Sertraline For Emetophobia (fear Of Vomiting)
Feb 29, 2008
I've been seeing a psychotherapist for 7 months now to deal with my emetophobia (fear of vomiting) and it's been very difficult. Lots of issues have arisen and it's been very emotional.
Yesterday I was prescribed Sertraline to try to help with my symptoms as it's all I can take as I'm breastfeeding. I've read through some of the side effects and I'm terrified of taking the first tablet. The first symptom I've read is nausea and that terrifies me because of my phobia. I'm desperate to take the tablets to see if they'll help me but I'm getting myself in such a state about it I'll end up making myself ill whether the tablets do or not!
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Since I was a child, my fear of vomiting was a serious issue for me. As I age- the anxiety and fear has become much worse. I'm afraid for my life and general well being.
I have met a lot of people and read a bunch of online cases about the same fear. I know I am not alone. In my case, anxiety and depression is genetic from both sides of my family. More so on my maternal side. I am severely affected by this as well as thought triggered panic attacks. It doesn't help that I suffer from OCD as well. My brain is out of control and very frustrating to live a 'normal' life this way. One part of my brain knows it's just fear, negative thoughts...and that vomiting/gagging is a normal human function, however, the other part of my brain completely freaks out sending my body into complete panic attacks. I cannot express how tired my mind and body is from all of this. I'm panic stricken day and night, 24/7. My mind doesn't stop and constantly worried about getting sick or the possibility of when I can eat. Or all of a sudden I will remember something or past experience, even fabricating a familiar taste in my mouth which instantly makes me feel so sick i'm freaking out. These are my daily battles....When I can sleep, that is pretty much the only time my anxiety isn't affecting me but I have trouble sleeping as is with an overactive mind. Even brushing my teeth has become a worry as I constantly feel nauseous and gaggy because of how short my nervous system is.
I have lost about 15 lbs over the past 4-5 years. I now weigh 100 lbs roughly. This fear/phobia has tainted my mind in ways where i overthink every situation. As a food lover, i fear my overall health as I struggle to eat. The sight and smells of food...common foods i love....turn my stomach around and make me severely nauseous. When i can/do eat, i feel more nauseous from digestion.
I am not currently on any antidepressants even though my doctor suggested me to start again. I'm very hesitant as I was on them for over 13 years and feel that they have messed up my head and caused alot of my gastrointestinal issues I now face. I do however take clonazepam quite frequently when I feel out of control. Which isn't a permanent or long term goal of mine to continue taking. I know this has long term effects.
Even though I am aware this is all psychological, I can't stop this. I am 35 years old and a single mother. With this fear it makes it very difficult to care for my son when he is sick.
I have been off work now for almost 4 months because of the severity of this mental illness. I enjoy working and staying busy...but I have a difficult time even leaving the house now. I just want to enjoy life...go out with friends....take my son places without the anxiety and panic in my body and without the aid of mild tranquilizers. I need to see a Psychotherapist for cognitive therapy and maybe a hypnotherapist. ...but it's tough as both these services aren't covered under our countries health plan.
I have seen Holistic doctors and one gave me EFT (emotional freedom technique) 'tapping' methods to do on certain parts of the body that aren't helping much.
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40Mg for almost 12 weeks was feeling really good but today felt horrible. So nauseous and flu like.is it normal to feel crappy again? I felt completely awfully when I first started it, and around week 9 I felt better. Now it's awful again. And I have the worst fear of vomiting! Is that normal? What can I do...
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I really have fear of vomiting and idk why i've been thinking i will vomit but i do not think i will. While sitting i was worried then felt like it will happen felt like a burn in my chest ( i do not have acid reflux ) also a fast really fast heartbeats, is that a panic attack? If so how can i avoid these or relax?
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Reduced from 50 mg a day to 25 mg but side effects haven't gone. Any ideas?
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I had some terrible problems last november stopping venlafaxine to start sertraline. I realised I have tried over 6 different meds and have decided to get back to the start and take none. I have been to a doctor today who was not very helpful and as I have never been given the right advice about cross tapering I am not confident about stopping. I started with 50mg, 1 december 2014, in mid January increased to 100mg and to be honest things are worse in the way I feel. No libido (I am a happily married 46 year old woman who used to enjoy my husbands attention), No motivation, No sense of enjoyment in anything, overeating, overspending and little or no self worth. I have been told stop 100mg and take 50mg for 4 weeks and then review. I am thinking maybe 75mg for a week, then 50mg for a week, then 25mg for a week then nothing.... Any ideas? I have been on one antidepressant or another since 2009.
