You create it.

[Healed]

As a completely healed (not just cured, not just recovered) former emetophobe, it is my opinion that on this board there is WAY too much focus on fear and little to no talk about courage (healing). How does anyone expect to get well if all you talk about is the problem?

I doubt there are many here who even believe in the God of the Bible let alone use God's word to overcome problems. So I expect this post to be ignored - even ridiculed - by most but maybe there's one person who will be helped by it - and that's why I'm posting it.

This is what I've learned. Emetophobia doesn't just happen. You create it. You don't need someone to teach you how to overcome it, you need someone to show you how to stop creating it.

I found that "someone" to be Jesus when finally, in desperation, I picked up His book and started studying what the Bible says about healing and, more importantly, how to receive it because God doesn't pick favorite people at random, slap them on the forehead and say, "YOU'RE HEALED!" God's supernatural healing has already been provided for every person on the planet who wants it.But simply wanting it isn't enough. Nor is wishing, praying, pleading, begging. You have to learn how to take what God has already provided for every single person on the planet. "As a man thinks in his heart, so is he." (Proverbs 23:7)
We literally physically become our thoughts and beliefs. So if all you're thinking is fear/danger/sickness/norovirus, is it any wonder you live in a constant state of anxiety where you don't feel safe in your own skin and where you feel sick (IBS, panic attacks, nausea) all the time? Our physical body responds to the commands given it by our brain. If the brain tells it "DANGER! DANGER!" the body behaves like it's in danger.

"Death and life are in the power of the tongue." (Proverbs 18:21)
Words are powerful. Words become things. God spoke the entire universe into existence and He put the same power to create in our mouths. God created the universe and everything in it with His words and we create our life with our words. What are you creating in your life through your words? Are you creating healing (freedom from emetophobia) or are you creating sickness and disease? (ever wonder why your emetophobia is getting worse and why you always feel nauseous?)

"I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses; therefore choose life" (Deuteronomy 30:19)
God gave us power to choose: Life or death, blessings or curses - in every area of our lives, in every situation. He even gives us the answer when He says, "Choose life!" With our thoughts, actions, and words (whether we're aware of it or not) we are creating "life" or "death" in all areas of our life. When it comes to emetophobia, are you nurturing it, feeding it daily, treating it like a pet instead of the life-sucking enemy (curse) it is? Or have you stopped feeding it so it can die? What you don't feed dies; What you feed daily lives, grows, thrives, becomes bigger and stronger... and keeps coming back for more. Ever fed a stray animal? That thing waits on your doorstep once it's figured out this is where his food is.

Therefore, unless you like this fear of vomiting (and some people do and don't want to get rid of it), you, and only you, through the power of your thoughts and words and actions can kill it. If you don't choose "death" for your emetophobia, it will kill you. Maybe not literally but it will kill your joy, your health, your relationships, your peace of mind, your ability to enjoy life to the fullest and become everything God intended you to be. And kill it you must because if you only "overcome it" without killing it, it will be busy getting bigger, badder, and stronger so it can come back a second (third, forth) time even worse:

Return of the unclean spirit.
( Think of the unclean spirit as emetophobia and "seven other spirits" as complications of emetophobia such as agoraphobia, anorexia, depression, suicidal thoughts, etc. "The house" is you. )

"When the unclean spirit (emetophobia) goes out of a man, it passes through waterless places seeking rest, and not finding any, it says, 'I will return to my house (you) from which I came.' "And when it comes, it finds it swept and put in order. "Then it goes and takes along seven other spirits more evil (agoraphobia etc) than itself, and they go in and live there; and the last state of that man becomes worse than the first." (Luke 11:24-26)

"The thief comes only to steal, kill and destroy." (John 10:10)
The thief in this case is emetophobia. It will only steal from you, kill and destroy parts of you and parts of your life. Emetophobia DOES NOT keep you safe. That safe feeling you get from holding on to your emetophobic tendencies is a lie of the enemy. You become its slave, it's puppet, its prisoner.

