Monday, April 5, 2010

Irritable Bowels

The stomach bug that took up residence in the household has moved on...unfortunately to members of the extended family (6 new cases and counting), but hey, I'm done with it. Life is good. And I never threw up. YAY!

Let it be known that I have a very strong aversion to throwing up. I know most people don't enjoy it, but I pretty much live in fear of it. I'm convinced it stems from throwing up an entire spaghetti dinner that left a permanent stain on my bedroom carpet at age 6. I don't remember being particularly upset at the time, but the memory sticks with me just like that stain.

Unfortunately, I have a fairly strong gag reflex. I've been known to make myself nauseous while brushing my teeth, and I refuse to swallow anything larger than a regular Advil. My OB thought I was joking when I told her I was taking Flinstone chewable vitamins instead of the pre-natal prescription. I checked. Two Flinstones = One Pre-Natal. Tell your friends.

Other going concerns: watching other people puke, watching other people eat things that shouldn't be eaten, watching other people let things with more than four legs crawl on them, watching/hearing/reading about "bad things" happening to children (I will not be watching the movie "Precious based on the novel Push by Sapphire."), and green beans (also the cause of childhood vomit).

I can literally make myself sick, thinking about getting sick.

Exceptions to the rule:
1. In the college binge drinking days, I was remarkably not a puker.
2. Kid vomit and blood (not at the same time) do not bother me at all.

4 comments:

  1. I have such a phobia of vomiting that it affected my eating! I cannot watch anyone being sick even on T.V.! It got so bad that I could only drink vitamin drinks for a while, but now I can eat small things, and I'm getting better.
    Even reading this brought tears to my eyes!
    I would do anything rather than vomiting, yes, even keeping on swallowing it down, even though everyone else could hear that I was retching!

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  2. I hate to brag (no I don't), but I haven't vomited since 1993 ( or maybe it was 94). I don't actually know when it was, other than a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away.

    Kid vomit and blood don't bother you, but a certain type of bean does.

    Very odd.

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  3. Alice - thank you for confirming the phobia. my other one is falling down stairs. sometimes i have to stop walking and think for a little while, before i can continue. of course i've fallen UP them many more times than down.

    Charlie - sometimes just the smell of it can induce retching. but my husband actually gets nauseous at the smell of hot chocolate. so i think that is worse.

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  4. The fear of vomiting kept me from binge drinking until I was well into my 20's! I got over my fear quick when I realized the benefits outweighed the risks, ha ha.

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