Emetophobia

[psychic_spy]

I have such a problem . I get anxiety attacks and psychosomatic problems that trigger this phobia that i have since my puberty. I really can't find a therapist in my country to help me thoroughly to treat it. Although i cope with almost all activities of my daily life, when i have to travel abroad or on holiday i get severly overcame by fear of getting sick, vomiting in public places and disturbing everyone around. I keep on having it it for years and i hoped that with age i will control it better or make it go all long but now i'm 25 and it's a nuisance since nothing changed since i was a teen concerning this problem. I also had / have cibophobia ( fear of food or patogens in food) and when i get panicked about i find very hard to eat like a normal person. I force myself to eat and i get nauseaus and in turn i get even more scared and concerned about my condition.
Do you know any effective treatment except pills that might help me?

Recently i found a book called Emetophobia Recovery System that is written by an American. It's an innovative approach to this issue that plagues many people around the world. I wonder whether anyone knows something about it or if it's sound treatment cause i want to order it someday but i don't live in America and the shipping might be difficult or expensive.

 

[Nienna]

Have you done EE? Doing pipe breathing may help during these attacks.

Not only does pipe breathing help with calming, but it helps with digestion. So maybe it will help with the nausea, along with calming you down.

It's at least worth a try.

 

[psychic_spy]

Yess , Nienna , i tried for some time but i quited for some reason or other. I'm fine as long as i don't travel too far.. and sometimes even when i do i feel ok untill something triggers my phobia and creates anxiety. At that point, once it is aroused is very hard to appease it. We'll see this time, i'm going to a mountain region in the West part of my country, fresh air, nice caves, salt mines. I'll do some pipe breathing ;D

 

[paralleloscope]

Hi psychic spy, what's your diet like?

 

[psychic_spy]

The first plate is comprised of chicken soup or borsh soup.

Well , during the week ( at lunchtime) i usually eat boiled or gently fried vegetables and meat ( porc, chicken or beef, fish) as the second plate.

In the morning usually i don't eat or in week-ends i make an omlette. In the evening i eat sandwiches with cheese and bacon, spaghetti or i prepare a pizza ( with mushrooms, olives, bacon, pressed cheese) or I eat a youghurt after i finish my sandwiches.
Sometimes during the day i eat various snacks such as baked rolls or chocolate rollls but i don't exxagerate.

 

[3DStudent]

Looks like you are getting some wheat and dairy in your diet. Eliminating gluten (and all other grains) as well as dairy can help with your mental anxieties. You may try eliminating the pizza, sandwiches, cheese, yoghurt and snacks. Have you read the Life without bread thread?

 

[Nienna]

Looks like you are getting some wheat and dairy in your diet. Eliminating gluten (and all other grains) as well as dairy can help with your mental anxieties. You may try eliminating the pizza, sandwiches, cheese, yoghurt and snacks. Have you read the Life without bread thread?

This is extremely important, psychic-spy. Gluten and dairy really mess up our mental, physical and emotional faculties. Bread, pasta, pizza, anything with grains in it should go first. Then, after a month or so, get rid of dairy. Next would be sugar and any other sweeteners other than xylitol or stevia.

These things really cause a lot of damage. There is research showing how getting off gluten has helped people with mental problems. Along with helping with physical and emotional problems. Search on SOTT for gluten articles.

Also, we need to eat a large breakfast. Eat like a king in the morning, a prince for lunch and a pauper for dinner.

Meanwhile, do the pipe breathing.

But your diet really is not optimal.

