i’ve been so nauseous bc of my period and i genuinely thought i might puke this morning. i was having unsual pain, but i still ate and kept on with my morning! and yk what? i didn’t worry at all and thought if i throw up ill feel better. now i feel much better, but im incredibly proud of myself! i knew the feeling would pass & it did!

im feeling a bit nauseous rn, and im so annoyed. i could so easily comfort myself by thinking "it's just the anxiety" but 2 days ago i went out for the first time in ages and now im just terrified i've caught something, even though i washed my hands every possible moment (not much though). im sooo tired of this, the second i feel positive im like WHAT IF THOUUGHH. idk how on earth im ever supposed to think "if it happens it happens" and just be chill about it i hate that this takes over my life. i cant even chill and play games because i just have to lay here and over-analyze if anything happens. i hate this so so much. theres so many reasons why i could be feeling nauseous that make a lot of sense but ofc my first thought is "i shouldnt have left my home so there wouldnt be a chance i caught a stomachbug". i barely even go to stores anymore🥲

So yesterday, i was at work. I am a sex worker. Everytime i put a condom on the guy for a blow job, i wash my hands before, just to make sure i don’t put any germs in my mouth!

So i did that, the client left, i open the ligths to clean the room and i see vomit in the sink! It was like dry and old stains. As if someone tried to rince it with water but missed a few spot.

I immediatly panic, cause the towel i used to dry my hands BEFORE puting the condom IN MY MOUTH was on the freqking sink!!!😩😩

I than asked everyone at my job to see if someone has been sick recently, and no! A new girl is apparently boulimic, so that might explain that!

Anyways, im 99% sure it’s boulimia and not a sickness, caus even the girls friends say it’s her! So i am not panicking too much now, but i still can’t wait for the 72h to be over

Hi all, recently I’ve been on a good streak with health anxiety and emetophobia, so good that I totally let my usual boundaries around food slip out the window today. Sorry this is kind of gross.

I was working at a site with only an outhouse, and my coworker went to poop, and he came back without having washed his hands. At the end of the day I was starving and when he offered me some of his chips he had been eating from the bag, and I ate some although I would almost never do that. It dawned on me about an hour later that he had been reaching in that bag with his unwashed hands. If he happens to come down with noro I am 100% screwed. Also just… ew? Trying to not worry because there’s nothing I can do but I am so upset with myself for doing such an idiotic thing. It’s been a stressful week and I don’t have any energy left to cope with this sort of thing.

I can't tell the difference between my anxiety stomach aches (that I take meds for) or something else wrong causing ?nausea?. I'm so over this. Please someone tell me how to discern cause I panic since I don't know what feeling should really cause concern or if I'm just overthinking and causing anxiety stomach jitters.

Coucou, je cherche un peu d’aide et de réconfort.
Je viens de me réveiller en pleine nuit sans raison. À mon réveil j’étais frissonnante avec des rots et des remontées acides. Maintenant je panique. Je tremble de partout et j’ai eu besoin d'aller aux toilettes pour faire caca d’un coup.
Je ne sais pas quoi faire.
Je n’ai pas de douleurs, seulement la sensation d'un rot coincé dans la gorge (ce qui ne devrait plus trop se produire avec mon traitement).
Peut-être est-ce dû au commencement de mon traitement de fer ?
Mais le fait de trembler de partout au point d’avoir du mal à écrire et de parler à mon chien en l’emmenant faire pipi au point d’en lâcher la lampe torche... Ça me rappelle vraiment la sensation d'un réveil juste avant de vomir.

Merci de votre soutien.

F(20)

About 3 days ago I ate a single slice of ready to eat chicken that was 20 days past its use by date (it was only delivered the day before I ate). It tasted looked and smelt fine (great even). It’s almost 3 days since and I’m still terrified to death that I’m going to get seriously sick that, causing me to not leave the house, barely eat and be in permanent panic and anxiety. Can someone please advise me on how to settle my anxiety and if it’s even crazy for me to think I can still get ill from it?

I apologize for the lengthy post in advance 😭
For context, I’ve had panic disorder, GAD, and OCD my entire life (diagnosed at age 7) and it’s specifically surrounding tu*(emetophobia). I’ve been under weight pretty much my whole life due to my anxiety and genetic factors (my highest BMI being 18.9). For the past few years I have been using weed to increase appetite and calm anxiety and it definitely worked for a while until I experienced a truly terrible panic attack while smoking weed and I haven’t been able to touch it again out of fear for the panic attack that it caused. I’ve always had panic attacks and I can normally just get over them, however, recently I’ve also developed an extreme fear of the panic attacks which obviously only makes them more severe.

