Re: fear of vomiting

[Guest guest]

She may feel better in the morning. I would inch her out of the house. Encourage

her to get dressed. If she says I can't go to school,

say OK ..let's get dressed though ...then something small to

eat ...then can she go to school for just an hour and you will

check with the nurse how you are feeling ... have her take a few

crackers or a tums something as a distraction or a bottle of water

and tell her to have little sips, make a plan if you feel sick

take a few breaths .... you will know if you are sick too,

tell her she is likely to have a bad headache,

If you have to walk her in and talk to the nurse, I have

done that to get her in the door. Encourage her to stay

one hour and see how she feels. The school may not appreciate

all the fuss, but you want to make sure she gets in to the school.

I had to do this yesterday and last week, my daughter has

felt more fatigued and actually did gag a little one day,

but this is a hard time of year, after vacation, sickness,

they probably are tired fighting off colds. I hope you

have an understanding school nurse.

Work on some part of the day, don't pressure to much, if

she procastinates, be kind but remind her to get ready.

If she says it is too late to go to school (because she

procasinates) assure her it is OK but get her in. My daughter

went for 1 hour yesterday and today she was there 3 hours and

had lunch at school too. Sometimes it has to be gradual like

this. Praise each step.

take care,

Pam

>

> Hi all - I'm needing advice about my daughter, 13 years old. She's had a

severe fear of vomiting for about 1 1/2 years now. She has an intense fear of

it happening in front of people - sure that she will lose friends and humiliate

herself. Well, earlier tonight, my younger daughter threw up while we were all

driving in the car. My daughter with OCD went into panic mode. She is now sure

she will be sick. She is crying and refusing to go to school tomorrow. Her

rationale is that since every day her stomach hurts, when she really does need

to vomit, she won't know and have time to make it to the restroom because her

stomach always feels this way. I don't know what to do. It's been a crazy out

of control night here. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

>

> Thanks so much-

>

> Suzie

>

[Guest guest]

Hi, that's been a frequent topic here, that fear. Pam had some great thoughts

on that in her reply.

I have 3 sons (one with OCD/Aspergers) and we never had that fear as it relates

to OCD. But when they were growing up and had that feeling (not so meltdown as

our kids with the OCD), I used to get out the Pepto Bismol bottle, show them

it's good for nausea and offer them a teaspoon. Now when my oldest was real

young, he'd take it. -- Let's just say I was hoping for that placebo effect and

figured a tsp couldn't hurt. -- My other 2 would say no they didn't want it,

I'd say well I offered them something to fix it, they refused, so on to school!

Only did this when I could tell it was more anxiousness, butterflies type thing,

and not actual illness related.

Your dd is a bit older, doubt this would help at all with her.

I feel for you, and her. That fear (any fear) can really keep their stomachs

tied up in knots.

Some of the therapy techniques I've read from others are things like using fake

vomit as exposure, having them write the word over & over, etc.

I liked Pam's ideas. Can't recall if she said this, but I also recall sending

notes in the a.m. to the teacher telling them my son wasn't feeling well, to

call me if he needed to come home, got worse, etc. That was also to make son

feel better about going, having teacher know - hear it from mom - that he wasn't

" feeling well. "

Do let us know how it goes tomorrow, good luck!

>

> Hi all - I'm needing advice about my daughter, 13 years old. She's had a

severe fear of vomiting for about 1 1/2 years now. She has an intense fear of

it happening in front of people - sure that she will lose friends and humiliate

herself. Well, earlier tonight, my

[Guest guest]

Hi Suzie!

My DD (15) has the same issue. We've been dealing with it since she was

7. You've gotten good suggestions here. My answer is that there is no

" right " way to handle it. My daughter goes crazy when someone in the

house vomits. Luckily, we are a very healthy family, so it actually

hasn't happened in years. (Actually, I think that's unlucky, because

then she never has any exposure therapy!) My daughter " knows " that she

would usually throw up 24-48 hours after the other person if she's going

to catch it, so it's hairy around here until after a couple of days.

Then she relaxes. Since it's a Friday tomorrow, I might cut her a deal

and tell her she could go in the morning and come home at lunch, or vice

versa. Or an hour. Or she could call if she felt ill. (But, the

anxiety makes her feel ill in the stomach anyway, so hard to

distinguish.) If she can stick out the day, it's good therapy of

course. Good luck with your decision.

