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.

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.