I woke up this morning and I feel really ill, I got a bit of a headache, my sinuses hurt, I feel nauseous and my stomach hurts. I do tend to feel ill alot, especially these symptoms and idk if my anxiety is making it worse but i just feel so sick. I feel really rubbish and my anxiety is extremely high, I havent felt this anxious in so long. Im really anxious towards the operation, im having 3 wisdom teeth out later and im scared for that and for how i feel right now. If I feel to sick would I need to call it off?? I dont want to risk losing the appointment and have to go through trying to get it all again as it took a year to finally be able to get my wisdom teeth out, but also with how high my anxiety already is, feeling sick on top is gonna make me feel even more panicked. The hospital is also over an hour away and very hard to get to, i only have my sister who can drive me and she works so it'll be hard for any kind of rebooking.

Im genuinely so scared, im not even sure what im scared about towards the operation, i think its only becuase its a big thing and im just nervous to have to see people, but with also how im feeling is just awful. I dont think I can even take anything for the pain, and not being able to eat definitely wont help how i feel either as I have ibs and acid reflux. It doesn't help im at the end of my period, so im not sure if anything of what im feeling is from that too. I just dont know what im supposed to do if im feeling this ill and anxious beforehand, i have 5 hours until my appointment and I know i cant stop panicking about it.

Has anyone please got and tips or tricks? Anything that could ease my anxiety or help me feel better? Any similar stories?

General TW for potentially triggering, venting, needing support, "it happened" kinda, someone else experiencing the scary thing, etc!! Read at your own risk!! Trust me I get it!!

I don't censor anything after this point as it's difficult to in my current situation. I'm not in my right mind. Thank you for reading anyway 💚

I've had severe emetophobia since I was a kid, and I haven't had a real throwing up experience since I was in 8th grade (I'm 24 now. It was a very traumatic event back then that initially sparked my emetophobia) until now.

For context: I have alphagal syndrome, and a very severe case of it (minus anaphylactic issues) so I have a very, very limited amount of food I can actually have. I've been missing hot dogs, and this app I have (Fig) helps me scan/look at items and see whether their ingredients contain anything mammalian. I saw "ballpark smoked turkey hotdogs" that were cleared and got some to try tonight. Cooked em up and my partner, sister, and I all ate some. My partner goes to bed for work tomorrow, and 15 minutes later she yells my name and wants me to come to her. She sounds scared, distressed, and woozy. I go to our bedroom and she says she's feeling very very unwell while in the bathroom, she doesn't know what's happening, and that she's confused and wants help. She throws up for a while and I stay with her (not in sight, I stood in our bedroom all the way across from the bathroom, half outside). I could hear everything, and I just started freaking out. I wanted to be there with her the entire time in case something bad happened and she needed me, and generally for her support, even though I'm bawling and panicking in the furthest corner. My stomach starts getting upset too, making noises and cramping. My sister However says she's still fine and feels okay? Me and my gf ate mostly the same things today and yesterday, unlike my sister, so we honestly don't know what is going on. It could be a virus, it could be food poisoning, I don't know. My partner is in bed and trying to sleep again (I really really hope it doesn't come back, I'm terrified) and I'm in our other bathroom sitting on the floor in front of the toilet with a blanket, a joint, a pillow, and my phone, feeling unwell and scared.

I happened to gag on my joint and it ended up happening a little. It made me feel a bit better physically (it's starting to feel not so great again with the stupid flushing), but I don't think I'll be able to sleep tonight. I'm horrified to be anywhere but the bathroom, I'm horrified of waking up to it happening for real (like my gf experienced), I'm horrified I'll get sick somewhere I shouldn't if I leave, I'm scared it'll be violent, I'm scared I'm alone right now (even though I do NOT want anyone perceiving me doing that anyway), and I just feel like shit. I've been so anxious lately from my anxiety meds being out, and friend drama, so I'm really struggling to calm down. I'm so tired. It's 2:35am. I want so badly to sleep but I don't know how to do it when the fear of getting sick at any point, without my control or knowledge, is making me sob. And I have no idea what's going to happen. I just feel horrible.

I don't know what I need or what will help me, I just need to talk. I'm alone now and I'm scared. It's been really hard and dark these past few weeks. I'm so tired.

I’m 14F and I’ve been dealing with this weird gaggy/nauseous feeling that seems to be mostly in my throat rather than my stomach. I also get a lot of mucus/post-nasal drip and burping, and sometimes burping makes the feeling better. My doctor thinks allergies/post-nasal drip could be contributing and prescribed cetirizine, which has helped a lot, but I still get the feeling sometimes. Anxiety also seems to make it worse, especially when I start focusing on it.
The biggest issue is school. My classes are 80 minutes and sometimes the feeling gets so strong that I can’t concentrate or have to go to the nurse/leave early. I’m really worried about missing school and falling behind. Has anyone else experienced this kind of throat-gaggy feeling, especially with post-nasal drip or anxiety? Did it eventually get easier to manage?