[mdgirl1977]

I agree that a large focus of this board is fear, but as an atheist I cannot buy into the idea of religion saving me from my emetophobia. Psychology and empirical scientific research has shown us that when tackling a fear, such as emet, it is best to look back and analyze the root causes to work through the fear through a variety of tools, such as CBT, talk therapy, exposure and desensitization. In none of those treatments is the focus on God. We did not create it. That is a terribly cruel thing to say to those of us that developed this disorder as children due to abuse or neglect. That is like saying someone asked to have Parkinson's or cancer or to become an alcoholic.

I appreciate your perspective, but personally I do not find religion to be helpful in my life in anyway, least of all my emet.

[SoVerySorry]

It isn't a conscious creation. We do create it, but it isn't something we chose to do; however, there are numerous views on how this illness forms and works as are there ways of battling this illness. As such, there isn't only a single route to find an effective treatment for this [Emetophobia] nor is there only a single effective treatment. I can appreciate what you are trying to do - give some kind words and encouraging perspective - but I don't think the metaphors were the right ones in this situation. I am sure there will be others who really welcome your insight, and I'm happy for them, so please don't let this take away from the vibe of the post.

[psalm139]

Healed as a Christian myself I have found that the gospel of Jesus Christ and the church have helped me far more than secular counseling and meds. I do believe there are certain cases where meds are necessary, but I think many of us Emets tend to abuse them or put all of our hopes in them. I also believe that we the Church DO have the answers to mankind's problems. I also believe that we can provide love and support. The main problem is that we are sinners. We are born enemies of God unable to do any good that is pleasing to Him. That's why God sent His son to live a perfect sinless life, a life we can never live, suffered a horrible death on the cross, rose again on the third day. It's by grace we are saved not of works. All of us need a perfect Savior. The bible says we are to repent and place our trust in Him, Jesus. When we do that God promises to sanctify us and grow us in Jesus Christ.

As a Christian I know that my Emet is a struggle that I believe God will and CAN get me through this. I also understand that many of you on here aren't Christians but I hope that you at least consider what I have said. There IS hope and life found in Jesus. I will be praying for ALL of you. Thank you Healed for opening up this dialogue

[KimberlyP]

MDGirl,

Do you realize that a cured/healed emetophobe is saying how SHE was cured and you ridiculed her for it? If her faith in something you don't believe in helped cure her, than let's be happy for her instead of putting her down. There are techniques that I don't believe work or have very little, if any, scientific proof of working but people find comfort and healing in them. Not to mention there are a lot of Christians in this world and many can find help with what she has posted here. Faith, whether you want to believe in it or not, has helped tons of people with mental ailments; whether it was a placebo or true divine power.

You've always been such a helpful, unbiased and kind person on here, so I was and still am actually surprised that you of all people were the one to tear down a persons personal recovery and how she believes she got there.

I used to be a extremely active Christian but I'm now teetering on agnosticism, so I want you to understand that I'm not offended because you don't believe but that you would purposely try to break someone down by saying their beliefs aren't true because it isn't supported by science ("in none of these treatments is the focus of god") and then try to make her feel bad and ashamed about it ("that is a terribly cruel thing to say"). I mean, how? How can you say that to someone who suffered from th exact same thing as you? You know the hell she went through, you know the fear. Shouldn't you be happy and applaud that another person found a way out, even if it isn't the same door you would've have chosen? Also, because this isn't in th private section and can be accessed by anybody on the internet, you may have essentially ruined the hope this post held for another emetophobic christian who may have stumbled onto it all because YOU don't believe in it. Wow.

[SoVerySorry]

I'm sorry, but your god isn't a kind god. I believed in god for a short stint, about 7 years, and did pray heavily for guidance. I didn't pray for panacea, but to help me find a path. I was pretty far into the religion. After 7 long years and nothing but negative progression, I found that either 1: God doesn't exist, or 2: God is an asshole. I'd rather believe he doesn't exist. It is greatly fallacious to believe that we are void of consequential choices. It is fallacious to believe that we are given free will, when there is only 1 option to choose lest you breath the fumes of sulfur.

I don't think that people who follow /any/ religion are bad persons or idiots by any stretch of the imagination. I do take odd offense when others do press that religion is a cure all or the number 1 method of healing.

[SoVerySorry]

...this is a sketchy topic and I see that it will cause the opposite of what Healed intended. I'm sorry if I offended you by insulting your religion and your god. I'll leave this topic.

