My crippling vomiting phobia left me suicidal and scared to leave the house

A MUM says she was left suicidal by her extreme phobia to vomit.

Alex Sim-Wise’s crippling fear surfaced when she was eight and slowly stopped her visiting fun fairs, travelling by boat or going out with friends.

Alex Sim-Wise. Photo released January 7 2025. A mum says her extreme phobia of sick has left her suicidal - and unable to leave the house. Alex Sim-Wise, 43, says the crippling fear - known as emetophobia - began when she was eight years old. Over the years, it slowly took away her ability to do things she once enjoyed - like riding roller coasters, travelling by boat or going out with friends.Now, she struggles to leave the house, and says her fear of sick is on her mind “24/7.” .
Alex Sim-Wise was left suicidal by her extreme phobia to vomit
Alex Sim-Wise. Photo released January 7 2025. A mum says her extreme phobia of sick has left her suicidal - and unable to leave the house. Alex Sim-Wise, 43, says the crippling fear - known as emetophobia - began when she was eight years old. Over the years, it slowly took away her ability to do things she once enjoyed - like riding roller coasters, travelling by boat or going out with friends.Now, she struggles to leave the house, and says her fear of sick is on her mind “24/7.” .
The 43-year-old baker struggles to leave the house

Now, the 43-year-old baker struggles to leave the house.

If her husband is away, she constantly worries about their ten-year-old daughter being ill with a stomach bug.

Alex, of Torquay, Devon thinks her condition, called emetophobia, is a reflection of her parents’ aversion to vomit.

She said: “By my 20s, I realised the list of things I couldn’t do was growing.

“My triggers include nausea in myself and other people, stomach bugs, the way sick itself looks and smells.

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

At one point she was having suicidal thoughts and needed crisis care.

She has launched an online funding appeal to pay for a private clinic.

Woman with red hair and bangs, wearing a white t-shirt, smiles at the camera.
She reveals: ‘My triggers include nausea in myself and other people’
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