Impossible to know whether its in your head or real?

[BrightStars]

Does anyone else find it almost impossible to tell whether they are about to be sick or if they're panicking?
I haven't been sick for almost 8 years *touch woods* and I'm so afraid of the day I think its in my head and it isn't. I know this sounds odd but I'm hoping you guys understand what I mean, thanks for reading! Jenna x

[Naketa Parham]

I understand exactly what u mean. I myself feel sick constantly, and i never *v,so everytime i start to get *n.. I always tell myself ur not gonna *v,but bottom line.What i want to determine is wether im really sick,or if its all in my head (which is what everybody else seemd to think) it has me so confused! Ive been scared of *v for as long as i can remember,just wish i could be normal,and its even harder when everyone around u is telling u to grow up, and not willing to hear u out!

[BrightStars]

I have also had this phobia for as long as I can remember - I can never remember acting like my sister if I was to be sick as a kid. She would seem so calm I just couldn't do it. I too always feel sick, its really annoying because sometimes I'm sure that I will be - then I'm not. So I'm starting to worry that I will never know the difference, feel like I'm going to be sick and think "no you never are" and end up going out in public and actually being sick D:
Such an annoying phobia!

[Paisley]

I can't tell if it's real or if it's in my head because either way the physical symptoms are real, and people can vomit without even feeling any nausea sometimes so ??

[gumdropper1]

Ask yourself this question -- how do I feel about eating particular favorite foods right now? If you could eat, you are definitely NOT NAUSEATED. If you don't feel like eating, then you might be nauseated. Doug

[asianeko]

Doug's trick is perfect. I imagine a cheesecake or a greasy cheeseburger. If I still think they sound even the least bit yummy, I know I'm okay!

Also, your stomach is higher than most people realize. If you're feeling nausea around the belly button area or lower, you just need to poop. That saved me from panic SO many times!

[TheSweetThinker]

Your question reminded me of a very important quote from Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows:

"Tell me one last thing," said Harry. "Is this real? Or has this been happening inside my head?"

"Of course it is happening inside your head, Harry, but why on earth should that mean that it is not real?"

For the most part, those two lines sound beautifully philosophic, but from a phobic perspective, haha those words can be unsettling! We don't want the horror happening inside our heads to be real. However, the nausea we often feel seems "real" only because the panic that we're also experiencing at the time is real....in other words, the panic lies to us and makes us believe we're about to vomit, even when we've no biological reason to do so. In that case, only the panic is real, and panic or extreme anxiety can mimic feelings of sickness (i.e. nausea, sweating, elevated body temperature, shaking, chills, etc).

There really are some ways to determine whether or not the nausea you're feeling is just anxiety-nausea or real nausea....first, rationalize the situation by thinking back and using the process of elimination: do you have any logical reason to be sick? Once you've proven to yourself that you're in the clear, your anxiety-nausea should have no choice but to disappear. Panic is a fickle sensation; one whiff of logical reasoning and it's gone!

And I agree with Asianeko, Doug's trick is also excellent! If you can think about food without gagging, you're most likely not sick. Sure, extreme anxiety can turn you off to food, but there's a difference between losing your appetite and feeling worse at the very thought of food.

[orton99]

Agree completely with Doug and Asianeko. The litmus test I’ve used since I was about 9 is to imagine a jug of steaming custard pouring over a piece of pie. If I can stand to hold that image in my head, I’m okay. If not, I must be nauseated!

Of course, there are lots of different ways in which people experience this phobia but I’d suggest that a test like that is about as close to a completely foolproof one that we can all agree on as we’ll ever get!

[kateseeks]

Does anyone else find it almost impossible to tell whether they are about to be sick or if they're panicking?
I haven't been sick for almost 8 years *touch woods* and I'm so afraid of the day I think its in my head and it isn't. I know this sounds odd but I'm hoping you guys understand what I mean, thanks for reading! Jenna x

I can't believe I found this post! Just a night ago, I had one of my worst panic attacks and all I kept saying was "I don't know what's real and what isn't anymore". This has to be one of the most frustrating things with emet. because we literally trick ourselves into showing physical symptoms of getting sick. That night I woke up literally feeling sick to my stomach, and I ended up staying awake the whole night and missing work the next day, and for what? I never got sick. I know exactly how you feel, and I think the only thing to do is try and really calm down and tune in on what your body truly feels. I know it's hard, I"m working on it too. Best of luck!