[Healed]

I agree that a large focus of this board is fear, but as an atheist I cannot buy into the idea of religion saving me from my emetophobia. Psychology and empirical scientific research has shown us that when tackling a fear, such as emet, it is best to look back and analyze the root causes to work through the fear through a variety of tools, such as CBT, talk therapy, exposure and desensitization. In none of those treatments is the focus on God. We did not create it. That is a terribly cruel thing to say to those of us that developed this disorder as children due to abuse or neglect. That is like saying someone asked to have Parkinson's or cancer or to become an alcoholic.

I appreciate your perspective, but personally I do not find religion to be helpful in my life in anyway, least of all my emet.

I don't understand why sharing what healed me offends you. I didn't think God would help me either. I hadn't even opened the Bible, let alone study it. But after doing all the mainstream treatments you mentioned - and more - some more than once - I saw very little, if any improvement. Certainly nothing long-term or permanent. Before turning to God - which I did in desperation as a last resort when I was seriously contemplating suicide - I did all these treatments more than once over the course of the 30 years that I was rendered completely disabled by emetophobia: Talk therapy where we did trace the root cause of my fear (knowing the cause didn't heal me); CBT - this taught me how to stop panic attack from becoming full blown if I caught it in time but did nothing to rid me of emetophobia. Medication didn't get rid of my emetophobia either. At best it turned me into a medicated zombie; at worst the side-effects of the medication were worse than the symptoms of emetophobia. I also did hypnotherapy which left me very relaxed right after each session but that feeling wore off by the time I was home and did nothing to free me from emetophobia. I did "tapping" (EFT aka Emotional Freedom Technique) - this just made me feel stupid lol. Again, did nothing for emetophobia. The list of things goes on and on: Art therapy, music therapy, regression therapy. I even went through therapy for OCD because to me emetophobia is very similar to OCD so I thought why not? This I must say helped a lot but the relief was only temporary and when it came back - and it did - it was worse than before.

So I'm not "selling" the idea of religion because I'm some blurry-eyed Bible-thumper. I turned to God's word as a last resort - out of desperation - after I had exhaused every other option psychology and science (and a few kooks lol) offered. At the time, I didn't even go to church. I had never even opened a Bible, let alone read it, and I certainly hadn't studied any part of it in depth. I wasn't sure God was even real... and if He was, I didn't put a lot of stock in receiving healing from Him. I felt stupid - because intelligent people believe in science, not God, right? So I felt embarrassed. I didn't tell anyone I had sunk so low and become so desperate that I was turning to the Bible of all things.

But God - the God of the Christian Bible - Jesus - His word - is what healed me. The ONLY thing that worked. So I'm no longer embarrassed to talk about it and I no longer feel stupid about it. In fact, I now feel embarrassed and stupid for having left God for last because if I knew 30 years ago what I know now, I would not have lost 30 years of my life to emetophobia. I would have been healthy and whole and free and living life instead of just bumping along every day with this phobia hanging over my head.

THIS - my healing from emetophobia - is what made 100% God real to me. After doing what the Bible says to do worked (and it's the ONLY thing that worked), that's when I had no doubt that Jesus is who He said He is and that His word is real and, if we live it, it works. I was shocked it worked.

The journey I went through with God which resulted in my healing was so powerful and eye-opening for me that I am now a full-time student in Bible college. The last place I ever thought I'd be was Bible college. But when Jesus sets you free, you're free indeed and you can no longer deny Him or His finished work. That's what I learned. And now I want to learn more about Him. I want to learn everything there is to learn. Which is why I'm in Bible College. I went from never attending Church to sitting under the Word 4 hours a day, 5 days a week.

So now I am proud to be a fanatical Bible-thumping follower of Jesus because He healed me. Not psychology. Not science. But Christ Jesus healed me through His word. It wasn't magic. I didn't fall asleep one night phobic and woke up the next morning normal.

About creating it. Yes, we create it. Religion didn't tell me that. A mainstream psychologist specializing in the treatment of phobias told me that. That's one of the few things that helped me tremendously from mainstream treatments. The only problem was that this psychologist couldn't tell me WHO could teach me how to stop creating it. He (the psychologist) certainly didn't. Who would have thought that the person who would eventaully show me how to stop creating it was Jesus? Through His word, of course. I don't hear voices or anything lol.

