Economic Crises = Emetophobia

I gotta tell you, today’s crash on the stock market has not helped my emetophobia. As an investor in the stock market, I’m on pins and needles about what the future holds for the U.S. economy. Fortunately, most of my stocks were not in banking or mortgages but that still doesn’t make me feel confident.

Rarely, do I discuss issues of money, politics, or economics on this blog but today’s catastrophic dive in the market has me in shock and moderately worried. As I’ve said before, anxiety is what initially started my emetophobia and today’s events have left that nauseous, butterflies in my stomach feeling all day. I have no appetite to eat.

All I can hope for is that some solution to this problem is worked out – and very soon.

September 25, 2008 – Do You Know What Today Is?

Today is an important day. The importance of this day is something only emetophobia sufferers will understand.  Today is the day the eggs in my refrigerator expire. Time to get rid of them.

Emetophobics live by expiration dates on food. As a matter of fact, I generally throw out some food prior to the expiration date. I’ve had dairy products go sour before the date stamped on the packaging and mold growing on bread two days after purchase. Perishable foods will not touch my lips without a thorough inspection of them first.

I’m not an organized person but my freezer is. I date all of the food in my freezer and stack them in an organized fashion so that the 6 month rule of frozen food is highly observed.

An Update on The Norovirus Vaccine

It never occurred to me how many non-emetophobics were concerned about getting the norovirus until  e-mails started rolling in after my original blog post last February.  

 http://www.ligocyte.com/norovirus/norovirus.html

As of now the vaccine is being tested and there is no information on when it will be available to the public.  Other than the obvious benefit of not getting the norovirus, there is another benefit,   it’s needle-free.  That’s right!  It’s administered through the nasal passage so those who happen to be needle-phobic and emetophobic won’t mind taking this vaccine, unless of course, any of the side effects to this vaccine include nausea and vomiting.   If that’s the case, then I hope everyone else gets the vaccine so I can’t catch it from them.

To read more about living with emetophobia, go to my other blog at http://fearsandphobias.blogspot.com

The Fear of Stomach Aches

If I had to make a guess, I would say that stomach cramps are in the top 5 most common medical complaints.  Everyone gets them and we get them more often than other ailments.  There are many reasons why we get them, often times digestion comes into play.

Emetophobia may be a fear of vomiting but it causes us emetophobics to fear anything that could contribute to vomiting including symptoms of food poisoning and stomach viruses.   One such symptom is a stomach ache.  As far as I can remember I have never had a stomach ache prior to vomiting although I have had mild nausea.  However, I still panic when I get cramping even if nausea is not accompanying it.

I’m sure I’m not alone either.  Other emetophobics have had out and out panic attacks at the onset of a stomach ache. 

 If you’re NOT emetophobic and are reading this blog, let me explain how this is debilitating. 

First, consider how often the average person gets a stomach ache/cramp, whether it’s from not eating, eating too much, gas, indigestion, constipation, or they just have to go to the bathroom.  It’s quite often.  Then imagine having a panic attack that includes cold sweats, shaking, deep fear, and heart palpitations every single time they get one.  It’s even worse when we’re not at home or a familiar place when we get one.   

http://fearsandphobias.blogspot.com