Another person's success story i found
I hope this is ok to post it here, if it's not, i understand.
I found this story in a social anxiety support forum as i was searching for some encouragement and inspiration for my mild case of social anxiety and of course emet. Some of the original poster's rationalization was inspirational to me and i just wanted to share this with you guys.
I also read through some of the other posts and thought it was informative of what others, who have other types of phobias, were going through with respect to emet.
Here's what was posted:
http://www.socialanxietysupport.com/...90/#post993941
Emetophobia, the fear of vomiting.
It's rather common in fact, about the 6th most common phobias.
Mine started when I vomited in the school hallway during 3rd grade.
There are some good resources on line if you google search it.
I'm about 99% over my emetophobia using rational thought. It took months of doing things when I thought I was going to be sick, and not being sick. I still have 1% of the time (once every two months, or less) when I feel nausiated due to anxiety or regular stress.
Odds are, you haven't vomited in a long time. Most of us emetophobes are vomit-free 25 years or more. I vomited in 3rd grade then again last year. That was 30 years vomit free.
Last year I got the flu. That was the best thing that ever happened to me! I puked like crazy the whole night. I loved every minute of it. Why? Because it was NOTHING like I imagined. It was NOT BAD at all compared to the terror I had during the last 30 years wondering what it would be like. Compared to my thoughts, it was seriously "a good time". Hard to imagine, huh?
I felt freedom afterwards knowing that. And while it's not something I'd like to do on a daily basis, I don't have to be terrorized by it. The OP was very clear about the fear they have. Such as so many of our SA fears, this is another that is usually out of control, not realistic, and with experience (or perhaps simple rationalization instead) it can be overcome.
Some emetophobes take over the counter products to make them vomit to experience it and realize it's not as terrifying as they think it is as part of therapy. NOT ME, and I won't blame you if you choose not to. : ) It is reported that one person in England took 6 doses and only then vomited. Some believe that vomiting is a involuntary action, you have no control over it. Others argue that if you can go 20 or more years without vomiting you are controlling it. After 6 doses, that can be thought of as control over an involuntary response. If an emetophobe has control over vomiting, and if vomiting is involuntary, then logically if it's feared enough, can they have the same control over another involuntary response, like willing their own heart to stop beating. The mind is powerful both ways. Use yours to your benefit. I'll tell you how I did...
RATIONALIZATION:
If you puke in public, what happens? Do you fall to the floor helpless, while others gawk at you until an ambulance comes to haul you away? Not at all. You puke, you walk out of the public place, someone cleans it up. After the initial vomit, generally you have another hour or two IF it'll happen again. So, after the intial vomit you have plenty of time to get back home. People may look at you, for a short time, but they don't gawk. Good grief, who'd want to watch a vomiting person closely? In fact that's probably the only time that in reality 100% of the people around you will NOT look at you at all after the first split second. They will however feel bad for you that you are sick. No embarassment is necessary, they feel bad for you, and that isn't anything to be embarassed about. The guy with the mop should be embarassed. If you are walking around thinking you're sick and are going to be embarassed, then you're not sick. If you were truly sick, you'd be paying more attention to your stomach than any determination of level of embarassment. So, when you "think" you are going to vomit, "know" that you won't because if you're thinking about it that's a first indication it's a thought and not a physical thing. Also, prior to vomiting there are several other things that have to happen first that gives you plenty of warning.
MEDICAL FACT: (This is what cured 93% of my emetophobia in about 15 minutes)
If you are well enough to get out of bed and walk around you are 99.99999% guaranteed you will NOT vomit. If you wake up and do not shake, fever AND sweating, then you are probably experiencing HUNGER and not nausia and have a 99.99999% guarantee that you will not vomit even if you ate a bowl of chili. You do not have to tip-toe around what you eat. The reason is, if it's edible you won't vomit. Sure, citrus' add acid to stomach acid, so OK, limit that if you have an empty stomach. Emetophobes confuse the stomach acid, and hunger pains with nausia when it is really hunger. The human body is designed to vomit in case of poisoning or if they have a virus. The body does NOT need to vomit because of stress. It can, if you let it, but by using rational thought processes (and learning from your challenges to overcome) you do NOT have to think you'll vomit (or actually vomit) ever again from stress or anxiety.
I felt like I was going to vomit from stress and anxiety often. But, I was so terrified of doing so I never did. Have you? If you did, then you have a strong mind to enable your body to something it's not designed to do at all by mere thought alone. If you feared vomiting often but never did, then can you appreciate it's mental (always) and never physical? Is that enough to help you start convincing yourself this is another incorrect feeling that turned into a fear that doesn't need to continue? Now, let me help you more...
CHALLENGE TO OVERCOME:
What makes the nausia go away? Eating. Hard to imagine doing that when you feel nausiated, and hard to actually do it too. To overcome my emetophobia I challenged it. I forced myself to eat A LOT when I was feeling nausiated. I never vomited. I proved to myself that even when I felt "sickest" I could chow down and hold it, by chowing down and not vomiting. At first I felt bad and even laid in bed and cried. But, after several challenges, one day while laying in bed something "clicked". I decided that I was going to get up and "do stuff". I did laundry and cleaned. Within the hour I didn't feel sick anymore. Since that time when on rare occassion I feel nausiated I eat something, then go for a walk outside, or hop on my treadmill and turn on the iPod, or do some excersize or cleaning or anything other than "thinking'. It works every time for me.
EATING DISORDERS:
Emetophoics are subject to eating disorders as a result. Truth is, most of us have eating disorders without even knowing it because we eat so much garbage. Some people are good at swimming. Other are good at weight lifting, or baseball. Most people have advanced skills at something or another. Emetophobes are good at feeling sick. The same way swimmers and weight lifters train, and baseball players or whatever others do to get good at what they do is a result of practice. You've practiced to feel sick. Now, use the same practice to feel better. These swimmers don't practice in a kiddie pool. Baseball players fly to warm destinations for spring training. You need to practice by not eating junk. Cut out all the high fructose corn syrup in your diet. Cut out the sugars and caffeine. Balance protein and carbs as necessary. Excersize A LOT to retrain your body how to use the good food you are eating. Take a daily vitamin (B Vitamins). After two or three weeks I felt a lot different and better after taking a simple daily multi-vitamin. At first, the excersize gave me the strength to know if I did vomit I'd be strong enough to walk away from it without a problem. Now, because of eating better foods that the body knows how to digest, since I'm not jacked up on two and three bottles of Pepsi per day, and with the excersize causing me to have a better looking body at 39 years old than I did when I was in high school, it helped my self-image and that boosted my self-esteem. That caused me to be proud of myself, and that made me not have to think about being sick all the time.
If you have questions, ask me. I'm guilty of not checking back frequently so if I don't answer then PM me to tell me I'm needed here.
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