# Fear of Puking - have your heard of such a thing? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [February 3, 2016, 8:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fear-of-puking-have-your-heard-of-such-a-thing/745041 "2016-02-03T08:48:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![clairobscur](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/839c29/32.png) [@clairobscur](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clairobscur)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2016, 4:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fear-of-puking-have-your-heard-of-such-a-thing/745041/21 "2016-02-04T04:13:20Z")
One of my friend has such a phobia. Her fear is more of herself vomiting. I don’t think it’s particularly rare, as phobias go. I heard/saw this one mentioned a number of times. ---
**Author:** ![clairobscur](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/839c29/32.png) [@clairobscur](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clairobscur)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2016, 4:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fear-of-puking-have-your-heard-of-such-a-thing/745041/22 "2016-02-04T04:19:05Z")
> [@casdave](#): > > That is not a phobia at all, if I ever felt ill I would dread the prospect of actually having to throw up - phobias are generally irrational fears, but the sheer pain of vomiting to me was very real, and fear of it was a perfectly rational outlook Most people throw up without it being an horribly painful experience. So maybe not a phobia in your case, but it is in the case of people who are scared by the idea of vomiting itself, rather than fearing a really unpleasant experience. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2016, 5:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fear-of-puking-have-your-heard-of-such-a-thing/745041/23 "2016-02-04T05:12:02Z")
Were you at home, or in a restaurant? If it was the latter, I sure hope there wasn’t anyone at the next table. 😛 I have a friend whose son is an EMT, and he and a co-worker were kicked out of a restaurant a few weeks ago because they were talking about some of their more grisly cases. :smack: ---
**Author:** ![Bullitt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bullitt/32/5725_2.png) [@Bullitt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bullitt)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2016, 5:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fear-of-puking-have-your-heard-of-such-a-thing/745041/24 "2016-02-04T05:16:44Z")
As for how common this phobia is, from [http://www.emetophobiahelp.org/fact-sheet.html:](http://www.emetophobiahelp.org/fact-sheet.html:) > [@](#): > > Most sufferers of emetophobia fear vomiting themselves, while a few only fear seeing someone else vomit. Despite the fact that many professionals have never heard of this anxiety disorder, it is a fairly common phobia, manifesting mainly in women and more acutely in adolescents than adults. The English-speaking International Emetophobia Society’s website ([www.emetophobia.org](http://www.emetophobia.org)) has over 14,000 contributing members world-wide and as of this writing, over nine million hits to their website. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2016, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fear-of-puking-have-your-heard-of-such-a-thing/745041/25 "2016-02-04T17:56:20Z")
I wonder if people with a bad case of this phobia have ruled out having a dog. Canines being what they are (and to a large extent, what they eat), it is inevitable that you’ll be around when your pooch is barfing up breakfast, a dead critter it found in the yard or even more unpleasant things that seemed edible at the time. I once had a cocker spaniel that I swear was into recreational vomiting. :smack: ---
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2016, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fear-of-puking-have-your-heard-of-such-a-thing/745041/26 "2016-02-04T18:25:08Z")
I used to be terrified of vomiting, because once I woke up at night and had to puke, and didn’t make it to the bathroom. I puked all over the hall carpet. My mother spanked me for it. I was only about three, and after that, I was really scared of having to vomit. I was so scared, I didn’t eat for a couple for more than a day after that one incident, until I couldn’t stand being hungry anymore. Then, about a year later, I woke up at night and had to puke again, and didn’t even make it out of bed. This time I was at my aunt’s, and instead of spanking me, she just cleaned me up and hugged me. I got over a lot of me fear of puking, and learned to be afraid of my mother instead. I didn’t want to be at home any time I wasn’t feeling well. ---
**Author:** ![Corporal\_Clegg](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Corporal\_Clegg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Corporal_Clegg)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2016, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fear-of-puking-have-your-heard-of-such-a-thing/745041/27 "2016-02-04T18:36:22Z")
Well, it’s pretty disgusting. I hate to puke. It’s gross listening to others too. My brother, Jeff, makes a freak heaving racket. ---
**Author:** ![Bullitt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bullitt/32/5725_2.png) [@Bullitt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bullitt)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2016, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fear-of-puking-have-your-heard-of-such-a-thing/745041/28 "2016-02-04T18:44:44Z")
> [@Jackmannii](#): > > I wonder if people with a bad case of this phobia have ruled out having a dog. > > Canines being what they are (and to a large extent, what they eat), it is inevitable that you’ll be around when your pooch is barfing up breakfast, a dead critter it found in the yard or even more unpleasant things that seemed edible at the time. > > I once had a cocker spaniel that I swear was into recreational vomiting. :smack: Yeah, my Chesapeake Bay Retriever barfed maybe 2-3x a month. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2016, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fear-of-puking-have-your-heard-of-such-a-thing/745041/29 "2016-02-05T00:57:22Z")