My emetophobia was a direct result of a combination of abuse and trauma I experienced as a young child. That's what opened the door to it but emetophobia proper did not fully manifest until I was an adult. And as an emetophobic adult, yes, I was creating it over and over again every day with every scary thought and subsequent action (avoidance, sanitizing, etc). Like you, I would have been angry and offended had someone dared to tell me I was creating it! I had no control over it! Or so I thought. Until I learned HOW to stop creating it and then I saw that I did have control over it and how I did create it and keep it going for decades. But you don't know what you don't know so I lost three decades of my life to a debilitating fear that I could have stopped a lot sooner had I known then what I know now.

If psychology and science is working for you - GREAT! It wasn't working for me so no amount of "empirical scientific" anything means anything to me now because it wasn't working. God's word worked, and so all I can share is what worked for me no matter how offensive and stupid you may find it.

[Healed]

Healed as a Christian myself I have found that the gospel of Jesus Christ and the church have helped me far more than secular counseling and meds. I do believe there are certain cases where meds are necessary, but I think many of us Emets tend to abuse them or put all of our hopes in them. I also believe that we the Church DO have the answers to mankind's problems. I also believe that we can provide love and support. The main problem is that we are sinners. We are born enemies of God unable to do any good that is pleasing to Him. That's why God sent His son to live a perfect sinless life, a life we can never live, suffered a horrible death on the cross, rose again on the third day. It's by grace we are saved not of works. All of us need a perfect Savior. The bible says we are to repent and place our trust in Him, Jesus. When we do that God promises to sanctify us and grow us in Jesus Christ.

As a Christian I know that my Emet is a struggle that I believe God will and CAN get me through this. I also understand that many of you on here aren't Christians but I hope that you at least consider what I have said. There IS hope and life found in Jesus. I will be praying for ALL of you. Thank you Healed for opening up this dialogue

Amen and Amen.

[mdgirl1977]

Kimberly - I didn't say I was offended nor did I knock healeds perspective . I most certainly did not call it stupid either, although healed claims I did. I just said that I am not sure that saying religion is the answer is the right thing to put on here. I am supportive of anyone finding the right answer for them but to say that we "create" our emet bothers me.

I am super supportive of all perspectives so maybe you misread my tone. I'm just cautious of religion.

[KimberlyP]

Kimberly - I didn't say I was offended nor did I knock healeds perspective . I most certainly did not call it stupid either, although healed claims I did. I just said that I am not sure that saying religion is the answer is the right thing to put on here. I am supportive of anyone finding the right answer for them but to say that we "create" our emet bothers me.

I am super supportive of all perspectives so maybe you misread my tone. I'm just cautious of religion.

As am I but I'm also cautious when airing my griefs of a certain topic on a post that is aimed at healing and supporting others. I just feel that it can be the same as a completely cured emetophobe giving credit to their therapist for curing them. Then because someone doesn't agree with the tactics the therapist used, they begin tearing the person who is healed down and possibly making her believe she isn't really cured or question her recovery. It doesn't matter if you don't believe in the therapist or his therapy; all that matters is that person is no longer engulfed in the hell that is emetophobia. Many drug addicts have been cured of their addiction after finding religion, so religion or a belief in something bigger than yourself can be helpful.

You're such a sweetheart MDGirl and I love reading your posts and you have awesome advice but I just think this could have been approached differently

I'm so happy for anybody who escapes this awful phobia and so thankful for the ones who come back to share how they did it, whether I believe in their views or not. Too many people are cured and then leave forever, leaving us to believe it's an incurable phobia. I think all of the cured emetophobes and their recovery stories on here are an important part of this site.

[Dairyfreelife]

I think whatever helps someone get through this phobia or any phobia or struggles is great. However, I don't believe I created this myself. I have been emet for as long as I can recall. My first memories were emet fears. Toddlers can't cause their own fears. Also, there's actually a lot of Christians on this forum that I have seen. I'm not one of them, but encountered plenty.

[mdgirl1977]

Kimberly - oh I agree that sharing stories of success are great. I just didn't like the part about how we create our emet when many of us didn't. and to correlate finding Jesus as the solution bothers me.

different strokes for different folks, I guess. I'm from the scientific school, personally.