Dina

[Guest guest]

That's exactly what my son deals with ... even the humiliation part. CBT with

ERP helped.

Bonnie

>

> Hi all - I'm needing advice about my daughter, 13 years old. She's had a

severe fear of vomiting for about 1 1/2 years now. She has an intense fear of

it happening in front of people - sure that she will lose friends and humiliate

herself. Well, earlier tonight, my younger daughter threw up while we were all

driving in the car. My daughter with OCD went into panic mode. She is now sure

she will be sick. She is crying and refusing to go to school tomorrow. Her

rationale is that since every day her stomach hurts, when she really does need

to vomit, she won't know and have time to make it to the restroom because her

stomach always feels this way. I don't know what to do. It's been a crazy out

of control night here. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

>

> Thanks so much-

>

> Suzie

>

[Guest guest]

There's a list of questions that my son is to ask himself...such as Have I ever

thrown up beofre when I was afraid I would (and didn't have a virus)? Do I

really think I will throw up or am I afraid I will? WHat will I do if I do

throw up - (answer is I'll go to the nurse who help me get cleaned up and will

call mom). Have I ever seen anyone at school who threw up teased by other kids?

- (some say eeww, but they know you can't help it when you throw up and they

won't talk about it forever). Do I really have to be embarrassed about throwing

up? How will I handle it if I do feel embarrassed? It's sort of reality

testing and contingency planning at the same time.

The exposure part had to do with drawing pictures of people vomiting, watching

youtube videos of people vomiting, eating vomit flavored jelly beans (yes they

make those)! We started out just writing the word vomit on paper and worked our

way up over a month or so (doing exposures daily) - I couldn't believe he ate

that jelly bean (and wasn't allowed to have water afterward).

Still, that fear pops up whenever his anxiety is triggered.

Hope it helps,

Bonnie

>

> Hi all - I'm needing advice about my daughter, 13 years old. She's had a

severe fear of vomiting for about 1 1/2 years now. She has an intense fear of

it happening in front of people - sure that she will lose friends and humiliate

herself. Well, earlier tonight, my younger daughter threw up while we were all

driving in the car. My daughter with OCD went into panic mode. She is now sure

she will be sick. She is crying and refusing to go to school tomorrow. Her

rationale is that since every day her stomach hurts, when she really does need

to vomit, she won't know and have time to make it to the restroom because her

stomach always feels this way. I don't know what to do. It's been a crazy out

of control night here. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

>

> Thanks so much-

>

> Suzie

>

[Guest guest]

Oh, vomit flavored! Yuck, I would think tasting that might make me want to, or

do it! Brave boy!

>

> There's a list of questions that my son is to ask himself...such as Have I

ever thrown up beofre when I was afraid I would (and didn't have a virus)? Do I

really think I will throw up or am I afraid I will? WHat will I do if I do

throw up - (answer is I'll go to the nurse who help me get cleaned up and will

call mom). Have I ever

[Guest guest]

Hi all-

I just wanted to thank everyone for their responses and suggestions to help with

my daughter. I just joined this group, and it's been a huge help to know that

we're not alone. Your ideas and insights into this disease are so helpful.

As far as my daughter is concerned, she did not go to school today because she

ended up vomiting in the middle of the night. Her hugest fear finally came

true. Actually, I'd been hoping for a long time that this would happen, and

that she would be able to see that she would recognize the feeling of the fact

that she was going to be sick and have enough time to make it to the bathroom.

Because that was actually her fear - that she wouldn't recognize that she was

about to be sick (since she her stomach always hurts)and then she would

humiliate herself in front of the school, friends, etc. However,that hope of

mine kind of backfired. Last night, she came in to my room, told me her stomach

hurt, and I told her to go into the bathroom. She refused, and then ended up

running to the bathroom, and not making it in time. Today, she's extremely

upset, and really scared. She's saying " I told you so...I won't know if i'm

going to be sick! I didn't know last night. "

So now, I'm not sure what to do. I have a feeling that I won't be able to get

her to school on Monday. Thanks for listening and all of your suggestions. I'm

definitely going to try the things you all mentioned and hope for the best.

Thanks again-

Suzie

>

> Hi Suzie!

