Fear of taking medication & eating new foods.

[leyash 4]

Is anyone else afraid of taking medicine, or eating new food?

I hate taking medication (even tylenol and ibuprofen), and even though I have taken these medications a million times, I'm always afraid that I am going to be allergic to it. I want to take some benadryl allergy and sinus to help with my drainage, but I am SO scared to. What if I am allergic to it? Ugh.

I'm also afraid of trying new foods. Even if I may have eaten it before, I'm afraid I might be allergic. I have a drink in the fridge (Starbucks refreshers) that has been in there for almost a week, because I am so afraid that I am going to drink it and be allergic to it.

Anyone else?

[Esperahol 0]

Is anyone else afraid of taking medicine, or eating new food?

I hate taking medication (even tylenol and ibuprofen), and even though I have taken these medications a million times, I'm always afraid that I am going to be allergic to it. I want to take some benadryl allergy and sinus to help with my drainage, but I am SO scared to. What if I am allergic to it? Ugh.

I'm also afraid of trying new foods. Even if I may have eaten it before, I'm afraid I might be allergic. I have a drink in the fridge (Starbucks refreshers) that has been in there for almost a week, because I am so afraid that I am going to drink it and be allergic to it.

Anyone else?

You seem to have a moderate phobia of medication and/or unfamiliar substances. I honestly have never had that issue although at times I have come under the complusion that I am eating something unkosher or that my food is full of corruption or that maggots/roaches/worms are wriggling about in my substances. Generally these sympthoms appear more often if I am tired or extremely agitated. I hope you find a way to deal with.

[tofu 20]

Yes, word for word, I've struggled with this for as long as I can remember.

[tofu 20]

The only way I've found to cope is to force myself to eat something I'm afraid of or take a pill and just sit and wait out the fear. So far, nothing horrible has happened. I used to keep a list and I'd add something new to it each time I "conquered" it. I still struggle with this but I've learned to just force onward.

[shaun 6]

I am generally averse to taking medication. When you think about it from an evolutionary perspective, we did fine without pharmacetuical drugs through 99% of our evolution and we didn't suffer from the diseases we do today, the diseases of civilisation.

As for eating new food, no, I enjoy trying new foods, I think it's good to be open about trying new things - you might like it!

[Mrs. Rogers 2]

My fear in taking medications is that it will somehow interact with my heart condition and give me a heart attack. I suffer from Cluster Headaches and my Dr. gave me a shot for when they're REALLY bad. One night I was having a horrible Cluster Attack and decided to give myself the shot. After reading the directions for reactions I decided I'd rather suffer the headache than the rare possible adverse reactions. I'm quite sure I would have been fine - my Dr. knows what my heart issue is...and wouldn't have prescribed it if it could have harmed me - but I just put too much thought into it and couldn't go through with it.

[Quirky Jessi 2]

Well do you have any food/medication allergies or have you had any adverse experiences with them? Do you have any close friends/family members that struggle with those allergies? You may find that part of the phobia is simply linked to experience and the fear that it might happen to you, too (or happen again).

[JOYCICLE 654]

Totally ! I knew Tofutti would chime in here. I don't mind new foods and I have no fear of allergies with meds or foods. What I fear is being suddenly drowsy or some other type of side effect and no way to get to a bed. My mother is addicted to pills almost all my life and I've watched her just lay around in a stupor , unable to respond or see or do anything. When i was young and wild I tried some of her meds,,,,,, thorazine? WOW , what a knockout drug. So now I worry all the drugs are similar in that they jsut knock you right out. I know its not true but I worry it might be. ALso when I had a hysterectomy about 10 or so years ago, I had a slight reaction/ overdose to something. I took some tylenol and a bit later took my vicadon ( prescribed for pain, this was like 2 days post op) and I got really out of it and heart racing and totally freaked out. So that's the last vicadon I ever took, no matter the pain. I generally take no kind of pill for any kind of reason !

[lissy 0]

This is my 1st post and medication and food are my biggest life-altering phobias!!! It has impacted my life in so many ways I have medical conditions that are not being treated properly which is affecting my health, the avoiding allergy foods has resulted in losing alot of weight that I really didn't need to happen...I am on the edge right now I need to learn how to overcome these fears because the fears are killing me slowly and thats what is behind the phobias (Death).

I had surgery for the 1st time in my life 6 months ago that was 4 years into these fears, let me say the 1st surgery date didn't happen I cried and hyperventilate so much I had a fever and they had to reschedule and the surgery was for a suspected tumor which it turned out not to be...but anyway I had the surgery a few weeks later came through fine but in pre-op I was given morphine and unlucky me I was truly allergic so when I thought by going through the surgery would help me overcome the fear the allergy just set me back further...and I went through recovery medication free I mean horrible pain. So just to let you know your not alone and hopefully we will be able to work through these difficult times and end up stronger!

Currently seeing a therapist and trying to convince myself to start a med that I took in the past that worked wonders...

Take Care.

