'Pretending' when main symptom is nausea

Hi All, I'm new here but have lurked on this site many times for comfort purposes!

I recently started up with a stomach bug at work and ever since then have been having panic attacks in the office due to nausea - the bug gave me nausea, I had a panic attack, and now even though I'm over the bug every time I feel a twinge of nausea while sitting at my desk (even if it's just digestion-related) I start panicking again. I've had to take a few days off work just because my body's gone on high anxiety alert and I'm exhausted.

I'm a really big fan of Chris' 'nothing works' letter and the logic behind it makes utter sense to me. However, the problem I'm finding is that the idea of pretending that everything's fine and carrying on with your normal routine is made a hell of a lot more difficult when your main fight/flight symptom is nausea. It's really difficult to stay sitting in a meeting when you feel you might throw up in front of everyone at any second! You can just about deal with the racing heart, light headedness etc, but the urge to vom is a different thing altogether. I was sucking on ginger sweets for a while until I realised they were a safety behaviour thing. Does anyone else have any experience with this, any words of advice? :hugs:

What you do can influence your nausia, like not eating, or eating bad things ro irratically. Also tensing up and just plain focusing on it.
If you've just had a stomach bug though you're likely to feel off for a few weeks after, it takes ages for it to settle down I often find with those bugs and your workplace is still a reminder for it.
You're unlikely to throw up now though, so yes, keep pretending! Nothing wrong with a ginger sweet though. The thought process "ooh I feel a bit sick, I might as well have one of these to ease it" has nothing to do with anxiety. Even if you're just pretending the nausia isn't due to anxiety. It all helps.

Thanks Pancho, that's really helpful :D I know what you mean about the bug effects lingering, I've definitely experienced that before. Nausea's always been my main panic symptom though, leaping up out of the blue and getting worse as my heart rate goes nuts. It's awful! I think the main problem is that if I remove myself from the situation, the nausea eventually goes away. What I NEED to do is stay put and let the symptoms do their thing, but because I've always done a runner I don't know whether I will actually be sick - which would be grim for all involved. I suppose I'll never know til I try it though, right?