Emetophobia.

Our Intense Fears.

For those of you that haven’t spent much time with me – or even for some of you that have – you may not be aware that I have an intense and at times, debilitating, phobia.

Many of us have heard of some common phobias such as;

• Claustrophobia – the fear of confined spaces.
• Arachnophobia – the fear of spiders.
• Acrophobia – the fear of heights.
• Hemophobia – the fear of blood.

However, not as many of us are familiar with these phobias, just to name a few;

• Emetophobia – the fear of vomit.
• Omphalophobia – the fear of belly buttons.
• Chaetophobia – the fear of hair.
• Somniphobia – the fear of sleep.

As strange and confusing as some of these fears sound, they are unfortunately a haunting reality that many people live with, every single day.

I am one of those people.

Since I was around the age of 8, I have had an exhausting phobia of vomit. For some people, it seems ridiculous that I’m afraid of a natural bodily function. For others, it’s amusing to use this fear to taunt me. Unfortunately, there are only a select few people that understand the significance in which I am afraid. I am now 19. I have dealt with this fear for over 10 years of my life, and it hasn’t gotten easier over time.

If you’re one of the lucky people who don’t suffer from a life changing phobia, you may ask yourself, why don’t they just kill the spider? Why don’t they just avoid heights? Why don’t they just walk away from someone if they’re sick?

I wish, with every ounce of me, that it was that easy.

I have altered countless aspects of my life and my routine, to manage and to live with this fear – to avoid it.

I have rules that I live by, and no matter how hard someone tries to make me break those rules, I won’t. Sometimes, I’ve had to. Fortunately, there haven’t been any consequences from breaking these ‘rules’. However, my mind has been conditioned to believe that if I do, something bad will happen.

• I won’t eat before exercise.
• I won’t eat before a long drive.
• I won’t eat whilst I am a passenger in a car.
• I won’t eat before a plane flight.
• I won’t eat during a plane flight.
• I won’t eat before a boat ride.
• I won’t eat during a boat ride.
• I won’t eat any food that is too close to it’s best before date.
• I won’t eat certain foods.
• I won’t drink any large amount of alcohol.
• I won’t drink too much milk in one day.

These are just SOME of the rules that I live by, in order to assure that I, personally, don’t become sick. There’s a whole new set of rules that I follow to ensure that I’m not around someone else who is unwell.

If I’m faced with my fear, I don’t just experience uncomfortable feelings. I don’t just feel afraid for a short amount of time, and then resume to my normal self. I am in a state of extreme panic and anxiety, sometimes for an extended period of time, even when my fear is no longer in front of me.

Unfortunately, the severity of my fear is undermined quite a lot because of how unusual and uncommon it seems. This makes for a very difficult and nerve wracking conversation if I ever need to discuss this fear with those around me.

We always mock the fears of those around us. I know that I have at times, too, — we all have at some point.

However, we need to stop acting as if the fears of others are insignificant, we need to stop degrading them and making them feel weak for having a phobia.

Ultimately, we’re all afraid of something. Although, I believe that being afraid and having a phobia, are two very different issues.

Having a phobia is a life altering, debilitating and destructive experience. We need to consider the phobias of those around us. Sometimes, understanding is all that we need.

For myself, I’m not sure if I’ll ever overcome this. I hope that one day I will – I hope we all do.