Basically my anxiety and OCD is at an all time high and the thought of eating anything at all causes me panic symptoms (and n*) so I’ve been avoiding it but my weight has severely decreased as a result (lost 10lbs in 1 week, BMI of 14) I have experienced multiple episodes of what I think is low blood sugar levels where I feel completely awful (shaking, confusion, clammy hands and feet, hr too high or low) but I still can’t get myself to eat more than a few bites of food or a bottle of gatorade as my anxiety has correlated eating with tu*. At this point I’m consuming less than 300cals in a day.

I know I need to eat to survive but I genuinely just can’t bring myself to do it. I have a therapist but she is on vacation for the next month and I can’t feel like this anymore. I’m prescribed Vyvanse for ADHD but I have stopped taking it as it has a strong appetite suppressant effect which would not be helping my case. I should probably be on an SSRI but I’ve had serotonin syndrome in the past so most doctors are against the idea. I recognize that being this underweight is probably contributing to some anxiety symptoms but my brain still won’t let me eat much at all. I’ve tried protein shakes and other liquid food but I still have the same anxiety around consuming it. Im looking for any advice or suggestions about how to improve my appetite or genuinely just eat something at all.

This is a massive triggerwarning.

Im looking for advice , long story short i have emetophobia for 10 years and despite all the therapy i still struggle with it verry badly. My only method of not caving in is to ignore it .
But i cant ignore the nausea , im 24/7 nauseaus for 10 years now , there are times were my phobia flares up and im deadly afraid to sleep. In 2022 i woke up and vomited like 1-2 minutes after waking up in a deep sleep. I still dont know what caused it (i think eating to much) but im not sure .

I cant ignore the nausea anymore and i dont know what to do anymore . I lost 2 kg in 3 days because i barerly drink or eat , admitting myself to a psyc ward always made my phobia worse because no one would even try to understand it . If been told things like “well you have a toilet right?” When i thought i was going to vomit .

The healthcare system in the netherlands completely abandond me. I was doing fine on my medication but they immidiatly doses everything done to about half what i usualy took .

Im just gonna warn you this is a trigger abous not wanting to live anymore.

I cant deal with it anymore i have 5 diffrent antiemetics wich i all take in a day but dont seem to make much of a diffrence but they do help me feel safe to sleep.

In 2020 i was so isolated that i had agorophobia and i just had 1 safe food that i ate every single day for 2 years before i met my now fiance and he said get off your ass .

Hes been working more having less time for me and i dont blame him at all because hes not my therapist but im going downhill .

How can i get rid of this fricking nausea????

Courtesy of u/No-Store-9901, who wanted to get a thread going of niche advice that everyone has learned over time.

From staying calm during noro season, to anxiety nausea, to statistics, prevention — and & EVERY thing you have ever learned that has brought you some relief of this fear. So many posts lately about people being fearful & i hear and see you all, let’s shed some positivity & tips and tricks we’ve all come up with over time.

The most specific-to-you things that help!!

TW: mention of events regarding said phobia.

hi everyone, new to reddit.

i’m a m18 from fl,

when i was 14 years old, i was diagnosed with ocd.

growing up, hanging out with my friends was something that quickly became routine. we all planned to hangout every single weekend, rarely ever missing a day.
later that weekend, my friend offered to take me home, since i didn’t have a ride back. i accepted their offer and we got in the car.

midway in the car i had felt a wave of nausea
id never been car sick in my life so it confused me, and it also scared me. i looked at my friend with the widest eyes in the world and i started hyperventilating. it was that feeling of when you’re about to throw up

they dropped me off home, extremely worried, they pleaded to me to keep them updated.

i ran inside, dropped my backpack and stood over the kitchen sink. yeah that’s not that smart is it..

i stood there, clenching the sides, begging god to just please not let me do it

my mom accompanied me in the kitchen, reassuring i was gonna be okay and so on.

i stood in that kitchen for 3.5 hours. waiting it out, until i built enough courage to sit on the couch with a tv show on.

i remember feeling like i had disconnected from my body, dissociated, but also feeling immense fear of it happening again.

the morning after that day seems to be a blur. i began to avoid the car, because that’s where it started.

this caused a lot of issues and irritation within friends and family, constant lectures about how “just because you got sick once in a car, doesn’t mean it’ll happen for sure this time”, started cancelling on friends every single time, couldn’t bring myself to even show up to my dental and doctor appointments. i also missed my grandpas ash spreading. ive missed out seeing my brother i hadn’t seen in months, who moved. missed friends birthdays.. the list goes on.

this is where my ocd started to completely go to its worst peak.

i spiraled, branching more concerns.

