Relapse.

[SMglitter]

Hi, all.

I just wanted to share my experiences with you all and ask if you guys ever relapse.

I've been emetophobic for as long as I can remember. I used to be very, very sensitive to even the word v*, or b*.
I used to wash my hands constantly. I refused to travel or eat out anywhere. It was rough.
However I made some breakthroughs and now I can do those things and be alright, but sometimes things trigger my phobia all over again.

We've been doing house renovations, and as of right now I'm sleeping on the couch. To be truthful, I've been stressed out and not sleeping as much, if at all. I tend to feel sick when this happens, and right now I'm battling a panic attack from it. How do you guys help yourselves calm down and avoid panicing?

[kam00096]

Hi SMglitter,

I definitely go through good and bad spells with emet and extra stress plus not sleeping properly always makes it worse. I'm a big fan of distraction activities (I actually posted about this just recently - there are loads of ace suggestions for what people do to calm down on there) Anything that takes my mind off how I'm feeling/ what I'm thinking is good. I like online comp games, watching TV or films, reading or getting outside (don't know what time of day it is with you but a walk's always good - unless it's the middle of the night!) I do find that reading and posting on here calms me down too. Also if you google mood cafe and find the relaxation bit there's some guided relaxation and breathing exercises that I reckon are quite helpful. Don't know if any of that helps but good for you for making such progress with your emet. Just keep telling yourself it's just a bad patch and you'll get back to feeling good again