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I am actually balling my eyes out right now! I am so happy that I found your web page. I am a 28 year old man who seemingly has everything going for him ...... I thought I was the only one in the world that suffered from it!! I am so happy right now, I really am crying -- very hard! It puts me under so much stress, and I just want to get rid of it. I've suffered from it for at least 15 years now. It's exhausting and I hate it. It causes me depression. Thank you for giving me a resource to investigate. Thank you SO MUCH! EH, Chicago

I had a look at your website and I think it is fantastic. Well done! I do think you must have helped lots of people as your site is informative, to the point and helpful. I do understand how you feel with this phobia and underlying nausea. I too have spent many years on Incapacity Benefit and have felt the frustration of not being able to work. JF, UK

I'm printing off a bunch of info from your website. I didn't realize that there was a name to what I suffered until a week or two ago. I knew I feared vomiting but didn't realize it was a phobia. I don't have much time at this minute to send you a e-mail with all of my info but I will tonight. EB, UK

How you wrote and what you wrote struck a chord with me; the sheer despair of our situation is very clear in your writing. I can see just how hard you have tried to find an answer. I have immense admiration for what you have done, not least of which is the Gut Reaction website, a wonderful achievement. DD, UK

Hello! I feel quite strange about e-mailing you but I just have to. I came across your website about the fear of vomit. I have lived with this Phobia all my life and never knew that there was a name for it. It was funny reading through your site because it just kept describing me over and over. I am a teacher and have yet to take a job out of fear that a child may vomit in my class. This phobia is way out of control and I think that I need to contact a specialist. Please let me know if you can help and if not thanks so very very much for a great page!!

Yours was the first web site I found on emet. Thanks to you I realized, after many years, that I was not the only "freak" who suffered from the fear of nausea and vomiting. CR,USA.

Thank you for sharing and producing such a comforting site. It really is good to know that you are not alone. From the brief look at the site I wondered if anyone has shared their experience of using paroxetine (Seroxat) for this phobia. I have found it very helpful and it has enabled me to cope comfortably with many situations which I previously found impossible. I have had the phobia for nearly 50 years now and it is only since I tried this medication have I found any proper relief. I, like you have tried all the other treatments. MG, UK

Linda, your web site was one of the first I found when I discovered emetophobia. I read through EVERY page. It was excellent and helped me so much. Thank you!!!!! H, USA

Not wanting to repeat what everyone else has said, though I have to a little. I didn't know until today that my fear had a name. I have suffered from emetophobia since I was 6. Now I am 34 and seriously underweight, going back and forth to hospital seeing psychiatrists and gastrointestinal doctors. It drives me crazy and rules my life. But strangely, although I feel sorry for anyone going through the same thing, I'm glad I'm not alone. RB, UK

Saw your web page and just wanted to say thanks :) I'm 16, and have suffered from emetophobia (although I haven't been able to put a name on it until today) for the past 10 years. You have described it *exactly*. I thought it was just me being weird! I try very hard not to let it rule my life, but it's hard. And the running to the other end of the room with fingers in ears sounds very familiar ;-) Confined spaces are the worst for me, like airplanes, as you are with boats I guess. The only thing is, that however incredibly nauseous I felt, I have been sick maybe twice in that time. Nice to know I'm not alone! Thanks a lot, BR, USA

I have just looked at your website for the first time and I've sat & cried with amazement that there is at last recognition of this dreadful phobia. For over 20 years I have lived with this which started in childhood. Like many of the articles I've read, I work very hard at keeping it a secret and use endless avoidance tactics. It's a constant battle that affects everyday living. I want to say so much more but it's now very late and I have to be up early in the morning. I will visit this site again and look into the membership details. Thank you - I don't feel so alone now, for the first time.