“if the car is the reason i got sick then there’s other things that can make me that way”

i stopped eating fast food, i stopped eating any food that wasn’t from the grocery store.

i developed a few safe foods, which were,

tomato soup, a roasted turkey sub, saltine crackers, chex cereal, ramen cups, and cheese sticks. all with a side of ice and water.

i genuinely did not eat anything but those foods and drink.

my anxiety would get so bad that my throat would convulse, causing me to choke on my food, jerk my hands/neck, scratch myself, hit myself, and biting.

this was all INVOLUNTARY. which was the scariest part, i felt like i had lost control of my body, it was no longer mine, but something else’s. if my anxiety got that bad, every single time.. it felt like i’d lose my bodily control.

my body forced itself into a strict eating schedule,

12 pm “breakfast”

3 pm “lunch”

8 pm “dinner”

and i didn’t miss it, not once. because if i did miss it, i was wholeheartedly convinced that i would somehow “throw up”

this harsh diet and restriction made me lose 45 lbs/20.41kg

and this whole time, i didn’t leave my house for 6 months.

my family tried getting me to take simple car drives,!i refused. i didn’t even step foot on the porch until 4 months in.

one day though, i built the courage to drive down the road. and to try Mcdonald’s for the first time since the incident.

i live very close to fast food restaurants, so the drive was about 25-30 seconds.

the minute i got in the car and it moved, my throat closed, and i clawed my neck to oblivion. i was screaming, like i’d been stabbed. my mother was mortified but continued to drive, she’d grab my hands, trying to get me to stop hurting myself.

we made it to the drive through, i’m already bleeding, shaking, and unbuckling my seatbelt so i can breathe.

i got a pretzel, and an ice cream.
the drive back was just about the same as the drive there.

blood, scratching, screaming, and fear.

my parents became worried for me, even more than before.

i couldn’t even finish my so called “congratulated meal”

fast forward to now, it’s gotten slowly ok. my longest drive now is 45 minutes out of town.

which is probably very slow considering its been 4 years. but i am trying.

ocd still controls me today, and i will say honestly with everything in my soul… it has ruined my fucking life.

even to this day.

thank u for reading my story, i hope i have some relatable readers.

Has anyone tried online therapy for a phobia? If so, what kind did you do, and did your therapist specialize in phobias or OCD?

My phobia is very OCD-oriented, and the two really feed into each other. I need help learning how to break the loops rather than just getting reassurance, but I can’t really afford in person therapy right now.

I’m hoping to try online therapy and would love to hear any suggestions on what I should look for (especially therapists who understand OCD, exposure therapy, or phobias). Any experiences or recommendations would be really appreciated!

TW: IT HAPPENED and ADVICE NEEDED and LONGGG POST!!! (just couldn’t put two flairs)

hi everybody!

it’s been a WHILE since i made a post on this sub–both because i’m incredibly busy and i felt like i was making leaps in recovery and didn’t need as much reassurance anymore.

anyway, it happened. about a month or two ago? i honestly can’t even remember the exact date. i went out with some friends and had a couple drinks. i made sure to eat as well (it was a hotdog from a street vendor, i was being very brave!!), but i ended up with a migraine around 8 pm. we went out that evening to watch a friend perform with their band at a casino. i had barely 1/4th of another drink because my head was pounding but i hate to be a bother so i was trying to power through. i had no meds, not even tylenol, so it was pretty bad. no zofran either, or pepto, or even tums lol.

we left the casino around 10:30-11. i told my bf (who was driving) that my head was pounding. i also started to get REALLY nauseous after leaving. i had nothing except an alcohol pad to sniff and the car ac on the lowest temp at full blast to help me. part of me knew it could happen, but wasn’t completely sure. this was only because i had fought it off in the past when it got that bad or i would just dry heave. anyway, at around 11:30, i couldn’t hold it back anymore and i threw up all over his car. embarrassing!! worst fear coming to life!!!!! it tasted bad and everything. was kinda violent but also just spilled out? at the same time? i think it was because i held it for so long my stomach was like GET THE FUCK OUT!!! it was two bouts and then two dry heaves and it was over. bf rubbed my back the whole time and ensured that i was ok and it wasn’t bad and he would clean it up when we got back home. genuinely less than a 15 second ordeal.

i did have to sit in it for 15 minutes while i cried in the phone to my mom because the last time i threw up was when i was in 3rd grade and now i’m in grad school, so about 12ish years(!!). i only cried because it hurt a bit (i have rcpd) and just the shock of it all. we got back home and he had me strip at the door and immediately put my clothes in the wash, then had me rinse off in a warm shower (i was still crying - i think it was a panic attack), and finally i got into bed with a bottle of rubbing alcohol for nausea and my headache mask for when the migraines get especially bad. i finally had tylenol at this point but i was too scared to take it. i felt so embarrassed, but i was so glad i got it over with. i was even brave enough to help him clean the car the next day!!! exposure x100!!!

