šø
- Date posted
- 3y
Mae87Mae87
- Date posted
- 3y
It truly is debilitating so I can empathise with you completely. I donāt take medication because I donāt want to mask my phobia Iāve wanted to tackle it head on so itās no longer a phobia if that makes sense. The only thing that has helped me change the way I think and feel about the anxiety that comes from vomiting has been 12 months of therapy with a clinical psychologist. (Iām in Australia thatās what we call therapists). I also do 20 minutes of meditation each day and mindfulness activities throughout the day. I think once you get on top of the thoughts that vomiting is bad then you start to realise that vomiting is actually a normal bodily response and that everyone will vomit every once in a while and nobody enjoys it. Not knowing when itās coming is definitely the thing for me also (unable to control it) but when we let go of control and say maybe I will vomit or maybe I wonāt then youāre no longer giving power to your anxiety. When you start to feel nauseous in a panic attack try diffuse your thoughts by seeing them in the clouds above you and notice how those thoughts are just thoughts and they are not attached to you at all. Watch the thoughts come and watch them go without attaching any stories to them. Itās a lot harder to do than said. It takes a lot of practice and patience with yourself. Iāve tried hypnotherapy but it wasnāt super helpful for me. I honestly believe if you start ERP therapy you can overcome this. It just takes a lot of time and hard work. Youāve got this. I believe in you. Tell your friends and family what youāre going through even if they donāt understand. The more you talk about it the less power you are giving to your anxiety.
ChefTChefT
- Date posted
- 3y
Youāre fantastic. Thank you so much for this post. Iām so glad youāre doing better and the work youāve done is helping you so much.
šøšø
- Date posted
- 3y
I truly appreciate you taking the time to give us this helpful information. I wasnāt talking about my nausea issues for a while, since I was dealing with other issues, but Iām currently focusing on them in therapy. I try to keep calm and just realize that itās my anxiety. **trigger warning coming so Donāt read of easily triggered**This whole nausea thing started for me after a 4 hour car drive that eventually made me throw up. Ever since then, Iāve been scared of being in cars. Now it has transferred over to public transportation. Iām going to start doing ERP soon. This is just hard
ChefTChefT
- Date posted
- 3y
I have emetephobia and currently struggling with intense anxiety etc. Iāve had meds prescribed but afraid to take them for fear of getting sick or dizzy.
šøšø
- Date posted
- 3y
Iām currently considering on maybe taking meds for this. I have become dependent on dramamine and my therapist was so concerned that I had a breakdown. Itās so hard
Mae87Mae87
- Date posted
- 3y
Yes! I have emetophobia (fear of vomiting) Iāve had it my whole life. Itās horrible. When you feel the nausea coming on and you know itās just a symptom of your anxiety picture the feeling on a leaf in a stream of water. Itās just a thought and itās not attached to you. The nausea always eases for me now after I do my diffusion techniques. There are plenty of diffusion techniques on the internet to try. It really is horrible but you will get through it. Also mindfulness can help. Go outside take a walk around and notice everything around you, are there birds, trees or cars you can see. What can you smell and hear. Notice the time of day is it hot cold. All of these will distract you from focusing on the nausea and it should subside.
ChefTChefT
- Date posted
- 3y
May I ask if youāre doing ERP for the emetephobia? Also, do you take medication for the anxiety it causes? Iāve not started ERP yet. Am supposed to talk with therapist on Wednesday for the first time. Iāve been reading books about it and trying to do the techniques it says but it is hard. I do know that the only way to get to the other side of the fear is to through it and face it head on (from what Iām reading). I do some breathing but that is certainly hard mid panic. I am trying hypnotherapy for it soon as well. Have you ever done that? Itās such an awful phobia that for me, I think, is less about the act and more about loss of control. So this phobia has kind of transceneded itself into being sick in general. Dizzy. Vomiting. Etc and being alone while being sick. Iām single and live with my dogs but itās hard when youāre going through something like this to go it alone (even though youāre alone in whatās happening to your body). I am happy to see (not happy others feel the way I do because I donāt wish it upon anyone) but happy that there are others out there like me that understand and can relate to me. No one in my life understands because they donāt have these fears.
šøšø
- Date posted
- 3y
I try to focus on other things and I tend to journal or play WordSearch games. I have become dependent on dramamine for me to go anywhere. My nausea happens all the time on public transportation and it makes me so nervous. Iāve gotten off of trains because I felt so sick and close to throwing up.