 

[Average Joe]

I don't pretend to understand the pathology around your phobia of germs, but maybe a different point of view might help.
While raising my children, I often watched them putting everything they touched into their mouths. Dirty toys, sticks, rocks, anything they could grab a hold of. It occurred to me that this behavior was universal and quite natural among small children. Maybe nature was telling us something.
The constant ingestion of pathogens in our environment was obviously not hurting these children. On the contrary, it was probably stimulating their immune systems to build up antibodies.
I tried a little experiment of my own. I went through a few days where I didn't wash my hands, prepared my food on unwashed surfaces, ate things that dropped on the floor and generally practiced unsanitary food handling. I never got sick or experienced any ill effects.
I came to the conclusion that small doses of bacteria, toxins, viruses, spoors, and other potentially harmful substances give our bodies the opportunity to build defenses against these types of things. If you're a generally healthy individual, your body can handle a small amount of almost anything.
If you think about it, it may even be healthier to get regular doses of bacteria in your food. Then, when a large dose is accidentally ingested, the body can handle it better.
Humans have been eating all kinds of garbage in their food for centuries. Our bodies know how to handle it.
I can sympathize with your battle against anxiety, it's a tough foe to conquer. I have fought with this condition all my life. Anxiety is a foreign invader and should be viewed as such. Anxiety is not an attribute of the soul, it is body centric. Tell it to leave and refuse to pay it any attention. This is difficult at first, but keep at it. STS forces love to induce anxiety and feed off the reaction. Why feel miserable and feed the lizzies at the same time?
I like to take a deep breath and visualize the anxiety being expelled with the outgoing breath.
Remember, you're the one driving the bus, not your body.

Cheers,

AJ

 

[psychic_spy]

''Humans have been eating all kinds of garbage in their food for centuries. Our bodies know how to handle it.
I can sympathize with your battle against anxiety, it's a tough foe to conquer. I have fought with this condition all my life. Anxiety is a foreign invader and should be viewed as such. Anxiety is not an attribute of the soul, it is body centric. Tell it to leave and refuse to pay it any attention. This is difficult at first, but keep at it. STS forces love to induce anxiety and feed off the reaction. Why feel miserable and feed the lizzies at the same time?
I like to take a deep breath and visualize the anxiety being expelled with the outgoing breath.
Remember, you're the one driving the bus, not your body''.

Yes, i get the same impression too. Because my anxiety manifests even when in not overly stressed or low necessarily.
But i have to remind you , that is not so much the fact there are germs in my food, but my fear of getting sick and throwing up and not controling myself that forces me out of balance.

To give you an example : I went with my parents for 2 days on a trip. When i left i was ok and eager to make my luggage and get ready for adventure. While i was in the car, i felt a bit drowsy because it was too hot inside, the air conditioning didn't work, and my mum refused to open the windows because she has problems with her ears. After too hours of driving i didn't feel very well but we reached our destination, found a hotel and checked in. It was cool there and we headed for a stroll to dine at a restaurant. Meanwhile i had another issue which was stressing me all day long ( i also have irritable bowel movements) and i coudln't get properly to a toilet to ease my bowels and didn't talk about needing to either.
To the restaurant we sat quietly , ordered food (i ordered schnitzel and broccoli) and when they brought it to me it seemed it was too much on the plate and i've became suddently and violently anxious ( heart pounding, sweating, bowel movements, my appetite dissapeared and i felt my throught very dry and couldn't swallow and chew my food properly, my taste changed too) I sensed the dread coming, not being able to eat all or being on the verge of throwing up. My mum tried to apppease me and told me not to force myself eating all if i weren't hungry but i did ( at 12 years, on the same basis i refused to eat for fear of getting sick and i had anorexia for months so now i try to eat all not to let the phobia take over my body) .
I get this problem every time i eat in a public place and i need to pace myself, chew slowly and try to cope with that feeling but even if i succeed it doesn't go away and later on i feel worse, i feel nauseaus or i have a bad taste in my mouth , i can't sleep, i shake at night, i cry out of fear or shame because everyone around realizes i'm tense and almost hysterical ( it helps me if talk about it so i don't hide my problem but the people i am with don't quite get what's wrong with me that i can't have a good time like everyone else).

It never occured to me to get sick in public except when i was in kindergarden when i vomited in front of other children while heaving breakfast and forcing myself to drink a whole mug of milk. If it was this experience or others involving vomit moments i can't tell, all seem to me now traumatic and embarassing.

