Sirzy, I'm glad your appointment went well, that sounds positive.
After quickly saying hello yesterday I thought I would come back with a bit more background about DD(11). Thank you for asking about her.
The short version is that she is struggling with emetophobia and also general health anxiety, and has been for months (years?). I think the emetophobia came first - it seems to vary which is the most dominant, but right now it is definitely the emetophobia.
Yesterday was awful, the first time she couldn't manage to get to school. She was so anxious, poor girl, and of course the anxiety was making her feel sick which meant the emetophobia was in overdrive. It seems to have escalated so sharply over the past few weeks and for the first time I am genuinely scared about where we are heading. From what I have read, emetophobia is one of the most pernicious and difficult to treat phobias and many people never recover. It is so frightening.
I'm just so, so sad for my little girl. She was (is) such a kind, loving, funny, bright, creative little thing and this illness is slowly taking over by sapping all the energy she used to have for other things. Although she masks it well, I can now see the strain in her face and in her voice that she is battling so much of the time.
We are five sessions in to working with a clinical psychologist. She seems very kind and friendly, although in between sessions the admin side of things is pretty poor (getting the dates of appointments wrong and having to be reminded, repeatedly asking for info I have already provided, missing a third of a session because zoom not working at her end etc - there have been other issues too but too long to go in to). Fortunately this doesn't affect DD because she doesn't see this side of things, but it doesn't feel like a great start. Also I am concerned because she doesn't specialise in emetophobia, and from what I have read it is something that needs really specialist treatment. But I feel we need to give this a chance first.
After the initial assessment, the psychologist said she may want to refer her for further assessment at some point (for autism etc) I felt she asked DD some quite leading questions e.g. if she is bothered by labels in clothing - DD looked a bit confused said well yes, sometimes?, and the psychologist really latched on to this and translated it into full-blown sensory issues in her assessment report, which is categorically not something I've ever seen any sign of, ever! And although she is quite quiet and shy at first, she forms strong friendships (thank god, this is something I am very, very grateful for) and is very socially astute. That said, I am keeping an open mind.
Someone asked if I have support - thank you for asking - relatively speaking I have good support in a good marriage with DH (he dad) who would do anything for her/us. And we are financially OK which I do appreciate makes more options available sometimes and I am very grateful for that. I do feel though that the mental load for all of this falls almost entirely on me - he is a great supporting player but everything - from first realising there was an issue, to researching what was going on, getting help from the GP, arranging the referral, looking for extra support, advice, books, ideas - all those hours spent worrying and learning fall to me. And that is fine when it is booking a bloody holiday but right now the responsibility of advocating for her, helping her, is very heavy and I need more help. But it is so hard to explain that to someone who has no idea of just how much work goes on in trying to understand this whole new world we are navigating.
God I have rambled a bit there. Thank you to anyone who listens to all that! It would be really good to connect with anyone else who is dealing with emetophobia specifically.