{"id":30424,"date":"2024-01-23T20:00:00","date_gmt":"2024-01-24T01:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wpdev.mom.com\/momlife\/emetophobia-surviving-first-trimester-pregnancy"},"modified":"2024-09-25T22:38:21","modified_gmt":"2024-09-26T02:38:21","slug":"emetophobia-surviving-first-trimester-pregnancy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mom.com\/pregnancy\/emetophobia-surviving-first-trimester-pregnancy","title":{"rendered":"I Have Severe Emetophobia \u2014 Here’s How I Survived the First Trimester of Pregnancy"},"content":{"rendered":"

I have an overwhelming, intense fear of vomiting, also known as emetophobia. Now, nobody enjoys<\/em> throwing up, but for me it's a deep-seated fear; even the thought of vomiting can cause extreme anxiety<\/a> and panic attacks. To clarify further, there is nothing scarier to me than the idea of getting food poisoning or a stomach bug<\/a> — and being around someone who has recently been sick sets off every alarm bell in my head.<\/p>

I've had emetophobia for as long as I can remember, but it's been more intense since the time I was around 10. I also have generalized anxiety disorder and panic disorder — both of these disorders go hand-in-hand with emetophobia. <\/p>

What is emetophobia?<\/strong>
\nAccording to the Cleveland Clinic<\/a>, \"Emetophobia is a mental health condition in which you experience an intense fear of vomiting, barfing, or throwing up… Emetophobia is a 'specific phobia' in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. Specific phobias cause anxiety and panic attacks after exposure or anticipated exposure to the thing or situation you’re afraid of.\"<\/p>

Emetophobia and pregnancy:<\/strong>
\nI knew since I was little that I wanted to have kids, but as I got older, I seriously considered whether or not I'd be able to make it through pregnancy with my emetophobia and anxiety disorders. I wanted nothing more than to be a mom, but the idea of dealing with morning sickness terrified me. This isn't unusual for people with emetophobia — according to the Cleveland Clinic, \"Signs of emetophobia include avoiding becoming pregnant, due to the risk of morning sickness.\" After long discussions with my husband and therapist, I decided I didn't want to let my anxiety and emetophobia stop me from becoming a parent — so it was time to face my fears head-on. <\/p>

As I write this, I'm 24 weeks pregnant, and guess what? I survived the first trimester. I was nauseous, I threw up a few times, but I made it. I'm not going to lie and tell you it was easy, because it wasn't — I had numerous panic attacks, I regularly struggled to eat, and I was in a state of near-constant anxiety for weeks on end. But I did make it.<\/p>

Here are some things that helped me deal with the nausea and anxiety:<\/p>

If you have emetophobia, this article might be triggering for you. I want to provide practical advice for other people with emetophobia who want to experience pregnancy, but that does mean I'll be talking candidly about nausea and vomiting. Take care of yourself.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I have an overwhelming, intense fear of vomiting, also known as emetophobia. Now, nobody enjoys throwing up, but for me it’s a deep-seated fear; even the thought of vomiting can cause extreme anxiety and panic attacks. To clarify further, there is nothing scarier to me than the idea of getting food poisoning or a stomach […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":207747,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"apple_news_api_created_at":"","apple_news_api_id":"","apple_news_api_modified_at":"","apple_news_api_revision":"","apple_news_api_share_url":"","apple_news_cover_media_provider":"image","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_cover_video_id":0,"apple_news_cover_video_url":"","apple_news_cover_embedwebvideo_url":"","apple_news_is_hidden":"","apple_news_is_paid":"","apple_news_is_preview":"","apple_news_is_sponsored":"","apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_metadata":"\"\"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_slug":"","apple_news_sections":[],"apple_news_suppress_video_url":false,"apple_news_use_image_component":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,53,10,12],"tags":[4604,4605,4606,442,317,223,314],"featured":[],"internal-tag":[],"series":[],"class_list":{"2":"type-post"},"acf":[],"apple_news_notices":[],"yoast_head":"\nI Have Severe Emetophobia \u2014 Here's How I Survived the First Trimester of Pregnancy<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"I have an overwhelming, intense fear of vomiting, also known as emetophobia. 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