Hello,
Ever since I was a child I had always had emetaphobia, yes it is self diagnosed because I have only heard of it a year ago and read up on it.
I had always found tummy bugs a traumatic experience as a child and this had triggered something to make me actually fear vomiting.
I hate seeing others vomit too as it brings on so many awful experiences, when I was about 9 I went through a stage of having it so bad that I developed OCD traits too such as making sure I wash my hands thoroughly before I would eat any food.
Anyhow when I was 20, my emetaphobia flared up to make my life quite debilitating, I was going through some health issues at the time and displayed some anorexia tendencies as I was underweight and was afraid to eat anything in case I risked vomiting.
I was diagnosed with irritable bowel syndrome, (doctors in New Zealand dont seem to diagnose mental conditions lightly or are even aware of them) but when I look at it now I think the symptoms were more anxiety related even though I can tend to get a mild case of IBS at times.
Anyway when I was diagnosed with IBS by the doctor, I went through a tough time of emetaphobia again which made me fear anything to do with vomit, I had a massive fear of developing cancer too and dying so I had a great deal of health anxiety also.
Well I had noticed I was quite abnormal compared to other 20 year olds and did not feel comfortable socialising with friends and going to events they had invited me to.
I would end up feeling very uncomfortable when i did try and would leave the event early to come home where I could feel safe again.
I missed so many of my friends 21st birthdays because I was terrified of parties, and I think this triggered me developing social anxiety.
I am now 30 and still have emetaphobia and social anxiety except it is no where near as bad as what it use to be.
If I am sick I am still terrified to vomit, but now I eat normally when I am healthy, and not worry so much about germs or getting sick until it happens.
I still have social anxiety in the sense that I worry of what others would think of me, if I did anything wrong and they wont like me anymore and other minor stuff.
However I am not afraid of parties or barbecues anymore, I am happy to go along to a friend that I feel comfortable with to celebrate a party and I enjoy it too.
I don't know if I outgrew this from when I was 20, but I know I feel it is less scary to socialise with others now, even though I still carry a mild form of social anxiety.
I am just curious though is it possible for emetaphobia to develop into social anxiety too? Because I am sure when I was a child I was not afraid of social events as well as now, not like they terrified me in my 20s when my emetaphobia was at its worse.
Sorry I hope my post makes sense.
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