Is there a cure?

[Katie1994]

I can't take much more of this phobia, it's restricting me and I feel like I'm scared of everything. What can I do? Has anyone recovered from it? What have people found useful? I'm desperate, I just want this fear to go away, please help

[KaydeeJayde]

I recovered from it. I went from not really being able to leave my house to working my dream job. It took me a LOT of hard work, there's no easy cure, and it's not an overnight thing at all but what worked for me was CBT and medication, which I'm now not taking anymore.

[Katie1994]

Thank you, from what I've read cbt seems to have helped a lot of people, what was the medication? Like for anxiety or something?

[yourjedi]

"Cure" is a weird word, but there's definitely ways that you can live anxiety-free and not live in constant fear of being sick.

I'm not there yet, though, but so far medication for me has been extremely helpful. I take 100mg of Zoloft daily.

[ilana620]

I am currently doing CBT and finding it very productive. It's been about six months and I took a look the other day at the list of "avoidance behaviors" that I made at the start of my treatment. These are things I was doing out of fear, such as carrying anti-anxiety meds with me at all times, not eating certain foods, etc. There is practically nothing on the list that I still do to avoid getting sick.

I'm not through the woods yet and I agree with youjedi that "cure" isn't the right word. I think of it like recovering from an addiction -- addicts are never cured, but they learn to manage the addiction and not engage in dangerous behaviors. I think it's similar with phobics -- we learn to manage the fear and not avoid harmless activities because we perceive them to be more dangerous than they are.

[KaydeeJayde]

Yeah, I don't like the word "Cure". I don't consider myself emetophobic anymore but I think I'll always be anxiety-prone.

The medication was Lexapro and Effexor, both antidepressants. I stopped taking both of them though, and I'm now medication-free

[wanted]

KaydeeJayde, how long did you take medications?

[gumdropper1]

You can read some stories of people being cured on my site: http://emetophobia.byethost15.com/

[KaydeeJayde]

KaydeeJayde, how long did you take medications?

About a year and a half all up. Some people choose to stay on them for the rest of their lives. My mother's been taking an antidepressant for about 23 years.

[wanted]

That's really good to hear Did you go to some therapy?

[wanted]

Edit: it's good to hear that you only took them for a year and a half, not that some people take them forever.
Sorry fir double post, I am on my mobile phone and it wont edit my original post.

[LaurenEland]

I agree with the word 'cure' is a tricky one, in my experience, you learn to deal with it, i've not been on medication for it, but i would recommend going to your doctors, as in my experience there is a possibility that it will come back, like mine has now.
I believe with medication, it'll help you!

But think of it this way, nothing lasts forever, and in a month, a year you'll be in a completely different place.

[KaydeeJayde]

That's really good to hear Did you go to some therapy?

I did. I did CBT for about 1.5 years. That was the BIGGEST help, I can't stress that enough, it changes your thought patterns and reactions to things, it helped me SO much.

[Katie1994]

Thank you everyone, I feel like all of the health professionals I've spoken to so far have no real knowledge of emetophobia, just my anxiety disorder which is probably 95 percent down to my emetophobia anyway

[wanted]

Katie, that is my fear.. I am afraid I won't find any good therapist here who knows something about emetophobia and does CBT. I really doubt I will find one here and how will I ever be better.