>

> My DD (15) has the same issue. We've been dealing with it since she was

> 7. You've gotten good suggestions here. My answer is that there is no

> " right " way to handle it. My daughter goes crazy when someone in the

> house vomits. Luckily, we are a very healthy family, so it actually

> hasn't happened in years. (Actually, I think that's unlucky, because

> then she never has any exposure therapy!) My daughter " knows " that she

> would usually throw up 24-48 hours after the other person if she's going

> to catch it, so it's hairy around here until after a couple of days.

> Then she relaxes. Since it's a Friday tomorrow, I might cut her a deal

> and tell her she could go in the morning and come home at lunch, or vice

> versa. Or an hour. Or she could call if she felt ill. (But, the

> anxiety makes her feel ill in the stomach anyway, so hard to

> distinguish.) If she can stick out the day, it's good therapy of

> course. Good luck with your decision.

>

> Dina

>

[Guest guest]

Along with my daughter, I also have OCD, and I had a vomit phobia for years. It

ended after I got a horrible case of food poisoning where I could not stop

vomiting. I ended up in the hospital and everything! I think that's called

" storm therapy " which is no longer used as far as I know.

I wouldn't recommend going about treating a vomit phobia this way though!!! Just

sharing an experience.

Laurie

Re: fear of vomiting

Hi all-

I just wanted to thank everyone for their responses and suggestions to help with

my daughter.  I just joined this group, and it's been a huge help to know that

we're not alone.  Your ideas and insights into this disease are so helpful.

As far as my daughter is concerned, she did not go to school today because she

ended up vomiting in the middle of the night.  Her hugest fear finally came

true.  Actually, I'd been hoping for a long time that this would happen, and

that she would be able to see that she would recognize the feeling of the fact

that she was going to be sick and have enough time to make it to the bathroom. 

Because that was actually her fear - that she wouldn't recognize that she was

about to be sick (since she her stomach always hurts)and then she would

humiliate herself in front of the school, friends, etc.  However,that hope of

mine kind of backfired.  Last night, she came in to my room, told me her stomach

hurt, and I told her to go into the bathroom.  She refused, and then ended up

running to the bathroom, and not making it in time.  Today, she's extremely

upset, and really scared.  She's saying " I told you so...I won't know if i'm

going to be sick! I didn't know last night. "  

So now, I'm not sure what to do.  I have a feeling that I won't be able to get

her to school on Monday.  Thanks for listening and all of your suggestions.  I'm

definitely going to try the things you all mentioned and hope for the best.

Thanks again-

Suzie

>

> Hi Suzie!

>

> My DD (15) has the same issue.  We've been dealing with it since she was

> 7.  You've gotten good suggestions here.  My answer is that there is no

> " right " way to handle it.  My daughter goes crazy when someone in the

> house vomits.  Luckily, we are a very healthy family, so it actually

> hasn't happened in years.  (Actually, I think that's unlucky, because

> then she never has any exposure therapy!)  My daughter " knows " that she

> would usually throw up 24-48 hours after the other person if she's going

> to catch it, so it's hairy around here until after a couple of days. 

> Then she relaxes.  Since it's a Friday tomorrow, I might cut her a deal

> and tell her she could go in the morning and come home at lunch, or vice

> versa.  Or an hour.  Or she could call if she felt ill.  (But, the

> anxiety makes her feel ill in the stomach anyway, so hard to

> distinguish.)  If she can stick out the day, it's good therapy of

> course.  Good luck with your decision.

>

> Dina

>

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[Guest guest]

Suzie,

Shoot! So, did she say she felt any differently right before? We

actually have the same problem with my daughter. She really can't

distinguish. She's so afraid of vomiting (in general, not just in front

of people) that any time her stomach feels different, she's sure that's

it. And what's hard about that is that their anxiety makes their

stomach in knots! So it really can hurt and they don't know when " it "

is going to happen.

I wish I had some advice. You're in a tough place today. Before I knew

better, I used to reassure my daughter by saying, " Well, now that you've

been sick, you probably won't be for a long time. " and her worry would

go away. This lead to constant reassurance on her part eventually. So,

it helped in the short term, not in the long term. Now that her anxiety

is much lower on meds, I never reassure her anymore. I say things like,

" Well, ya never know. Can't make any guarantees. " So she's given up

asking me. And she's better about bossing her vomit thoughts back on

her own. She hasn't had any issues for a really long time, but

something came up last night. She came home from dance hungry around

6:30 and I had made homemade bread sticks. She said she wasn't hungry

and went to her room. (When she's having vomit thoughts, she can't

eat.) About 2 minutes later, she came down very determined and said,

" Mom, my brain was telling me that one time when I was little I had

eaten bread and threw up, but I'm hungry and I'm eating those

breadsticks! I don't care what my brain says. " So, she ate, but the

anxiety didn't fully go away for a couple of hours. I was proud of her

for bossing back, though. I want to add though that she can't do this

unless she's on a med that's working.