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I am 17 and I believe I may have this disorder. First off, I am pretty paranoid. I can't walk in public places without the fear that someone is after me. Like when I am walking from the supermarket, I always look around me cause I feel like people will kidnap me and kill me. I do this as well in school but I don't think they will kidnap me, more that they may want to just hurt me and talk about me. I hate overly crowded places. Like when im at school and it's very crowded, I basically run away. I don't eat anymore in the lunchroom, i eat in my teacher's classroom. I have had depression for over a year.
I hear voices for sure. For a long time, I'd be studying in my room and I'd always hear the tv on and my mom talking and I'd actually believe she was downstairs. But then when I go downstairs, the tv is off and my mom is sleeping. I hear voices tell me really bad things about myself and most of the time. I utterly hate my life because I can't trust those around me, I always suspect them of having this plan to make me look pathetic in public. I have 2 really bad fears: snakes and dots (trypophobia). If i see any of these, I go beserk. I had an attack during the summer because i saw a snake while i was outside, but my dad was at work, and my mom was in her home country. It took me hours before I calmed down and run back home. I kept running around the entire neighborhood like a maniac and I always visualized the snake following me. With dots, it's a whole other story. I basically scream and just turn around. I hate dots, circles close together, all that stuff. It freaks me out. For a while, I had hallucinations that snakes came down the wall. But they were squigly, small and black. I used to look at the them but they never touched the ground, they just stayed on the wall and repeated themselves like a gif.
I have become very very very unfocused in everything, I can't complete tasks anymore and needless to say this include taking a shower before the next day of school. This is bad to add but i've had a few interests in my life and when I find myself that i like them, I become creepily addicted to them in a weird way. I start to fantasize creepy stuff and on top of that i research everything about them. I even start to follow them and i won't stop liking them after a long long long time. I always laugh at the wrong things, like death. When the subject of death comes up about a person or so, I actually have to hold myself from laughing. Or when like I see someone crying about something, I hold myself from laughing as well. I have always been afraid of people's words since I was 5. That was the first time everyone in my elementary school made fun of me. They ruined my life throughout elementary school till high school. They call me names and now I can't do anything without the fear of being judged or talked about.
I also joined a cult a few years ago (I left it after a year) that the govt. was bad and it was going get me. That made me paranoid of public places even more. I also ever since I was young believed for some reason I am special. From thinking I was secretly mermaid to believing I was a witch and I knew witchcraft to thinking im the freaking avatar and I can bend 4 elements (still think that one cause i just feel as if i have that power). So basically what I'm trying to state is that I have issues but I have no idea if they fit the Schizophrenia criteria.
My parents don't believe in mental help at all, basically if I told them any of this, they would yell at me to be normal. And they have before. So do you think the criteria fits and if it similarly does...should i just try to get help on my own? i am almost 18 and i might get a job before college and im living on campus anyway. What do you think i should do? I feel like it's getting worse and that in college i feel like one day i will go crazy and explode.
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I have never had an operation before, I'm not bothered at all about having my womb cut out; I'm afraid of being anaesthetised. If it were possible, I wouldn't mind just having the area anaesthetised and staying awake and watching the whole operation.
I have asthma, I am allergic to some local anaesthetics as well as other medicines, and I have developed breathing difficulties when taking certain medicines, including sleeping pills. I'm afraid that I will stop breathing or have an allergic reaction. Also that I may wake up in the middle of the operation (I've sometimes stayed awake after taking strong prescription sleeping pills), that I might become brain damaged,,go into a coma, go into a locked-in state where I can sense everything around me but everybody thinks I'm unconscious, or worst of all, just never wake up.
I had a cat who went completely deaf after being anaesthetised for a routine dental exam, but he had a heart condition already, which may have caused this by preventing enough oxygen from getting to his ears when he was under the anaesthetic.
I know people who have had many operations and they were fine every time. Did anybody else have the same fear of anaesthesia before their operation? How did you get over it?