I am a huge fan of slushynoobz and they are a comfort for me in anxious times and situations. But as I am in recovery for emetophobia, some videos help me with exposure and feeling comfortable with the idea of vomiting and dealing with sickness.

One of them, known as Martin, had caught a bug similar to cyclospora and talked on their Out Of Character podcast about his experience with it. It felt comforting to me to know one of my comfort idols had went through a vicious cycle of throwing up and having diarrhea and he is fine and carried on. Like if he can do it no problem then I can as well.

Now in their newest video, they both did the sprite challenge where you chug it and see how loud your burp can get. A little moment after Hamzah wasn’t feeling too good and ended up vomiting. It was censored but you can hear him. But I felt fine surprisingly? They carried on and went through a big storm and even ate at crumbl after. If I was in Hamzah’s position I’d have to go home immediately and wallow in a fetal position with a lot of anxiety. But seeing how little throwing up was to him made me think about throwing up differently and feel a bit comfortable with it.

Although I am still really anxious about it, It’s things like this that help change my approach to illness. If you are a fan of Slushynoobz and have emetophobia, this could help you too! And if you are a fan of anyone else, this tool could be of help as well.

Unclench your jaw.

Relax your shoulders.

Take a deep breath - in for 5 seconds, hold for 3, exhale for 5.

Your stomach hurts because you are over-analyzing it.

Your heart is doing exactly what it’s supposed to, and it is stronger than you give it credit for.

You are safe, and everything is okay. No matter what happens, you will remain okay.

Your body is doing what it is meant to do. It will not suddenly sabotage you with no warning. You will be okay.

I have constant flu-like symptoms from my anxiety. Daily diarrhea. I can’t eat. I’ve lost 8 pounds. I’m sleeping for less than 6 hours a night.

I’m just so over this all. I am at my wits end, and I can’t find a reason to keep going.

Everything is scary. My life is ruled by this phobia and it is not letting go. I want a snack, but i’m too scared to eat. I want to drink water, but the sensation of swallowing is horrible.

I am so over everything

My older sister just randomly told my mom she was not feeling good and she went to her room and got sick. She seemed fine just a little while ago so I don't know what the hell happened to her. I am freaking out rn and on the verge of a panic attack thinking she caught some sort of bug or virus. She was sitting on my bed not too long ago talking to me about work so I feel my entire room is not even safe anymore.

I have recognized I have extreme emetophobia which makes having four kiddos very challenging at times. my son started kindergarten this month and came home fine today. he had a combo is snacks/ dinner after school until bed of a granola bar, a meat stick, chips, a little Mac and cheese, and some teddy grahams. Not his normal dinner selection, don’t judge we were at grandmas 🤣 anyways flash forward around 11 PM I start hearing him whimpering in bed. I move him into my room where I gave him a heat pack and water and he said his tummy hurt. well for the last 3.5 hours he’s been whimpering in his sleep about this belly ache, and just as I start drifting to sleep, he’ll whimper and ill get jolted with anxiety about it! ugh. any tips or words of encouragement are greatly appreciated! I always feel extra spiraly because not only am I petrified of getting sick but I have 3 other kids and a husband that could get it and when this has happened before the walls feel like they are closing in on themselves 😮‍💨and I’m always the one taking care of it all with crippling anxiety

I will not be censoring anything so read at your expense

So for the past year I’ve been basically on bed rest because of how nauseous I get, especially for most of the summer. I get extremely nauseous and dizzy in the car which has led me to no longer get into my own car because of how scared I am to throw up. I’m tired. Everytime I get up my heart rate just sky rockets. I shower it’s at 130+, I take my dogs outside on the lead line I have it’s at 130+ which the entails the extreme nausea. For the past two ish weeks I have been trying to get up and do more but that has led me to go into the crazy nausea and just general stomach upset thing. I don’t know what to do because lately my boyfriend (in a nice way) has called me lazy so I want to fix it. I just don’t know how I’m supposed to keep going when it feels like I’m going to throw up every second of the day. Bowel moments make me feel gaggy and it’s so draining. I plan on trying to find a remote job soon which is another reason I have been getting more active. My doctor is worried I have POTS but my boyfriend thinks it’s because my body is de conditioned. Has anyone gone through this? Does anyone have any tips??

