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

[justin18]

hey,
I have a similar problem to this. Ever since I was sick at one of my friends house's, I always feel sick and very nervous when I'm with him. I can't eat anything when he's around.

I thought it would go away with time but it just seems to get worse. I can't even eat before I see him because of fear of being sick when I see him.

I don't really have any ideas on how to stop yourself being sick but I thought I'd let you know that there's someone else out there with the same problem. I think it helps to talk about it with others in a similar situation.

Justin

[:)]

I have the same problem, is this the same as Emetophobia, does anybody know?

[lunalady]

I think that's what it's called. Anyway I had the fear of being sick in public all thru college and grad school.

I did the mints, seltzer water, and sitting close to exits and that helped some.

What helped me the most was learning that this was a symtpom of anxiety and it would never happen. It was so irrational-- and that made sense to me.

Seriously, if I was going to vomit, wouldn't I have the wherewithal to excuse myself and head to the bathroom? Of course I would.
I also needed to remember that I *hate* throwing up, and the only time it happens is if I get the flu. So there is actually no real chance that this will happen out of nowhere just because I'm feeling anxious.

I had to sit there feeling the nausea and keep repeating these things to me over and over and eventually I got it.

Try telling yourself what is true for you and see if that helps. I know that the fear of throwing up really stinks. I was a mess in class for years because of it.

Hang in there and good luck!

[alexandratree]

I struggle from the same thing. I was diagnosed with multiple stomach problems as a kid so growing up I always had something wrong with my stomach and along that way I developed a crippiling fear or throwing up or being around anyone who was going to throw up and then when I started to have panic attacks and get anxiety problems this became a bigger problem because the fear of being sick in public along with the fear of throwing up and the anxiety I just turned into a mess. And I also started doing the same thing of making and finding an escape route. I have to always have one or I have to leave or I will go into a huge state of panic to the point where it will make me sick. This is still a horrible problem for me and no one really seems to get it my family,my friends and doctors just think its irrational and I know it is I just cant control it.