For those who are better

[Orchid]

This is directed to those of you have been cured of the phobia or at least are working through it or have a good handle on it. There's many of us who, for whatever reason aren't finding what's working, maybe our therapy isn't right, maybe we can't afford therapy at all, maybe we're too frightened to get better.... Are there any tips, tricks, advice, details that you could share, as to what helped or is helping you, that we might be able to start doing today? If it's a matter of changing your thinking, can you tell us how you do that? Where do you start? Is it a matter of doing yoga or visualization, eating right, exercising, anything? Would love some input that would maybe help me today to start getting over this phobia and reduce my anxiety.

[kellybeth]

For me, I just got so sick of avoiding everything. So I started to push myself to go out. It was awful at first. I would have hour long panic attacks that were so bad I was sure I would die. But it seemed the more I went out the easier it got. I was so tired of loseing my friends one by one because I just couldn't leave my house. I knew that I would have a panic attack if I went to the mall, for example, but I also knew that it would pass and I would be able to enjoy myself. So I pushed myself through them panic attack after panic attack. Sometimes I had to leave wherever I was, other times I couldn't even get out of the car. But sometimes I would fight throught it and and tell myself I have had TONS of panic attacks and never once, passed out, vomited, or died. The attacks always passed, ALWAYS. I was in the fight of my life with my body and mind. I was losing myself to my fears and phobias.

To all of you who are in the worst of it PLEASE help yourself. No one can help you overcome this. You are in charge of your own body and mind. If you truley want to get better you have to work at it. It took me a long time and alot of pain but I pushed through and I am becoming the person I always wanted to be. I was 89 pounds, and house bound. No job, no drivers liciense and living with my mom. I had lost all hope for happiness. Then It was like a light went on and I just wasn't going to let this shit take over my life anymore. Now I weigh 140 pounds, I'm married, I own my own home, drive a car and have a full time job.

Things can get better. Please see that. You all are in charge of your own destiny dont let this rule who you are or who you will be.

Just remember Everyone dies, but not everyone lives.

[orton99]

I agree with kellybeth. The main thing is that you have to want to help yourself and be prepared to push yourself into situations that at first will seem scary but, with repeated exposure, they’ll be less so. The unfortunate truth is that there are no magic wands and this won’t go away by itself – you have to make it go away. I’m sorry if that doesn’t sound terribly comforting, but accepting that you need to make it happen is the first step in recovering.

I’m currently compiling a very long thread on my CBT treatment, so rather than repeat myself with anything I’ve said there I’ll just point it out and if you want to go and look at it please do so. It’s the first thread in the Treatments forum, entitled “My CBT Treatment” and I go into as much detail as I possibly can on what I’m doing, why I think it’s starting to work and how I became phobic in the first place. (Make sure you’re sitting down though as some of my posts are a bit long - when I said I wanted to go into as much detail as possible I wasn’t kidding! Seriously though, I’m trying to make it as helpful to anyone else who reads it as I can which means putting in as much as I can.)

I can also strongly recommend a book that I’ve seen even Sage herself start championing recently, The Anxiety and Phobia Workbook by Edmund Bourne. (Not completely sure from skimming through your previous posts whether you’re in the UK or US so I’ll leave you to put the title into your local Amazon yourself rather than give you the wrong link!) His basic idea is that phobias arise from a variety of causes and that you therefore attack them in a variety of ways, such as CBT but also things like improving your self-esteem, countering negative thoughts, relaxation, getting enough sleep, eating the right foods and regular exercise.

Funnily enough you already (by previous posts) seem to be viewing both the causes of the phobia and possible solutions in a similar, holistic way so it should be right up your street! Good luck and if you’ve got any questions please feel free to PM me.

[Cupcake x]

I looked at how many years of my life I've given up to this phobia and after having multiple breakdowns, I just decided I needed help and I was going to do anything to make myself better. I'm in therapy, pushing myself to do things I don't want to do, stopping any anti-nausea medication I'm relying on, focusing on school and getting a job. I'm just not letting myself give in to the fear anymore. I want my life back.

[Orchid]

Thanks for the posts. I do have the The Anxiety and Phbia workbook that was mentioned. It's packed in a box, as we just moved. As a matter of fact, my therapist wants to go over it with me. I also have lots of other books on anxieties. I have noticed that they do tend to focus on getting all areas of your life together, diet, exercise, relaxation, self-esteem, etc. I have lots of books on natural supplements but have been leary about trying those as they do have side effects and since they are not FDA approved they may not have consistent potencies and they are so expensive. But I do believe a healthy diet could work just as well to balance out your brain chemicals. I know there's no easy fix and maybe my biggest area to work on that would make the most impact is my self-esteem. I'm going to work on relaxation, exercise and diet to reduce my overall anxiety but I think being ok with myself and thinking positive will help the other phobias and too reaching past my comfort zones. I will check out the treatments section again. Thanks again for those of you who responded and I would love any more input.

[asianeko]

Two of the links in my sig are the major things that helped me mostly overcome my emet. Just click on Calm Breathing and How I Learned to Cope.

[patricksgirl32]

Honestly im not cured in any sense of the word. But im not petrified anymore. The biggest thing for me was to picture myself v* in a good situation. Say laughing ..or after drinking all night. Something different. I had realized that any time I got anxious about it was because I pictured myself in a previous experience but I had to come to the conclusion that I am no longer a child and experiences do not repeat themselves. So I pictured a couple of situations until they didn't bother me anymore. And it worked! I also got the emet recovery system. And worked on myself alot. Breathing techniques are KEY! I watched youtube videos of people v* and while doing that I didn't fight urge to panic and I went with it.and once that didn't bother me I moved on. I hve not v* myself yet which is what my fear is about but like I see above me, ill cross that bridge when I get there. I have a blog. Its cassielynnmarie.livejournal.com. I've explained some stuff that may help you understand this annoying fear better keep on trucking!