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I'm a 21 year old girl who is scared of choking on food and swallowing do you know anyone who went through this problem it's been now since April I had this problem I was at my parents house eating meat and I didn't realize that I have let the peace of meat pass it got stuck on my throat for at least 5 seconds and finally let it down with soda after that it was a week ago that I couldn't swallow my saliva and yes it was really scary at that time that same night I got an anxiety attack so I went to the emergency room so I didn't left till 5 in the morning all they did was give me something to swallow the liquid but doctors couldn't find anything in my throat and since then I lost so much weight that I didn't expect I'm halfway skinny now but this has been the worst experience I had ever have in my life and idk if my life could be normal again all I ate was sweet food and liquids cause it will get food and since than I don't remember having a good full meal like pizza or burgers ever again it ruined my life but after that months went by it got better I was eating food again and than it happen again I don't know how much longer this will last I want to feel normal and a have a normal life again I keep thinking to myself that my food will get stuck again or choke to death and I don't want that no more please help or any medications I can take to solve this problem I don't want my husband to get mad at me by not eating all day and yes my life has changed ever since that happen and I sometimes I cry because of it and most of all I don't wanna get sick from it someone should give me an advice or any medication I can take to take away my fear and I do believe I do have something in my throat doctors don't check me well please help?
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I need some help with health anxiety at the moment. I know I'm terrified of my own mortality before I transition/ I'll start off I'm 14, and ever since last year I've been having skin problems. Last June, I started getting these weird red spots (I thought I had Leukaemia) whenever friction or heat was put on to wear I had waistbands, so underwear. This has come back occasionally but not much and I figured it was heat rash, but then in the winter I started getting itchy whenever I was lying in bed at night on the outside of my thighs. This stopped and really didn't worry me at the time, as it soon subsided. In May this year I got hit with a bout of health anxiety where I convinced myself I had Lymphoma because I felt lumps in my neck and then I got itchy, this is probably from reading the symptoms. I went to the Doctor's, and I was told there were no lumps in my neck as she couldn't feel anything and I was so happy. Then my sister got diagnosed with cancer the next week, crazy, right? Considering that the cancer she has (salivary gland) kept popping up when I was Dr.Googling, I thought it was my fault. However, since my sister received the diagnosis, my HA has become more frequent. I had it bad before but it was only roughly three times a year I'd convince myself I had cancer or some disease. However, I've now progressed into scaring myself my mum, dad and my other sister had cancer. They're fine, but I'm convinced I'm not. This Lymphoma fear has recurred about three times since, and now it's back again. I've had some mild itching around my collar bone, sternum, top leg, and rib. It's surface area, although I say mild, sometimes it did feel deep especially when my leg was itchy and when I do itch hives come up and then disappear again? I thought I was getting bit at first. I've also had an itchy scalp but I think I've always had that. But now, of course I've read that people had itching for years before they got diagnosed with Lymphoma so I'm scared that I'm going to get symptoms in the future. I just don't want to die, not so young and I'm afraid. I'm afraid everyone I love is going to die and it's really not good. I'm so excited to transition and I want to get my GCSE results next year and join the RAF and most of all transition. This thing really holds me back from enjoying myself, anyone have any words of wisdom?
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Suffered from OCD / sleep phobia for many years
Currently taking seroquel & occasionally zopiclone. Also in the past taken clomipramine
Here's the problem
I'm obsessing about sex. Firstly few months ago was worried about being able to perform (get hard)
Managed to get through this, did feel very down though. Now I'm obsessing about premature ejaculation, every time I have sex it's always on my mind to the point now where I can ejaculate too quick. This is causing me horrendous depression & I feel like I'm wasting my days. See I took a clomipramine tablet the other week & this cures premature ejaculation for me but I feel a failure to take it and feel like it will eventually not work. I rationally realise I'm creating the problem but have no control to the point where the problem is created.
All I'm thinking everyday every second is about arriving to soon. My partner is supportive and thinks I haven't got a problem but I feel funny down below. I can last longer by masterbating before sex but have read this is not a long term solution. I feel so anxious and sad that life seems difficult
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A few weeks ago I asked Health Board if my anxiety has to do with my husband's controlling behavior. After several comments I realized that maybe leaving is the best option.
I am posting again about "Fear of Break Up", why am I so fearful to take action? Does anyone here have a story how they left their significant other? I know that "leave an never come back" is an option, but I guess it's more in theory rather than practice. How can I just pack and leave without a word?? One thing that I know for sure, is that I can't talk with my husband that I'm going to leave. Here's few reasons for that:
1) He will sweet talk me and asking about what he has done wrong, I can't tell him he has hurt me so much that I have no feeling for him anymore. I just can't do that.