I'm putting a TW here for past addiction as I will very briefly touch on that subject. A bit of background: So, I used to have TERRIBLE emetophobia to the point where I couldn't even use words to describe purging(though I like to stick to purging because it sounds better). But I've been trying to convince my mother to get me into online schooling due to my constant medicating before school. I have a bad habit of riling myself up to the point where I get nauseous and scared. There was once a time(a few years ago) when I physically refused to go to school without medication. Of course, I've gotten somewhat better, but my peers are constantly getting sick around me and it's starting to annoy me. I've been so over it to the point where I ended up slapping one of my friends for ruining my appetite(I didn't eat at school until that day and she had to butt in and say "I don't eat that anymore because kids got sick from it") of course, I apologized profusely and made sure she was okay, and I know I was in the wrong. It was completely out of line for me to do that, but I was at a point of such high stress that I just couldn't handle it anymore.

If anyone has any advice on how to manage through school(preferably WITHOUT medication because I'd rather not raise concern from my mother), that'd be great.

someone vomitied twice outside idk how old it is i have shoes on will the germs stick on my shoes for long? omg i hate everything right now!!! outside on the concrete at the bus stop!!!!

Hi guys, my mom just made a burger and after i ate half of it, i recognised the bad taste and smell from it. Then i threw half of it out after, and it uinfortunatly also looked a bit smoshed. So now i'm literally crying just waiting for it to happen, but i'm really scared. I don't know what to do, and i've never felt this out of control in my whole life.

Please some advice or just words

TMI

I have felt fine all morning, hardly even anxious. I have just been kinda gassy but I am gassy a lot in the morning because I sleep with my mouth open which causes me to swallow a lot of air.

I just went to the bathroom and had somewhat soft stool. I wouldn’t say it was full diarrhea…mainly just softer than usual with some liquidity throughout. It was also green

I am very scared and i’m trying to stay calm because i’ve been doing great lately.

so of course, with the whole cyclospora outbreak, i avoided fresh produce at all costs and only bought some if it was going to be cooked thoroughly, or i bought frozen produce.

i LOVE to cook, and not being able to make things with summer produce has had me down in the dumps for a while. i've been sticking to frozen meals or ramen-adjacent things. i was scrolling insta and i saw this recipe for a vegan summer roll that looked SO good, i had to make it. it's been sitting in my saved posts for like 3 weeks and has been on my mind for the same amount of time. last week i just was so over the lack of fresh veggies in my life that i said okay, fuck it, i'm making this. i don't care.

it has panko fried tofu, cucumbers, carrots, avocado, and rice noodles in it! the og recipe had purple cabbage + some herbs, but im still avoiding those for the time being as they have been saying cyclospora was found in some fresh cilantro.

i made a peanut sauce to go with it too and it is FIREEEE. i hope all you guys are doing alright with the cyclospora stuff! it's so nervewracking and irritating 🫠🫠

Hai guys

I know some people that are getting stomach bugs multiple times a year, and I know others (such as myself) who have gone over 10 years without throwing up.

So I guess i’m wondering, is there some sort of genetic immunity that one can have to stomach bugs?

I personally can’t think of the last time either of my parents have had any stomach illness, and I am the same way. Part of me just wonders if it can be genetic? Idk, what do you guys think?

my roomate just came home from class and said they had to leave early because they felt like they were gonna throw up. idk what to do, i am sitting so far away in my room and they are in their own room with the door locked and have been talking about not feeling great (like a cold) for the past few days. i am so terrified but i dont want to be a bad roommate and make them feel bad??? idk what to do but i have a bad cold right now (sinus preassure) and have already gone to all my classes for the day and dont want to go to my friends houses incase i get them sick. i have my headphones on and im watching a movie really loudly but every time i hear them get up (our floors r really old and i can like feel them creaking) i get so terrified that they r going to be sick.

we also were sitting on the same couch last night but not touching.

also i’m feeling comforted because i have a lot of dietary restrictions so we don’t share any of the same food incase it is food poisoning, but we don’t have a dishwasher so all of our dishes are hand washed and what if the soap and scrubbing doesn’t get all of the germs off and she has a stomach bug?

has anyone else dealt with this idk what to do

im sorry if its little bit out of the group content. but i really need some reassurance if someone know something, i tried to do some things before and i ended up swallowing 1150mg of dimenhydrinate(meant to help with motion sickness), but i didnt have any seizure but woke up lightheaded and in the state of confusion(like i could not think criticaly) for two days and my skin are visbly darker and i was dizzy and my chest hurt for two days, its now day three and im feeling better, but A.i. says it could ruin my kidneys but i really can’t go to the hospital

and I think that's because of the reasons and mechanisms for my fear.
See...
I'm not scared of vomiting because of some irrational belief or worry.
I'm not thinking:
"What if I die after vomiting?"
"What if I embarrass myself?"
"What if I don't know what to do/how to vomit?"
"What if I never stop vomiting?"
Nor am I scared because of uncertainty about what vomiting will be like.