I went on other trips too and in a few, for when i was in college sometimes i coped better and enjoyed myself, at other times, though i felt so anxious and worked up that my worst fear made me throw up ( happily not in public and not very much) and live again what i feared most. I don't know if it's a good thing that i expose myself to living my fear like that.
I don't take antidepressants or other drugs ( on trips i do take anti emethics if i get anxiety nausea) , i don't have motion sickness and i'm usually a healthy person except my stomach cramps or intestinal disorders that manifest from time to time. Sometimes even this gives me anxiety since if i travel by bus or car i can't go very easly to a toilet whener i need to.


For those that advised me to renounce eating gluten and diary foods i really don't know what to say ( i know you are right). First of all when i say bread that means 3 or 4 slices a day, i don't eat during lunch time or the pizza dodge which i eat 2 times a week. In my country it's hard to find products without gluten that can be fresh because many people don't buy them ( I live in Romania) and the rare ones that are on the market are very expensive and not very fresh.
so there are not extensively producted or sold. And sweets, well again 3 or 4 tablets a day of chocolate.

I have 55 kg and 1'70 cm , so i guess i'm not under or overweight and i feel good when i'm not traveling or dining out with friends. I really didn't let my phobia and anxiety take over my life , i get out with friends, with family members , on family reunions, on summer i travel even abroad. That's the thing that many times i see nice things and places and the good impressions that i get and the effort to contain myself pays off and i relax , get to free myself out of this. But at other times something ( and this is waht i can't put a finger on ) triggers my vomit phobia and extreme anxiety.

I'm so sad that now i'm 25 and despite my struggle at times i feel that nothing really changed concerning this problem and i get as worked up as i got when i was a kid and i feel as vulnerable and fearfull as then thinking that i will die or get severly handicapped by this. At some point in time i visited a therapist and get to talk with her about this , she told me is a n obsessive compulsive disorder and she gave me some questinnaries in order to asses my anxiety and follow a cognitive programme but after 3-4 sesions i gave up cause i didn't feel she really helped me ( she gave me more papers to write and to some i didn't quite know what to say because the questions seemed confusing to me). More then this , except holidays and having to travel i feel fine ( i only have problems with it when i have exams and stressful situations but i get over them without much trouble now). My only problem is i wish it to find a cure for it to lead a true normal life whenerver possible.
Soon i will get hired, my students days are over, maybe i will know a nice guy and i don't want him to trouble him with my issues or explain what is wrong with me. Having to talk about my irritable bowel and other digestive upsets is making me feel uneasy and uncapacited. Even my father ( which i think is a narcissist) told me that this is still a handicapp which sadly i still feel it is despite my succes in overcoming it. I also find exhausting why i have to explain myself for having this on some occasions and how it doesn't come on others.

 

[anart]

Soon i will get hired, my students days are over, maybe i will know a nice guy and i don't want him to trouble him with my issues or explain what is wrong with me. Having to talk about my irritable bowel and other digestive upsets is making me feel uneasy and uncapacited.

Uhmmm, psychic_spy, the fact of the matter is that if you stop eating all gluten, your irritable bowel will likely completely heal and no longer be a problem. Please understand that we don't suggest this lightly. Please read the 'Life Without Bread' thread in the diet section - it will change your life and you will never suffer from such things again. It is simple cause and effect - if you eat gluten, your digestive track basically disintegrates. Just don't eat it - eat meats and vegetables only - no grains - don't worry about buying 'gluten free' things - just eat meat and vegetables. Simple - and your body will heal within three to six months time and you will never suffer like this again. Certainly meats and vegetables are available in Romania?

 

[paralleloscope]

The constant ingestion of pathogens in our environment was obviously not hurting these children

How do you know? Pathologic processes can take years to surface symptomaticly and become visible to our dulled senses.

I tried a little experiment of my own. I went through a few days where I didn't wash my hands, prepared my food on unwashed surfaces, ate things that dropped on the floor and generally practiced unsanitary food handling. I never got sick or experienced any ill effects.

So you rolled the bacterial russian roulette and got lucky (perhaps). I'm not saying that there isn't anything to this immunologic probing and there is some evidence that higher amounts of dirt has been a beneficial part of our earlier diet, but with modern societies artificial and extremely toxic environment I'd be cautious with that approach.

