Did I tell you about the cruise I went on last June?

With all of the stories we here about norovirus on cruise ships you would think it’s epidemic.  I’ve been on over 20 cruises and never got sick.  As a matter of fact, my emetophobia tends to bother me less when I’m on a cruise.  I’m just too busy with activities adventures in the ports of calls; and talking to people I meet, to think about emetophobia, especially when I eat.  And unlike the average cruise passenger, I don’t eat that much on a and I tend to eat lighter because I’m afraid of getting sick.

Last June we were on  a cruise the week after a ‘stomach flu’ problem.  On the sailing before ours, a few people got sick with vomiting.  I wasn’t aware of this until the second day on the ship but just to share with anyone reading this blog who may be afraid to cruise, here is what I experienced.

1.  The ships doctor didn’t know what made them sick as it could have been a case of food poisoning or norovirus but they didn’t take any chances.

2.  The person was already off the ship by the time I got on but norovirus has an incubation period.

3.  The janitorial staff fully disinfected handrails, elevators and all places on the ship passengers could touch and spread.

4.  All facilities that served food, even the buffets and ice cream bar, adhered to strict sterile practices for the firs 3 days only and then things were back to normal.  A crew member stood by the entrance of every restaurant including the buffets to direct passengers to use the motion detecting hand sanitizer before entering.  As an emetophobe, I don’t need to be told to do this.  I automatically gravitate to these things.  Plus I bring my own to use after handing the germy menu back to the waiter/waitress.

5.At the buffet, you could not touch utensils to take food yourself.  Everything was put in your dish by a gloved waiter/waitress.  I had to point out every item I wanted in my salad and if they didn’t put enough olives in, I had to ask for more.  You couldn’t even take your own ketchup or pickles.  They put it in your plate.  This was the biggest inconvenience because passengers tend to eat big, and when someone else puts a spoonful of mashed potatoes in your dish, it’s not heaping the way you spoon it in and it tends to be embarrassing to ask for more.

6.  In the dining rooms, there was no salt/pepper shakers on the table, no sugar or other sweeteners, no butter.  If you needed these items, the would bring it over when asked, and they were in individual packages like the ones you get at take-out restaurants.  It was strange opening a paper wrapper to have a dozen or so flakes of pepper come out.

Even though we were incredibly inconvenienced, it was only for 3 days and it was well worth it to stop the spread of norovirus.

We’re all around. You just don’t know it

How many people in this crowd have Emetophobia?

Emetophobics live with this condition quietly. When I meet people it’s not the first, second, or even third thing I tell them about me. Due to the embarrassing nature, it’s not something I even want to bring up. That is unless, a situation comes up that I feel comfortable mentioning it or someone happens to vomit standing next to me and I’m forced to tell everyone why I’m freaked out.

Recently I was talking to a woman and by the nature of the convo, I could tell she might have emetophobia. Possibly not even knowing she had it. That’s when I casually brought it up and sure enough I found another one like myself. A closeted emetophobe.

The similiarities and differences about our condition was striking. I’ve always contended that I suffer moderately whereas saying the word vomit or seeing someone do it far enough away, such as across the street, doesn’t bother me too much but if they are near me and I can hear it, see it close up, or worse yet – SMELL it, I panic to no end and will actually start gagging.

This woman can’t even stand to see the fake rubbery vomit they sell in the ‘practical joke’ areas in toy stores

Doing the fist bump

For the past 3 years I’ve been training in Martial Arts which I actually enjoy doing. Believe it or not, this training has been one of the hardest activities for me to endure as an emetophobe. It’s due to the fact that the place I train at is a potential germfest. Most of the classes are kids classes and as cute and lovable as these children are, they pick up and spread viruses from school, parks, playgrounds, and birthday parties. For those that have kids, you know what I’m talking about.

The Dojo (that’s karate speak for gym or training area) and the mat where we walk around barefoot on is cleaned and sterilized daily at the end of the day but that’s only comforting when your class is the first or second one of the day and the mat is still freshly cleaned from the night before. Unfortunately, the adult classes are last when dust, lint and God knows what have accumulated. It’s unrealistic to expect them to clean it after each class.

In mixed martial arts there’s a lot of physical contact. For example, self-defense techniques where we partner up taking turns attacking each other while the other person defends themself. The attacks include neck grabs from the front and back, stranglehold, etc. This is beyond disgusting because we start with a warm-up, stretch, and punching/kicking practice. By the time we get to the self-defense part, we’re all sweated up. Some of the adults sweat so much, there are wet spots on the mat.

At the end of class when everyone else is high fiveing, I’m doing the fist bump.