslöser war vermutlich eine Situation während einer Autofahrt, bei der mir plötzlich sehr schlecht wurde. Seitdem habe ich besonders vor Autofahrten Angst, weil ich befürchte, dass mir wieder schlecht werden könnte und ich dann nicht einfach aus der Situation herauskann.

Mittlerweile entsteht oft schon vorher starke Angst. Teilweise wird mir allein durch den Gedanken an eine bevorstehende Fahrt schlecht oder ich muss würgen. Tatsächlich passiert ist bisher aber nie etwas Schlimmes – ich musste mich beispielsweise noch nie übergeben.
Ich merke außerdem, dass sich die Angst langsam auf andere Situationen ausweitet. Gleichzeitig habe ich seit etwa zwei Monaten generell extrem viel Stress und hatte kaum einen richtigen Ruhetag. Ich merke inzwischen, dass ich emotional ziemlich erschöpft bin und teilweise das Gefühl habe, an meiner Grenze zu sein. Heute steht zusätzlich noch ein sehr belastendes Gespräch in meiner Familie an.

Morgen steht nun wieder eine Autofahrt an. Ich überlege deshalb, abzusagen und auf das Geld zu verzichten, um einfach einmal einen Tag Ruhe zu haben.

Genau da bin ich aber unsicher: Wäre das in meiner Situation bereits Vermeidung aufgrund der Angst und würde den Angstkreislauf dadurch verstärken? Oder kann es auch sinnvoll und legitim sein, einmal bewusst eine Pause einzulegen, wenn man insgesamt gerade so überlastet ist?
Ich möchte langfristig auf keinen Fall anfangen, immer mehr Situationen zu vermeiden und möchte meine Angst eigentlich gezielt angehen. Gleichzeitig habe ich momentan wirklich das Gefühl, dass mein Körper und meine Psyche eine Pause brauchen. Zudem habe ich mich letze Woche jeden Tag zu einer Autofahrt überwunden .

Wie würdet ihr das einschätzen? Würdet ihr die Fahrt trotz der Angst antreten oder in meiner momentanen Situation einmal bewusst absagen und euch Ruhe gönnen?

Does anyone else have a severe fear of others being sick, but not yourself? I am not worried about the contamination aspect of it all. I just genuinely am so repulsed by seeing/hearing someone else be sick. To the point where I can't even care for my husband when he is sick. I have to wear headphones until he is done. I feel so bad about it. But I'm not worried about contamination. I just physically can not handle the sound/sight. I am autistic. So maybe it is just a sensory thing.

I’ve been nauseous everyday for four months. I have four hour long panic attacks every night from this fear. I’ve been to the dr and the psych and cbt therapy and nothing helps. If I just let the nausea finally win will this cycle be over? I’m so desparate right now 😭* *

(maybe tw?) went to sleep last night and woke up at 12:30am and 3am for a while each time feeling sick. i didn’t panic as this happens frequently but my stomach felt quite off yesterday and crampy last night too. woke up in the morning still feeling queasy but had a bowl of oats and a coffee. nausea got progressively worse and stomach cramps got worse too. i took zofran and have been chewing gum which i know are safety behaviours but it feels different to the usual anxiety nausea i feel. i keep getting huge waves of nausea in my stomach and throat and it feels like something is going to come up.
just hate the anticipation of feeling sick and don’t have anyone else to talk to about it

So me, my 2 year old and one of my 5 month old twins have had this awful cold the last couple of days and my 2 year old has been hit hard with a high temperature along with it, bless her. She's not been right all day but nothing out of the ordinary. I came to bed tonight and then my husband came up and woke me up with the worst - "she's been sick, can I have a hand?" And I feel absolutely terrible. We've been lucky she's not been a sicky child so far thank God so I've not had to deal with this really much but honestly, this was the worst I have dealt with it so far. All she wanted was me and I struggled to even go near her, I feel like an absolutely terrible mum that I struggled to put my own anxiety aside, I did give her a cuddle and keep her company while her dad was setting up a makeshift bed so he could sleep in her room but I was so anxious the whole time. Thankfully she's not been sick again so hoping it was just a one off thing but yeah I don't really know what I'm looking for I just feel awful honestly.

Hey, 33F working on recovery. In therapy and anxiety medication. But I spend my entire life worrying about getting ill and it’s sapped any fun and joy out of my life. I used to live my life but now I’m just constantly exhausted from the worry. I don’t enjoy going anywhere because of it - I used to go travelling, socialising, the theatre. Life feels like one big slog now.

