Hi all! I'm sure you guys don't remember me - I haven't been active since '05/'06, but if my name DOES ring a bell, then hooray!

I'm just dropping in to let you all know how I've been doing in my absence. The answer...better than ever 2007 and 2008 have possibly been the best years of my life. I got out, had fun, ate whatever the heck I wanted, went to new places, concerts, festivals, movies, etc. The last thing I thought about was my emet. And the weird thing is...? I didn't need to. Not once in my adventures did I feel n*, or contract some horrible strain of gastro, or ANYTHING. This has helped me realise in a big way that the constant day-to-day anxiety I used to feel was completely in vain. I was worrying about something that had such a slim chance of actually happening. When you have emet, you feel as if everything you do is a risk, as if the chance of "it" happening is forever looming. It really isn't [img]smileys/smilies_01.gif[/img]

I wouldn’t say I’m completely cured. I still haven’t v*d in 12+ years, and no doubt I would suffer one spectacular panic attack if I knew it was going to happen. But when I refer to my “Success Story”, I like to think more of beating the debilitating anxiety. I still have a phobia, but I’m able to forget all about it for weeks on end. I’ll have a panic attack once every few months (think I've had 1-2 so far this year, and I got over them easily enough), but other than that…I’m finally leading a normal life.

Thanks for everything, IES. I confess, being away from this site probably did me a lot of good. However, coming here initially was what allowed me to understand what this phobia was in the first place, and communicating with fellow sufferers gave me so much strength and inspiration to then go away and try to beat it.

As proof of how much progress I've made, I'm booked for 2 flights next year - one interstate, and one overseas to the UK to see family and friends. I have never flown before [img]smileys/smilies_01.gif[/img] Naturally I'm starting to have some emetophobe-ish thoughts about the whole deal, but if any flyers out there have any words of wisdom for me, I'm all ears! I know I can do this.

PS. Sorry if I've put this in the wrong section, I've forgotten the rules of this place, LOL.