Extreme vomiting phobia has caused a woman to try to leave the house

A British mother says her extreme phobia of vomiting made her suicidal – and she couldn’t leave the house.

Alex Sim-Wise, 43, says the crippling fear, known as emetophobia, started when she was eight.

Over the years, it slowly took away his ability to do things he once enjoyed, like riding roller coasters, boating, or going out with friends. Now she struggles to leave the house and says her fear of vomiting is on her mind “24/7”.

She has even experienced suicidal thoughts due to her emetophobia and hopes to enter a hospital facility to receive treatment.

“My husband, 38, calls my phobia ‘the demon’ because it started small and is now bigger than my whole personality,” said the mother-of-one from Torquay, Devon, UK.

“It’s really primal, it’s the ‘survival instinct’ part of my brain that gets triggered by being sick. My triggers include nausea in myself and other people, stomach bugs, the way the sick person looks and smells.

By the time I hit my twenties, I realized that I was constantly keeping a list of things I couldn’t do, and it was growing. It’s too much and it’s embarrassing.

Alex Sim- Wise

“I used to faint, and now I have panic attacks, I cry – sometimes I even run and hide.”

Although she can’t pinpoint exactly where her emetophobia started, Alex says she started feeling anxious about vomiting when she was eight.

She says her parents have always been “avoidant” with vomiting and believes they may have experienced emetophobia without realizing it.

By the time she turned eight, Alex believed that being sick was something to worry about – and her fear grew much worse as time went on.

“I don’t know if my parents were aware that they had a phobia of being sick, but my phobia might have been a learned behavior from them,” she said.

“My father would avoid drinking alcohol and eating foods like mussels in case they gave him food poisoning. My mum would get really withdrawn from being sick – she’d get really anxious and lose the plot a bit.

“At eight years old, it had become something I really didn’t like and would tend to avoid.”

Despite previously enjoying fairground and theme park rides, Alex began avoiding them at age 13. She says they made her feel out of control and she didn’t like the thought of being in them in case she or someone else on the trip vomited.

The next thing to go was boating because she hated the idea of ​​seasickness.

“I used to think it was a strange character – something that kept me safe,” Alex said. “At first I thought it was great, mainly because it kept me from doing things like drinking too much or taking drugs.

“But by the time I hit my twenties, I realized that I was constantly carrying a list of things I couldn’t do, and it was growing. It’s too much and it’s embarrassing.

“But if I put myself in situations like bars and nightclubs, I know I’m more likely to see something that might trigger me.”

Now, at the age of 43, Alex can’t spend more than 10 minutes in a bar without panicking. She worries every minute about her 10-year-old daughter coming down with a stomach bug while she’s alone with her.

Even Christmas and New Years bring extreme feelings of panic and anxiety for him because of the rich food, access to alcohol and the number of people mingling together.

Despite numerous therapy sessions, Alex now reveals that she worries every minute about the illness – and it has led to suicidal thoughts in the past.

“I received emergency crisis care from the Firefighters’ Charity,” she said. “I had suicidal thoughts and they were really helpful, but tell me I would benefit from getting hospital care.

“I was relieved, in a way – the phobia is getting too big now.”

Alex has started a GoFundMe to help her treatment, as she feels a private facility dedicated to treating phobias would be best for her.

“Emetophobia can be really hard to treat once it gets to a certain point,” she said. “I would have to be in the facility for at least five to six weeks at £6,000 a week.

“No one has that money, but it gives me hope for the future because I was worried that I had exhausted all options. I didn’t have ‘start a crowdfunder to treat my extreme sick phobia’ on my 2025 bingo card, but it feels like my last hope.