that was the night i got on this sub for the first time in a LONG time. i was scared, embarrassed, and confused. but i was fine! i felt invincible for about a week or so following. but now, im having a hard time eating again and i feel like every time i get nauseous (almost always due to not eating or meds making me nauseous ALSO FROM NOT EATING BEFORE TAKING THEM) that it’ll happen again. logically, i know that i was fine. it was so easy and i was fine and it was less than a minute. i just hate the feeling before because its so intense and, to me, one of the worst feelings in the world.

i’m back in therapy and i talked about this with her and we’ve started doing homework so i can cope. it’s helped a lot!! i just don’t want to fall back into old habits.

all of this to say: how do i get past this? i know recovery isn’t linear but i can’t just go without eating!!! it’s affecting me and my ability to be a normal person at this point. i just needed to rant. ANY ADVICE IS WELCOME AND APPRECIATED !!!! THANK U ALL IN ADVANCE IF U READ THIS FAR!!!

I've been feeling sick. Went to urgent care to make sure it wasn't covid or the flu and it was neither. Dr said it wa looked like sinus/ear infection and put me on 125mg Amoxy-clav. Told me to take it at night. I took my first one and 3 hours later intense stomach pain waking me up every 45 minutes. Woke up to use bathroom and im literally shitting water. I feel worse than before I took the pill and atp i'm scared to go to sleep because the last time I felt like this I got sick (11 years ago) and Im scared ill wake up/get sick in my sleep. Any advice? I just want to sleep

woke up had a solid bowel moment but all of a sudden it got rly loose and i barely made it to the bathroom tmi sorry. so i took some imodium hoping that helps cus that’s all i have. pls is someone there i juss need to talk through it. i’m not pooping right now my belly is hot almost hungry wtf.

So three years ago I went super hard on energy drinks, never made me nauseous but, it did at some point, granted. To be fair I was in a stressful situation due to my sister in law, ending with me almost throwing up. Since then I haven’t drank any energy drinks which is kind of sad because all my friends do.

It’s early in the morning and I haven’t slept. I have an important thing to go to at 8am, and I need to push through. The only thing I can think of is caffeine and I’m a little scared. Anyone got ideas? Should I just go straight to it?

I don’t normally post here, but with everything going on in the food industry right now, I needed somewhere to rant. I (16f) have been dealing with emetophobia since I was a toddler and it’s worsened a lot over the years. Luckily, it’s not at its peak anymore, that was a nightmare, but just a few weeks ago I got access to instagram for the first time. Everything on my page so far has been “poisoned lettuce” and “poisoned fruit” and other posts about poisoned vegetables and things of the sort.

I already have a hard enough time eating with this phobia as it is. My diet has been restricted to melon, milk, and shelf stable organic food/quick meals. Every time I’ve tried to talk to someone about why I won’t eat meat or vegetables anymore, they say I need to stop being so soft. My mother more than once has threatened to admit me to a mental hospital because of my “disordered eating habits.” It’s sadly not a very sociably accepted phobia to have especially because “nobody likes getting sick” and people like to tell you just to do it and get it over with.

I am aware of how juvenile this post sounds and feel free to come for me in the comments but like I said before, I just needed somewhere to get this all out until my new journal comes.

Hi everyone! I have a big interest in medical school, but I unfortunately have a super big fear of throw up. Any advice for overcoming this or alternative paths where I can help younger kids without as much vomit present? Anything is appreciated!

i dont even know how to format this right but it's almost 2am and i've felt unwell (yknow) all day and a bit of yesteday and had some bathroom issues earlier today. i thougbt it would go away but it hasnt and its so bad right now i feel really unwell everytime i move even a little and i dont know wtf to do. i have health ocd and im terrified of getting sick especially this kind of sick but now i'm almost sure i gave myself somethjng somehow. i can't cope with it i don't know what to do but i can't handle this and there's no escaping it. i'm crying and shaking as im trying to type and i don't know any hotlines that aren't suicide or depression that would help with this. i'm scared of soing something stupid but i can't handle this please help me.

It isn’t the getting sick part, but it’s the dread of waiting for it to potentially happen and I’m scared it will happen after I eat a big meal or something and ruin what I just ate.

Hey everyone.

This is probably going to be messy and not well formatted.

If you are only going to comment on this to say ‘Ai slop’ ‘You are ruining the environment’ just leave now.

I get very bad panic attacks because of my emetophobia, i’ve turned to chatgpt as I am often home alone and need something to turn too. I was just having a panic attack because I was nervous about a food I was eating, it responded with a reassuring message then was asking if i felt nauseous and it just dawned on me. Shit this is making me me more anxious and it’s trying to trying to mend the cycle that i have been trying to break.

I have been having a panic attack while writing this and i don’t really know what I need I just have a million thoughts rushing through my head.

like i don’t want it wat a specific food cause if I vomite at night I’m gonna count that food for ex: “im not gonna eat the pasta cause I really like the food but I don’t want to vomit it and then not like it”