'My sun phobia meant photos of beaches made me feel sick'

Personal stylist and life coach Elisa Trayner explains how she overcame her debilitating fears sparked by a traumatic bout of sunstroke

- LUCY ROBINSON

Filled with panic and struggling to catch a breath, Elisa Trayner couldn't understand why this was happening to her. As the midday sun took its place in the cloudless sky, nausea took over her body.

While to others it was the perfect summer's day, for Elisa, 49, from Tonbridge, Kent, it was a nightmare. Almost in an instant, it had become her greatest fear.

"I'm half-Spanish. I was born in Spain and I've spent a lot of time there throughout my life. I was a total sun goddess. I loved to lie in the sun and I loved to have a tan," she told us. "My family had an apartment in Majorca which we'd visit a couple of times a year. It was like my second home."

However, during one holiday to the Spanish island two decades ago, things changed and a visit to the beach left the former investment banking secretary with severe sunstroke - and an equally severe phobia of the sun.

"We spent all day there. We were there for a couple of hours in the morning, headed to the beach bar for lunch and then returned for two or three hours. In the afternoon, I lay on my sunbed face down with my hat on, reading my book. I'd always done that but this time I started to feel sick. I thought I'd had too much sun so I got in the shade. That's when I really started to feel ill," she recalled.

Sunstroke diagnosis

After heading back to her apartment, things got worse for Elisa, who couldn't stop retching. With an upset stomach, she tried to make the most of the holiday and headed to a restaurant, though just the thought of food was enough to worsen her symptoms.