Emetphobia causing nausea?

[ItShouldGetBetter]

Hi guys,

I'm starting to think that emetphobia and GAD can cause nausea, which spurs on the anxiety, causing more nausea causing more anxiety! A vicious cycle.

Has anyone else had experience of this?

I find myself getting anxious/nauseous around 8.30/9pm (just as 'normal' people start to relax), which I think causes me to worry and become nauseous again the same time every night.

Anyone else having a similar experience?

Joe

[RachelOlive]

I get the same aswell. Just the thought of doing noting and getting off the sleep makes me incredibly anxious, mostly because of this Post Nasal Drip thing I've got going on. The nausea just sets in.

I hope you get a good nights sleep anyhow :)

[Quaverrocks]

This is the exact reason I came across this forum, I have had emetophobia since a child, but it has been life changing since I was 17.

I feel sick CONSTANTLY, from the moment I wake up to the moment I go to bed. This serves to aggravate the phobia as of course it is the last thing you want to feel.

I know the power of anxiety and I have probably learned that feeling sick is the norm for me, but sometimes I think there must be something I can do to stop feeling sick. All the usual remedies don't work.:weep:

My doctors won't do anything about the nausea. I don't even know if this is proper sick feeling or not anymore.

[Goldman555]

I suffer from Emet and I also fly a lot. One of the best things I have found is to get Zopiclone from your doctor and take it the night before you fly. It seems to relax your whole system, leaving you perfectly able to fly without fear.

[honeyp1e]

Am also emet since a child and always used to feel sick 24/7 think it's just how we are :( I also fly a lot I used to take valium before flights but now I don't anymore :) but I still worry x

[Goldman555]

oops Sorry, I think I posted on the wrong thread.

I also definitely think anxiety increases, nausea, which is in turn a vicious cycle. If you are Emetophobic. Whenever I have a major panic attack . I think it is caused by the initial nervousness manifesting itself into nausea......

[koala]

I have social phobia because i am terrified of being sick in front of people (caused by a bad childhood experience). Whenever i need to do something in a social situation i get panicy and feel sick cos im worried about what will happpen if i am sick whilst out. Have felt like this for over 12 years.

[marzipan]

Came on here to post something really similar to this, mine is exactly the same.

I find myself worrying (especially in the evening when I know that I'll need to sleep soon) that I'm going to feel sick, which then leads me to getting anxious and then feeling nauseous. It's a horrible feeling as it's clearly a massive vicious circle.

And it's begun to spiral into other parts of my life, I hate travelling away and going on holiday because I'm with other people in unfamiliar surroundings (it's the most bad in the evenings) same goes for methods of transport, for example the idea of flying terrifies me as I know I'll be trapped on a plane for a long period of time and fear I'll feel sick during this time.

[Yogi]

I'm exactly the same. GAD causing nausea which then triggers panic that I've got some sort of sickness bug. Emetphobia makes me then panic more at the idea that I am ill... Which causes more nausea! Vicious circle indeed and I'm not sure how best to break it.

---------- Post added at 20:46 ---------- Previous post was at 20:45 ----------

Oh and it's worse in the evenings too. I often wake in the middle of the night in a full blown panic attack because of this...

[dreambeliever]

I completely agree 100%.

I have what I call "nausea attacks or episodes". They started when I was 14, and are always the cause of some sort of stomach upset (acid reflux etc). This triggers a horrible episode of nausea in conjunction with a panic attack. I've been dealing with these episodes for almost 10 years, and I 100% think they are the cause of anxiety. If I didn't have emetophobia, the stomach upset feeling would probably only last 5 minutes at the most - and not trigger nausea and panic. 90% of the time these nausea episodes occur at night, usually between the hours of 9pm and midnight. Just last week I had one of these episodes, which started around 10pm and went until 1am.

I also suffer from other forms of anxiety, but I do believe that my anxiety feeds the nausea thus feeding my emetophobia. It's a horrible cycle, and I absolutely hate having to go through a nausea attack - it's one of the worst feelings in the world for me.

It's comforting to know that others are experiencing the same thing, we are not alone. :)

[EbonyNightfall]

Hi,

I can completely empathise with you all. I've had emetophobia all my life, (agoraphobia and social anxiety quite severely for the last 15 years), and believe that the many years of extreme stress and anxiety caused by my fear has actually caused my last 6 nightmarish years of stomach problems - hyper acidity, gastritis, oesophagitis and acid reflux. The mind is both a wonderful and terrible thing in that we can create the things we fear most just by fearing and focussing on them!