Interesting Question: Stages of Severity?

[NCsmile6]

Hey everyone,


Do you think that emetophobia has it's "stages of severity"? For example, when you are going through a really tough time such asthrougharecent death in the family or a big move, that it can get worse? I've always wondered about this and the thought came into my mind the other day, and I just couldn't ignore it. Do you think that emet can be worsened by certain stressful events in your lifetime, and when things calm down, or when things are less stressful that the emet can kind of calm down with it?


The reason for my thinking thisis that I can remember certain periods of time in my life where the emet was so strong that it took over most of, if not all of my life. However these days, I know it's still there, but it only acts up when provoked. Like it's situational.Does that make sense? It's kind of like the emet is running on the back burner right now and the OCD is on the front.It doesn't guide my life anymore, but I know I am still deathly afraid of it. For example, when I feel nauseaus, I notonly panicand start to feel likeit's the endof the world, but I alsoact in the exact same way as I did before when my emet was so strong and when it was guiding my life. I use those "coping mechanisms" that I THINK help me, but probably don't. (The digging the fingernails into the skin, the tensing of the body, etc.) Also, I was telling Simply that the other day when we were at Souper Salad, I was sitting across from a boy who ate too much or something and had this look on his face like he was about to do "it". He even said: "I feel it coming up,"and I looked at him and actually said: "MOMMY!" I was dead embarrased when he let out a burp and his dad kind of glanced me over, but I couldn't control the "MOMMY" thing. It was like I said it as a reflex out of fear. So then I pretended to be pointing at some apartments out the window and said: "Oh, those apartments?" But anyway, I was still terrified that moment that I thought he would be sick!! What I'm trying to say is the emet is still there, it's just not as dominant as it was before.


So my question is, is it possible for emetophobia to be severe in certain stages of life or in certain periods in your lifetime, and calm down for a bit, but never trully go away? Like it's always in the background just not as prevalent as before? Is this a sign of recovery?


Am I making any sense first of all, lol?


Just a thought to ponder....


Any feedback would be appreciated!Edited by: NCsmile6

[Melikasa]

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Personally I think so. I noticed this too. My life was hectic and I was having a lot of problems withmy last relationship and living in the city and soo many other things it seemed and my EMET and anxiety were off the wall.


Once I was out of the relationship and things settled down it started to get better. When I was with my ,now husband, man and we settled down it got even better. We moved out of the city and the Emet was only worse when I got pregnant.


Way back in highschool it was at its worse during stressful times. I think since anxiety can play a role in it when things are stressful the Emet is triggered just that much easier.


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[giff1949]

I know there have been different degrees of the phobia during my life. I have to say that when I was a child, a teenager, a college student and a young adult, the phobia absolutely dominated and controlled everything I did. It was almost never out of my mind.

Then, when I first got married and had no children, it seemed to get better. We were busy, I was working, and I was not preoccupied with emet much at all. My husband did not get sick very often, so it did not present itself.

When I got pregnant, I was lucky and did not suffer from morning sickness. I had pretty easy pregnancies, so emet was not a problem for me then.

It was when I had young children that it came back strong. I was constantly worried about them getting sick or being exposed to various viruses. It really consumed every aspect of my life then. Basically, I had sort of a breakdown and my husband found out what the problem was. He was very understanding and helped out alot with the children.

I have had many times along the way where emet was not the primary thought and then I have had times where I can think of nothing else. It does seem to cycle. Stress, situations, how I am feeling about myself, how I am feeling about other people - all seem to influence how I am doing with the phobia. I especially have trouble when I am around children. I don't worry about adults as much because I figure they can pretty much take care of themselves, but children need to be cared for and I get very panicky.

Believe it or not, vacations seem to bring it out again. You would think that would be a restful time, but I worry about eating out all the time, people in my hotel room getting sick, all kinds of things. Yet, I have been on some vacations where it has not been such an issue.

So I guess it just depends on where I am emotionally and how much I can cope with at the time.

