An Emetophobe goes to the pub...

...and eats there too!

A few months ago - before headlines about the Winter vomiting bug started surfacing - I wouldn't have thought twice about going to the pub with friends.

Hour of Ease: Anxiety Keeping You Up Late? Turning Back the Body Clock

Emetophobia and staying up late seem to go hand in hand.

After all if you have a severe fear of waking up Sick during the night it becomes obvious that the only solution is to stay up for as long as possible in the hope of avoiding it.

An Emetophobe's Christmas Food Diary

So Christmas 2012 has been and gone and was actually quite relaxing.

I was spending the day with family, here at home and in terms of eating this setup was great as I knew where food had been bought (from the local supermarket) and could see how it was being prepared.

The Christmas Cope: Surviving Christmas

It's supposed to be the most wonderful time of the year.

Yet with bugs rife and anxiety levels high, the added pressures an Emetophobe must experience at Christmas can make the Holidays anything but the season to be jolly.

Norovirus 2012: Permenet State of Dread

Everyday this week I've sat down to my morning paper to find another story about the horror that is Noro.

It feels as if the authors of these articles are competing to see who is able to worsen my already permanent state of dread.

Surviving Emetophobia Blog: My Escape

I've not written any new content on this Blog for the best part of a year.

Despite negelecting the one place that was once my Escape, the only medium where I could really blurt out my Emetophobia feelings and emotions, there was a good reason behind my break: my Phobia actually got better.

I'm Serious!

For the best part of 2012 my Emetophobia was under control.

I was able to do all the things I had stopped myself from doing in the past few years, more prominently I had started drinking a small amount of alcohol when I fancied.

But then October came around and I experienced a night of hell, one that I will tell you all about later on - maybe in the Spring when I'm feeling less anxious and more time has passed.

Ultimately in the past few months I've felt the true terror of Emetophobia creep back up on me - probably coinciding with Winter and the return of the fun bugs that come with it.

In early 2013 I plan to visit my doctor and ask for anxiety tablets and depending on how I feel may ask to be referred to London's Maudsley Hospital for C.B.T (Cognitive Behavioural Therapy). I'm also more than likely going to book some sessions of Hypnotherapy.

So I plan to use this blog as a place to once again vent my journey as a sufferer of this debilitating Phobia, updating as often as possible each week of the year and hope you will join me so that we can cope together!

Steve. B. Somers.