A mum-of-two who was terrified to drink blackcurrant juice in case it killed her says she's found a miracle cure for her rare phobia.
Georgie Ferdinand, 24, developed thanatophobia, the fear of death and illness, after falling pregnant with her son Joseph, now four, in 2017.
At first, she thought her unusual fear was down to the hormones from pregnancy and the way her body changed.
"Initially, I thought this was something that everyone goes through and that worrying about not being there for your kids was fine - but these feelings just kept intensifying over time," she said.
"I started to have a bizarre fear of blackcurrant juice, as I believed that I would get gravely sick if I took a sip and I wouldn’t step onto a train or go out with friends out of the fear that I would lose control over the situation."
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Georgie, who also has a two-year-old daughter called Millie, added TikTok made her fears worse.
"The more videos I watched of morbid illnesses and dark things, the more these videos were shown on my page.
"Being flooded with these videos trick your mind and it sent me to such a dark place where I was thinking and worrying about something bad happening to me non-stop."
Her mental state became to bad she deleted the app - but it didn't stop her from spiralling.
The mum, from Sittingbourne, said: "I would think that I had cancer and would die young, so I used to jump on Google to search for my symptoms which would get me in a panic and I wouldn’t know what to do with myself.
"One common thought would be that as soon as I had a small headache, that I had a brain tumour and I was dying - which I was genuinely convinced about each time."
Although Georgie managed to conceal her phobia from her kids, the symptoms got so bad she stopped them from going to soft play or hanging out with other kids in case they got sick.
When lockdown hit and everyone was forced to stay at home, Georgie says she actually felt more in control. But she was aware she needed to get help.
She decided to contact Aaron Surtees at City Hypnosis, in the hope hypnotherapy would do the trick.
At her first session with Aaron in June, she described how he sat her in an armchair and played relaxing rain sounds in the background.
She said: "During my session, he told me to practice holding my thumb and middle finger together and as soon as I did this, I had an intense tingling sensation flood my entire body.
"I was told that this was the ‘bad energy’ coming out and I had to visualise my happy place, which was being at home with my kids.
"Words cannot describe how I felt afterwards - it was like a weight had been lifted off my shoulders and I felt like a different person.
"Both my mum and sister said I looked so relaxed and sleepy after my session and I was in such a fantastic state of mind."
And after just one session, Georgie managed to go on a night out with her friends.
Since the session with Aaron, the stay-at-home mum says her condition and mental state has only improved.
She said: “Hypnotherapy was the best thing I have ever done. I’m no longer car sick or get anxious about going somewhere and I even went to Wales a couple of weeks ago for a wedding - where I actually enjoyed myself.
"I’m living life to the full and don’t panic about something being wrong anymore. Instead, I’m enjoying being as happy as can be with my two kids and I urge anyone who’s going through something similar to consider hypnotherapy.
“My two kids have noticed a huge change in me and I’m so happy to finally have my life back."
Were you cured of an unusual phobia? Email jessica.taylor@reachplc.com