I read your whole website, and I'm am exact copy of you. I also have a nausea inducing medical problem, so the vicious circle is upon me. I get the panic attacks, I fear both versions of the phobia, me vomiting and others vomiting. But I am a normal guy, believe me, when I'm ok I'm a real nice guy, calm, chatty, etc....but when nausea kicks in, it's like a switch, I instantly change (I mean instantly). I become anti-social, nothing else matters, my family, everything becomes second priority. I'm pretty sure you can understand where I'm going here, so I'll stop babbling on. Jon, UK

Until just a couple of days ago, I never knew that I was not the only person in the world that has this phobia. I am so embarrassed of it and so good at hiding it that not even my friends, family members, or boyfriend know how severe my phobia is. I actually cried when I found your website, and I just cannot believe how many other people out there are so much like me. When I was reading about the behaviors that emets do, I could not believe how much it described me. Some of my behaviors I did not even realize were caused by my emet - I just thought that I was really strange. It feels so good to know that this has a name, and that I am not the only one!! KS, USA

I've just found your web-site and have sent off my membership form, but wanted to write straight away. I was shocked by how much your own story 'Worried Sick' is similar to my own because I so often think I'm a freak due to my phobia and to know other people go through it is not only comforting in a strange way, but also saddening because I never want for any human being to go through what I do everyday...... Thank you for all you have done to raise awareness of this very distressing and controlling phobia, and hope that soon, you, me and other sufferers can begin to lead normal lives. CK, England

I really appreciate your website. I am 15 years old and suffer from this. Yours is the only good website I have found on emetophobia. Thank you so much! :=) Annie

Many thanks for your e-mail. It was inspiring to me to find your website - and certainly makes me realise that I'm not alone! June, UK

I just want to say thank you for the great site. I know many people have written you emails saying the same, but really, thanks so much! I am a 15-year old females who has emetophobia, and like many others did not know what it was, or even that it was to the point of phobia until I saw this site describing me and my behaviours!

I've suffered from emetophobia for 11years and I can't tell you how appreciative i am for being given the opportunity to sympathise with someone in my situation. Your website is truly a godsend for me I'm 18 and have been very depressed for the past two years. You've given every emetophobe a glimmer of hope and i think I speak for every one when i say that the word hope has been non existent in our vocabulary for quite some time. You helped bring it back and that's the nicest thing someone has done for me ever. FK, Australia

Thank you, thank you, thank you, for all you've done for this cause so far and for opening my eyes to this. I fear the statistics though. I guess I'm stuck with the suffering for the rest of my life. I thought once I found a name to my problem I could find someone to make it magically disappear. But I was wrong and I am now off of the high was on in thinking that. You are an incredible person, Thank You again and again. I feel so unlonely" in this fight now. Hugs and love SJ, UK

My father recently found your website and showed it to me. I was sooo overjoyed to read your information. All my life I have been obsessed with a terrible fear of vomiting and until today, I thought I was the only person in the world. I really really want to get help!!! YA, India

For years I have suffered from the fear of vomiting, but I never knew it had a name. Today, after 30 years of confusion, I finally found it. And with it came your web site. I'm sure you realize how great it is to know that you aren't alone. My husband doesn't get it and it infuriates him. Now I have something to show him. I hope you don't mind (I saw the copyright info), but I printed these pages to read off-line and to share with him. Since I'm in therapy for depression, I'm going to show them to my therapist. For years we've been searching for the cause and we still haven't found it. Maybe your info will help. I'm the mother of a 9 year old daughter and I can't even be alone with her for fear that she may vomit. It's just so great to know that there are others like me. SR, Pennsylvania

I have just found the site. I am so relieved after all this time I'm 45 that it is a known phobia. How many of us emets thought we were alone, and the symptoms are so similar in some cases that you know it's you!!!!!!! The most fascinating is that we all remember the dates of when we were sick and avoid if we can situations and scenarios that may make it happen allover again. I feel quite elated in a strange way, and it is good to put it in writing. Thank you. Shirley, Leeds.

I came across your website last month and it certainly makes me feel less 'mad' to know there are thousands, if not millions, of others who feel just the same as I do. Thank you so much for putting the website together and helping me realise I am not the only one with this overlooked fear. CF, Warwickshire.