> [@Bullitt](#): > > Yeah, my Chesapeake Bay Retriever barfed maybe 2-3x a month. That describes one of my cats. 2-3x a week describes the other one. Their food is about the same color as my carpet, so I often detect it the hard way if I’m not at home when it happens. The strangest place I’ve found cat vomit? All over the TiVo antenna, which looks like a flip phone with a cord. I cleaned it off, and it still works. ---
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2016, 1:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fear-of-puking-have-your-heard-of-such-a-thing/745041/30 "2016-02-05T01:36:38Z")
One of my cats killed a cable box that way. I cleaned it out, took it back, and said “It just stopped working.” Got a new one. The universe owes me a few. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2016, 5:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fear-of-puking-have-your-heard-of-such-a-thing/745041/31 "2016-02-05T05:35:01Z")
> [@RivkahChaya](#): > > One of my cats killed a cable box that way. I cleaned it out, took it back, and said “It just stopped working.” Got a new one. The universe owes me a few. A Facebook friend who has 3 young children said that one of them did this all over a library book. I told her that they deal with this all the time, and turns out she didn’t have to pay for it, either. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2016, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fear-of-puking-have-your-heard-of-such-a-thing/745041/32 "2016-02-05T14:58:42Z")
> [@RivkahChaya](#): > > I used to be terrified of vomiting, because once I woke up at night and had to puke, and didn’t make it to the bathroom. I puked all over the hall carpet. My mother spanked me for it. I was only about three, and after that, I was really scared of having to vomit. I was so scared, I didn’t eat for a couple for more than a day after that one incident, until I couldn’t stand being hungry anymore. > > Then, about a year later, I woke up at night and had to puke again, and didn’t even make it out of bed. This time I was at my aunt’s, and instead of spanking me, she just cleaned me up and hugged me. I got over a lot of me fear of puking, and learned to be afraid of my mother instead. I didn’t want to be at home any time I wasn’t feeling well. Holy shit! Your mother spanked a three year old for not making it to the toilet? You have my profound sympathy. I was annoyed when my three year old didn’t even try to get to the toilet, and I might even have sounded cross or exasperated, but I cleaned her and hugged her and gave her a bowl to put next to her bed in case it happened again that night. ---
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2016, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fear-of-puking-have-your-heard-of-such-a-thing/745041/33 "2016-02-05T15:16:09Z")
> [@puzzlegal](#): > > Holy shit! Your mother spanked a three year old for not making it to the toilet? You have my profound sympathy. I got spanked for anything that made a mess. I might have been two, but got spanked for accidentally spilling something. She has some kind of a clean fetish, or germ-phobia, or something. I don’t know. Everything she owns is in a baggie. The TV remote is in a baggie. Boxes of food that haven’t been opened yet are in baggies. She buys paper towels in bulk, and right after the trip to the bulk store, my stepfather has to park outside because the garage is full of paper towels. Anyway, when I was growing up, I spent as much time with my aunt as I did with my mother, so I got a reality check. ---
**Author:** ![Carryon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9fc29f/32.png) [@Carryon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Carryon)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2016, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fear-of-puking-have-your-heard-of-such-a-thing/745041/34 "2016-02-05T15:39:56Z")
Yes, when I was going through my rotation in training to be a psychologist, one of the patients I saw had a fear of throwing up to such an extent that it was misclassified as anorexia. He was simply not eating as he was afraid he’d throw up and therefore was severely restricting his food intake and then only to liquid and very soft foods. He had an additional fear of choking as well. Fortunately we were able to treat these phobias very well through behavior modification and within 6 months he regained his weight to comfortable levels and was eating normal food again. One thing I’ve learned is if there is something in the world, someone has a phobia about it. ---
**Author:** ![congodwarf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e36b37/32.png) [@congodwarf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/congodwarf)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2016, 11:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fear-of-puking-have-your-heard-of-such-a-thing/745041/35 "2016-02-05T23:59:50Z")
When I was 5 I fractured my skull. One of the side effects of this was vomiting for 5 days. The only thing I could keep down was water. Moving too fast made me vomit. Turning my head made me vomit. It was horrible. The end result was me being so traumatized and afraid of throwing up any more that even now, 31 years later, I am completely incapable of puking. No matter how sick I am or how much I eat, no matter how much I gag and dry heave, I can not puke. Now, if someone else wants to puke I’m totally ok with it. I will comfort them and clean them up. I can smell it and even get it on me and I’m fine, as long as it doesn’t come from me. ---