2) I once tried talking, and it ended up him hitting me and threatening. I don't want that experience again.
3) He sometimes begs me when I somehow get my message across that I don't want him any more. I can't resist him begging and just walk away. If I were so I wouldn't have been abused all these years.
And here's a couple of reasons I can't simply decide to leave, and leave:
1) Neither of our families live in this country, and because of isolation I have no friends. Although I can stay in a hotel for a while if need be. (I also know that shelters are available for domestic violence)
2) I will be the first one in both our families who is getting divorced. I'll have to explain to all these people, who probably never understand me, why I'm leaving. Because he didn't do anything wrong and I'm the bad one. I accept that, no big deal anymore, but it's hard to explain it to people.
3) I work and study and suffer from mild depression. it's already more than I can handle, not so sure what happens when all these people accuse me and want me to go back.
I have been seeing a counselor for about two years, but she's mostly helping me with the depression part, and analyzing what's going on with me.
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Every time I drink alcohol I always wake up and fear that I have done and said something horrible. My friends all say that I am quite and a good drunk and always assure me that i did nothing wrong. Even when I don't do anything wrong I convince myself that I did. I make up things in my head and then I can't tell if it's an actual memory or a made up thought in my head. It scares the sh*t out of me. I get anxious and depressed after drinking. I feel like a total loser. I feel like I am an awful person. i do not drink a whole lot but i do black out even after small amounts of alcohol. i know i shouldn't drink but you know how social events are. im normally shy and quiet when sober im very responsible and may have a little social anxiety. i still worry about things i think i might have done a year ago but nothing has ever come of it so really i should probably just drop it but im having a hard time. am i the only crazy person out there?
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Ok so I haven't went to the dentist in about 3-4 years. Our dentist a while back was giving us problems, like basically bad customer service. And the main guy was just an a-hole. So I stopped going to them and then after like 2 years I said to myself damn this is really unhealthy I really should go, but our insurance end up canceling, and I finally got back insurance this year about 3 months ago.
Now I'm like terrified of going back. I know I have to get my wisdom tooth extracted because it's been hurting, it's coming out and my mouth has no space. I have health anxiety and I read A LOT of stories online of people who died after getting their tooth extracted. Like I read about how this girl had a stroke, this guy choked on gauze, and someone had this procedure done and a piece of their tooth broke off and made it to their brain.
I've had surgery before and when I had it a few years ago I did my car or really think,about the side effects I just went in and got it done, but since my anxiety has been so bad (all thought better than before) I look into every possible (mostly bad) situation.
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The thing that scares me more than anything is the anesthesia. I am super sensitive to drugs, I will have nearly violent adverse reactions to even the lowest doses. I cannot even take aspirin. Benzodiazepines are out of the question. What is the gentlest anesthesia? I know people always say be sure to tell your doctor about your sensitivities, but in my case it doesn't do any good because most doctors cannot appreciate the unusual sensitivities that I have.
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*I might see a movie with people sitting in a car or a restaurant and I feel like I might be sitting there with them (I know I'm not) but I can imagine the amount of lighting in the room or objects.
*I read a person said he felt he was slipping further out of reality, and then I got a image in my mind of my brain or head going backwards or doubling out of reality. It keeps popping up and bothering me and Im scared that every second of the day I'm slowly slipping out of sanity or getting further out of reality.
*I feel like my thinking is a cube (it's really weird). I don't know how to describe it but I was feeling really anxious and all of a sudden I got this weird sensation as if my mind was a cube (stuck, anxious, scared) I have a sensation that there is a box in my head and my mind is stuck in it, is this anxiety?
I was diagnosed with OCD but I am scared its something else because my OCD and anxiety cause really weird thoughts. Please help I don't know how much longer I can go..
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I've been on citalopram now for the last 2 years for what started from work induced stress causing anxiety attacks and depression. However, I've since started a new and better job but anxiety and panic is all still there, even depression. My anxiety now seems to be focused around something more worrying that work, it's now caused by thoughts of death, not so much the process of dying but the inevitability of death, the idea that is is nothingness after death and also how I perceive time being quick. I'm 24 years old with 2 beautiful daughters but feel like it was yesterday that I was 16. My panic attacks are awful with terrible heart flutters and light headedness. Felt derealisation/personalisation symptoms more times than I can count. Some attacks have leave me physically sick and bed bound for a whole day.
