After my series of EMDR sessions several years ago, I declared myself cured of my emetophobia. I felt like I could react in a near-normal (whatever "normal" is!) fashion in most situations. Including the important case of when I felt nauseated and needed a hand hyself.
Where am I now, in early 2003? If I know that a person feeling nauseous is not contagious (eg has a hangover, food allergy reaction, etc.) then I can be around them fairly comfortably. I'm no longer scared of other people's illness except in the case where they may be contagious to me. Because of my physical disabilities (unrelated to my Emet.) I am especially secceptible to catch things and being around somebody who might make me catch something still makes me panic a bit, unfortunately.
If I am feeling ill myself, I am able to take my anti-anxiety and anti-nausea pills and slip off and curl up until the meds take effect and I feel better. It's not any fun but I don't end up in flat-out panic or anything like that.
But no, I'm not as stable or under-control as I was directly after my sessionsn. It is my firm belief that a lot of this is lack of practice. New habbits, especially, are always lost because of not enough practice and being bedridden doesn't allow me much practicing of anything. I'm sure though, that if I could have just 1-3 "top up" sessions I could again overcome the bits and pieces of worry that have crept in since my original treatments. Unfortunately I can neither afford nor get to any such sessions at the moment, so I just have to wait.