I've suffered from emetophobia since I was 6 years old (I'm now 31). I've just spent hours reading through this site and although it sounds strange, this site has made this whole computer buying thing worthwhile!! Although reading through the site has made me feel sick (not joking!), it has been really helpful to realise that I am not alone. BD, Manchester

What a revelation today has been .... I visited your website and I could not believe what I found. I have suffered from emetophobia ever since I can remember but I did not know until today that it had a name. It is amazing how comforted I feel just knowing that others suffer as I do. Perhaps I have friends that suffer but we, as a group of phobics, appear to be very good at hiding it! From the website I saw behaviour in me that I had not really acknowledged to myself. Now, at 44, I am finally admitting the extent of my problem and asking for help. EA, Lincolnshire.

Hi! My name is MXX and I'm 16 years old. Just yesterday I found out that the fear of vomiting that I've had my whole life is actually a disorder . . . the anxiety panic I go through when I or someone around me is going to vomit drives me crazy and I've hated myself for being so dumb these past several years. When I found your website that explained practically all the symptoms I have (like the stained pavement thing), I felt so incredibly relieved that I wasn't being stupid and that I wasn't alone out there... People say, "It's just vomit." If only they knew the feeling. So I just wanted to thank you for your great site; I printed out everything about emetophobia on your site so that I can give it to my friends and family to read cause they all think I'm weird and strange. I want them to understand what I'm going through. SO thanks again!

I have just found your web site and am sitting here typing through tears. I knew I was emetophobic, but thought no-one had the same problem. I now see that I am not alone, and the relief is unbelievable. I am just reading through the site, and the typical emet description is so like me. CM, England

I'm not sure whether I should be glad or dismayed to have discovered Gut Reaction--I've found the stories comforting and terrifying in roughly equal measure--but it is clear that I have finally discovered someone (and maybe a community of someones) who suffer from exactly the same phobia I do. SS, Canada

Thank you so much for creating this website. My current significant
other is an emetophobe and we had no idea that this wasn't just a fear that he alone had. After a recent incidence where I got sick and he ran for the door, I decided to look up fear of vomit and not only did I find a name for his fear but I found your site, which has been tremendously helpful in helping me to understand how my boyfriend feels. Our relationship will definitely benefit from the knowledge I was able to get here. ~CH

Thank you for such an enlightening ,user-friendly, clear and concise website. I stumbled across the site in passing as looking for info relating to work (I'm in mental health). I have had an irrational fear of vomiting since childhood and fit your description to a dot! It was reassuring to know I am not alone in this yet alarming to actually admit that I do have this problem which I try to disguise, how many times can you find excuses about eating out? And guess who is always the driver!! People have always thought I had an eating disorder. I did think I might have an OCD . After reading your site I can relate to "distraction techniques" or seemingly bizarre behavior to avoid being sick and felt relieved to know that others felt the same. Thank you , I'll definitely visit again. AG

Trust me to get such a difficult phobia to overcome. But it really does help to read and learn more about it. So thanks for being here . LJ, USA

Thank you for making this site. I used to think that I was weird, being an emetophobe. Your page read me like a book! Thanks again, -Steve

Like almost everyone else, I had no idea there was actually a NAME for what I had been suffering from! I am a 27-year-old female, and have worried about vomiting (and seeing others vomit) since I was in elementary school! The symptoms have gotten a bit better since then, but I still keep a Tupperware bowl by my bed, just in case I wake up one day and can't
make it to the bathroom in time! And poor me, I am going into the teaching profession, and will have to deal with small children vomiting in my classroom and on the schoolyard! It is nice to know there are others out there like me, and that there is a website for us to gain some insight into our phobia, and what we can do about it. KS, Los Angeles

I fully thought I was the only one that felt like this. Do you know how good it is to know I am not alone. Reading your story made me think I was reading about myself. I am totally blown away. I just wish that I could go one minute without feeling nausea's and without constantly worrying that I will be sick. Thank you so much for letting me read your story. I know how you feel and I really do sympathise with you. Emily, Australia

I can't tell how relived I am after reading these pages. I hadn't a faintest idea that it had a name and that it was so common. I'm not alone. The only thing that makes me sad is that there isn't a cure for it. If you no longer suffer from emetophobia, please let me know how you managed to overcome it. AL from Sweden