These thoughts were just an every now and then thing but now it's almost constant. I've read all sorts to try and stop this fear of death. I've read scientific theories or reports into the survival of consciousness etc etc...
It's gone too far and now I'm booking my first cbt session but I was considering also hypnotherapy as well. Is there anyone else that has had or that has this sort or anxiety? Has anyone also tried hypnotherapy alongside medication and cbt?
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Does anyone have a constant feeling that something bad is gonna happen? I'm going out clubbing tonight and I just have this weird feeling that it's not gonna happen or I'm just gonna go suddenly crazy!
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Hi - on fourth day of flu. Doctor prescribed them after telling him of my increasing inability to cope with just about everything. I am a hairy arsed truck driver and a few weeks ago started to have to think about things that would normally have been second nature - an example is when approaching a set of traffic lights I can see that a red light is showing but I have to think to myself 'does that mean stop or go'?. So far nothing untoward has happened thankfully - so I made the appointment with the Doctor before anything did. He promptly signed me off for two weeks!!
I had a similar problem eight years ago, a few months after a heart attack and 9/11. I was absolutely terrified of everything. I couldn't even go near a McDonald for fear of them being a terrorist target (no great loss there then!!).
Then as now I would start crying at the drop of a hat - though this time I have managed to hide it from the family. At work I find myself in a layby,head in hands and sobbing like a baby and wondering if it's all worth it.
I don't really feel suicidal - I'm too scared to try anything in case it goes wrong and I end up a cabbage !!. My wife is an absolute gem in these times as she is under a similar pressure to me but copes with it far better than me. Perhaps it's the 'man the provider' scenario that affects me as I feel I should be able to provide for my family better than I do. The wife had a few weeks 'between jobs' but had agency work here and there so we got a bit behind with things like the rent and HP payments on the car etc. I do all the overtime that I legally can (being an HGV driver means you can only work so many hours by law). She has a permanent full time job again now thankfully so I know things will slowly improve over time but I still can't get rid of the feeling that I have let the family down and that we wouldn't have been put in this situation if I had done something - but what?.
As you can tell my problems are 90% financial. Theory says that now we have more money coming in again that things will improve. That's what I keep telling myself anyway. Even though I am signed off I am still worrying about work - is somebody doing my work properly - are they looking after my truck? etc.
As for the 'flu (20's) I have only been on it for a short time as you know but yesterday morning (3rd day) was awful - I felt as though I had swallowed some razor blades that were churning away in my guts cement mixer fashion. That seems to have subsided now - but now my poo smells!!. Oh well - we cant have everything. The only time I seem to be 'at ease' i.e. stress free is when I take the dogs for a walk. I like to go where there is nobody around - away from it all - and preferably not see another soul. But I have always been a bit solitary - I've always preferred my own company - perhaps that is part of the problem. When I used to do long distance work I may not have spoken to anyone for two or three days - bliss!!. My wife doesn't understand this as she is very much a 'people person'. Even now, I work alone and if I run into somebody (not literally) I start to feel tense just in case they say 'good morning'. I am willing them not to say anything because I feel that if they do they are invading my space. If they do say something I am always polite and respond of course as that's the way I've been brought up but inside I am saying 'You bastard - why did you have to talk to me - leave me alone and bugger off'.
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I started masturbating at the age of 14, i still masturbating daily.At the age of 16, in a accident my one testes is removed after that also i cant control my mood, i still masturbating, but i have the doubt....can i able to give birth with one testes...I feeling very badly..
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I am a girl and I am 21. I'd to know if I suffer from anxiety or maybe it's just a crisis that will soon pass. However,every single day I wake up thinking that another day passed and we all are getting older as a result. I can't stand the idea that one day I will lose my parents. Of course no one wants it but the thing is that I can't control these scary thoughts and whenever I have fun with my parents or close people I unwillingly start to think that one day this day will be just a memory.This is so overwhelming.I can't enjoy even a moment that's why I prefer being alone. The fact that my parents are much older than the parents of my friends makes it even worse. I count days, months, try to see if they have too many wrinkles.It is so unfair to them but I can't help doing it.I love them too much but I get that this is not normal.I used to be a very calm,happy,rational girl but after graduation I don't see the girl I used to be.
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