As anyone on here suffered with Emetophobia (a fear of being sick/catching a tummy bug)?
I bought a book called The Thrive Programme and I can see how it works and it does make sense (I've worked through the whole book and started again) but I can't seem to do it on my own. This condition is ruling my life now and I can't take much more.
I have a CBT appointment next week and I'm taking the book with me but the person that wrote the Thrive Programme said I shouldn't do this.
I know it's my stupid mind that is doing this to me but I can't seem to get it to stop.
Any replies would be appreciated. I might be slow in responding as I'll be out most of tomorrow.
A friend of mine suffered terribly with emetophobia, and saw a hypnotherapist which has helped her hugely. She goes back for a 'top up' every now and then but practises what she learnt and it's made such a massive difference to her life. She's not completely 'cured' but until I knew about emetophobia from her, I had no idea how constricting and debilitating and frightening it could be. So you have my sympathy - my friend would sometimes be caught unawares in a scene on tv or a film, and it was so horrible for her. Now she can cope so much better - she had trouble even eating in restaurants, or being on planes with food served, and even going to parties.
I really hope the CBT works for you, I think it could do much the same as the hypno, but if you can afford it and can google for someone who specialises in that sort of thing, I think it might help too. Take the book to the therapist and go with what they say, and also ask them if hypno would help too. I really think having phobias is something CBT works really well with.
Good luck.
• in reply to
Thank you Hidden for your very helpful response. I can certainly understand your friend, it's a horrible thing as it rules your life.
I've had children and now gave grandchildren as sometimes wish them older so they are less susceptible to tummy bugs, it's awful, I'm wishing their lives away, I should be enjoying them more. At the end of the day a tummy bug usually only lasts a few hours.
I'm so glad your friend is coping better, I had hypnotherapy quite a few years ago now and it worked to a certain degree but didn't cure me. I will mention hypnotherapy to the therapist though.
I'm looking forward to my appointment and am ready to work hard at it. Also, I will see if there are any specialists where I live, unfortunately the nearest Thrive consultant is approx. an hour's drive from me.
Once again, thank you for your reply and kind words.
I am new to this site so sorry the response is really late, I also suffer from emetophobia. I just wondered how you are finding CBT as I had this earlier on in the year and also have the thrive book...although haven't worked my way through it...and still find emetophobia debilitating. Just wondered if you had any success with anything in particular?
Hope you are well and battling this debilitating phobia
Hi Pavidus, I'm so sorry you are also suffering eithbghis debilitating phobia as well.
I felt the CBT was going really well until, on 22 November, I got food poisoning. I had a veg pot that contained rice and a few hours after eating it I had severe tummy pain. I wasn't sick but had diarrhoea and awful nausea, this went on for just over 6 weeks, I felt so down. I therefore wasn't feeling any positive effect with the CBT. I've got an appointment on Friday this week so I'm going to tell her how I've struggled. I know it's going to work but maybe certain parts of my brain need to be targeted more.
I will let you know in a few weeks how I am feeling. I'll private message you now so I don't forget to report back, I'm sure we can beat this together.😀
I am also new to this site, so I hope you don't mind me responding to this post much later. I also suffer from emetophobia and have been given the Thrive book in the past. I saw someone who specialised in the Thrive programme but I didn't feel they truly understood me and wasn't able to work well with them. Sadly there wasn't another specialist in my area at the time. I've tried other forms of CBT and I've definitely made improvements over the years I've been accessing support, however, I often feel I'm not making any progress and find it just as hard to deal with as I did before - some areas are definitely worse.
I just wondered if following your appointment you'd received any good advice about working through the struggles?
Hi redpanda28 , I've not got my appointment tomorrow as unfortunately my CBT Therapist is off poorly, I don't know what's wrong.
I'm so sorry you didn't get anywhere with the Thrive Programme as it does look very good to me and makes a lot of sense but I have to say I am disappointed that it looked like they didn't understand you, particularly as it's not cheap either. I contacted them via Messenger and Rob Kelly did get back to me a couple of times and suggested Skyping a Therapist as there wasn't one in my area, I said to him that I would rather meet someone face to face. I said I was looking at CBT and would take my Thrive book along and he didn't recommend it. I contacted him again a few weeks later and he never responded, think he lost interest after that. Not good customer service there - only interested in money I think, although looking at what you have said they weren't even that interested even though you paid - not sure if I got the wrong end of the stick there.
Anyway, I had Hypnotherapy many years ago and I didn't realise how much it had worked until I was in a situation where there was a tummy bug going round and I didn't even worry about it, I just assumed I wouldn't get it and I didn't so worrying would have been a waste of my life. I was like this for years where I didn't worry about tummy bugs, even just before Christmas 2016 my daughter's children had been poorly with a tummy bug and I saw them that week and didn't worry, my daughter then got it the day after she saw me and I still didn't worry. I actually did get it in the early hours a day later and just 'got on with it'. Yes I felt awful but it didn't actually bother me that much and the following day I was full of energy and right as rain.
