A teenager’s extreme fear of vomiting that led her to restrict her liquid intake went unrecognised for a year resulting in chronic dehydration and nausea, a case report says. 

The 15-year-old developed the phobia after experiencing a bout of viral gastroenteritis that involved nausea and vomiting, and while the illness lasted less than a week, the nausea persisted. 

Other ongoing symptoms included light-headedness and panic attacks whenever the nausea flared.  

However the authors of the case report from the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Centre in the US said the patient’s severe anxiety — the primary source of her symptoms — initially wasn’t recognised, resulting in delayed treatment.