The fear of being sick is a condition which is rarely written or talked about, yet it occurs in a surprisingly number of people, mostly female, and often starts in childhood. If not addressed at an early stage, it can grow into a much bigger problem.

The impact of the fear

The child who is fearful of being sick, will become increasingly anxious and nervous. Because of the extreme avoidance tactics they learn to adopt, they rarely vomit but just feel very nauseous more and more often. This impacts on doing anything that takes them away from the safety of their home environment.

Anxiety and panic attacks

The anxiety they experience when at school, doing social activities or travelling will also increase in intensity, to the point that some children start to experience panic attacks.
The severity of the anxiety can cause kids to refuse to go to school or to go to parties or sleepovers; even to not want to go on holidays.

IBS and Abdominal Migraine

Other related symptoms are IBS (Irritable Bowel Syndrome), also what the medics are now calling ‘Abdominal Migraine’ which involves abdominal pain even when there is no headache. Typically, the pain lasts about two hours, but anywhere from 1-72 hours.

Most patients are children, especially those between the ages of 5 and 9. The child may be much younger than that but may not be able to express how they feel.
Often they are put through necessary but uncomfortable tests before a diagnosis is made, and this will usually cause distress and increased anxiety.

Insomnia

A poor sleep pattern is often established, and the child will become very dependant on the parents, in particular the mother if she is the dominant care-giver. Inevitably, the parents’ anxiety about their child’s condition will only serve to exacerbate the problem.

In some cases, the condition is sufficiently mild that it apparently becomes dormant, but when they grow up, the fear of being sick can easily be triggered by an event, such as a stomach bug or witnessing someone else being sick.

Avoidance tactics

The adult sufferer becomes very skilled at avoidance tactics and disguise. They will avoid eating out in restaurants, and when forced to do so, will choose very plain food and will eat only minute quantities, avoiding anything spicy and drinking little or no alcohol.

Other situations or events to be avoided will be crowded places or functions; public transport; cinema and theatre and being around anyone else who may be suffering from a sickness bug. A more unfortunate consequence can be avoidance of pregnancy for fear of having morning sickness.

Secondary fear

Apart from a deep underlying fear of ‘what might happen if they were to vomit’, there is also the secondary fear of being hugely embarrassed if they were to be sick in a public place or even amongst friends.

The adult sufferer will almost certainly have all the childhood symptoms, and life can become a living nightmare, with the fear and anxiety only kept in check by strong control mechanisms.

Hypnotherapy to alleviate the fear

Hypnotherapy has been shown to help both children and adults who have this condition, by safely alleviating the underlying fears and helping the subconscious mind to become aware that the ‘programmes’ it has been running over and over are now out of date.

Increased confidence and self belief

The child becomes more confident and outgoing, both at school and socially, and is able to enjoy and share in all the pleasurable activities hitherto wistfully observed.

The adult discovers a new way of life – some might say a new way of ‘being’ – and finds that they are able to move forward with confidence, with new pathways suddenly opening up and opportunities being presented.
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Author’s Details
Niki Cassar DCH DHP MAPHP(ACC)
Hypnotherapist & Past Life Regressionist – Forthingall, Perthshire, Scotland
Website: www.nikicassar.com Email: mindfully@nikicassar.com
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