Fear of Vomiting in Social Sitations

[kg78]

:weep: It's back. I'm ok in familiar or, in my mind, 'safe' situations, so work and family get togethers are ok but anywhere else is a nightmare.

An example, a friends birthday party on Saturday night. Before we even left the house I was worrying about vomiting and was starting to feel nauseous. As soon as we got to the venue I made sure we were seated near to the toilet, I couldn't hold a conversation with anyone, I couldn't drink my drink, I felt sick and bloated and within half an hour I started retching. I raced off to the toilet and actually did vomit spectacularly after which I started feeling better but still couldn't eat or drink anything for fear of it happening again. I just couldn't wait to get home... :weep:

While the act of vomiting, although not particularly pleasant, doesn't bother me, it's the thought of doing it in front of people, being stuck somewhere so that I can't get to a toilet or somewhere private and having people see me be sick, wondering what they'd think of me, after all it's not nice seeing other people being sick is it?! I've already started obsessing about my work christmas night out (a meal and drinks afterwards) and that's mid-December and I'm thinking of not going, every time I think of it I feel really nauseous.

Does anyone else suffer with this? How do I stop it?

[JohnLuke300]

Hi kg78,

I must admit this is one social phobia I have not come across. I understand how it as formed but I have never heard of it before. The only thing that I would suggest is try not to avoid eating and drinking in social situations. If the phobia is just starting to form exposing yourself now can nip it in the bud. Just eat and drink in moderation and you should be alright. Avoiding will only help to form and maintain the phobia. I know this is easier said than done, unfortunately we don't have much of an option. :lac:

Take care,

John :hugs:

[andylan83]

Hi,

I suffer mildly from the same symtoms that you described. At first when mines kicked off I was eating out in an Italian restaurant with my girlfriend. Happily half way through my 2nd course I was overcome by a nausiating feeling in my stomach which lead to me cutting short my dinner and leave as I was certain I would vomit in the place. We left and went to the pub, were the feeling persisted again, I was so annoyed with myself (it was my girlfriends first time back in the country and i was over the moon to see her), but the annoyance made me feel worse and behold! I found myself running to the toilets to be sick. That was 3 years ago and they feelings of nausea started to occur round social scenario's, like most of the ones you describe: social gatherings, parties, going to restaurants,clubbing.

The one thing that stood out for me was the way in which i was perceived by other people, what would they think of me if they saw me being sick. I would make sure that when entering restaurants/pubs/people's flats or houses that i knew exactly were the toilets were. I found it hard to hold conversations because of 1. I might have to be sick and 2. people's judgement of you.

In general, Im an outgoing person, strong character,likes to laugh and joke with other people, but I started thinking to myself 'what if people find out that on the inside Im churnning' I viewed anxiety not as a problem but as a social weakness and if it was a weakness people would have a lower opinion of me, i couldnt have the same amount of fun, thus making social gatherings unappealing incase someone sussed me out as a imposter (as ridiculous as it sounds).

I went through a stage of acutally rating the conversations I would have with people, for example if i cold make them laugh it would have been worthwhile, if i couldn't get a laugh or a reaction from someone I would feel anxious as I thought they had seen through me.

My problem was that I was a people pleaser, I had to make sure that i could be on good terms with everyone, regardless of how many people there was a a party.

I started to get over the whole thing by first and foremost accepting that not everyone has the same tastes, therefore, there will be people here that I wont get on with as well as others, there will be people here that I would like to talk to and that settled my nerves as I realised that the atmosphere wasn't completely hostile.
From that I was able to start eating in front of people again with little feelings of anxiousness.

[LucyA]

Hi Kg,

I'm sorry to hear about your phobia, have you had counseling or cognitive behavioural therapy? If not please, please consider it. I am an emetophobe but I'm now only scared of being sick...I'm no longer worried about social situations and sickness. What I mean to say is, I only panic when I feel I will be sick, regardless of whether I'm out in public or not, and I owe that to counseling. Mine was free on the council as I was under a certain age at the time, but it was essentially just a woman I learnt to trust who asked me all the right questions about myself. I recommend talking to someone about how your fear started, why it developed and how you deal with it at the moment.

Good luck, I hope you're rid of this soon x

[markko]

Hi Kg78,

Yeah, I used to have this bad. Especially when I was a kid going to school.

Two things helped me get over it, as well as just getting older and more confident.

1. Fresh mints. As soon as I get that nauseous taste in my mouth I pop a mint in and it seems to settle me almost instantly. Not sure why, but works a treat.

2. When I went to new places, I would look for the toilet or places I could quickly get too and vomit without being heard and seen. Just by knowing those escape routes existed made me feel better.

Hope that helps,

Markko