[Dairyfreelife]

Also...just for reference...it's nauseated, not nauseous. Nauseous means to make someone sick. When you say I am nauseous...you are technically saying I am making people sick/nauseated. Basically that you nauseate people, lol. I am nauseated means I feel nausea.

And I don't think mdgirl or anyone has said so far on this thread that they don't believe the OP isn't healed. Though will say have heard it from others, even a couple people have said that emetophobia can't be cured. I think that's total bullshit myself. Every phobia can be cured. Not all mental illness can be cured, but phobias, absolutely.

[KimberlyP]

Haha! Thank you Dairy! I didn't know the nauseated/nauseas thing. I've made that mistake lots of time, lol!
I also agree that it is BS to say that this phobia can't be cured; there are many cured emetophobes on this website. It just kinda bugs me when people attack others recovery (not saying that is what MDGirl did, I just thought that's what it was leading into). Like I said, whatever gets you out of this freakin' phobia, do it as long as it's safe.

I remember a while back someone attacked Kaydee saying that she isn't cured and I just think that is too personal for another person to say whether or not you are, especially someone over the internet. If someone feels they're cured, who are we or anybody to say they aren't. To me, I'll consider myself cured when I can catch a stomach virus and treat it like other people do. I think it's easy to feel that there is no cure or recovery from emetophobia because when someone is cured, they leave. Many time posts start out as "I haven't been on here in a long time because I've been doing so well..." So I think cured emetophobe posts should be really valued.

But I think MDGirl, SoVerySorry, and dairyfree, you all are so important to this site and have helped many many people. I didn't want to pick a fight and you all have a right to not agree with what Healed said, I just personally feel that we shouldn't let our personal beliefs on a subject hinder or reverse someone's recovery. MDGirl, you're so gracious when it comes to criticism, that is truly a gift. I'm sorry if this doesn't make sense, haha! I'm typing with two fingers on my ipad, so I'm having a hard time haha!

Oh I also wanted to add that I'm a science buff. I'm currently working towards my associates of science and will continue on to bachelors and on.

[mdgirl1977]

Kimberly - aw, thanks for the comment about criticism. I like good conversation and enjoy hearing from people with other perspectives. that's how we learn and grow as individuals! we are all good

[AIR32]

Healed, I would LOVE to hear more about how you approached the Bible for healing. I thought I was cured for the longest until one day it came back after so many years from what I believe is a lot of stress in other areas of my life and a bad reaction to medication mean't to help with depression. My aunt suggested I pick up the Bible and start reading, which I did but could not seem to figure where to start and look for what I need. It basically made me feel overwhelmed and I gave up. But I have been thinking about turning back lately because as you said, nothing else is working for me or really helping. All the therapy is nice, gives me a person to vent to and help with other areas and anxiety in general but not really getting rid of the emet which would help everything else. l have improved a little but am not cured by anymeans. It still runs my life in a lot of areas. As far as creating it, I KNOW for sure I create it. Every day I mentally create the stomach aches, nausea, every little symptom and continue to fuel it by paying so much attention to it.

But as I said I would really like to talk with you about how you approached it and what worked for you! Thank you for sharing, reading this tonight actually makes me feel so much better because I was starting to back track a little!!

[Hannah A.]

Yes, a lot of aspects of this fear are created by me (example anxiety), but when it came on, I didn't "create" it. I got sick and it kind of happened. I had no control over it.
As for everyone getting annoyed about insulting religions etc. that's what happens when you post things about it on the internet. People WILL disagree and depending on how they are, they WILL voice their opinions about it. Nothing you can do about that.

[yourjedi]

I am glad that your faith brought you to your recovery, though I can’t reach recovery through that same method as I just do not believe in it. I have to agree with a couple of others, though, who say that we do not create it ourselves. Those born sociopathic, homosexual or phobic of (insert anything) did not choose to be that way, no more than I chose to be afraid of vomiting. I have an anxiety disorder caused by a chemical imbalance in my brain, which manifests itself in emetophobia at certain points in my life. Just a matter of opinion, of course, and I'm sure many on here who are also of Christian faith will find your story extremely helpful. I always love a recovery story despite how one gets there! Congratulations on being healed, as you put it.

