Fear of Being Sick in Public

[markko]

Hi,

Ever since I was a kid I’ve had this fear of being sick in public. When I’ve met new people or gone somewhere new I get this feeling of nausea. I now know it’s a symptom of anxiety and have managed to gain some control over it, but the fear is always there in the back of my head.

What makes it worse is the expectation of feeling sick, so when I meet someone and I start feeling sick it just reaffirms my fear and so I feel more sick. It’s just my own thoughts playing tricks on me, but it’s not always that easy to just ignore those thoughts.

Luckily as I’ve grown older my confidence has improved so I can control it. What also helped was developing what I like to call my escape routes.

When I go somewhere new and meet new people, I quickly scout out the place to see where I can dash off to if things start getting bad. I’ve also built up a few quick and plausible excuses to make for leaving or for distracting myself from the situation.

Over the years, just having my escape routes in place has been enough to calm me down and so I don’t worry about being sick. Because I worry less, it’s much less likely to happen.

If all else fails, I recommend you have some fresh mints in your pocket. If you feel like being sick, quickly pop one in your mouth. I have no real idea why this works, but it seems to remove that taste in your mouth when you feel sick and distracts your brain. Works for me anyway. Would love to hear if you’ve tried it and agree!

Anyone got any more tips on stopping feeling sick?

Cheers,

Markko

[millenniumman75]

Emetophobia....it is also a component of anxiety.

[cyndy]

i've always had that fear too, i'm amazed that it actually has a name. many of my panic attacks involve nausea and that fear makes it a spiral of " oh god i've got to get outta here before i puke"
escape has always been my best cure for panic. though not the most effective for getting over the panic attacks in general, right?

[ShyViolet]

I worry about vomiting in front of people. I worry about being trapped in a place where there is no way to escape without drawing attention to myself. When I start to feel nauseous my anxiety increases, and when my anxiety increases my nausea increases. I'll have to try sucking on a mint.

[arth67]

look up emetophobia and fear of vomiting on the net, its very common, valium helps, so does carrying an airline airsick bag with you

[pixies]

Yeah it's quite common. Another one that is even more common, is a fear of eating infront of people.

It's sad. All these phobias people have, screwing with our lives, and there isn't a whole lot out there in the way of solutions. Still, at least we don't live in the olden days when they would throw the likes of me in a mental instituation and poke me with pins and crap. I bet some day soon there will be a rock solid cure for all these things. Imagine, a two month course of tablets and then you are cured forever. Aahh, come on lazy scientists.

[odd_one_out]

I used to have that. Mint flavours do help (as does keeping the body cool). I no longer experience it and have thrown up in front of people a couple of times since; they mostly express concern. I have also swallowed it.

[markko]

Hi Odd One Out,

Yeah, swallowing it and pretending that you've just coughed or chiked on something. I'm sure people think it's weird, but better than puking in front of them!

Markko

[Lovesick Loner]

It's called emetophobia, and my ex-girlfriend had it. It used bo be so bad that in high school she missed half her senior year and almost didn't graduate. Apparently, it can make people house-ridden for weeks.

Now she takes a low dose of lexapro and says it did wonders for the anxiety. She also carries pepto-bismal chewable tablets and a bottle of water in her purse. I guess taking a sip of water can help the nauseous feeling for some people.