[kateseeks]

Thanks so much for that quote, it perfectly describes what I've been going through when trying to explain this phobia to my family.

[Naketa Parham]

Omg! Thanks Asianeko u just saved me from a panic attack! I was nauseated but it was around my belly button,so this is off the topic,but my daughter was really really sick early thursday morning around 2:30-4:40,and i think it was the pizza pockets that she ate earlier,but what i cant stop thinking and worrying about is what if it was a SV? While my mom,and her brother,and my husband was right there with her the whole while she was *v,they feel fine,and im sitting here now nauseated telling myself that i got it,so how many days has to go by before ur in the clear of catching it? Please help me! Ugh!

[lisalulu]

I've learned to tell the 2 apart recently.
1. real illness comes on slowly and gradually. you feel a bit gross and it builds. panic is pretty sudden.
2. thinking of food while ill will make you feel worse but like the other people said picturing our favourite food and feeling a bit hungry means it's panic.
3. if you distract yourself with something and the feeling goes away for a while it's panic. if you're sick it's not going to stop.
4. if you throw up you'll feel better. if it's panic it will be over soon anyway. so either way the feeling won't last long!

[BrightStars]

Thanks for the replies guys

[lauren37]

yes it is so hard!!!!

[andee]

Hate to say this but I have had this fear for about 30 years and I STILLLLL can't tell sometimes.

[Valerie13Ann]

It's so hard for me to tell. Because when I because anxious, nothing sounds appealing to me, not even water. The other day though, I felt as if I was going to, I got all the sensations in my throat and...I dont know, hard to explain...but then I told myself you won't v* and focused my attention on something else (I was in a car, so more panic, of course) and got through it. didn't v*. Ugh. so hard to tell for me because I don't even know what it feels like as I haven't since I was 4 years old and I am 24 now. Ridiculous I tell ya.

[bmgc]

Sometimes I think is actually funny because when I'm having a panic attack I think "Oh my god, I'm sick, I'M GONNA V*!!!!! I CAN'T DO IT!!!" and my family looks at me like I'm crazy or something.. But when I'm calm I think "I can do this, I'm so strong and I will win this war against my brain" but the panic starts and I forget all my strenght. I can be smiling and in the next minute/second I have this behavior.. people may think I'm bipolar

[lauren37]

my mom aid i was bipolar cause the same thing happens to me bmgc!

[emmalinda]

im also with valerie. when im REALLY panicking i dont want anything! all i can think about is the food i previously ate and how i wish i never ate it. but sometimes i still use that trick when i feel sick most days. im not feeling too well now and orton after picturing that custard dripping all over that hot apple pie, it looks nice! still feel sick though.so dont exacley know what it means. but i also think you get to know your own body. i've been taking notice of the symptoms i get when i feel sick. i also think keeping a diary would be a good idea and write down what kind of nausea it is and things you may of ate and if you went to the toilet and when the feeling went away. you can look back at i whenever you feel sick and see that you always end up feeling better or getting to know how to make yourself feel better

[jasminemarie]

Yes, I agree with you all here - it is like a never-ending nightmare and I feel like me and my brain are constantly competing to see who can trick or beat the other.. feels currently like my brain and the panic is winning all the time. I had never tried the trick of thinking of yummy foods before, it seemed really good but then when I tried it, I panicked because the food didn't appeal to me so then I thought eek I actually am nauseous! However, I do feel like absolute rubbish cause I've got some cold/flu thing and I guess you can lose your appetite from that (I like to kid myself sometimes and form like a little mantra in my head).