It's so tough! Keep us posted on how your weekend goes.

Dina

>

[Guest guest]

Laurie,

I've often thought about giving my daughter some kind of medicine to

make her vomit. A lot. Hoping it would cure it all! But, I would

never do it. Happy it worked for you though!

Dina

[Guest guest]

And I think it's called, " Flooding. " :-)

Dina

[Guest guest]

That's the term. Thanks!

Re: Re: fear of vomiting

And I think it's called, " Flooding. " :-)

Dina

[Guest guest]

Oh, actually did it! At least it was at home. Sounds like a bug going thru

your family, what with sis also being sick. Has she (sis) vomited any more?

My sons always got upset (cried/scared) when they were throwing up. I always

was casual about it, you'll feel better after, etc. But also used to just have

them keep a trashcan near to use when it was ongoing, in case they couldn't

manage to make it to the bathroom.

Sigh, I feel for you! Besides the notes to the teacher, other stuff I mentioned

before, I'm not sure what I'd do, try Pam's ideas (think that was who had a

reply earlier....). I didn't have to deal with absolute school refusal, luckily

no OCD involved!

> >

> > Hi Suzie!

> >

> > My DD (15) has the same issue. We've been dealing with it since she was

> > 7. You've gotten good suggestions here. My answer is that there is no

> > " right " way to handle it. My daughter goes crazy when someone in the

> > house vomits. Luckily, we are a very healthy family, so it actually

> > hasn't happened in years. (Actually, I think that's unlucky, because

> > then she never has any exposure therapy!) My daughter " knows " that she

> > would usually throw up 24-48 hours after the other person if she's going

> > to catch it, so it's hairy around here until after a couple of days.

> > Then she relaxes. Since it's a Friday tomorrow, I might cut her a deal

> > and tell her she could go in the morning and come home at lunch, or vice

> > versa. Or an hour. Or she could call if she felt ill. (But, the

> > anxiety makes her feel ill in the stomach anyway, so hard to

> > distinguish.) If she can stick out the day, it's good therapy of

> > course. Good luck with your decision.

> >

> > Dina

> >

>

[Guest guest]

Hi Suzie,

I can feel for you! I have two kids with a vomiting fear. My dd used to vomit

starting at age 5.

She would get so anxious about having to go to school she would vomit. Usually

it was first thing in the morning. She than began vomitting in the middle of the

night. I would get up in the middle of the night to check on her and she would

be sleeping on the bathroom floor, because she was so afraid she wouldn't make

it to the bathroom ( after countless times of throwing up in her bed) Well

now, 9 years later, she is 14 and the fear is just about gone( although she

has replaced it with other issues)Her doctor had diagnosed her with CVS after

having an endoscopy done when she was almost 6, and what was happening was ,

that she was so anxious and it was causing  what they call " abdominal

migraines " . She really was vomitting from that , than the ocd would kick in and

magnify the symptoms.

 

My son is always afraid of vomiting as well to the point of not eating.If he

gets a stomach bug, he will think he's going to vomit for weeks after it's over

with everything he eats.

It just never ends. My son asks for reassurance constantly about not

vomitting.He can't take SSRI'S, and has another appt with his psychiatrist in a

little over a week. The only thing that helps his thoughts are the

anti-psychotics, so unfortunately we will be looking at starting those again,

I wish you luck.

Hugs

judy

Subject: fear of vomiting

To:

Date: Thursday, January 20, 2011, 10:15 PM

 

Hi all - I'm needing advice about my daughter, 13 years old. She's had a severe

fear of vomiting for about 1 1/2 years now. She has an intense fear of it

happening in front of people - sure that she will lose friends and humiliate

herself. Well, earlier tonight, my younger daughter threw up while we were all

driving in the car. My daughter with OCD went into panic mode. She is now sure

she will be sick. She is crying and refusing to go to school tomorrow. Her

rationale is that since every day her stomach hurts, when she really does need

to vomit, she won't know and have time to make it to the restroom because her

stomach always feels this way. I don't know what to do. It's been a crazy out of

control night here. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Thanks so much-

Suzie