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  1. #1
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    Aug 2009
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    United States
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    My 16 year old daughter has been emetophobic since she was 4. She
    has seen many therapists and is seeing a psychiatrist for this issue
    and for bipolar disorder. However her fear of vomiting is affecting
    her life the most. Presently, she takes Zoloft and Clonopin for
    anxiety. She is at the point now that she really wants to conquer this,
    yet at the same time she is afraid of what life would be like without
    this phobia.
    I will show her this site, but in the meantime, how can i best help
    her?
    What could I do that would be most helpful for her during a panic
    attack (because she thinks she's nauseous?) She tends to interpret
    any stomach sensation as nausea.
    I will also look into finding a good therapist who practices EMDR. She
    has a therapist now but she doesn't really discuss this issue with him.
    Thank you for your help.

  2. #2
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    Jul 2008
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    United States
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    Well I really admire you for being there for your daughter. It may seem silly to you but as a sufferer I can tell you it's very real to her. Probably her therapy is not doing much good if she can't or won't discuss emetophobia with her therapist. RUN from anybody who wants her to make herself v* to get over the phobia...anybody who thinks it's just for attention. What can work if she's willing to put the effort in and has a good therapist is gradual desensitization to vomit, and changing her ways of thinking. Show her this forum and we'll embrace her with open arms and you too, and help you help her in any way we can.

  3. #3
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    Aug 2009
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    United States
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    Thanks so much. Actually, I don't think it's silly at all. It is terrible
    to see her suffer and see so much of her time and energy being
    spent on this. She's a great kid, extremely intelligent, but over the
    years has missed so much school because of this. Last year she was
    only there half the time. She really wants to go to college.
    I am so glad yo told me what a mistake it would be for her to make
    herself vomit-she is so desperate, she was actually thinking of doing
    this herself as some type of exposure therapy!
    Thanks for the warm welcome

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Dec 2008
    Location
    Canada
    Posts
    595

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    It's nice to meet you...welcome! I admire your dedication to helping your daughter. A lot of members on here have families who aren't so supportive probably because many don't understand and don't know how to help. We have a great support community here and you and your daughter are most welcome to join us. I found therapy has really made a difference for me so encourage her to take full advantage of it. Take care.

  5. #5
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    Aug 2009
    Location
    United States
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    nice to meet you and welcome..this is a very real phobia that does affect our lives. I've only had it for the past five years. and i have three kids and i am afaraid that I will pass it to them...does it run in your family??
    psalm 139
    we are fearfully and wonderfully made

  6. #6
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    Aug 2009
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    United States
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    Quote Originally Posted by psalm139
    nice to meet you and welcome..this is a very
    real phobia that does affect our lives. I've only had it for the past five
    years. and i have three kids and i am afaraid that I will pass it to
    them...does it run in your family??
    The phobia does not run in our family, but anxiety disorders run in
    my family and my ex-husbands family.
    It started when she was about 3, we all had a stomach bug,
    everyone in the house was sick with it. From then on it really took a
    hold on her, she also developed separation anxiety disorder. In
    kindergarden, she would constantly ask her teacher "do i look green?
    ?" (because that would mean she may throw up). Her teacher
    reported that she once asked 26 times in one day. Going to school
    has been and is very difficult for her.
    The strange thing is, we were just talking about it the other night, in
    6th grade, she had no fear of vomiting, a great year. We've been
    racking our brains to figure out what was different about that year....
    but don't know.
    She has a boyfriend who is quite a bit older than her and very
    supportive. He has been doing his best to encourage her. she goes
    from saying 'I'm going to beat this' to things like last night 'if i don't
    get better i just want to die' which almost had him in tears last night.
    So, she does have some good support, but, she also had a dad who
    has absolutely NO sympathy and thinks this is all some ploy for
    attention. He's NOT a nice person and has done so much damage to
    her, he emotionally beat the crap out of all of us every day and I
    know this has made her situation much worse. Even though he no
    longer lives with us, he still affects her, still gets his 'digs' in....
    but for the first time she seems really determined to get help-and
    WORK at it...so I am feeling a bit hopeful and I hope that when she
    reads this forum she does too.

  7. #7
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    Aug 2009
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    United States
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    You're a good mom for being there for you daughter. My mom is never understanding about my phobia. She always gets upset with me for being scared and she doesn't understand. She gets really mad when I have my panic attacks. It's very upsetting. Just help her know that she's not the only one with this phobia, and it can be fixed. Keep letting her go to therapists and be there and support her.

  8. #8
    Join Date
    Jul 2009
    Location
    Canada
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    I honestly dont think the forum part of this site helps at all. I think the only part of the site that helps is the people who got better from therapy. I think this just causes fear over stupid things because everyone is afraid of something different and asks everyone elses about it then the next week someone else is scared of the same thing. For the most part anyways not all the time. I think she should be seeing councellors and professionals to get better its what im doing right now and since my break from this site my fear has gone way down.Edited by: kassiewoodruff
    Im selfish, impatient and a little insecure I make mistakes, I am out of control and at times hard to handle But if you can\'t handle me at my worst, then you sure as hell don\'t deserve me at my best

  9. #9
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    Nov 2008
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    United Kingdom
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    I actually cried reading these posts! It seems as tho Im in the same situation as your daughter. I too had a good year and I too have been this petrified of it since I was little. I have a boyfriend whos supportive and a mum who supports me as u do but my dad emotionally beat the crap out of us too and still makes his digs. He hurt us and hes knocked me back so much and I can actually understand how she must be feeling. Im also wanting to get over this and sometimes swap from positivity to, I just want to die, if it doesn't go which has my boyfriend in tears. It seems as tho Im in a similar situation to her. I also have the seperation anxiety as well as social anxiety and my boyfriend fears I have bipolar disorder. Id love to chat more and maybes even talk to her if she ever needs someone. Its great ur helping her out and I hope all goes well. I might be trying NLP, CBT and counselling soon. Maybes she could try something similar.
    x

  10. #10
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    Aug 2009
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    United States
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    thanks eternalityflame, i will pass this message along to her!

  11. #11
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    Sep 2006
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    United States
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    Yeah, I seem to be very similar to your daughter, as
    well. It's so great to see a parent who loves their
    daughter enough to come here for her.

    Definitely encourage her to look through this site. For
    me, the most important part was realizing that I wasn't
    alone and that there was a name for my problem. For the
    first fourteen years of my life, I had no idea what was
    wrong with me. I don't remember how I found out about the
    phobia, but something eventually clicked one day. And
    then I found this wonderful website, and I felt like a
    whole new world was being opened up for me.

    Having people who understood my problems was amazing. My
    family and friends tried to be sympathetic, but they just
    didn't understand on the same level.

    I thank you so much for caring about your daughter this
    much. She needs a lot of love and support, especially if
    she's going to start down the road of treatment. I wish
    her all the luck in the world.

  12. #12
    Join Date
    Jan 2006
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    United States
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    Me too. I experienced a lot of the same issues, and at 16 also...separation anxiety at school, any feeling of "butterflies" made me think I was sick, lost a lot of weight because I was afraid to eat, was hospitalized twice due to weight loss, had lots of therapy, some meds were helpful. My advice would be to see a therapist who will take this seriously and not think she is anorexic like they did me. Maybe ask about an anti-anxiety med like Ativan instead of klonopin...that is very sedating, I think. Also, either tell her dad to knock it off or try to have her stay away from him. He may cause more harm because she is very vulnerable now. Good luck and keep us posted...

 

 

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