Monday 4 July 2022 09:42 AM Mother-of-two, 36, has been living with debilitating sickness fear emetophobia ... trends now
A mother-of-two with a crippling fear of vomiting has told her husband to leave her so he can have a better life.
Lisa Partington, 36, has suffered from emetophobia since she was 24 years old, after being triggered by her grandmother's sudden death.
Emetophobia is an intense fear of vomiting or seeing other people vomit and can significantly impact sufferers' ability to lead a normal life.
After living with the condition for 12 years, the mother from Peterborough said her condition has affected her relationships with everyone in her life - including her own children.
Lisa, who runs her own business as a virtual assistant, described how close she was with her grandmother after her mother remarried and had lots of step children to focus on.
Lisa Partington (pictured) has suffered with emetophobia since she was 24 years old. She is so afraid of being sick and vomit that she is scared of her two children
At the same time that Lisa lost her grandmother, who passed away peacefully yet suddenly in her sleep, she went up for a promotion at work that never materialised.
Shortly after her grandmother died, Lisa moved out of her mother's house - and as the stress built up, her fear of sickness began to develop.
She says: 'One day I tried to drive to work. I'd woken up in the middle of the night feeling sick, I woke up and tidied my bedroom as that's what I used to do.
'I got in my car to go to work and I got onto a slip road to go onto a dual carriageway but I couldn't do it.
'I ended up reversing off the slip road and driving to my mum's house, which is where I stayed for the next four months.'
This was the start of Lisa's debilitating phobia, which is also associated with social anxiety, OCD and eating disorders.
The following year when Lisa's mother got food poisoning, she said things 'got worse and worse'.
The mother-of-two, 36 (bottom right), has told her husband (bottom left) that he and their children, aged seven and four (pictured at back) and should leave her so they can live without her phobia
She spent 24 hours a day pacing around while waiting to be sick. Within a month she had been signed off work and became unable to leave the house, eat or sleep because she was so frightened of vomiting.
When Lisa met her husband and the pair started dating, she recalled feeling so anxious about emetophobia she tried to call the whole thing off.
She explained how she began to lose friends after becoming housebound.
'When you say no to going out enough times people get bored of you,' she said.
'Nowadays it can be hard to maintain friendships because I’m avoidant of a lot of places.
Lisa explains how she once had to call her husband home from work because she couldn't be left alone with the children
Lisa's debilitating phobia, of sickness and vomiting, is also associated with social anxiety, OCD and eating disorders
'I do explain my phobia to people but not many people fully understand it which makes it hard.'
Lisa explained how she relies on her husband heavily when it comes to raising their two sons, who are aged seven and four.
Having her children wasn't easy for Lisa, who was terrified at the thought of suffering from morning sickness.
She recalled her husband turning over the pregnancy test and crying happy tears, while her first thought was, 'can I get an abortion'.
However, Lisa was lucky that she didn't get sick during her pregnancy and says that even though her phobia is awful she wouldn't be without her children, and is eternally grateful for them.
During the pandemic she wasn't worried about Covid-19 as it is not a sickness bug - but she was concerned about her children picking up illnesses once they returned to school
She once met woman in her 50s or 60s who also suffers from emetophobia and recalls her saying: 'You've had kids, I could never do it.'
During her pregnancy Lisa met with a consultant and put things in place for her pregnancy and labor, for example she had to be careful with pain relief as many of them cause nausea.
Now that her kids are growing up and can pick up bugs at school and nursery, Lisa heavily relies on her husband.
