How it's Perceived

Emetophobia is a little embarrassing. After all it is an irrational fear and nobody likes admitting they're being irrational.

What do you reply with when somebody says 'why are you scared of being sick? It's natural and very rarely happens'. Er, yes...I know! What do they think is going through my head when I'm in situations which make me nervous? The answer is this:

"Lucy stop being such a twat. You are not going to be sick, there's nothing you've done that could possibly make you sick, and even if you are then it'll be due to how much you're worrying. Pull yourself together, calm down and you'll feel fine again."

Of course this rarely works on its own.

Anyway I'm straying from the point which I intended...A couple of nights this week I haven't wanted to eat dinner at the same time as everyone else. This has been for a few reasons: firstly I ate lunch too late and simply wasn't hungry at the same time. The next time I felt extremely down, possibly stress, possibly SAD and feeling down usually means not feeling hungry, or even feeling sick. When I feel depressed I worry about where it will lead, which makes me anxious and therefore I feel sick. Also I get so tearful I'm worried I'll cry at the table.

The result of this is that (I think) my family thinks I have an eating disorder. This has happened before when I've gone through a severe bout of anxiety + emetophobia when I ate half a walnut in four days when I was about 8. That was a culmination of being quietly manipulated (bullied if you like) by my supposed best friend, and I blame most of my problems on her. I'm straying again.
The point is that I'm not sure how to convince them I don't have an eating disorder without explaining my emetophobia to them. It's not a matter of 'they won't understand' it's a matter of 'they WILL understand, but they'll worry too much'.

I have told my mum that the shorter days affect my mood and I could be suffering from SAD. Whether I am or not remains to be seen but it's the best explanation I can think of. I just hope she believes me and doesn't continue worrying I have anorexia or something.