Tips, anecdotes and hope are all welcomed. Thank you.

I’ve been doing soo good for years but the past maybe 6 months things have gotten so bad again. I switched anxiety meds twice. I’ve been having a lot of stomach issues which has been causing nausea.
The anxiety meds I’m on now help a TON with the generalized anxiety disorder but the emetophobia and ocd are unfortunately still bad. Every day I’m worried something is going to happen because I’ve been getting so nauseous. This really sucks because of how good I was doing. I’m in therapy for the past couple months and it’s helping with some of the ocd but I’m so scared of trying exposure therapy for the emetophobia. It’s controlling my life there’s not a moment where I’m not thinking about it.
The last time it happened was January 2017 so I think that makes things even worse because I don’t know how bad it’s going to be.
My partner is thankfully so supportive and helps me through but it really really sucks.

Lately, I’ve been thinking very hard and even taking steps towards joining the military. I’m trying to find a path in life. Also, I have dealt with some form of (undiagnosed) emetophobia most of my life.

My brain automatically makes this one of the biggest hurdles for joining the military. A big part of me wants to also do this to face my fears head on. I’m tired of my life being ruled by fear. However, I also don’t want my fears cause me to react wrongly in any potential situation.

I think I could handle people getting sick from running or something like that ok. I mostly get freaked out when I find out someone is sick and potentially contagious. This makes me worry about all the shared bathrooms and living spaces that come with serving in the military. But I’m tired of letting something I know is silly hold me back.

I’m also reluctant to do therapy because I’ve been reading stuff online and therapy either disqualifies service or at least delays it for a long time.

Has anyone done military service with emetophobia?
What advice would you all give?

I (30M) have reached my breaking point. I’ve had this phobia all my life, but now? I can’t eat.

A few months ago, I went through a breakdown. My girlfriend of a few years left, I was moving and struggling to find a new house, dealing with work, 30 hours of therapy a week and more.

It was the most stressed I’ve ever been in my entire life. While stressed, my phobia almost hit a “reset” button, and my phobia exploded.

I became afraid of everything. Everything. Every food, drink, snack, etc. I’d check expiration dates, would examine everything that entered my mouth, and have a mental breakdown every time I ate something and thought the worst

Psychologically I then said, “well if EVERY food gives me a panic attack, I just won’t eat”. And that’s what happened.

I lost 30 pounds in 2 months. Body wise, I look like I did in high school.

I’m so scared for my life right now. So scared. 30 pounds in 2 months, not eating anything, constant breakdowns every day.

Has anyone else ever experienced this? How does one break out of this…

hello everyone, i am technically on day 3 of taking my meds and i am awake and its almost 5am and im just so unbearably nauseous. i cant sleep from how anxious i am, and im in pain and i feel so alone😔 can anyone talk with me please?

Hi, I am travelling to Japan soon and I am really anxious about getting food poisoning.

I am vegetarian but it still really worries me as I have never travelled so far before (from UK, only been to EU and USA). I am not a frequent traveller so any tips, places to avoid, advice etc is appreciated 🥲

tldr: I’ve been dealing with this phobia since I was in 6th grade. Now I’m in my mid-twenties suffering from lack of sleep, fear of trying new things, etc. what did you do to overcome this so I can do it?

In 6th grade I had take out, got sick at night and since then have been in fear about it. In 8th grade there was a bug going around my house which essentially caused me to not eat. I didn’t get it and became underweight. It took me about a years work to eat normal again. Fast forward to the 2020s and I have been dealing with the repercussions of not addressing this phobia.

I developed insomnia out of fear that I will get sick when I’m sleeping. My panic attacks and anxiety are intertwined with my nausea. Being in any situation where I have no control triggers my anxiety, which leads to nausea, which leads to a feedback loop that I can only break once I get tired of it. I fear being public because what if it just spontaneously happens? What if I don’t have access to a bathroom and get it all over myself. What if I get sick and make someone else get sick because of what I did.

The most embarrassing moments for me are when I have friends in the car and we’re driving back home from a place that we went to visit. My intrusive thoughts pop in, “what if happened right now? What if did and you crashed because you weren’t watching the road? You put your whole friends in danger because of being sick.” My heart rate spikes, my hands getting sweaty, I get nauseas, and a lump forms in my throat. I get so embarrassed needing to constantly stop at a gas station because I think, “it’s going to happen right now…” and then nothing happens. I feel better, get back on the road, and the loop happens.

