Anxiety is taking over my life!!

[ihateanxietyy]

Hi all I'm new to this, thought I might give you a quick run down on my experience with anxiety so far.

I have been diagnosed with a phobia of vomiting and anxiety. It came on in September 2013 so I have not had it long at all but it is forcing me to miss out on "the best years of my life" (I'm 18 by the way). When I get anxious I feel very nauseous and a little bit shaky which leads to more anxiety because of my phobia of vomiting. I've missed out on my high school graduation, friends 18th birthday parties, going out to dinner and have lost almost all my friends. All because I'm scared I'm going to vomit and have a panic attack out in public places.
I have been seeing a therapist (who refuses to prescribe medication) and it seemed to be working for the first three months but now i feel I'm going backwards to where I started. My mum is going to book me in to see a different therapist to get a second opinion and she's hoping I'll be put on medication to try and control this. I was just wondering if medication actually works and if there are any side affects like nausea or vomiting because I am petrified of that and if anxiety actually ever goes away???

Thanks so much!!!

[butterfly82]

I don't have any experience with that type of phobia, so I'm not sure which meds would work for that. But I have panic disorder and Kolonopin works pretty well and at least not making them as Extreme as or frequent.

It sounds like you have a supportive mom, that's great!

I'm sorry you've missed out on some milestones in your life- but he good news is you are young and getting treated early, so you should be able to enjoy more things in the future.

[SweetPea11]

I have this same phobia as well and it is awful! I feel bad for you that you also have to go through this fear but am glad to know that I am not alone. It can be very crippling because you are constantly watching what you eat, how your stomach feels, if people around you are sick and so on. There are days that it barely effects me and others, like today, that it is all I can think about.

I have been on medication for years to help with my general anxiety but have not found anyone to discuss this phobia with that truly understands it. Most therapists that I have seen have been more generalized and each having a different way to combat it.

The biggest help to me is having people around me that support me. You don't need to tell everyone of this fear but by letting a few key people into your life will really make a difference. If you are having a bad day knowing there is someone out there that will help calm you down or even just listen always seems to help me. It is probably not the answer you want to hear but this is what has helped me the most.

My other trick is just doing something that is distracting (right now candy crush!) so that I don't focus on my stomach. Hope this helps and good luck, I know it is tough!!

[anxietysucksbutt]

Hi all I'm new to this, thought I might give you a quick run down on my experience with anxiety so far. I have been diagnosed with a phobia of vomiting and anxiety. It came on in September 2013 so I have not had it long at all but it is forcing me to miss out on "the best years of my life" (I'm 18 by the way). When I get anxious I feel very nauseous and a little bit shaky which leads to more anxiety because of my phobia of vomiting. I've missed out on my high school graduation, friends 18th birthday parties, going out to dinner and have lost almost all my friends. All because I'm scared I'm going to vomit and have a panic attack out in public places. I have been seeing a therapist (who refuses to prescribe medication) and it seemed to be working for the first three months but now i feel I'm going backwards to where I started. My mum is going to book me in to see a different therapist to get a second opinion and she's hoping I'll be put on medication to try and control this. I was just wondering if medication actually works and if there are any side affects like nausea or vomiting because I am petrified of that and if anxiety actually ever goes away??? Thanks so much!!! If you made progress, that's a good sign! Anyone with anxiety will slip back sometimes, but you just need to keep trying with what worked in the first place! Also, I know this is scary, but have you tried exposure therapy? I know when you have anxiety, it's hard to get your mind around what's bothering you, but I bet that if you actually threw up, no one would care. I've done so many stupid things in front of people bc of anxiety, and somehow I still have friends :) . I know that May not help, but just thought I'd throw that out there :).

There are definitely other techniques too that a good cbt therapist could use to help lower your anxiety and make you think about the problem differently!

[pugsarecool]

You sound just like me!! My anxiety came on with a phobia of vomiting as well. Same age as you even, actually. My anxiety came on in March 2009 though. Around summer of 2011 I found my vomit phobia fading. I didn't do anything special, it just kind of went away. I think it could have been due to some changing up of my thinking though.

Think of it this way: People throw up. It's natural. Look at a situation, and think, 'If I throw up, I throw up. It happens to everybody. It is not the end of the world and no one will look at me different for it'. I started thinking that way, and naturally, the phobia disappeared.

I can also say this. My phobia was very severe, and combined with severe anxiety, I was always sick to my stomach and convinced I would throw up. But in the five years I've had anxiety, I have never thrown up related to any phobia or anxiety related issues. You can beat this!! If I did it, you sure can too. Another thing that helped me when I'd get anxious about throwing up, as gross as it is, was burping. I don't why it helped, it just did. Calmed my stomach some I guess.

[ihateanxietyy]

Thank you so much everyone it's really nice to hear people out there are suffering/suffered with what I'm going through and are willing to give advice. This really gives me hope that I can over come this in the future