The word “emetophobia” comes from the Greek word “emein”, which means vomiting.
Most people with a fear of vomiting have a strained relationship with:
• feeling nauseous
• the sound of vomiting
• hearing someone talk about vomiting
• watching others throw up
• taking medicine that has the possible side effect of nausea
• seeing vomit, for example, on the street
• being with others who are drunk or being drunk yourself (alcohol avoidance)
• being with other people who can then become infected
• eating food where it seems uncertain whether the food is too old
• eating at a restaurant
• drive by car, bus, train or boat
• to go to the doctor because other patients can be infected
because it’s all judged as threats and a trigger for you probably having to throw up – now, no now – but now?!
But at the same time, it is generally sensible to avoid being too close to a person with a contagious disease and to check the date of perishable food. So where is the line?
Signs that you have a fear of vomiting are
• If you have thoughts of vomiting a lot of the time
• If the slightest feeling in your stomach makes you think you’re going to throw up
• If you get palpitations, nausea, constantly feel stress, anxiety, panic when you hear about or think about vomiting
• If you use your parents or others as “insurance agents” in the hope that they can reassure you (sadly briefly) that you are not going to throw up after all
• If you start to avoid a whole lot of situations that you could easily be in before
• If you start to isolate yourself
• If you eat more limited than before
• If you watch for other people looking sick, coughing or looking like they’re about to throw up
Why does emetophobia develop?
Very often it is pre-pubescent children who come to me with the desire to get help for anxiety about vomiting. It is also a time when the body develops a lot at the same time that the transition from child to young person is often filled with many mixed feelings and thoughts.
No, actually it is more correct that they need help, but that it is far too embarrassing to talk to others about. Therefore, it is most often their parents who turn to me for help with their children.
Fear of vomiting can also occur in adulthood. Often together with other symptoms, and then we investigate in more detail how it can be, how it can be understood, so that the right help can be put in place. The anxiety can often be intensified by the fact that as parents you have to deal with your children’s (possible) symptoms of illnesses via nursery/kindergarten/school.
Many women are affected by emetophobia. In this connection, it can be a great burden to imagine becoming pregnant with morning sickness and small children full of bacteria and diseases.
Many emetophobics have had a bad or unexpected experience with vomiting. Perhaps they have vomited themselves or a family member has vomited. They may also have been surprised to see a person vomiting suddenly and uncontrollably. Many with emetophobia did not vomit very much as children, and therefore do not have much experience with vomiting. They haven’t gotten used to the fact that vomiting is a normal part of life.
A fundamental problem with emetophobics is the inability to distinguish between nausea and other common feelings in the stomach. Here is a list of sensations that people experience in the stomach/intestine area – everyone feels differently
• hunger
• small “blobs” or rumblings in the intestines
• a burp
• stomach acid or acid reflux
• the stomach is emptied
• internal farts that sometimes escape
• nausea
• oversatiation
The emetophobic is often unable to distinguish these sensations as distinct, and will therefore typically judge them all as nausea and a symptom that one is likely to vomit. It can be very difficult and limiting for everyday activities to become anxious from feeling completely ordinary sensations in the stomach-intestinal area.
Fear of vomiting can of course be triggered by many things, but often the symptom is also connected to the fact that you try to keep feelings inside or suppress feelings in some other way.
Get help for your fear of vomiting
It is possible to work with the fear of vomiting and understand why you have become so excessively afraid of vomiting. It is certainly possible to get rid of the fear of vomiting, and I will be happy to help you with that – just as I have helped so many others. We start right where you want. I’m happy to help no matter how old you are.
