Mum, 28, says she felt 'so misunderstood' because of sick phobia

A mum with a severe phobia of being sick couldn’t hold her toddler's hand for a week after she fell ill – and even throws away freshly opened food if it doesn't 'smell quite right'. Maddie Blockley, 28, was so worried about vomiting she would examine her dinner under her bedroom lamp as a child and now sticks to a diet of ‘safe foods.'

She opts for dry and ‘best before’ items and avoids dairy and meat products to make sure she avoids falling unwell. The mum-of-one was diagnosed with emetophobia – an extreme fear of vomiting - in May 2019 after years of suffering with a fear of being sick.

Her phobia is so intense she has to make sure she has a glass of water, a fan, pillow spray, mints, a herbal tea and Gaviscon by her bedside table every night before she goes to sleep 'just in case'. Since her diagnosis, she has started receiving cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) and hypnotherapy, which has begun to help her in an effort to overcome her fear.

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Maddie, a mental health nurse, said: “When my little girl was ill I couldn’t hold her hand or be in the room for long with her. I felt awful as she said to me: 'Do you not love me because I’m poorly?'

“It broke my heart and the last thing I wanted to do was impose my fear on her or make her think I didn't love her. My phobia of sick is so bad that when I was young I would say I would choose to die over throwing up.

“I hate it every time I throw something away - especially with living costs at the moment - but if the food smells slightly off I have to get rid of it. Being sick is so scary to me - I can't take any risks. I have to remove myself if my partner is ill.

"Sometimes I have to go