 

[psychic_spy]

[/quote]
Uhmmm, psychic_spy, the fact of the matter is that if you stop eating all gluten, your irritable bowel will likely completely heal and no longer be a problem. Please understand that we don't suggest this lightly. Please read the 'Life Without Bread' thread in the diet section - it will change your life and you will never suffer from such things again. It is simple cause and effect - if you eat gluten, your digestive track basically disintegrates. Just don't eat it - eat meats and vegetables only - no grains - don't worry about buying 'gluten free' things - just eat meat and vegetables. Simple - and your body will heal within three to six months time and you will never suffer like this again. Certainly meats and vegetables are available in Romania?
[/quote]


I'll try but i can't do this over night. Now i really prepare myself for another trip and where i go i really don't think i can find gluten free foods no matter what magazine i enter. Meats and vegetable i eat on a daily basis, read what i said in my second post on this topic. I will still would like to know why does my intestine desintegrate if i eat gluten ? Am i allergic to it?
I personally can't figure out, and none of my doctors told me that gluten is a problem.
Milk used to be one when i was little, i really couldn't drink milk without cramping so for the last years i ate soy milk but guess what? This winter i had a big crave to try animal / cow milk again and i really had no problem, i drank 1/2 glasses each day for a week and had no problem but when i'm having exams if a drink half a glass of water i get hydric diarrhoea instantly. For years i try to think whether my psyche does all the work or my eating habits, because for the latter i used to change them ( when i was little mostly) to suit my stomach problems, i kept a diet at some time in my life but i used to be very slim in adolescence and i felt weak if i didn't eat consistently. Two years ago my gastroenterologist told me ( after a few months of severe stomach ache , nausea and dizzyness ) that i had functional dyspepsia so i kept a diet, eliminating sour fruits and i ate only toasted bread with bran / pollard and i felt better but i also took a homepatic treatment prescribed by an iridologists ( it consisted mostly of calming plants) . He also told me i'm very nervous, i have a strong psyche and i feed on others energies. I guess i'm a bit reptilian too, i'm very impulsive and excitable. He told me not to eat chocolate and take cafeine in any form mostly coffee or coca cola. But when i',m low on energy i do eat chocolate, quite a bit. :P

 

[psychic_spy]

The real problem is that the idea of diet makes me sick too, knowing that i have to renounce to all the foods i like.
I only eat fried foods on saturday when my mum prepares french fries with garlic dressing and fried chicken :D and then we drink beer. i feel very happy when i do it and feel good too.
Yet my emetophobia and somach troubles in times of anxiety are the greatest toll of my life and i can't see how can i relate them with gluten foods. I'll read the Life without bread section when i come back from my trip but i can promise i will change my eating habits significantly as long as i don't understand what you have said. I don't want to sound rigid but in this case i need proof and arguments about the effect of certain foods on the intestines.

 

[paralleloscope]

I don't want to sound rigid but in this case i need proof and arguments about the effect of certain foods on the intestines.

It's all in the suggested thread. Not only will your IBS most probably heal with a no gluten diet, but it'll improve clarity of mind.

 

[Nienna]

The real problem is that the idea of diet makes me sick too, knowing that i have to renounce to all the foods i like.
I only eat fried foods on saturday when my mum prepares french fries with garlic dressing and fried chicken :D and then we drink beer. i feel very happy when i do it and feel good too.
Yet my emetophobia and somach troubles in times of anxiety are the greatest toll of my life and i can't see how can i relate them with gluten foods. I'll read the Life without bread section when i come back from my trip but i can promise i will change my eating habits significantly as long as i don't understand what you have said. I don't want to sound rigid but in this case i need proof and arguments about the effect of certain foods on the intestines.

There are tons of articles on SOTT. Just put the word gluten (or dairy, or sugar) in the search function.

Gluten, dairy and sugar are addictive. Of course you don't want to give up things you are addicted to. But it all depends on if you want to get healthy, or keep having the problems you are having. For me, the decision wasn't hard at all. Maybe you just like to suffer?