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  1. #1
    Join Date
    Feb 2013
    Location
    England
    Posts
    379

    Default What To Do In Meantime Before Hospital Appointment

    Just to note: I'm a 14 year old male. This may help to give more specifically targetted advice to someone of my age. If you wonder why I type in such a sophisticated manner, it's because I probably have Asperger's syndrome and my vocabulary is more developed than average. I say probably as I haven't been professionally diagnosed, but I am getting diagnosed soon. I prefer to type like this.

    Hi.

    After an appointment with my GP about my severe emetophobia in early February (which in turn causes me to eat very little and not gain weight, which my mum is very worried about for obvious reasons), I've been given a referral to the hospital, but the appointment's on March 21st. I'm hoping when I go there I can get some sort of therapy for the phobia and chronic nausea/stomach spasms I have, but the time since the GP appointment and until the hospital appointment has been the WORST. I'm not sure if it's the anxiety that the appointment is so far away, but I seem to be feeling a lot worse now (in terms of depression at school, anxiety, and the actual nausea. Infact I was nauseous while writing this post). I have no idea what I can do in the meantime to calm myself down/get rid of this nausea. It's incredibly scary. What can I do up until the appointment with the hospital? Also by the way I should be getting a diagnosis of Asperger's syndrome at the hospital too, as I suspect strongly that I have that as well. I also have OCD and agoraphobia, amongst many other phobias. I have most of these mental conditions, you know the ones that are so strongly related (i.e. anxiety, depression, OCD, ADHD, autism spectrum disorders, phobias, etc. you know the kind). And although when I get these nauseous episodes they pass after about an hour or two and I'm never sick, I'm still in constant fear that it'll happen. I do try to reassure myself that I know what my problem is and I'm never actually sick with it, but I still get scared. Other things I've tried/am trying include ginger tea (with powdered ginger, not fresh ginger. I hope to try it with fresh ginger when my mum actually buys it), breathing techniques, thinking positively, acupressure, not eating, etc. Regarding "not eating", it seems to help when I make myself hungry (as in, the hunger you get when your tummy rumbles). It's evidence that the nausea is more psychologically orientated, as I feel when there's nothing/very little in my stomach, there's nothing to throw up, and this seems to relieve it, but I still can't be sure if it is psychological, and I still have the constant nausea and fear/anxiety (which I have to endure day in day out, and it's not pleasant), and I just want a cure. Can anyone help?

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Jan 2012
    Location
    PA US
    Posts
    302

    Default Re: What To Do In Meantime Before Hospital Appointment

    hello there! the only "cure" for phobias and fears is therapy and medication, but thats really just a long term treatment. you will hopefully get your aspergers diagnosis at the hospital also, and just like what you will have to do for your phobia's, the same goes for your aspergers. its a long term treatment with daily work and focus. im in recovery from OCD, anxiety, depression, agoraphobia, and other personality disorders. *side note* my son is on the autistic spectrum and im wondering if my issues are tied into him...hmmmm. anyways, until you get to your appt, i suggest peppermint. i eat peppermints before i eat, after i eat, and anytime i dont feel like eating. ginger actually never helps my stomach, the best thing for me is peppermint. also, peppermint helps refresh your mind too and maybe ease some of the tension and stimulation there also. best of luck to you....i really hope for the best for you

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Mar 2013
    Location
    Yorkshire, UK
    Posts
    30

