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Dr. Andrew Rynne
MD
Dr. Andrew Rynne

Family Physician

Exp 50 years

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How Can Emetophobia Causing Vomiting Fear Be Treated?

Hi, I am aware that vomiting is the body s normal response to certain illnesses but here is the thing. I have emetophobia, which is a phobia of vomiting. This is not just oh, yeah no one likes to throw up . This is a debilitating fear that effects a person s everyday life. Pretty much every second of everyday is spent wondering and fearing that I could possibly throw up, even though this is obviously something that happens rarely. If I ever feel sick this results in me shaking uncontrollably, I get that scared. So I read online that when one has Norovirus for example, it s the intestines that are infected , and vomiting is just the body s useless response and doesn t help you get better. I wanted to know if the same goes for food poisoning. Would I be okay if I took antiemetics if I felt sick and knew that I had eaten something bad? What are the consequences of doing this? I know if that ever happens to me I will take them unless it could be deadly or something. Could preventing vomiting in this situation make the food poisoning dangerously serious? I do plan on getting help for my phobia in the future. Until then, I ll do this. I have a great deal of self control with the pills and do not take them just because I feel panicky. I have had them for a long time and have yet to take any, and won t unless I know for sure that I m sick. But I want to know this for future reference in case I need them one day. Also I think it s important I mention that I am otherwise healthy adult and have no health issues in the past. Thank you so much, Ashley
Thu, 9 Nov 2017
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Internal Medicine Specialist,  's  Response
Ashley,

Thank you for the question. The good news is that nearly everything that causes vomiting is over extremely quickly. That holds true for all of the viruses that tend to cause vomiting, and most causes of food poisoning. The vomiting part tends to be over in less than a day. If you are otherwise healthy, the only thing I'd recommend if you ever do come down with an illness that causes vomiting is to make sure that you drink plenty of fluids during the illness (surprisingly getting dehydrated can make you nauseous) and get rest. Antiemetics can be helpful, but they don't take place of simply keeping your fluid intake high. As for food poisoning, there really would be no contraindication for antiemetics. Again, remember, almost any illness that causes vomiting tends to resolve very quickly.
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How Can Emetophobia Causing Vomiting Fear Be Treated?

Ashley, Thank you for the question. The good news is that nearly everything that causes vomiting is over extremely quickly. That holds true for all of the viruses that tend to cause vomiting, and most causes of food poisoning. The vomiting part tends to be over in less than a day. If you are otherwise healthy, the only thing I d recommend if you ever do come down with an illness that causes vomiting is to make sure that you drink plenty of fluids during the illness (surprisingly getting dehydrated can make you nauseous) and get rest. Antiemetics can be helpful, but they don t take place of simply keeping your fluid intake high. As for food poisoning, there really would be no contraindication for antiemetics. Again, remember, almost any illness that causes vomiting tends to resolve very quickly.