Any other parents of a child with emetophobia out there?

[Charmaine F]

My oldest daughter was diagnosed with emetophobia when she was 11. She seems to have worked through it after 2 years of therapy; she is able to manage it fairly well. My youngest daughter who is 13 is currently struggling with it. It would be nice to hear from other parents about their experiences and about anything that may have helped.

[TryingToBeBrave]

Yes, my daughter is almot 8 and has shown signs of it since maybe 4. We just keep reassuring her whenever she faces a situation that scares her, which have been few so far. My son had severe reflux until we finally got it under control when he was 3.5, and I think that really impacted her.

[Charmaine F]

My oldest daughter started showing symptoms after a schoolmate got sick right next to her. She began to panic and miss school whenever someone got sick or had a stomachache. For her, the symptoms grew. She began to avoid field trips that required travel on windy roads because some classmates got carsick. She avoided her little sister, the fairgrounds, parties where adults may be drinking, certain movies, etc. She got to where, if she had been exposed to a trigger, she would feel nausea and then couldn't eat or drink for fear of getting sick to her stomach. She started to lose weight and ended up in the hospital where they thought she had anorexia at a very young age. They sent her to Stanford where they treated her for malnutrition and dehydration and diagnosed her correctly. We used incentives (cognitive behavioral therapy) and practiced safely exposing herself to a hierarchy of what scared her and she now has a good handle on it, although she now is dealing with depression and some social anxiety. We believe that for her, it was caused by a genetic pre-disposition (a grandmother, an aunt and an uncle have either anxiety or depression), plus a stressful situation at home caused by emotional tension over time, and the incident at school. We believe that my youngest daughter has it because of the same genetic pre-disposition and stress in the home, including the stress and trauma of her sister rejecting her, and that she also "learned" it from her sister. My youngest daughter, in addition to emetophobia, has OCD and Generalized Anxiety Disorder, and it all seems to just take over her life. Coming up with a hierarchy has been more difficult for her and so I'm hoping to learn some different strategies from this website.

[ditchy_jon]

Vomiting can be a big deal for a child. I know when I was a kid, my mom used to make a big deal about vomiting and watch other children getting upset when they were vomiting is what I believe caused my phobia. The problem is once it is in built into a child that there is a problem when vomiting it is extremely hard to get out of. However supporting your child is the very best you can do to help them and not make them feel that it is wrong to have these phobias. It is no more silly that a phobia about spiders, closed spaces, airplains and boats etc.

[Charmaine F]

I completely agree that it is very scary for them and want to be supportive.

[ashley11]

My daughter is 8 and has it. She is on Prozac and hydroxyzine for it. She definitely got it from me I have been phobic since I was 6. We had a very bad traumatic birthday party and it triggered mine again and made my daughter just like me. Now we do not celebrate birthdays. My kids get gifts from us but other than that they do not want us to sing or have cake. It is very sad but has gotten better we use to not be able to go to any birthday parties but now with the medication and therapy we have been working on it and now able to go to parties. It is horrible to watch my daughter suffer from this I wish I could take it away! But she finds comfort in the fact that I suffer too and we can talk and help each other!

[Charmaine F]

That's great that you are there for each other! Sounds like the way you are working on it is helping. My daughter is in therapy, but refuses medication that has been prescribed for her because one of the possible side effects is nausea.

[ashley11]

We do help each other. She is too young to know what side effects are so that helps!

[Charmaine F]

Sometimes I am tempted to sneak it into her food because I hate to see her suffering, but I don't do it for a couple of reasons. 1) Once she finds out, she would lose trust in me and in her food (no good). 2) She is so hyper vigilant about her food that it probably wouldn't even work. She'd figure it out before eating it. 3) Doing so would take away the opportunity for her to consciously take charge and to experience the consequences of her own decisions.

[ashley11]

I would be tempted too but you are right about her trusting you. It is really hard to watch your child go through this. But if you can get her to take medication that is what really helped me and my daughter, but she had to want to take it. My daughter takes Ativan (hydroxyzine) which is just as needed but it helps with the panic attacks and anxiety but it is also used as an antiemetic so it would not make her sick. Research it, it is pretty interesting. My daughter also takes Prozac daily but we went through a time when she was having panic attacks that would last all night so they gave her hydroxyzine it also makes her sleepy but most importantly relaxes her. I was given mirtazapine (remeron) for my anxiety because I had no appetite and was a nervous wreck all the time it is also used as an anxiety and antiemetic my dr told me they give it to women who are pregnant and have a lot of morning sickness and it stops it. Weight gain is the biggest side effect from that. But if you tell the dr that she is afraid of v* then maybe they can give her zofran too to off set any side effects from the meds.

[momtecz]

yes my 11 yr old daughter has this. i messaged you. please feel free to go to my profile to learn my keeley's story.