Has Anyone Overcome Emetophobia?

[m0ndaymay]

I have tried every kind of therapy/progam imaginable.  Even the "emetophobia eraser" and "emetophobia cure" " and "change that's right now" programs did nothing to get rid of my phobia.  All they did was get rid of some of my money.

I have tried CBT, medication, hypnotherapy, subliminal tapes, EFT, accupressure, talk therapy... you name it!

And exposure therapy (vomiting) only made it worse.

So I'm wondering, has ANYONE actually been "cured" of this debilitating phobia?  If so, please share!

[crazygirl1]

I've done exposure therapy with a different phobia and it wokred. Try it again, dont give up. The freedom you feel after overcoming a phobia is wonderful, wonderful...good luck!

[oneworld2010]

whats the phobia?

[crazygirl1]

hers is vomiting , mine was bears

[surfmonkey]

The hypnotherapy didn't reveal anything about why you may have the fear?? I'm afraid of being sick in public and away from my husband. If I'm with a family member or friend and I'm sick in public I will panic. I'm going to eat as much as I can and force myself to vomit in a coffee shop for everyone to see. Maybe I won't be so scared. Keep trying the exposure therapy! The more it happens the more comfortable you will get. Good luck!

[m0ndaymay]

No, the hypnotherapy didn't reveal anything.  All it did was relax me quite deeply for the rest of the day, which was nice, but didn't do anything to lessen the phobia.

[furryballys]

I have a bit of emetophobia (was pretty bad that it left me housebound for a good part of the beginning of this year) but i realized and learned over the past year that the intense nausea feeling i get is super bad anxious reaction from stress in life. To cope with my stress and accept the nauseous feelings (usually accepting them makes them go away), i work on my issues and a great book i've been on and off using is "The Anxiety And Phobia Workbook" by Bourne, 4th edition. Emetophobia is a tough phobia because anxiety makes us nauseous and it makes us believe that we're afraid of throwing up because we focus so much on throwing up, rather most of the time it's something that makes us really anxious that we need to remedy - i.e. lack of assertiveness, mistaken beliefs. I feel like i'm starting to lose my grip with the fear of throwing up, i won't know until it actually happens if i have but i'm starting to look at things differently, in a more positive light. I hope you can too get there!

[surfmonkey]

I'm def going to check that book out. I never buy anxiety books bc I dk if there good. Who can afford to waste 30dollars? Not me. But since you say its good I'm going to try it! I think vomiting is definitely not something we prefer to do daily but we have to remind ourselves that in a lot of cases it makes us feel better. You body wants to vomit so vomit! If your in public, I have no answer for that

[butterflygirl]

Its interesting because I had this fear horribly growing up....I suffered so severely from panic and anxiety in public because of it....i would go to class and sit there worrying so much about getting sick and throwing up that i would give myself a horrible panic attack, and even a few times running right out of the class room....i had to make sure my seat was near the door no matter where i was so i could get out easily....

I dont feel like I had this problem until I was in 2nd grade and got sick...I knew I was going to throw up....I raised my hand and asked the teacher, "please can i go to the bathroom?"...he said "no you cant, read number five for me"....I remember it like it was yesterday....I vomited right there all over my desk and myself....I was utterly humiliated...of course the teacher told me he was sorry and opened the door for me to leave to the bathroom...not before I heard all of the "ewws" and "sick!!" and "gross!" from the other kids in the class....that was the second to last day of school...I didn't go to school the last day, and beginning with the first day of 3rd grade, I had horrible panic attacks....I made my mom stay with me in class for the first week or two...I begged her not to make me go to school....I took my temperature every single night of my life clear into high school if I had to be to school the next day.....I became afraid of going on vacation with my family...going to the mall, dinner, anything that had to do with public places....I began a ritual of swallowing a pinch of salt every single morning before I went to school because I had heard that salt helps calm your stomach so I figured if I ate it, I wouldn't get sick....if I forgot my pinch of salt that morning (which rarely happened), I would panic on the bus...thinking I was going to get sick that day...Every night when it was time for bed and it was a school night my tummy would be so sick...I'd wake up in the middle of the night and feel sooo sick...the only comfort I found was going into my parents room and sleeping at the foot of their bed on the floor....

If someone near me said they were sick or feeling sick, I would have a panic attack or I would try to get away from them because I was terrified that they would throw up in front of me....if I saw someone throw up or saw throw up on the ground, I would literally run....if i couldn't get away from them, I would have a panic attack and would worry the rest of the day that I was going to be sick too.....

Anyway, I dont mean to ramble on about myself, but I just want you to know that there is someone here that knows exactly what you are going through...It is a horrible, horrible debilitating fear....as Im sure the phobias of others are....

The only thing that got me through it, and Im not fully over it..I dont think you ever fully recover...(if someone has, tell me your secret!!!) was having kids....my daughter became my life...I HAD to be there if she got sick...I was the only one who could help her, I COULDNT run away....also going through morning sickness made it a little easier....my mind over matter is so strong when it comes to vomiting that I get the stomach virus like MAYBE once ever 3 or 4 years.....THANK THE LORD!!!

Sorry about the long post...Im here for you...feel free to message me anytime ok?? Hugs for you....

[Christiangal42]

I have that fear also.  And lately I've been having stomach issues, which is making me panic a lot.   I am not sure how to overcome it, either.  I ordered the book mention, Anxiety and Panic workbook.  I hear it is very good.  At this point I'll try anything.   Hope you feel better.