Constant severe to moderate nausea - barely coping.

[rocklover]

So I know how I'm supposed to beat anxiety, by carrying on with life and not allowing the physical and mental side effects get to me. Well I do try really hard to do this, but my main symptom is feeling sick and I have a vomiting phobia so i find it really hard to ignore.

How does one ignore and overcome an anxiety symptom that scares the hell out of them? I'm so desperate to get better, but I just don't know how to deal with this particular problem. If I could get rid of this, then I would get better so much quicker.

[Anxious_gal]

Do you think because of your phobia you are hypersensitive to nausea and tummy feelings?
Just I've noticed that people with those phobia report they often feel sick.

I get nausea a lot, often with green bile that tastes just awful. But most days I barely notice it and then other days I'm very aware that I also have the urge to gag.

Anxiety messes up your digestion big time.
I would suggest taking those good bacteria, you can get them in some yogurts and in tablets.
I would also try doing a food intolerance test.
I'm fine with dairy but yogurts always make me feel sick and give me acid.

[rocklover]

Hi Mishel. Yes I'm definitely hyper sensitive to anything going on with my stomach, especially as I also suffer with ibs.

It is always bad in the mornings, I wake up feeling sick and usually it fades in the afternoon, I am presuming it is all to do with anxiety...that's what the drs tell me anyway.

I have not been offered any blood tests or anything to see if there are any problem. It's something I just have to suffer through as anti-sickness tablets do not make the nausea feel better. It makes my mornings unbearable to be honest and I am desperate to get rid of it.

I Don't have yoghurts or much dairy stuff at the moment as it seems to upset my tummy. I suppose I should get a tablet form of the good gut bacteria which could help.

[Anxious_gal]

I get IBS too but it's mostly pain and bathroom issues. If I get upset I get IBS pain straight away which really sucks.

I had a friend who had a phobia of getting sick, she used to take some kind of anti nausea medicine, it was white liquid in a brown bottle. I'm guessing it helped.
She used to be afraid to eat, but then she went on antidepressants and went up a few dress sizes so I am assuming the antidepressants might ave helped her a bit with her phobia.

Lots of people here have the same phobia , I'm sure one of them will reply with better advice than me.

My other friends cousin had CBT for the same phobia and he says it changed his life, but it does really depend on having therapist that's good with that kind of stuff.

I often feel sick in the morning but I think it's more like hunger sick, I can only drink coffee or tea, food will not stay in my tummy in the morning!
But luckily I don't have your phobia, it does seem like a horrible thing to have as there is literally no escape from it :(

[rocklover]

Thanks Mishel. I woke up at 4.40am this morning (as usual) and immediately the nausea and ibs issues kicked in. Managed to get my daughter sorted and dropped her at school, but then had a complete meltdown when I got home, my brain obviously couldn't cope with the high levels of anxiety this morning.

I know I am supposed to stop focussing on how I feel, but I find this sooo difficult and it is really holding me back from getting better.

[JaneC]

Hi there, I get nausea with ibs flare-ups and It's a truly horrible thing. Acidophilus capsules work for me along with probiotic yogurt if you can manage it. Are motilium among the anti nausea pills you've tried? Hope you feel better xx

[cathycrumble]

Thanks Mishel. I woke up at 4.40am this morning (as usual) and immediately the nausea and ibs issues kicked in. Managed to get my daughter sorted and dropped her at school, but then had a complete meltdown when I got home, my brain obviously couldn't cope with the high levels of anxiety this morning.

I know I am supposed to stop focussing on how I feel, but I find this sooo difficult and it is really holding me back from getting better.

Hi Rocklover

I have nerves that want to make me bawk. So I know how you feel It doesn't bother me being sick but it must be hard for you with your phobia? May I sugest you buy claire weeks book self help for your nerves she has a few books out so you could check her out Hope this helps

Cathy xx

[rocklover]

Hi Rocklover

I have nerves that want to make me bawk. So I know how you feel It doesn't bother me being sick but it must be hard for you with your phobia? May I sugest you buy claire weeks book self help for your nerves she has a few books out so you could check her out Hope this helps

Cathy xx

I keep thinking about getting her books, but I am quite wary of self help books (having bought an awful lot of crap ones). I'm wondering if Claire Weeks books are quite old fashioned now?