EDIT:
Let me also add that I completely agree that choosing to overcome this phobia as opposed to letting it take over your life is a choice. You have to really push yourself and WANT to be recovered to do so.

[wanted]

I am Christian too and I believe God CAN help me to overcome this phobia. I don't know will it happen, but I believe and I pray a lot. I have been praying for a long time and I am not better, but I think God WILL help me one day. Everybody have hard times in their lives. Even though I am not healed, I pray and pray. I hope God will give me strenght to live my life with all these problems that I have. I am doing ok, my life suffers because of emetophobia, but it could be worse. My whole family is very religious so I am too even though I'm 19 and that can be unusual for my age.
Once again, great picture and great story

[MaybeBaby]

I am staying out of the religious talk. All I will say is I have been emetophobic my entire life. So yeah, maybe I created it... but I was 2 when my mother was vomiting every day from chemotherapy and then eventually passed away, so if I "created it" so be it. But in the same way it's just like saying to a soldier they created their PTSD. Ouch, they're not going to like to hear that.

[Mamafear]

I just said that I am not sure that saying religion is the answer is the right thing to put on here. I am supportive of anyone finding the right answer for them but to say that we "create" our emet bothers me.

I am super supportive of all perspectives so maybe you misread my tone. I'm just cautious of religion.

Totally agree with you!

[Healed]

Healed, I would LOVE to hear more about how you approached the Bible for healing. I thought I was cured for the longest until one day it came back after so many years from what I believe is a lot of stress in other areas of my life and a bad reaction to medication mean't to help with depression. My aunt suggested I pick up the Bible and start reading, which I did but could not seem to figure where to start and look for what I need. It basically made me feel overwhelmed and I gave up. But I have been thinking about turning back lately because as you said, nothing else is working for me or really helping. All the therapy is nice, gives me a person to vent to and help with other areas and anxiety in general but not really getting rid of the emet which would help everything else. l have improved a little but am not cured by anymeans. It still runs my life in a lot of areas. As far as creating it, I KNOW for sure I create it. Every day I mentally create the stomach aches, nausea, every little symptom and continue to fuel it by paying so much attention to it.

But as I said I would really like to talk with you about how you approached it and what worked for you! Thank you for sharing, reading this tonight actually makes me feel so much better because I was starting to back track a little!!

I have had a few others contact me privately asking the same thing so I think what I'm going to do is start a blog. I'll post the link once I create it, if that's okay with the owners f this site of course.

AIR, I think you're the only one who fully understood my post - especially about how we create it. We did not create the original trauma from which emetophobia was born, no, of course not. That's obvious. Something beyond our control opened the door to this phobia. But that doesn't mean we have to allow it to set up house in our head permanently. We have authority and power over our bodies. We can give emetophobia an eviction notice and kick it out, slam the door shut, and never allow it back in. But that's not going to happen if we keep marinating in fear every day for years. We have to take our God-given authority over it.

When we marinade a steak, the steak takes on the flavour of the marinate. Similarly, marinating in fear permeates every cell of our body and we become fear. That's how we create it. But if we choose to marinate in health and healing, we become healthy and whole. That's how we stop creating it.

I'll give specifics, with Bible references of course, of how I received my healing in the blog I'm going to start. That way those interested in doing the same can refer to it for help and the people on this board who are so offended and angry at Jesus' healing power don't even have to see it, and everybody's happy. Hopefully.

[mdgirl1977]

I don't know about anyone else, but I'm not offended or angry and would appreciate not having my polite comments taken out of context or being labeled as emotionally charged when they clearly were not. that is disrespectful and goes against Jesus ' teachings of forgiveness and understanding, if my years of religious studies in college taught me anything

[Dairyfreelife]