I don't know if this has been discussed before as I'm a fairly new member but does anyone feel as if their symptoms of panic and the associated nausea etc, seem to mutate and change every time? My step sister is a recovering emet and I always say to her "but it feels different this time" but then its still just panic. So, how am I ever going to know when to relax and say "its just panic" because what if one time it isn't?

A very frustrating and terrifying thing to live with, so glad there is such a nice community on this forum.

[missanxious]

ok, does anybody get nausea in their throat? almost like a pulsating feeling which feels like adrenalin? Sometimes it comes on strong but then passes quickly?
I just sip hot herb teas or cold water when i'm anxious, in fact that is how i drink anyway. Unless very thirsty i never drink quick.
I think if you are really going to vom then your stomach complains and this feeling lasts for hours until you know you will throw up and actually its not that terrifiying, but with anxiety although you won't admit it - you know in your head you won't be sick as your stomach feels okay and even though you may get the runs that is just nerves too.
I can never do the food test because if you have depression too, then lack of appetite and are constantly anxious then food is the last thing you want, but if your stomach rumbles then you know you are okay. I go through bouts of eating really well and then sometimes food is the last thing i want. But its those times when i get over confident with food that i then either eat something wrong or i eat too much and feeling full makes me feel sick and its all i can focus on. So don't solely rely on some greasy food test as its yukky anyway.
My emet is always worse at nightime, i hate nightime.I never get a panic attack as bad in the day as i do at nightime. I sometimes lie awake for hours until it is nearly daylight before falling asleep again. At night there is no distraction and i hate that. I just use my phone and texting people does help. But it usually starts with the racing heart. So i just want to get in my car and runaway from the situation, but i am running away from home as can't bear to be ill at home as ill always associate it with bad memories. But when you do feel really bad you can't be bothered with anything and actually you won't have the energy to panic, i remember that much of when i was last ill. I think too the infrequency of us vomiting makes us fear it all the more. If you think normal people and i say that loosely throw up all the time and it doesn't bother them - so why do we have to be so different? It is because we catastrophize.

[emmalinda]

missanxious i thought i was the only who wanted to get in my car and just leave when i feel sick. if i really think its gonna happen, i will literally leave in the middle of the night. last time i vomited at home i couldnt go back and stayed at my mums house for days. i was terrified to go use the toilet again. i have never had that throat nausea. it stll doesnt make sense to me. how can you get nausea in your throat? i have heard it before on here and someone has tried epplaining it to me but i still dont get it

[missanxious]

Do you live alone? I live with my boyfriend but eventho he is a dr i am terrified of being ill in front of him. I go on and on to him about how i feel sick, panicking, my bowels, can't sleep, can't eat on and on lol.
Well basically you either feel sick in your throat or your stomach. I am only used to feeling sick in my throat now (nausea) can't remember when it started but i have it all the time. I associate it with anxiety as it feels like my pulse. But no one ever got sick from a sensation in their throat. I seldom feel queasy with my stomach, although i frequently have digestive troubles.
I slept in the other bedroom last night hoping that sleeping alone may prevent me from waking up in the night,but soon as 2am hit i woke up hot, so had to cool myself down, stood by window then went to the bathroom to splash face(really does work to cool you down) got back into bed, my laptop was in the other room, i just wanted something immediately to distract me so considered getting out the flat and sitting somewhere nice, but an 1hr later when i had calmed down running out in the night was the last thing i wanted to do.
Don;t know if you have read about flight or fight, but once that kicks in you want to runaway from fear. So you want to run away from the fact you may vomit to prevent it from happening. Except the fear is you - and that makes you worse. Need to somehow except it and let fear take over you, but i know how tough it is, because as easy as it is to say soon as it happens to you its just the worst feeling in the world.

[Jon]

I can never tell if it'sin my head or not. But last time I was sick ( February of 2010) I knew I was going to V* Suprisingly, I wasn't that nervous. But I was when it was over.

[emmalinda]

missanxious your lucky your bf is a doctor. i hope one day i could go out with a doctor i think they would be very understanding and be able to help diagnose your symptoms