Extreme anxiety- sickness advice

[Tomatocarrotsoup]

Hi- really hoping someone has personal experience/advice about this.
I’m quite an anxious person, especially with regards to exams. I get myself worked up into a state and I’m petrified of doing badly. I’m at university and I have some big exams coming up but my biggest problem is that I get so nervous that I vomit beforehand. This isn’t usually a problem as I can just be sick at home or in the toilets before the exam, then once I start the exam itself I’m usually ok. But I’ve got an exam coming up which is done in several stages (it’s a practical skills exam) and there will be breaks and waiting about between each stage- we won’t be allowed to leave though, we’ll be waiting in a big room. I’ve done this style of exam before and had to go out to be sick. I can deal with being nervous but not the vomiting. I tried looking online and found advice about how to not feel sick but I couldn’t find anything about how to avoid being so stressed that you physically vomit. I’ve tried antianxiety medication (prescription) and it helped me feel less anxious about life overall but nothing helps my nerves before exams. I’ve studied so much and I’m worried that I’ll be sick during the exam, or that I will be so worried about being sick that I won’t be able to focus on the exam at all. I’ve tried various foods/drinks and I’m still sick with nerves.

Any advice would be appreciated

Would travel sickness pills help at all?

They should be able to make a reasonable adjustment for you to be able to go to the loos to be sick. There will be others who need to visit the loos for, erm, other associated anxiety issues I imagine.

Good luck.

I’ll try travel sickness pills, thank you the examiners I’ve had so far have always been fine with me going out to be sick thankfully, and it’s usually not too bad during the exam itself but it’s worse before it. If I just felt a bit nauseous I wouldn’t be so bothered, but I know I’m going to be physically sick so it’s so stressful sitting waiting for it to happen. I feel like it’s affecting my results now because I’m worrying about it so much and with this practical skills exam, I’m going to be waiting about in a room in between rounds and I know I won’t be able to focus properly because I’ll be waiting to be sick. I wish anxiety had an off button!

@Tomatocarrotsoup

I’ll try travel sickness pills, thank you the examiners I’ve had so far have always been fine with me going out to be sick thankfully, and it’s usually not too bad during the exam itself but it’s worse before it. If I just felt a bit nauseous I wouldn’t be so bothered, but I know I’m going to be physically sick so it’s so stressful sitting waiting for it to happen. I feel like it’s affecting my results now because I’m worrying about it so much and with this practical skills exam, I’m going to be waiting about in a room in between rounds and I know I won’t be able to focus properly because I’ll be waiting to be sick. I wish anxiety had an off button!

Don’t take travel sickness pills - they usually make you very drowsy which is not ideal before an exam! There are other anti sickness tablets that don’t have that effect x

Try and visit a hypnotherapist before if u can. I had to do it for my flying fear and it worked so well. Did wear off after a while but I was able to fly to NZ immediately afterwards. I know it's not like exam nerves and sickness but they can usually treat a wide range of issues/ anxieties. Good luck x

I understand- I used to puke like mad before and during exams. After first year, I used to get to sit Uni exams in an office on my own and someone used to check in every now and then that I was working. I just got a letter from my GP outlining the problem. No-one wants someone popping in and out of an an exam hall every five minutes - its so distracting for other students.

Also, I wouldn't take anything sedative in case it made you drowsy.