Edited by: giff1949

[NCsmile6]

Thank you both SOO MUCHfor your answers!!!


I agree with you both!! I think you both put it in the words that I wanted to in my question!!I think you guys hit it right on the nail!!!


I found what both of you wrote to be so interesting and so true to myself as well.





Thank you again!


I would most definetly like to hear everyone's point of view on this!





Edited by: NCsmile6

[Galadriel]

Hey Neha!!


I agree that depending on the circumstances emet can affect you more or less. Like i notice sometimes with school I might go thro a rough spot, and the emet can seem to flare up more, like I get more stomach aches....and isnt it just like it to get a real bad scary stomach ache when you've got a test the next day?? I HATE that! I really notice this too with IBS, like the more pressure and stress I feel Im under, the more it acts up.

[skon]

For me the intensity, or level of anxiety, stays the same. What changes is the percentage of the time I'm experiencing that intensity.


So, it doesn't matter if I go a whole week without any trouble. I can still go off the deep end with it in a flash.

[sage]

It's been well documented that all anxiety disorders, depression, anger issues, and especially severe mental illness (schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, psychoses) respond to stress rising. Stress, (known in Bowen theory as "anxiety" [different than how we describe anxiety, but related as far as brain function goes]) is sort of a "variable" that changes our entire emotional process - people react to stress rising often by showing "symptoms". Symptoms can include our disorder getting worse, or even physical illness (due, probably, to reduced immunity in the body itself).


But theories aside, you all know this is true from your life experience. When things are "calm" around you, you can probably handle the phobia better. But lob in one variable like some terrible thing happening in the family - or even something like a move or a big party - and you'll find it harder to handle.


Reducing the stress in our lives may not be possible - some of it is beyond our control. But at least we can know that if the phobia gets worse at times, it will also get better at other times.

[HDogg]

I think my phobia gets worse after a stressful event, rather than during. It's like an aftershock or something. A couple ofyears ago, when my hubby's grandparents were both dying at the same time, I literally spent every day in the hospital for two months straight. I didn't do so bad anxiety-wise. But after they both passed away, all the weeks of suppressing my stress, I just lost it. I had panic attacks day in and day out for quite some time after that.


I also notice that my panic seems to be worse in the winter and summer. In the winter, I get lazy and go in to hibernation mode, and my inactivity and not releasing my stress through exercise leads to more panic. In the summer, I get too hot and the heat makes me feel sick. I lay around with the fans blowing on me and again, I don't exercise as much. But in the spring and fall, I always seem to do better.


So yes, I totally agree that emet is worse sometimes than others.

[wetjeans]

My biggest proble is traveling. When I was in my worse time, in '97, I also had back door problems. I will not go to a public restroom other than just to wiz. So, when my uncle in West virgina passed away in "97, I had to go 2.5 hrs on the road. I was somewhat a mess with the fear of "what happens if I get constant runs?", What If I catch something up there?" I just ate my pepto like candy, and was ok, but still miserable.

[Hale]

My problems (emet, panic, depression) get worse when stressful things happen. I think it's the control issue, when there is nothing I can do about a situation. When I was at school I would be faced with people who had been sick, my Mum would force me to go to school no matter how ill I felt, my 4 grandparents died and I put so much pressure on myself to get good grades. I had no social life, panic attacks virtually everyday, depression for half the year(winter and autumn) and my emet was controlling my life. Then when I met my botyfriend and started working things picked up and the emet wasn't much of a problem. Then I lost my job and i could feel some of the old feelings creeping back and was just starting to pick myself up again when we got a phone call in the middle of the night 2 weeks ago to say my boyfriends dad was having his heart transplant, which has been stressful for my boyfriend and getting woken up in the middle of the night brought it all back to me when my Gran died so now i am struggling again.

[sage]

It makes total sense that it happens afterward, too, Heather. Sometimes symptoms raised from the stress can appear a year later even.