Now the story of why I went backwards. The reason why this happened was because I was constantly bullied and berated by the person I worked for between the January and May of 2017, it only stopped when I left. I thought I was okay when I left work as I didn't hear of tummy bugs but then I got another job over a year later (I was going to retire early but I couldn't hack it at home and earning money makes life a lot easier) and was fine initially. About October time last year the first of the tummy bugs started and I started to worry and got worse and worse the more people I heard had a bug. This made me totally miserable.
On 22 November I contracted food poisoning, albeit I wasn't sick I had diarrhoea and initially very bad nausea. This has now been going on and on and I'm still not right and my doctor now thinks I have 'Post Infection IBS', I already had IBS so wasn't impressed with the diagnosis as there really isn't much you can do. The doctor was very good and has carried out a lot of tests so I will wait and see if they show anything.
I've been having CBT since around September and I've come to the conclusion that I'm pretty sure it's helped a lot as I heard in work this week that there are still loads of bugs around and it didn't actually phase me, that is a result and I'm really pleased about that. I would therefore recommend looking at CBT and would also recommend thinking of positive things if you can as that does help. Also, if you think of your condition, quickly change your thinking to something else.
Hi redpanda28 , I've not got my appointment tomorrow as unfortunately my CBT Therapist is off poorly, I don't know what's wrong.
I'm so sorry you didn't get anywhere with the Thrive Programme as it does look very good to me and makes a lot of sense but I have to say I am disappointed that it looked like they didn't understand you, particularly as it's not cheap either. I contacted them via Messenger and Rob Kelly did get back to me a couple of times and suggested Skyping a Therapist as there wasn't one in my area, I said to him that I would rather meet someone face to face. I said I was looking at CBT and would take my Thrive book along and he didn't recommend it. I contacted him again a few weeks later and he never responded, think he lost interest after that. Not good customer service there - only interested in money I think, although looking at what you have said they weren't even that interested even though you paid - not sure if I got the wrong end of the stick there.
Anyway, I had Hypnotherapy many years ago and I didn't realise how much it had worked until I was in a situation where there was a tummy bug going round and I didn't even worry about it, I just assumed I wouldn't get it and I didn't so worrying would have been a waste of my life. I was like this for years where I didn't worry about tummy bugs, even just before Christmas 2016 my daughter's children had been poorly with a tummy bug and I saw them that week and didn't worry, my daughter then got it the day after she saw me and I still didn't worry. I actually did get it in the early hours a day later and just 'got on with it'. Yes I felt awful but it didn't actually bother me that much and the following day I was full of energy and right as rain.
Now the story of why I went backwards. The reason why this happened was because I was constantly bullied and berated by the person I worked for between the January and May of 2017, it only stopped when I left. I thought I was okay when I left work as I didn't hear of tummy bugs but then I got another job over a year later (I was going to retire early but I couldn't hack it at home and earning money makes life a lot easier) and was fine initially. About October time last year the first of the tummy bugs started and I started to worry and got worse and worse the more people I heard had a bug. This made me totally miserable.
On 22 November I contracted food poisoning, albeit I wasn't sick I had diarrhoea and initially very bad nausea. This has now been going on and on and I'm still not right and my doctor now thinks I have 'Post Infection IBS', I already had IBS so wasn't impressed with the diagnosis as there really isn't much you can do. The doctor was very good and has carried out a lot of tests so I will wait and see if they show anything.
I've been having CBT since around September and I've come to the conclusion that I'm pretty sure it's helped a lot as I heard in work this week that there are still loads of bugs around and it didn't actually phase me, that is a result and I'm really pleased about that. I would therefore recommend looking at CBT and would also recommend thinking of positive things if you can as that does help. Also, if you think of your condition, quickly change your thinking to something else.
I hope this goes some way to help you but I may also see if there is a Hypnotherapist that I can afford as it certainly helped me big time years ago. I have to say though that I'm pretty sure the CBT has helped a lot.
All the very best to you and I wish you well for the future.
Emetophobia sucks. It’s the anxiety caused by the fear of vomiting, when the anxiety is what can cause vomiting. It’s a cycle, and it makes me scared to eat or go places. The hunger and the sick feeling can really take the fun out of life.
• in reply to
Hi there Hidden , I couldn't agree more. I had basically beaten it a few years ago by having hypnotherapy. I panicked when no saw someone in the street, a long way from me, who put their hand to their mouth. I ran as fast as I could into work and my heart was going at a rate of knots.
It was then I decided enough was enough and I had to do something about it.
After I had the hypnotherapy I had no issues at all for many years until the beginning of 2017 when the person I worked for bullied me. I left the job and thought I was fine. I got another job and was happy but I started to panic more and more.
I have had a few sessions now of CBT and can honestly say I'm getting better and better, not quite there yet but much better than I was.
I will report back again in a couple of me months or so.
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