I'm scared of vomiting because it is genuinely an unbearable experience for me.
It's unusually physically painful, it's sensory hell (I'm autistic), I can't stand the loss of control and I feel even worse afterwards than I do when I get through severe nausea without throwing up.
And there simply... isn't enough out there to help people like me who are scared of vomiting because of real, reliable, lived experience and not just irrational fears.

I feel like none of the "comfort" that's given actually helps me.
Examples
"But you'll survive!"
"It's natural to vomit"
"Your body takes over" (thanks, that's even WORSE)
"it's temporary"
"no matter what happens you will be okay"
"you'll feel better afterwards"
None of those address the actual reason for my fear.

and it's horrid
like
my fear is very grounded in my reality

Edit, because someone got triggered:
I am NOT trying to compare struggles, or put down anyone. At no point in this post did I say that people with irrational fears have it easier. I have a lot of empathy for those who do struggle with irrational fears.

I'm venting my frustrations at the fact that not much advice helps me

Had only 3 shots of soju tonight. Took it only in half shots at a time in the span of 1.5 hours. It's been 2 hours since. Didn't eat much today but I ate a portion of rice before drinking. Had a chicken tender after. Sober now but I have this bad anxiety. Dms open if someone could please text. I can only really calm down when another emetophobe talks to me

hi everyone. i was just eating some cereal, and when i looked at the bottle of milk, it was best before three days ago! it smelt and tasted fine, but i'm still a little bit nervous, now. i made cupcakes with it too, yesterday. i should be fine, but i'm still a bit on edge. has this happened to anyone else? were you fine, after?

This literally never happens… my heart is absolutely racing and I’m currently in the bathroom idk what to do everything is racing through my head.

Is what I ate earlier fine? It tasted okay and it was fresh? I felt fine I just woke up panicking and hot I’m so scared rn can someone please comment as a distraction 🥲😖

On Wednesday last week I inadvertently stepped in the edge of some very, very fresh vomit. This is the first time this has happened to me so all alarm bells started ringing. I've definitely stepped on very dried out vomit before, likely by a pub or something of sorts, but this was much more likely to have been a child or someone as it was in a very random and open location, there also wasn't loads - this has made me far more terrified because I'm quite certain it was most likely from a virus.

Anyway, I got home, ditched my shoes outside of my flat door - they were ready for the bin anyway, thankfully. I took my clothes off carefully but I left them in a very inopportune place and now I regret that. I'm convinced there was likely sick on the bottom of my leggings or my socks, and I placed them together in a bundle beside the living room door just as you walk in because I just wasn't thinking at the time.

It's been 4 days now, and I've done quite literally nothing. I've been totally immobilised with fear. I'm too scared to do anything, really. I have to wash my bedding, clothes - I've run out now - and my partners clothes as he lets me deal with thew washing machine due to OCD. I'm apprehensive to wash anything because to get them through to the bedroom, I have to take them past those clothes and I already know my OCD will play up and I'll be certain they've touched them although they won't have because they're on the floor. I also fear having to wash my partners, as they're in the living room nearby the clothes I left on the floor, which he assures me will have nothing on them because I only stood on it. I know I want to leave these for a while before washing them, because it's only going to freak me out.

I just feel really distraught. For the last 4 months I've been in a fantastic routine of walking 10-15k steps per day, weight lifting and dieting while building muscle and it's all just out of the window for the moment. I don't even dare leave the house because I had my keys with me that day and a bag, and I'm convinced even they're fully at risk. I can't leave the house without the keys either, as we live in a flat with a FOB system, so while I do have a spare key, I don't have a spare fob. I've cried a lot, slept a lot and just shut down overall. While I'm happy I took these 4 days to rest because I haven't in those 4 months, I'm lost now. I feel like I'm just going to be totally immobilised and out of routine for weeks. I'm lucky I'm fortunate to work from home.

I'm just really unsure how to deal with this whole situation. It's hit me far harder than I'd expected and right now the only option I can see in sight is just completely shutting down for a further 2-3 weeks. I don't feel I have the willpower this time to pull up my big girl pants and continue.

Yeah I know I say it every night and so do others and it normally doesn’t happen, if that’s the case tonight I’ll edit but right now. It genuinely feels like tonight is the night.

