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[Wyominganxiety]

Hi everybody! I am 33 yr old female and for the past 6 yrs I have been dealing with the most brutal anxiety was diagnosed with agoraphobia, I have yet to find a medication that my body won't reject so I spend most of my days at home maybe in bed which is depressing I have a doc appointment the 19th but I'm so terrified to travel ugh feeling trapped. 😔

[Jeff1943]

Wyoming, don't let your anxiety bully you to stay in bed and keep you housebound. Anxiety may make you feel deadful but it's all bark and no bite. Anxiety can make you feel bewildered, wondering what the Hell's happening to you and anxiety is very good at copying real physical illness. But the power of anxiety is limited: it is not lifethreatening, it can't disable you and it can't send you mad. That's why anxiety is a fraud and a fake. So there's absolutely no need to fear the worse and once I explain what anxiety is you will understand. And with understanding you can begin your journey to complete recovery - no matter how long or how badly you have suffered.

You must have gone through a period of great stress, worry, strain, disappointment and/or overwork and in consequence your nerves have had enough. Your whole nervous system becomes over sensitised and begins to send out all kinds of bad messages to all parts of your body.

What started the ball rolling only you can say but if you can identify the cause of your anxiety then you must move to neutralise it. But by now your anxiety has probably become self perpetuating as you become caught in a vicious circle of symptoms causing fear causing more symptoms causing more fear causing more symptoms etc etc. The symptoms include agrophobia.

The problem is that we frighten ourselves half to death with the symptoms of anxiety when it's not at all necessary - anxiety is only caused by blips and glitches in your overloaded nervous system and not by serious health problems that are physical in origin.

We are our own worst enemies constantly feeding our over sensitised nerves with endless fear. In order to recover we have to stop fuelling the flames of anxiety disorder with fear. If we can stop ourselves generating non-stop fear our nervous system will recover and we regain our peace of mind and reclaim our lives.

So how do we do that, I hear you ask? And I will give you my reply. Fifty years ago an Australian woman doctor developed a system for recovery based on Acceptance. She suggested that if we can frame our minds to Accept the symptoms of anxiety calmly and with a minimum of fear then our nervous systems will recover and return to normal and we will regain our quiet mind. After all, you now know that anxiety is a toothless tiger, a fraud and a fake - it may terrorise us but its power is limited and we now have the knowledge to destroy it and feel bewildered no more.

So you must accept for the time being all the symptoms of anxiety and treat them with the contempt we reserve for all bullies. But you must utterly accept them and this can be difficult and requires practice and persistance. Hey, I never said this was going to be easy, simple yes, but not easy - worthwhile things are not easily won.

As for your agrophobia then you accept this symptom of anxiety just like any other and calmly leave your home planting one foot in front of the other and keep on going knowing full well that you will not collapse and even 'jelly' legs will carry you there and back, I promise you. It's a case of Do what you fear and the death of fear is assured.

The acceptance method for recovery was devised by Doctor Claire Weekesin her first book 'Hope and help with your nerves' (US version) and 'Self help with your nerves' (UK version) both available from Amazon. Although written 50 years ago this book continues to help thousands to recover, you may note that of the several hundred reader reviews on Amazon, 90% are Very Good or Excellent. This book had withstood the test of time, Wyoming, and I commend it to you and all others who have read to the end of my overlong posting,

[Wyominganxiety in reply to Jeff1943]

I know I have been through a lot in my life, but until this anxiety started I never thought it was abnormal I always figured I was not the only person that was dealing with stuff so I might have been exhausted or frustrated bit always made it through. I had my first son when I was 15 my parents divorced months after I found out I was pregnant, I was married at 16 my husband cheated on me with my best friend.. was hard bit was still living.. we tried to work through that I got pregnant with my second son who was born 3 months early and spent a month in the hospital... me and my husband split up and after a year I started seeing my now fiance 2 yrs into our relationship we had our daughter when she was 1 my father in law commuted suicide...things have definitely went further down hill anxiety wise from there

[Jeff1943 in reply to Wyominganxiety]

Wyoming, what you have written is enough reason for anybody to experience anxiety, you have had more than your fair share if misfortune. But now is the time to draw a line under the past, all the tears in the world can't change a second of it and you weren't guilty of anything, you deserved none of it. So accept you can't change the past and think only of your future free from the anxiety of agrophobia which is no less than you deserve. I wish you every success in your recovery.

[Agora1 in reply to Wyominganxiety]

Wyominganxiety, your post says it all...Anxiety took advantage of your life events. Keep strong...

[daisy-17]

I suffer the same mine started sept 16 thought my life was over scared to go the local shop. I don't take any meds just magnesium suplements also had therapy and meditation which is good. So its been about a year now and I come so far pushing myself to get out and do things out of my comfort zone you have to otherwise it gets you nowere it's hard work but it works. Never give up you can do it you really can.