I've never vomited in my life, so I'm afraid of doing so. Is this emetophobia, or just fear of a new experience?

I'm 36 years old, have two children and have not thrown up since I was three which I don't remember. My mother told me about it. I suffer from emetophobia, I'd rather die than throw up! I think it's a fear of the unknown mixed with a fear of nausea and the grossness that must come with vomiting for me. You aren't alone. How old are you?

I'm betting on the latter - if you were phobic, you probably wouldn't need to ask. Phobias generally involve irrational, overwhelming terror. Your question is a model of coherency, so you must not be feeling too panicky. Fear of the unknown is not abnormal by any means. In this case, there are some other possible reasons for a bit of apprehension.

You ever heard anything really positive about throwing up? I mean besides, "After I threw up, I felt a lot better"? Unfortunately, you have to be under the weather first to feel the relief there. And even though pain relief can be almost intoxicating, you still associate something negative with the event. You never hear anything like, "Man, oh man, life just can't get any better. I'm so happy, I'm just gonna go home and hurl for a while." Speaking of hearing (and hurling), if you've ever been within earshot of someone throwing up, even though you couldn't relate, it probably didn't strike you as the most pleasant way to pass the time.

And then there's food poisoning. Get a good case of fp, and your fear of throwing up will suddenly seem about as important as figuring out whether or not ET actually phoned home. That fear will be temporarily replaced by the ICK feeling. Oh - and don't keep reminding yourself you're afraid, if you are. It's one thing to be scared, but another to reinforce the idea. Once you start seeing fear as the controlling element, instead of having confidence in your ability to handle the circumstances, it (the fear) will be in control, and that's not good. I know all about that one.

The activity doesn't matter. When your only frame of reference on ANYTHING is negative, gross, sickening, and disgusting, with a little relief thrown in, you're not going to look forward to experiencing it first-person. And that's on top of ordinary hesitancy about venturing into unknown territory.

You could be giving the whole thing too much credit. Most anyone who's never had the pleasure would find the prospect unsettling. That's not a phobia. It's one of those things that appears to be much bigger than it really is. It's sort of the bodily function equivalent of being forced to read a badly written short story, one with a few disgusting passages here and there. After you're finished, you're relieved it's over and then, you forget about it. Good luck, BTW. Be sure and let us know if your status changes, and how you handled the upheaval, so to speak:)

ive thrown up before, and it wasnt pleasant. id rather not do it again either.

I have the same issue. I'm 25 and never thrown up. Maybe spit up as a baby but I wouldn't remeber any way. So, I'm also afraid of vomiting. Any time I think I might I'll have a slight panic attack. By the way, the person who said your question is stupid is rude.

I threw up when i was 5. I didnt know what it was like. Untill last night i threw up all over our new couuntertops (vomit on glass looks bad). Now i know wat its like im not scared annymore. I realized it was an fear i had taken with me. Now i dont have to worry about a 6 year old worry.