ChefTChefT
- Date posted
- 3y
@yougotthis Iām sorry you feel that way. And I think starting ERP is a great step. I start on Wednesday. So yay for us! I also do a lot of games on my phone. I started meditating twice a day as suggested on this post, and I started ātappingā. You can Google it if you donāt know what it is. But itās also helped lower my anxiety level.
Peter !Peter !
- Date posted
- 3y
YES. I have this a LOT, but mostly when Iām in public areas. I had this while I was on a plane and almost felt like I actually was going to throw up. I didnāt though. I also have this a lot while Iām in vehicles.
šøšø
- Date posted
- 3y
Ugh idk how to deal with it. I take public transportation to get to work and to go out sometimes and I always feel so nauseous and like Iām going to throw up, which sends me into panic mode. Iāve always gotten car sick since I was young and actually had a bad experience that has triggered this whole nausea fear.
Peter !Peter !
- Date posted
- 3y
@yougotthis Mhm! I believe thatās where mine originated from too.
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taylorrpaigee
- Date posted
- 25w
Any tips?
This is my first time posting - I have a fear of throw up and Iāve been told it is cause from my OCD (repetitive thoughts) which makes sense because if someone gets sick it replays over and over again and I canāt get it out of my head. Itās gotten a lot worse in the past maybe two years. Iām always on edge that someone is going to get sick around me. Iāve heard the ābest or most commonā way to help with this is exposure therapy and OBVIOUSLY I donāt want to do that. Anyone have any tips or anything for this (or maybe have done the exposure therapy)?
suzie90
- Date posted
- 12w
Emetophobia
So Iām severely emetophobic but these past few weeks have gotten SO bad. I had a bad reaction to an SSRI that made me feel like I was gonna throwup, I stopped taking them over two weeks ago but ever since then the fear has got even worse. I havenāt left the house properly in weeks because Iāve convinced myself Iāll be sick. I feel nauseous even indoors a lot of the time (there are hours when I donāt, like for example this afternoon I was fine). But I challenged myself to go for a short walk this evening and omg it was so hard I really thought I might throwup. The thing is I KNOW itās anxiety and not real nausea because it feels completely different to when I was actually nauseous from the medication. This feeling is more like a tight throat/sensation of a lump in my throat that makes me feel like Iām gonna gag. I also have RCPD (I canāt burp basically lol) so I just feel like I have trapped air in my throat thatās gonna make me puke. The phobia has gotten really really bad. I have started therapy recently but Iāve been scared of throwing up since I was a kid and Iām now 31 lol wtf. I remember last Christmas my mum said someone at her work had been sick and I was so scared my mum had caught it and would pass it on to me that I refused to leave my bedroom without wearing gloves and a mask and wiping everything with anti-germ wipes. But right now itās so so bad because I have literally gotten to the point where Iāve convinced myself I feel nauseous pretty much 24/7 and I am taking anti-nausea meds almost every day. Has anyone else dealt with/has tips for this??? Iām literally desperate š
bafiire
- Date posted
- 11w
HELP ME
I have emetophobia. And have been battling with it for about a year and a half now. It stems from a trip I took with my high school where everyone ended up getting the stomach bug. I didnt have it so bad but I ended up feeling nauseous the entire trip (1 week long). And then every time I would eat food I would feel nauseous or unwell and had a strict clean diet for a while. It got to the point where I couldnāt attend school without feeling like I was going to vomit and pass out. I couldnāt even hear the word without getting anxious. I eventually got on lexapro and when that didnt work then I recently got on prozac. I have been talking to my therapist about my anxiety and she had initially thought it was a trauma response from the trip, but eventually came to the conclusion that it was a form of OCD. Like it was where I wouldnt eat something if it touched the counter or I wouldnt eat something unless someone else ate the exact thing a few hours before. I avoid red meat completely because it is slightly raw. I get panic attacks after eating something like a freaking cookie from Crumbl, because I would read reviews about someone getting sick from the uncooked dough. But it felt like before summer I was getting to a point where I could eat most things and not get too much anxiety. Until the other day. On my birthday at midnight I ended up getting sick like stomach flu sick like real bad and ended up in the er. I havent eaten anything since and am horrified to eat something. And my thoughts keep running and I dont know how to be normal anymore. I dont know how to have a relationship with food anymore. I am horrified. I spent the entire year just dreading this one day and it happened on my birthday. I am supposed to be in school but I donāt know how to function anymore. Please someone help, I feel so alone.
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