Some people create it by feeding it. However, I think the OP is misunderstanding how fear/panic works. Fear is not all bad. It is there to help us not get into dangerous situations or get out of a situation which may threaten our life. An anxiety attack is simply a misplaced adrenaline rush. Adrenaline rushes help us get out a situation that is dangerous. Adrenaline can actually be quite amazing and allowed people to lift things they never could have lifted otherwise to save themselves or a loved one. The problem comes when the mind perceives a threat that's not actually a real threat in the majority of cases like seeing little house spiders, going on an airplane, vomit, even feet. Something gets crossed in the brain and adrenaline gets pumping, causing an anxiety attack. And of course, panic attacks create more panic because many people think they are dying or having a heart attack with ther first anxiety attack. I had my first real panic attack at the age of six. Just six.
Honestly, I think some people are more genetically prone to anxiety than others. There is also evidence that the more intelligent a person is, the more likely they are to have some form of mental illness like ADD/ADHD, depression, OCD, and of course, anxiety. Most people know their fear is irrational, but in the moment it occurs, it's tough to calm down. You have to stop the panic attack the moment it starts or it's less likely to be stopped. I know that's been my biggest struggle in overcoming this phobia and all phobias I have/had. The moment someone would say they felt sick, the panic would start. If someone actually was sick, it was over and it was full blown panic before I could even try to stop the attack. I am slowly doing better.
I am personally using exposure videos at the moment, working to desensitize myself to the TV/movie vomit first that's not reality TV, and then moving on to real vomit situations like on reality TV. I am also working through CBT. I actually got on an airplane about two months ago, which is something I never though I could do as it involved multiple fears, but I did it. It is true, I agree, that we can only get better if we want to get better. That's true for everything in life. This is even true with cancer if people are determined to fight it, they are more likely to beat it or even just live longer with it because they want to do so. Determination is a powerful thing.
What helped me decide to really work on getting better was turning 25. I wanted to get better before, but the real determination hit me when I realized I was turning a quarter of a century old and had spent that long in fear. I was like, fuck this shit, it's taken too much of my life. It may have had my past, but like hell was I going to let this phobia have my future.
I have a long road ahead as I don't know what it is like to not live in fear, but I so want to find out. I was once a Christian as well, but did not find healing that way. What works for one person will not work for another and there are many religions, not just Christianity, that can also help people find peace and help them with overcoming this phobia. For me, turning atheist is what helped and doing what needs to be done for myself and looking to science for help. It gave me therapy and medicine and coping skills and it's what it is personally helping me. The OP credits her god for healing, I credit it science. Both are fine, but let's not forget that what helped one person won't help another the same way.

[mdgirl1977]

Honestly, I think some people are more genetically prone to anxiety than others. There is also evidence that the more intelligent a person is, the more likely they are to have some form of mental illness like ADD/ADHD, depression, OCD, and of course, anxiety.

LOL I must be a genius because I have ADD, ADHD, depression, OCD and anxiety! Five for FIVE!

[Dairyfreelife]

LOL I must be a genius because I have ADD, ADHD, depression, OCD and anxiety! Five for FIVE!

lol, I have ADD, depression, OCD, anxiety and phobia disorders. I dunno my IQ though, lol. Just saying that I've seen some studies showing this. Dunno if there's enough evidence yet to say this is true, so just saying some studies have found some correlation to intelligence and more mental problems. This can include other mental illnesses too. My friend's brother was very smart as a child. Read all the time, had all A's and S's in school, loved school too. Then hit puberty and everything changed. Ended up being diagnosed with bipolar disorder and schizophrenia. Had a home tutor and ended school at 16. Now 22, and will never be able to live on his own due to the severity of his mental illness. He does well for a time and then stops his meds and ends up in a mental hospital, and then gets back on track. And it just cycles. It's very sad. He has so much potential, so much of a chance to be someone great and go to college and have a good life and mental illness ruined it all for him. I think that's the case with a number of schizophrenics too, but again, not sure if there's enough studies out there to prove that correlation is actually causation.

[mdgirl1977]

I have had my IQ tested for a job a few years back and it is actually very high (137 I think)! I was like "yay I am a nerd...mensa here I come." I do have a lot of mental health issues, though. So the correlation is probably there. I hold onto my sanity most days Barely.

[staystrongxx]

Yeah I totally do not agree with the whole "you create it" perspective. A phobia is a mental illness. A lot of emets do not even know why their phobia began. I for one don't. So no, we did not create it. I also have depression and GAD, and undiagnosed OCD, I did not create those either.

I am agnostic so religion will not be my savior, but I'm glad you have found the thing that worked for you. More power to you, Healed.

[Healed]

I am agnostic so religion will not be my savior, but I'm glad you have found the thing that worked for you. More power to you, Healed.

Thank you very much. I hope you find what will work for you so that you too can be free from this awful awful fear.