Hi,

I have Complex PTSD with panic disorder, agoraphobia, emetophobia, and OCD.

Everything after the "with" are all symptoms of the PTSD, with the emetophobia being by far the most debilitating.

After a lot of hard work, I'm pretty much over the agoraphobia and OCD. And the panic attacks are no longer a daily thing either, but the emetophobia is another story... especially at the dentist's. Any kind of dental work triggers me BIG TIME. Wouldn't be such a big deal if I wasn't in the middle of major dental surgery: a whole mouth reconstruction.

There has to be a way out of this torture....

Hi again.

Just responded to your post over in the new members forum.

I had to look up emetophobia because I had no idea what it was. And as I am a dental phobic I thought it had something to do with going to the dentist. I found a good phobia dentist and he's been my guy for 4 years now.

I used to have to be sedated for ANY kind of work. But I've been extremely lucky in my choice of dentist. He's a phobia specialist and works with me. And while I don't like to go to the dentist, I know he's not going to kill me and I know I won't die in the chair so it's all in my mind and that's where it always starts. IN THE MIND.

So I have to get my mind around the fact that I have to go, get my teeth cleaned every six months, not eat sugar (I'm a diabetic anyway), and brush and floss correctly.

But I can well understand your predicament about emetophobia. We all have our stuff to deal with and boy, do you have stuff, you poor thing, what with dealing with PTSD etc.

So hang in there. We are a nice bunch of folks, each with our own issues and we try and help each other.

And I find that taking a small amount of Alprazolam on the day I have to do, well, it just takes the edge off.

Works for me. I don't do any other kind of drug but if a person needs something, well they need SOMETHING, now don't they.

People who don't have anxieties, and phobias, and when they can deal with life head on, well, bully for them.

But there are those of us who have to face this stuff constantly and we need help and support.

I hear you!!!

Believe me, I hear you.

So hang in there, keep posting, keep sharing your stories (mind sharing how you came to have these problems?? you don't have to of course, but sometimes it's good to vent), and we'll respond and help you cope.

That's what we do here.

Take care,

Melody

Hi again Melody and thank you again!

I have a terrific dental team, thank God. Yes, it takes a village to fix this mouth!

I have resorted to the fact that I've put it off way too long and I have to get this done NOW. I want to smile again, and it'll open up so many doors that have been shut for a very long time.

I've been waiting for the emetophobia to magically disappear I guess, and it hasn't. Months have turned into years. So I AM doing this, but I am scared witless!

What's the saying? Face your fear and it will disappear? I guess we'll see how much truth there is in this.

I feel so stupid letting a phobia like this stop me from enjoying life.

It you could enjoy life, then it wouldn't be a phobia now would it? Lots of stuff fill our heads with fear. I know why I am afraid of the dentist. It's as clear to me now as it was over 55 years ago. I was 5 years old. My mother took me to the dentist with her and she was having ALL her teeth extracted. Her sister, my Aunt Lucy was with us.

I will never forget my mother's behavior as she came out of the dental room. They had cauterized all her gums. She came into the waiting room and she was banging on the walls. I remember her banging, banging banging. Think of a little 5 year old sitting on a bench in the waiting room watching her mother do this? When I told my phobia dentist what I remembered, the look of compassion on his face was amazing. He understood completely. He said "how dare she take a little kid to witness something like that?"

Never forgot it, never will. These kinds of memories, well we take them with us down the road of life. They never leave us. We just have to learn to deal with, put them in their proper place and then we have to be grateful that we live in 2011 and that we have good dental teams (at least some of us do), that will have our backs and who understand our fear.

It's all about fear. Even if I know that the dentist is not going to kill me, or the dental hygienist is not going to kill me (yes, I'm afraid of her too), well I use relaxation exercises, etc, to get me through.

My husband on the other hand, worked in a dental unit in the army almost 40 years ago. Nothing scares him EXCEPT THE BILL!!

lol
melody

While it doesn't take much to traumatize a small child, her banging on the walls like that would have scared an adult! I'm so sorry you had to see that - how awful!

Dental bills are enough to traumatize anybody!

HI.

Isn't it amazing what we remember? I remember the bench being brown and I had short brown hair.

I don't want to remember that memory any more.

lol
Melody

What is emetophobia?

Hi. Just got this explanation off of Wikipedia

Emetophobia is an intense, irrational fear or anxiety pertaining to vomiting. This specific phobia can also include subcategories of what causes the anxiety, including a fear of vomiting in public, a fear of seeing vomit, a fear of watching the action of vomiting or fear of being nauseated.[1] Emetophobia is clinically considered an “elusive predicament” because limited research has been done pertaining to it. [2] It is considered to be one of the most common phobias in the world