Things have been pretty decent in my life and over the past few months I have completely neglected my Emetophobia Blog. I need to do better to stay on top of it for my main mission of helping those who are looking for hope and relief from Emetophobia to know they are not alone. You are not alone. I think when a person gets to a point where you feel better and have a grip on things you tend to focus on other stuff that you were missing out on and forget about the things that brought you to where you are today.

A goal that YOU should always have and push towards if you are reading this and suffering from Emetophobia.

Emetophobia is the suckiest thing I have ever experienced and it has taken time and effort to get to where I am not completely controlled by it. I have been fortunate to have it at bay for a good while now with medication. It is still buried in the recesses of my mind as an uncomfortable experience but the overwhelming anxiety and fear associated with the act is negligible to me.

In the past I have written about what I have personally done to help ease the suffering from this debilitating fear. It has not been easy and never went as fast as I expected but gradually got better over time. As I have gotten older I have had some issues unrelated to the phobia that have creeped up. Some personal and some from just being a desk jockey and not sticking to my exercise habits like I should. Some of the issues have affected my daily life to the point where I sought medical attention from specialists to get relief. Over the course of a few years I was chasing relief from an issue unrelated to the phobia and was getting no where.

See a doc…  here is your pill. Not better, go back to the doc … here’s your pill. Not satisfied with progress, see a new doc… here’s your pill. And the story goes on, with a feeling that I was always getting reset back to the beginning. I was at my wits end with doctors and generally at ease with the health care system as a whole and resigned myself to the fact that I would just feel like crap.

Enter a friend and business associate that mentioned to me that his wife was having great success with a holistic doctor. He stopped by to discuss this with me and at least see if I would give it a shot. I was somewhat reluctant out of fear and my inherited natural level of anxiety that I have always possessed, yet I was curious and made the appointment. This is where things got interesting and much, much better for me.

I met with the holistic doctor in my town and he did a through assessment and history with me about all of the things I suffered from, including my lifelong anxiety and Emetophobia. He was extremely thorough and compassionate about helping me in a “whole body” approach to wellness. At the end of the 2 hour consultation he decided to look for some things and ordered a urine test called an Organic Acids Test, something I have never heard about. He said that it was a very thorough test that was unavailable in our area but could be sent to the lab with a simple urine sample. I was intrigued. He also started me on a regimen of acupuncture (something fascinating and mysterious in itself) to address many issues and so we started, finally with a plan.

I left the session with much hope of relief that we could start to address my non-phobia issues. The process of collecting the sample at home was easy and it has to be shipped via prepaid FedEx package that was picked up at my door. Now I just had to sit back and wait.

During the process of waiting for results I continued acupuncture frequently to address a physical issue I was bothered with and we further discussed my life of anxiety and that damn Emetophobic fear that has always been with me. He then recommended some herbs that would help with the daily anxiety and help keep me even keel so to speak. The results of the urine sample came in that next week and whoa… he saw some things out of whack, way out of whack.

Essentially and in brevity, I was quite literally ate up with Candida and a few other biological toxins that were being excreted in my urine. Something primary doctors were not thinking about nor interested in finding out. Something I also only though women suffered from and boy I was wrong. My life of excess sugar consumption had finally caught up with me and has been exacerbating my health issues, including my anxiety and phobia responses. He said I had the worst levels he has seen in 12 years and I felt a since of relief. Wow, someone now believes me that I feel like crap. I was emotional and excited at the same time and ready to tackle whatever had to be done.

He also said that the many years of antibiotics subscribed by primary doctors and specialists have also wiped out my gut flora and the Candida and bad bacteria had taken over and was winning. He had a plan to fix it and I can say, I feel like a new man. I also had one unexpected benefit and that was a dramatic decrease in my general anxiety and ability to cope with daily life, people and work. I was amazed, absolutely amazed. I have suffered from that same anxiety, Emetophobia and sense of doom all of my life and for the first time ever it was manageable. This was a multi-step process of diet, anti-fungal and anti-anxiety herbs, reduction of excess sugar intake and caffeine, acupuncture and relaxation techniques. Something that I was more than ready to tackle. I had suffered from that non emetophobia ailment for many years and was desperate. The added benefit of anxiety and stress reduction was a blessing.

NOTE: **** The holistic doctor still recommended that I keep taking the antidepressant I have been taking for years in addition to his treatment. He felt the serotonin levels in my urine were decent on my current dose. Your situation may be different and will require attention from a holistic doctor as well as your private physician or therapist if you already take medication.

I immediately thanked God for having my friend recommend this doctor and that he was able to find  a root cause to many of my issues that I have been experiencing. I am forever grateful.

And to my point, don’t give up. If you aren’t having success with your current doctors or process to help you cure you of emetophobia then try another non-mainstream holistic approach. An approach I had heard about but was never eager to follow out of my own anxiety and social norms of going to a doctor in the U.S. My family, friends and myself have all been amazed at the results and reduction of my anxiety and fears. Maybe this is a great choice for you as well.

God Bless and I will post more very soon.

As always, hang in there and it will get better for you.

Rich