[M155anthr0p3]

I get nausea with my anxiety, always in the mornings.
Sometimes I vomit, other times I don't.
I know with me it's just dread about the day ahead.

Self help for your nerves is a brilliant book.
It may be old but it's tried & tested.

[rocklover]

If I wasn't scared of being sick the nausea probably wouldn't bother me too much. But i have no idea how to get rid of my phobia. :(

[M155anthr0p3]

If I wasn't scared of being sick the nausea probably wouldn't bother me too much. But i have no idea how to get rid of my phobia. :(

It must be awful for you

:bighug1:

[eva82]

About the Claire weekes books... Although some words/ phrases seem quite outdated her general message about overcoming nervous disorders is the best I have come across by far! You should really give her books a try; especially Hope and Help for Your Nerves. I also reccomend her audio CD Pass Through Panic. :)

[mjh74]

I'm with you on this one rocklover, an emetophobe and with my recent flare up of anxiety I feel horrible nausea :(. Only it doesn't go away by the afternoon for me, I've got it all day. 6 years ago I had a 6 month, 1 day a week course of CBT for it which did help quite a lot. I've been fine for about 6 years until 2 months ago when the dreaded anixety returned. I've only been able to eat 2 bananas today. My nausea feels like travel sickness, how about yours?

Mark

[rocklover]

I'm with you on this one rocklover, an emetophobe and with my recent flare up of anxiety I feel horrible nausea :(. Only it doesn't go away by the afternoon for me, I've got it all day. 6 years ago I had a 6 month, 1 day a week course of CBT for it which did help quite a lot. I've been fine for about 6 years until 2 months ago when the dreaded anixety returned. I've only been able to eat 2 bananas today. My nausea feels like travel sickness, how about yours?

Mark

My nausea often feels like it did with both my pregnancies (not something you could identify with lol), it means that I also feel quite hungry with it and if I don't eat I feel worse. I often have to have breakfast before 6am (I wake at 4.30am every day and cannot sleep after that).

The trouble is I eat crap food as I can only get down "easy" ready prepared stuff like croissants and crisps etc. I do have a proper meal in the evening and sandwiches at lunch time, but i really do struggle to eat. Luckily I have not lost much weight because alot of what I eat is high in calories, but not very healthy.

I keep telling myself that it doesn't matter and if i'm sick I'll cope (I had Norovirus last year and coped then), but i don't think I truly believe it. I have felt crap today, but have managed to avoid a panic attack so far and have tried to carry on.

My counsellor says i need to stop self scanning to check how i feel, but I am doing it unconciously and I often can't stop the thought before it's too late. I know I won't get better until I can really believe that the nausea doesn't matter, but I don't know how to achieve that.

[mjh74]

It's amazing how much I can identify with what you say. I wake up at 5am ok, I then think 'how does my stomach feel? followed by 'I've got to eat something for breakfast', the anxiety then begins for the day, I force a banana down and then sit there thinking how it feels going into my stomach and wondering if it will stay down. I'm constantly in check of how my stomach feels. I can't believe that about 2 months ago I didn't even think about it, was going out with friends, working, feeling really calm and great and now I'm here again! Last time was a lot worse, not only do I have a phobia of vomitting but I have a phobia of gagging which makes it even tougher, sometimes I have to stop mid sentence when speaking to someone to stop myself from gagging because my throat has tightened so much.
Amazingly though, I DON'T feel nauseous at all today! Now if I can have a day without it I can have more and so can you!
I've lost almost 2 stones in weight in 2 months because I daren't eat as much as I used to. I'm staying with my folks for the weekend and last night, my dad came in with some cheese and home grown tomatoes on toast. I was panicky but it smelt so nice and when I'd eaten it, I felt so much better.
Like you I feel so much worse when I'm hungry but I also generate a lot of stomach acid being so panicky (rennies to the rescue for that).

