HELP. I work in a nightclub and it freaks me out!

Ok, I actually work in a store in London which is designed to feel like a nightclub - no natural light, extremely loud music and lots and lots of people.

I've had anxiety for about 3 years and I am 2-3 weeks into a course of citalopram - the first medication i've recieved. It is because of work that I have had to start taking this medicine because it was here, about 2 months ago, that I had my first panic attack.

My panic mostly stems from a fear of being sick (sounds silly I know). I have been sick about 3 times in the last 13 years and these were all due to alcohol but no matter how much I tell myself this the fear remains.

Here is how my panic attack goes:

Im feeling a little rough from doing lots of uni work and I have to go to work in this loud, dark, crazy envronment at 10am.

My first thoughts are: I feel a bit crap, probably all the stress

My next thought is: So I know why I feel crap so there is no need to worry

Next I think: I feel a bit sick but who cares, I havent been sick in years.

Then I think: Well if I needed to be sick there is a plant pot there (lol)

and then I go into panic . . . .

As soon as I acknowledge that I may be ill in this crowded, unnaturally loud and dark environment my mind goes off like dominos and I have to drop everything and get to a toilet or outside as fast as I can.


So this is really the long way of asking - is there anyone out there who has to work or has experienced panic in this type of environment. Also if anyone else has a fear of being sick and how they cope. Basically I have to go back to work in 2 days and im quite scared but I dont want to let it get the better of me.

Im gonna fight it!!! (but i need some help)

Thanks,

Luke

hi

ive always worried about being sick since i was a little girl and im now 30 so a very long time!!

i dont worry about it now as much as i used to cancer and hiv worry have seen to that!! but when my kids get stomach bugs i do panic because im really scared of being sick,it just terrifies me and makes me cry. i totally understand where you are coming from, my counseller says its a very common worry along with cancer and hiv!!

jenniexx

Thanks for the reply :)

Ive been reading a lot of the threads on emetophobia and most people seem to have a fear of catching bugs that will make them sick etc but Im not quite like this.

If I feel sick and I can lock myself away in a bathroom and then Im as happy as larry! But its the fear of not being able to get to somewhere I deem appropriate for feeling ill (such as my work). I can watch people be sick, get sick and not worry about germs but I just cant get it out of my increasingly tangled mind that Im just gonna embarrass myself at work where everyone will say - 'there goes the guy that went a bit dizzy, stood in frozen panic, threw up all over the shop floor, fumbled for some way to cope with the situation and ran away'


Lame.

Im thinking of just carrying a carrier bag around with me just in case!

hi

I also had a phobia of being sick- its wasnt just in work its everywhere lol. When i got the thought i looked around for somewhere i could be sick in whether it be a bag, an alley way, down the sleeve of a jumper in a shop (might have been ure shop when u were looking at plant pot lol), carrier bags, handbags, trainers- u name it ive thought it!!

I do carry a plastic bag in my bag, everywhere- infact am going to be honest here coz i can- i carry 2 plastic bags- one inside the other coz some plastic bags have holes in the bottom!!

I have had this phobia for about a year- like u the only time i have been sick is through alcohol!!

With the use of CBT i have been able to overcome this fear- dont get me wrong i still have the odd bad day but overall my phobia is not at all what it used to be.

If you want i could mail u all the tips i was taught on how to cope with this, or recommend u the books i have read??

Cant believe i can relate to this- i honeslty thought i was the only one!!
x

I was a bouncer (security) for years at different nightclubs, with panic attacks all the time :blush:

I always told the guys I was working with I had the disorder, and by that it wasn't so terrifying to think of beeing sick during the job.

Knowing that I could walk to the toilet any time I felt like it made me less anxious.

But please realize that this kind of environment is never easy for someone with anxiety problems. Crowds, loud music, nicotine, aggression etc etc isn't exactly calming your nervous system. Your body gets so jacked up by this atmosphere alone, that panicky thoughts on top of it will trigger an attack quite easily.