Anxiety/emet

[ladymage_411]

Hi all, I've been trying to figure out what to say in this post for a while without rambling on too much. I've never met anyone else in person with emet and talking to people seems strange and difficult to me. I also feel like the whole thing is compounded and in part due to social anxiety and health anxiety too.

For me, I think the health anxiety/emet go hand in hand, with the social anxiety sliding in too. I remember getting sick in the lunchroom in elementary school and being incredibly embarrassed, on top of already being an introverted child. Then through middle school it was a lot of the social anxiety and health anxiety. I would always feel unwell and would need to have my mother take my temperature to be told that I was fine and would have to go to school. I find myself being overly sensitive to my body now and doctor Google is more my friend than I would prefer.

I currently live overseas in South Korea for a year teaching English with kids (not the best place for a person with emet I suppose). One of the greater fears I have is taking the bus (it's not quite as bad when I'm with my husband) and being sick. I feel like a decent amount of my emet fear revolves around being around people and getting sick and being embarrassed. I've been down that road before and had a very poor time when I first went to college due to avoidant behaviors that really ruined things and the emet just compounds it even more I think. I guess I'm just curious if there are others that experience emet as a partial social phobia too, this is the first time I've ever really tried to talk about it.

[Angelai]

Hi, I get where you're coming from here! A few weeks ago I was reading about the link between emet and social phobia - can't remember where now - but it does make sense. For me, to be sick is such a shameful thing to do (warped, I know, but we can't help how we feel) and it's not for anyone else to see. I personally have a serious problem with it whether I'm in public or alone, it controls my life, but there is NO WAY I would want anyone else to see me being ill, or hear it (sorry if tmi). It's just a bad thing to 'do'... I think in my mind it is 'unacceptable behaviour', as if we have a choice!

What you say about being over-sensitive to your body - that's me exactly. Every little twinge or sensation has me in a panic - but it's always 'am I going to be sick' that races through my mind. I have recently been reading about anxiety sensitivity (oh, google are you my friend or foe? lol) which I found very interesting, it does make sense. It's about being constantly alert for changes in the way you feel, and being always ready to panic about those changes, however small.

I don't suffer health anxiety - I do however constantly worry that there is NOTHING physically wrong with me and that all of my symptoms are in my head... I am always looking for reasons for every little symptom, I need to find a common cause so that I can treat it. I keep forgetting the most likely common cause is actually anxiety :wacko:

[ladymage_411]

Thank you, it's nice to hear from you. That makes me feel better. It does seem shameful to me too, no matter how I try to rationalize it. I feel like I'm arguing with my mind sometimes and it is sometimes the winner of the debate. It comes and goes for me, sometimes I'm confident and other times I'm falling apart panicking because of the emet. I'll have to look and see if I can find more info about the social part of it too, it's something I experience pretty strongly.

It's a major challenge being so sensitive, especially when I'm out for whatever reason. It's like flipping a switch. I wish I could convince my mind that like you said, those little symptoms are in my head and not my body!