Hi,
I'm hoping that you might be able to help me with some advice. I believe my husband is suffering from ORS, - it's really distressing him and I would dearly love to help him. He has strong feelings that he has a physical/biological problem, and has felt this for around 10 years - smelling of waste or bo etc. He has spoken to me and his parents about it, and some friends, - all of us have said that we have never smelt anything bad when he is around, - but he thinks that we may have got used to his smell, and that it's worst at work so we haven't come across it. He feels that there are one or two women at work who he is convinced have been talking about him and think he smells awful, so naturally, he is feeling pretty terrible and is struggling and pushing himself to go to work every day.
He has been to see our doctors surgery, - the first doctor was really dismissive, and essentially said that she had lots of experience being a doctor, had never came across anything like this before, and that he smelt fine to her. Thankfully, he plucked up courage to go back, and the 2nd doctor has given him some prescription medicine to reduce sweating (which worries me as I think he probably sweats a normal amount but is anxious about it) but also referred him to a CBT counsellor. The downside was that there was a month or so waiting list, and the counsellor saw him once, and then has cancelled his last appointment, which was due to be a focus group with other people and then interview them to see if they noticed anything about him. But this needs to be rescheduled, and has not happened yet.
Would anyone be able to update on the EMDR treatment, and how we would go about progressing this? At this point, I think it would be worth us paying for treatment (as the NHS seems to take such a long time, and in the interim, he is seriously distressed) but it would be good to understand if there is accreditation for this treatment, and how many treatments are generally required (is it likely to be a short course?).
We have a baby on the way, so cost is a factor, but if it were to properly help him and reduce his distress, I would gladly pay for the right help.
Also, is there anything I can do to help with this? I love him dearly, but am not sure how best to act. When he talks about the issue, I try to be patient, but at the same time, it is very hard to hear someone you love say that they stink. I also find it hard to know how to act exactly, - I think the issue is likely a psychological one (I have suffered from OCD in the past, and still here and there, and see many similarities) but I don't want to just accept the issue is a physical one when he is talking about it, but I do want to accept and understand his feelings about it. I'm finding this balance very difficult, - so any advice would be really appreciated!
Hoping you might be able to help, - anything you think might be of use would be really appreciated, as it's very hard to understand where to turn!
Many thanks for your time...