    Default Re: What To Do In Meantime Before Hospital Appointment

    Well, when I was about 21 I went for cognitive behavioural therapy and was one of the worst things ever for me. The slow exposure to the *v buy listening to noises on a tape, then watching fake videos people had made pretending to do it etc. My therapist asked me to make fake *v and we put it on the street and watched peoples reactions to it who walked past so he could show me that they didnt throw their hands up in hysterics and run away. Then he told me the next thing to do to cure me would be to drink loads of milk and make myself ill over the bath and look at it until I wasnt scared anymore. This was the most stupid thing ever and I cant believe this is what our heath service thought would be good for me given the extreme anxiety and physical torment my phobia was giving me at that stage; much like the symptoms you describe. Needless to say, I didnt do the last one and quit the "Treatment". Over time, Ive healed myself from being in the same state as you. I totally lost my appetite as eating brought on terrible cramps and hot and cold flushes and it was awful. I lost 2 1/2 stones of weight and had to stop work for 6 months. I went to the hospital for an endoscopy as I thought something was seriously physically wrong with me, and after all that there was nothing there and in the end I had to put it down to anxiety, though it was never really properly diagnosed by my doctors. I was put on anti depressants (which I only took a few of and then binned them as I was concerned they were masking the problem and not actually fixing anything). I used to use breathing techniques I read about which when I was having an attack and felt really bad it really calmed me down, but I had to be patient and take the time to do them thoroughly. The things is, the way our brains work to instill the phobia in us, where it becomes a knee-jerk reaction rather than a conscious decision to panic etc can actually be used in the opposite way to brainwash ourselves that things calm us down. But it takes work to get your body into reacting positively to the stimulus you choose in the way the stimulus of our phobia makes us panic. Pick something you think you can do or use as your thing. Some people will use a smell to calm them down and then you can carry a tissue or something with the smell on in a little pot and sniff it if you feel panicky. Or even a word you say to yourself can work. Sports people use this. When theyve had a really good training session and feel on top of the world they might smell whatever they chose or say this word to themselves, and eventually the body and brain acknowledges that this stimulus is synonymous with the feeling of winning or succeeding. And when youve done it enough times, all you have to do is sit on the sofa, smell the thing and your body reacts and makes you feel succesfull and ready to win a race as its used to that feeling and that smell or word or whatever. You can train to relax in exactly the same way. I used to do all sorts of things; I slept on the floor instead of in my bed when I felt bad, I did breathing techniques, I drank special teas that calmed me, I had a special jumped (I keep referring to a lot on here!) that was "magic" and "made me better" when I put it on. And because I told myself it did it, eventually it did!!! You should search for this technique on the web perhaps in the non-emet world and you'll see its a proven thing. Also, its so easy to get into the downwards spiral when suffering with this thing. You need to also concentrate on your good points, not just be thinking about all the challenges you have in your life. Give yourself a pat on the back for all your good points and try and do some of the things you like. Try and laugh; it really makes your whole body feel better and kind of resets your defaults! At one point I was so bad I couldnt sit and be absorbed in a good book as my tummy hurt so bad it used to speak louder than the book, but weirdly I found that playing scrabble took my mind of it and when I was doing that I felt a lot better. My poor mum had to endure many a trouncing at scrabble to stop me feeling ill (Im quite good at it haha, I even got the word "invalid" on the board the other day haha!). Try and find your own things that you can become absorbed in to give you a break from the worry and take your mind off the tum. Seriously, Ive been where you are and I know how terrible it is. It is literally every second of every day taunting you and hanging over your head, but you can heal yourself from this. And the good thing is, when you start to have small successes it will snowball and youll be feeling better and better much quicker. Tell yourself you can do this, and tell yourself in your head over and over "I feel well" even if you dont really believe it and it seems funny to do so at first. Your body will start to believe it!!! We are here for you and understand XXX

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Mar 2013
    Location
    Yorkshire, UK
    Posts
    30

    Default Re: What To Do In Meantime Before Hospital Appointment

    lol i meant Jumper, not jump. Haha typing too fast

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Feb 2013
    Location
    England
    Posts
    379

    Default Re: What To Do In Meantime Before Hospital Appointment

    Can't you edit your own posts? And I already try to take my mind of it by surfing the net, but it doesn't normally work, because the spasm is still there. I've started a gluten-free diet just today and I'll see what happens with that. This is only the first thing I've had, but I had a Sainsbury's freeform gluten-free ginger biscuit a few hours ago, and I just had a Sainsbury's freeform gluten-free chocolate brownie and then a very small portion of gluten-free bran cereal, all of these just to see how they tasted, but I now have another spasm. Unlike my other spasms, though, this one isn't accompanied by as much gas, but I'll have to spend a few days on this diet until I see an overall difference. And also, what you described can't have been CBT! That's exposure therapy. CBT is more talking-oriented, and it teaches people on analysing situations that make us scared, thinking of appropriate reactions and practising them. What you had was a torture, it wasn't CBT at all. You probably just had a bad therapist. You need to bond well with your therapist if you want the therapies to be successful - if you don't work well with them then the treatment won't either (probably because it won't be very good treatment).


  6. #6
    Join Date
    Mar 2013
    Location
    Yorkshire, UK
    Posts
    30

    Default Re: What To Do In Meantime Before Hospital Appointment

    oh, they told me it was CBT. Anyway, it really didnt work for me, it was far too abrupt. I might be able to handle small stages of it now im in a generally much stronger place to cope with smaller bouts of anxiety, but back then, on no medication or anything, it was far too much too soon and the therapist just didnt seem to understand or be particularly interested (if you can believe it!). You are right, I didnt trust him. At one point we were doing a stage where we watched a video with a woman pretending to be ill from quite bland and straight forward to getting noisier and more full on to become a bit desensitised, and he was staring out the window and the video cut to another piece where someone was being ill really noisily and it sent me into a panic, and he jumped up and turned it off and said "sorry sorry I was looking over there!" or some such, and I thought "you ******" (insert own preferable insult at will). Thinking back, I should have reported him. He was no good.

    I wonder if you do have some other sensitivities to some foods like you say then. Can the doc put you forward for some testing for them rather than having to try and work them out which takes longer? I know now that my terrible symptoms were anxiety related whereas when they first manifested I was so frightened I had cancer and all sorts of horrible things happening in me, hence the endoscopy etc. In fact, I remember when I went for the results and they said nothing was there, I was absolutely gob-smacked and in disbelief as I didnt realise anxiety could do this to a person and was sure it was all properly physical.

    Like you say, surfing the net didnt help me either. I used to try reading loads but it still hurt. I needed my brain to be rather active so it had to ignore it and it appeared thrashing mumsie at scrabble was perfect for that.

    I hope you go on ok at the hospital. Oh, theres a button for editing posts isnt there. Dont know why I didnt see that before. Ive had a long day and just typed a lot!

 

 

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