**Author:** ![CerebrAl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/5f8ce5/32.png) [@CerebrAl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CerebrAl)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2016, 3:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fear-of-puking-have-your-heard-of-such-a-thing/745041/36 "2016-02-06T03:01:48Z")
I have a very healthy fear of vomiting. Because of this, I think everyone fears puking. I very seldom ever throw-up…haven’t thrown up in many years. In fact, the only thing that makes me puke is hangover and I avoid them at all costs. I can’t remember the last hangover. If not for puking and hang overs, I may very well be an alcoholic. That you…puke. ---
**Author:** ![AngelSoft](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/angelsoft/32/440_2.png) [@AngelSoft](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AngelSoft)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2016, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fear-of-puking-have-your-heard-of-such-a-thing/745041/37 "2016-02-06T16:32:28Z")
Seeing or hearing someone puke just…no. I can’t stand it and it completely disgusts me. I can’t watch it in movies even. Like that show World’s Dumbest? I love it but when it’s something like World’s Dumbest Partiers, I skip it because I know there’ll be lots of puking. The smell as well just…again, I can’t stand it. My poor daughter though lol. She’s 8 and for as long as she’s been alive, the moment she tells me ‘My tummy hurts’ I freak out. Rush her to the bathroom while I go grab a bucket. If she leaves the bathroom, she carries the bucket with her lol The ONE time I didn’t have this complete freak out was when she was about 5 and came into my room at about 3am. Said her tummy hurt and I was so tired I just told her to go back to bed. Pukes everywhere. All over herself, the bed…and the poor poor dog. Covered in vomit. My long haired dog…Never again. ---
**Author:** ![Emerald\_Hawk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e495f1/32.png) [@Emerald\_Hawk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Emerald_Hawk)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2016, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fear-of-puking-have-your-heard-of-such-a-thing/745041/38 "2016-02-06T22:08:34Z")
There was a very long, first person account of having multiple anxiety disorders, including emetophobia, in the Atlantic a couple years ago: > **[Surviving Anxiety](https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2014/01/surviving_anxiety/355741/?single_page=true)** > > I've tried therapy, drugs, and booze. Here’s how I came to terms with the nation's most common mental illness. The author tries to get treatment for his emetophobia with exposure therapy, but… His fear of puking is so strong, he manages to not vomit even after drinking ipecac! ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2016, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fear-of-puking-have-your-heard-of-such-a-thing/745041/39 "2016-02-07T00:25:43Z")
> [@SanVito](#): > > I had this as a child - maybe 8 or 9 years old? I was terrified of being sick, thinking I would gag to death or something, and wouldn’t ever stay over with friends in case I was sick. I would ask my parents every night if I was going to be sick in the night. > > I think it stemmed from the fact that I wasn’t ill often as a child - puking-sick maybe every 2 years, when it would be a whole night of it, so my memories of being sick were really bad. > > Of course, eventually, I WAS sick in the night, and surviving that sort of made me get over my phobia. > > Still loath it though. I have OCD and that’s almost exactly how it happened to me when I was eleven. I had gotten a bad case of stomach flu that left me throwing up 9 times in five hours. (No, I’m not exaggerating. The last two times I don’t think there was anything left in my stomach but mucus and I was still heaving. My muscles hurt like hell) After that, I was fucking TERRIFIED of puking, to the point I couldn’t sleep. I would have to drink entire bottles of ginger ale or 7-Up to try and settle my stomach. (All it did was make me have to pee). My mother stopped buying it, and I went with water\*. Of course, my fear gave me a nervous stomach, which only made it worse. And like you, I got over it the next time I got sick and realized the fear of throwing up was worse than actually doing so. Puking sucks, obviously, but not nearly as much as the obsession with it. That and to this day I can’t eat carrot sticks without gagging. ---
**Author:** ![Charlie\_Wayne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/4bbf92/32.png) [@Charlie\_Wayne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Charlie_Wayne)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2016, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fear-of-puking-have-your-heard-of-such-a-thing/745041/40 "2016-02-07T00:29:15Z")
> [@RivkahChaya](#): > > One of my cats killed a cable box that way. I cleaned it out, took it back, and said “It just stopped working.” Got a new one. The universe owes me a few. Oh, for shame! I have reported you to the Cable Authority! Just kidding. The universe owes me plenty as well and I delight in finding all kinds of ways to collect. I didn’t really report you to anyone. I hope you can take a joke and I apologize if you can’t. Or if you think this was not a joke but just some stupid juvenile need for attention. Please don’t report me? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fear-of-puking-have-your-heard-of-such-a-thing/745041.md?page=1)