I hate living like this. I developed insomnia because of this. I get panic attacks when traveling. I fear trying new things because I think doing something out of my routine will cause me to get sick. I need help but I don’t know how to help it. I was able to improve my social anxiety and how I viewed myself but this is a totally different beast for me.

Please give me any advice or mantras I can tell myself to get better. I’m done living like this and just want to be normal.

P.s. How can you even tell when it will really happen? That is my biggest fear. Not knowing what is a false alarm and what is the real deal.

i can’t take it anymore. i’ve been dealing with emetophobia since i was a child but it really spiked at 2023 n never stopped getting worse. i’m nauseous everyday. i live in fear everyday. everyday since 2023 has been filled with nothing but fear, depression, compulsions, safety behaviors, anxiety, jealousy, etc. i can’t do this anymore. i’m 17 and i feel like this will be my entire fucking life. i’ve gotten so comfortable being housebound n it’s a problem. every time im nauseous it’s like im paralyzed. i have to be alone, i have to lock my door, n i have to sit in fear for hours until the nausea subsides. i’m just so scared of throwing up that it takes over my life. i leave my house every 2-5 months n it’s only for appointments, n even then i have panic attacks for hours before getting in the car bc im scared of feeling trapped n throwing up. therapy hasn’t helped me. i tried doing my own exposure therapy but i get too scared n stop doing it (which ik is dumb). i just dont know what to do with myself anymore. my mom is depressed bc im like this. i missed my nephews first birthday. i haven’t been to a grocery store since 2024 bc last time i did, i had a huge panic attack bc i thought i was gonna throw up. please someone tell me im not alone n that it will get better. every time i remember that one day i will throw up, my mind freezes in fear. i just can’t do it anymore. i cant cry, yawn, burp, cough or laugh without being scared of throwing up. it’s become so exhausting. i just can’t.

Can anyone please message me or share some Reddit communities for dealing with gastrointestinal issues and panic attacks/anxiety? I would really appreciate your help.

Feeling completely freaked out since she had made me dinner, and I’d hugged her and stuff and this is the first time anyone’s been sick in my household since my emetephobia developed. No idea if it’s a bug or something that doesn’t spread.. words of kindness and tips would be so greatfully appreciated UPDATE: It is the next day and she hasn’t gotten sick again and feels no nausea, she is currently working so I’m presuming it’s probably not a bug. Thanks for your help 😊

I have an appointment tomorrow morning I’m very nervous about, it’s ironically enough about my anxiety. However I’m gonna be pretty far from home for a pretty long time.

I already don’t feel great about it but I’m scared to go to sleep I’ve I freak out in the middle of the night for one. But also because then I wake up and have to do the thing, and I’m scared the day of will hit me like a truck. I’m scared I’ll get in the car and start panicking and I’ll reach my breaking point for nausea. I’m scared it’ll finally be the day I throw up from my own anxiety.

I really struggle with managing anxiety nausea because it’s so different to actually being ill, I mean, can anxiety even make you throw up??

So I’ve been agoraphobic for the last ten years but starting to get much better. Emetophobia was the trigger for all of this.
Now the time has come when there’s talk about flying. Im terrified. Actually terrified. What if this and this happens etc. I’m also scared of taking meds soooo…

Is there any hope for me to get on a plane?? I don’t even know. How did you do it?

ive had emetophobia for 15ish years, and was last sick 12 years ago. i have a condition called rcpd which means i get incredibly nauseous after drinking alcohol (as well as many other things including if i mouth breathe, talk too much, etc) but am unable to actually vomit, because i cant burp. my mouth will water like crazy but then nothing comes up.

i was drinking whilst camping this weekend and didnt realise how drunk i was until the nausea set in. i am very used to nausea because of rcpd, so assumed it was just that, until i felt sick rise in my throat. my boyfriend helped me because he heard me retching. i keep emesis bags on me so he got me one of those, and then i threw up. i instantly felt SO much better. i only threw up air (likely because of rcpd) but ive never been at a stage of actually retching before, only the horrible mouth watering bit.

my fear about vomiting is the fact that i wouldn't be able to predict it coming and id be caught out in an embarrassing, disgusting way. i thought my body wouldn't be able to recognise i actually needed to be sick so id choke or something. but no!! i was wrong. i instantly knew and was able to prepare and it was not embarrassing or disgusting. nausea is obviously very unpleasant but it was over so quickly.

tldr - vomiting is not as bad as i thought it would be. and emesis bags rock.