Do you take any medication for the anixety? The way I got through it before was with Citalopram, on a high enough dose I was confident enough to start coping and felt so much better. I think that's what I'm going to do again to get through this period as I know it works and I can't afford sick time off work with how things are in the NHS at the minute (I work for the NHS in IT).

[rocklover]

It's amazing how much I can identify with what you say. I wake up at 5am ok, I then think 'how does my stomach feel? followed by 'I've got to eat something for breakfast', the anxiety then begins for the day, I force a banana down and then sit there thinking how it feels going into my stomach and wondering if it will stay down. I'm constantly in check of how my stomach feels. I can't believe that about 2 months ago I didn't even think about it, was going out with friends, working, feeling really calm and great and now I'm here again! Last time was a lot worse, not only do I have a phobia of vomitting but I have a phobia of gagging which makes it even tougher, sometimes I have to stop mid sentence when speaking to someone to stop myself from gagging because my throat has tightened so much.
Amazingly though, I DON'T feel nauseous at all today! Now if I can have a day without it I can have more and so can you!
I've lost almost 2 stones in weight in 2 months because I daren't eat as much as I used to. I'm staying with my folks for the weekend and last night, my dad came in with some cheese and home grown tomatoes on toast. I was panicky but it smelt so nice and when I'd eaten it, I felt so much better.
Like you I feel so much worse when I'm hungry but I also generate a lot of stomach acid being so panicky (rennies to the rescue for that).

Do you take any medication for the anixety? The way I got through it before was with Citalopram, on a high enough dose I was confident enough to start coping and felt so much better. I think that's what I'm going to do again to get through this period as I know it works and I can't afford sick time off work with how things are in the NHS at the minute (I work for the NHS in IT).

I am not on any meds at the moment, I tried Citalopram in June (I took it for my last bout of anxiety and it worked well), this time round it gave me horrendous panic attacks that I have not managed to get rid of. I lasted 9 days on the Cit, then tried Mirtazapine which did nothing but make me drowsy and I felt horrid coming off it. So I have decided to see if I can get well on my own this time, I am taking multi vitamins as my diet is so woeful.

I am having counselling and trying to change my thought patterns as I know that's what is causing my problems, but I'm finding it quite hard. I too am having a fairly nausea free day so far (fingers crossed it continues), but I have had a pretty crappy week. I have a virus at the moment that is making me feel quite ill so that might be the reason I have not had a great week.

[mjh74]

Sorry you've got a virus and hope you get well soon!

I'm currently reading Claire Weekes 'Essential help for your nerves' book and it's really helping!

I'm already on 10mg of Cit so hopefully notching up to 20 will help me get through this rough period without feeling too jittery seeing as I'm already on the damn stuff. I was on 60mg once!

[rocklover]

Sorry you've got a virus and hope you get well soon!

I'm currently reading Claire Weekes 'Essential help for your nerves' book and it's really helping!

I'm already on 10mg of Cit so hopefully notching up to 20 will help me get through this rough period without feeling too jittery seeing as I'm already on the damn stuff. I was on 60mg once!

I keep hearing about Claire Weekes, but so far I haven't taken the plunge and bought a book yet, I ought to bite the bullet.

I have had a good weekend (well most of it anyway) and even managed to go into town which I haven't done for months, but today i am struggling again. Even though I don't work and have my Mum for company I seem to find week days more difficult than weekends and I'm not sure why.

I am very impatient and just want to get better straight away and this doesn't help my recovery. :(

[mjh74]

Strangely weekends are worse for me, this one has been incredibly tough for me. Even though I don't feel nauseous, the constant level of panic makes ne constantly want to gag and it petrifys me. Going to see my new GP at 4 which I'm panicking about.

I'm like you, impatient and just need to get through this stupid state again.