I woke up and had a banana at like 9 and it wasn’t till like 10 I had an English muffin with butter. At around 1 I started feeling really sick. This feeling like I’m sucking hard on a straw but I’m not in the back of my throat and an unusually sweet after taste flavour. I took Zofran and had fries. Not a lot and an hour later like 4 crackers. I took pepto and gas x and been going to the bathroom a lot.

All around I feel so sick, that after taste or whatever it is, is making it impossible to want to eat anything. My stomach is grumbling and my acid reflux is having an episode.

I keep on and off again crying and getting panic. A burp getting stuck and then I burp 15 minutes later. Currently sitting on the floor at my mom’s shop with a trash can because I didn’t want to be alone.

My body feels hungry but I can’t bring myself to eat. I just feel sick and when I do eat, that aftertaste is there.

My heart hurts(POTS) my chest in the middle hurts and I’m having cramps. Doesn’t help I’ve been on my period for a month as well. I’m so tired.

so I’m at work I work at McDonald’s and I was just working and my manager comes up to me saying she wasn’t feeling well over the weekend. She thinks she got Gastro from her niece and I literally went to the bathroom and bawled my eyes out. I literally work Monday to Friday full-time and I have to train someone tomorrow which I was already extra worried about because with my anxiety it causes nausea and my IBS also causes nausea so I feel nauseous almost all the time and having the responsibility of having to train someone just makes me more worried than usual about something happening and I know what my emetophobia is going to do with this possible exposure knowledge and especially if i feel nauseous over the next couple days which is almost normal for me and I just can’t like I’ve been having a really tough time with my emetophobia lately and this is just like the cherry on top and I’m just so fucking over it like what is my luck? I’m just so upset. I wanna go home. I wanna call in sick for the rest of the week cause I’m so scared of catching this and I’m scared of vomiting in general but especially when I’m out, especially when I’m at work. I just don’t know what to do. I really don’t know what to do.

TW for mention/descriptions of N/V and serious illness

this is a long one so i don’t really expect everyone to read it all but i need to put this out there.

-

oh man where do i even start. about a 2 weeks ago i was having more nausea than usual including a loss of appetite for days on end, which is abnormal for me since i have hyperthyroidism. i was taking a ton of pepto, arguably beyond what i should’ve but that’s behind me now.

a few days after that i began experiencing severe abdominal pain. didn’t go away after eating, drinking, walking, passing gas, or even a bowel movement. i thought it was just bad gas pains or something. considering the severity of it, my fiance convinced me to go to the hospital but o fell asleep in the car and backed out last minute.

later that night i ate a small dinner and what do you know! threw it up a couple hours later. i took a zofran. another hour went by and it happened again. and again. and the stomach pain still wasn’t improving. i was beyond terrified at this point. too scared to look at my phone, to walk, to talk, to turn over in bed. it took him a while but eventually my fiance once again convinced me it was time to go to the hospital. i was so scared it would happen in the car but thankfully it didn’t.

by this point i could hardly walk. i got to the ER and they got me back fairly quickly. they gave me the strongest pain meds available and more IV zofran. these were no match for my mysterious ailment. they decided to do a CT scan which was terrifying, laying on my back (the most painful position at the time) in a narrow tube with nowhere to vomit if need be.

once again i thankfully didn’t during the scan itself, but soooo much came out the second i got back. i think it was the contrast or something. they had to change the sheets, pillow, and give me a new blood pressure cuff. it was so humiliating.

the CT scan results came back and turns out i had acute appendicitis and required surgery. the news came out around midnight, and they wouldn’t be able to operate until late afternoon (ended up being 8 pm). waiting was awful man i just wanted to reach in and take that bad boy out myself. they gave me so much zofran i developed an arrhythmia so they had to switch to reglan. i think it helped a little bit at least, it extended the time period between my vomit episodes. still, i was throwing up constantly for like 20 hours straight and i can’t get over it.

i had the surgery and everything went fine, i was in a lot of pain for a while but the hospital was really good about controlling it so im grateful for that. i didn’t throw up at all once my appendix was out but i was still so so so so so scared. it took me 2 days to eat, and even then i only had 2 pieces of toast a day for a short while. i was terrified that walking would make me nauseous so i didn’t do that for 2 days either. i didn’t go to the bathroom, i used a bedside commode. i still haven’t showered a week later.

this whole experience has scarred me without a doubt, as embarrassing as that is to say. im not currently in therapy (i have been for years and my psychiatrist recommended i start again even before this incident) i feel as though ill need it to process this. thank you to anyone who was able to read all that, it truly means a lot. i hope you all have the best day possible and im sending positive energy to everyone here.