Agoraphobia?

[shrs3]

So i have this fun, new thing where i cant leave my house. I guess in hindsight i kind of seen it coming i was getting panic attacks all the time while driving for the past 2 years. And now all of a sudden, i just cant leave. Tried to go to work today and couldnt leave my driveway bc i panicked right away. I just start to feel very unreal and like im going to die. I went through this last year for about a week but i wasnt as strong as it is now. My moms being rude about it. And i cant stop crying so yay me

[Christory77]

Many of us suffer with this to some extent. It’s about feeling safe in your bubble. I get it, sometimes I stay in my room because I feel in control there. Find the courage to breathe through it. Some people force themselves to drive. Even if it’s just around the block. Drive that today, next time go further. Once you accept you are going to be ok it will be easier to go further. Don’t let it trap you though. You deserve to live a happy life.

[shrs3 in reply to Christory77]

Ive been driving around the block. Will sometimes pull out of my sundivision on to the main road. So ill keep trying thisnuntil i frel comfortable again i guess

[Agora1]

Hi shrs3, so here I am "Queen of Agoraphobia" to your rescue It is not an off shoot of anxiety to be belittled for sure. It's even more difficult for others to understand the terror we feel by even the thought of stepping outside. It took 5 years of my life from me. I didn't have the tools, I didn't know, I didn't have support, no one understood, there was no forum then. Hopefully with the help of a good therapist and others on the forum who also are agoraphobic, you will turn this around just as fast as it came on.

The longer the fear goes on and is catered to, the stronger it will get. If anything, remember that the fear is not outside, it's within your mind. Without there feeling like there is an answer right now for what is happening to you, you retreat to your home believing it's your safety haven. The thing that needs to be done is to address what is bothering you deep down inside that is making you afraid to experience life on the outside.

I never cried as much as I did during those 5 years. After all, we are held prisoner in our own minds and are afraid because we feel so trapped. Take a deep breath and believe when I say you will overcome this issue. Believe in yourself, believe that you can do this. With the help of a professional, it will come to pass. One step at a time xx

[shrs3 in reply to Agora1]

Thank you! Im setting up appointments with doctors like crazy. I just dont know how im going to get to them. Its like even if someone else drives me im still scared. I remember going through this briefly last year so i dont know if this will pass as well. I havent even slept in my own bedroom for 2 years. Its like when i step outside i feel so disconnected from the world and it all seeems unreal. Its really frightens me

[Agora1 in reply to shrs3]

I fully understand. During that time I also didn't sleep upstairs, I made a cot for me in the living room. Never understood the reasoning, but it somehow felt more comfortable emotionally for me.

I hear you about making appointments and having trouble getting to them with or without someone. I did several with someone with me and the rest were done by phone. Which at the time was god send. My therapist was basically on call for me 6 days a week and yet I even knew she would be checking for my messages on Sunday as well.

We're here if you need some comfort. Whatever you accomplish give yourself credit. I know how frightening it is but we both know it will eventually pass. Be strong, be positive and know we care. xx

[shrs3 in reply to Agora1]

I know i hope it passes soon!

[Agora1 in reply to shrs3]

shrs3, a more positive way of thinking is "I know it will pass soon".

and it will. xx

[Wyominganxiety]

I too suffer with agoraphobia I get very on edge when it comes to leaving the house or having to go to a public setting but I am trying to accept this and move forward I finally got the courage to switch doctor's and am now on medication to help me get to a better place

[shrs3 in reply to Wyominganxiety]

What medication are you on?

[lynella]

I suffer social anxiety but lately have found that when I step outside my door its like i dont belong outside or in that world. I only belong in my home where it is safe and find it hard to sleep in my bedroom then move to the lounge day time then back to bed at night. I have to stay in ONE room only. How confined are we that we can barely shift into other rooms in our own home let alone step outside unless we HAVE to. Then its terrifying. I sometimes feel Id feel safer living in a tiny bedsit that a house with two bedrooms!!! Here I thought I was the only one who feels like this but i feel a little better know I am not the only one thanks to these forums. I have also made an appointment with my Doctor but due to a recent retirement of one of the doctors and lack of staff I feel he will be too busy to deal with this properly and just brush me off with something or other when its so crippling for me. For all of us.

[shrs3 in reply to lynella]

Right mine gets worse at night. I feel like when i go outside im stepping into a nightmare. I get terrible existential thoughts and i feel like im going to go crazy

[Jeff1943]

Shrs, this agoraphobic feeling is only a trick your anxious nerves are playing on you. Nothing terrible is going to happen to you if you leave home. So just accept the bad feeling and just go outside any way. But you must accept the bad feeling calmly and with the minimum of fear you can. Say: "To Hell with you agoraphobia, you're not going to stop me going out. So I'll feel bad, so what? I'm going any way, I can put up with that, you're not going to bully me to stay home. Who cares if I feel a bit shakey, I'll go any way. I'll show you who's boss around here, no way are you telling me what to do. Agoraphobia, you can bog off!" Stuff like that in your own words, shrs, you can be as rude as you like. As the American philosopher Norman Vincent Peale wrote: Do what you fear and the death of fear is assured.

Your mind is trying to protect you from the stresses of the outside world by keeping you home but that's not what you want, you"ve got a life to lead. So why not go for a walk or drive round the block a few times right now, why not? So you'll feel shakey but your legs will get you there and back, they always do. So you'll feel uncomfortable on the walk/drive, say: "So what."

[shrs3 in reply to Jeff1943]

Yea ive been trying to walk outside a little bit at a time or just get in my car and start it and sit in it