[Gilly 1086]

hi lissy, welcome to the forum. I have death phobia too, its truly horrible and I have had an allergic reaction whilst in hospital like you, and yes it was a horrible experience. It was when I had surgery in 2002 and that had a huge effect on causing my anxieties. It's traumatic to go through, completely understandable to have this effect on us. I have had to take medication since I was a child (I have crohns) so it kind of affected me in a different way but sure did make a huge contribution to my major anxiety flare. I don't, can't go back to that again.

A few of our members have med phobias, and we try and help each other get through it. Like joycicle mentioned Tofu suffered badly from allergy fears with food and medication, she has come so far in beating it, I hope that we can help you beat it too.

If you are struggling pop by the chat room, we will do our best to help you through it.

Nice to meet you Gilly

[JOYCICLE 654]

Lissy, what happened that you were allergic to morphiine? I mean what did your body do ? I had a horrible reaction to morphine post op but was not allergice. I was just adminstered way too much .

[lissy 0]

Joycicle,

I immediate had burning and severe itching with welts spreading up my arm slight chest tightness and then gave me benedryl injection within 2 minutes. The reaction was so fast the nurse that gave it was nervous and didn't realize what was happening and luckily the head nurse was in the room and told her to hurry up and inject me with the benedryl and she took over. About a half hour later the head nurse brought the other floor nurses in my room to show the reaction so they would be aware for future cases.And they put in in my records as a true allergy. But I at least now know to avoid it. The weird thing is everyone I have ever known to take benedryl for allergies it tends to make them drowsy it had no affect on me besides taking care of the reaction...Kinda weird.

[janedoe12 0]

this is my newest phobia, even though ive taken ibuprofen evrytiime ive ever got headache or pain i took one and sat in my bed for about a minute befor i started to panic, i ran to the bathroom and forced myself to throw it up! i felt so stupid because i always take it but idk why lately i cant take any of my meds. i also think EVERY food or drink is gona make me sick/ someone poisoned it/im allergic its the most annoying phobia yet. i cant eat anything and even when i have tried to eat my head fucks with me and i stop. sorry this happend to you, but im glad im not the only one expecially because everyone makes me seem crazy!

[Gilly 1086]

Jane, you're not crazy. I've taken a ton of pills my entire life because of my crohns, not a problem at all. Then along came this anxiety and I get it, I get scared to take something I've taken for years, I've stopped eating shellfish in case I was suddenly allergic to it, nuts.. It;s not silly its the anxiety, it makes us fear things even if we haven't feared them before. You will overcome it,

[Texy 13]

I am not a big fan of taking medications. I have never had a reaction to anything but I tend to over-analize. If I get a prescription, I end up reading the side effects and tend to freak out over it if I have already taken the medicine. I think this and my health anxiety all stem from trying a new birth control and then reading all kinds of things about young women having strokes or heart attacks while taking that birth control.

[SoAnxious 3]

I am scared silly of medicine but not food. I dread the day I ever have to take medication for anything serious. Not sure I could do it.

[jonathan123 2368]

Hi. So Anxious. Why are you scared to take medication? I know a lot of folk are for various reasons from sheer fear to a moral objection to have foreign substances in their body.  My attitude is that if you had a broken leg would you refuse a crutch? I know about the scare stories in regard to medication and there is no doubt that long term use is not to be encouraged. (Except for physical illness which is not what we are talking about). A mild tranquilizer can often save hours of misery especially in panic attacks. Drugs give you breathing space to gather your thoughts and look at the illness calmly and then to take action toward recovery. When in an anxiety state it is often impossible to reason with yourself. Should I take this or do that? We easily get confused and need a steady helping hand. Drugs can do that in the short term. If your doctors advises medication then be guided by them. Explain you are afraid of taking medication and ask for an explanation about the effects of the drug. Reason has to overcome fear. Difficult?  Yes; but possible.   J.

[SoAnxious 3]

I'm fearful of medication because my mind has always been affected by it, even at an early age. Now my biggest fear is that it's going to drive my anxiety into a heightened state that I won't be able to control or that it'll impact other parts of my body adversely - heart, lungs, etc. Once you have a drug in your system, it's there until it wears off. There's no going back. That frightens me too. I can't unplug the drug on a whim should I have an adverse reaction.

[jonathan123 2368]

Hi. So Anxious. Most drugs used in anxiety/depression have a half life period. Diazepam can stay in the body for some weeks after but with no ill effect. If you have an adverse reaction and stop taking the drugs the side effect usually wears off after a short time. As I said earlier, in the short term drugs can be useful. We hear some horrendous stories these days about the abuse of prescription drugs and only your doctor can advise on this. But we shouldn't throw the baby out with the bathwater. Without drugs there would be a lot more suffering and misery. It is really a case of using your discretion and getting knowledge of what you are taking and why. You have to take prescription  drugs for a long time for them to have any effect on other organs of the body. Unless you have a physical disorder which requires you to take drugs then ask your GP to explain what medication you need for anxiety and why. Fear of medication can deny you TEMPORARY help. So why suffer unnecessarily?   There is an address somewhere on the site referring to drugs and side effects etc. Also withdrawing from them. If you punch up "Professor Ashton" on the web you get a free manual to download.  Hope this helps.  J.