Would love to hear some agoraphobia success!

[hopeNfaith88]

Ive alwys had anxiety, but only within the last couple months did it somehow escalate to debilitating levels. Ive become incredibly agoraphobic.

What makes me feel hopeless and scared is that EVERY agoraphobic's story i have read online says they suffered for YEARS before overcoming it. That makes me so depressed. I dont want my life to be put on hold for that long. Going two months like this is hard but seeing people who suffered 20+ years blows my mind because thats how old i am and id kill myself after that long!!

Id like to hear some positive stories of people who overcame this after a few months. Hopefullythey exist...

[brittany09]

I just went through literally the exact same thing you are going through and am doing better so I have advice to give you. I've had GAD for about 2 years...since I was 19. It is usually manageable,but 3 months ago it was just out of nowhere(seemingly)I had a terrible panic attack and was afraid to leave the house for a while. Everything looked different outside. Too bright,too scary. I thought I was going insane until I looked how I was feeling up and realized there is a name for it. I really didn't know about agoraphobia,despite having anxiety. I mostly stayed in my house for a couple months. Had my boyfriend go out and get things I needed. I was anxious even being at home,but going out seemed SO impossible. I also had depression symptoms which was new to me. There were days I wanted to be alone,then there were others I couldn't stand being alone. So I started out getting a little better by getting dropped off at my parent's house and staying there while my boyfriend worked. I wasn't able to drive. I spent time doing housework for them,and doing things outside. Laying in the sun was relaxing. After that I decided to start going in small stores and gas stations. Then I started driving more and going for walks by my apartment. None of this stuff was comfortable for me to do at first. It got more comfortable each time. I was getting bored sitting at home and was starting to actually want to do things. So last weekend I drove to the next town over with my boyfriend(10 mins away)to shop and get ice cream. I wasn't comfortable but made it through. Then I went to Wal-Mart to pick up things for the apartment. Now I'm able to go in any store. Still not fully comfortable,sometimes I'm walking so fast trying to get my stuff done that I'm almost running and having to fight the urge to push people out of my way lol. I suggest you bring a trusted relative or friend with for at least the first few times you go out. Somebody that understands what anxiety is,and how to help you if you start to not feel good. I also made an appointment to go to the doctor and made it through that. I didn't want to go in,but my doctor wouldn't prescribe me more than 10 Ativans over the phone since she hadn't seen me for anxiety in almost 2 years,when I first started getting it. I was handling it without medicine up until this point but decided I really want to have medication on hand. I haven't even had to take it yet,just even having it puts my mind at ease. I was pretty jittery at first,in the waiting room and in the doctor's room. My doc suggested I get a blood test done to see if my thyroid is bad and I was thinking NO! Lol I want out of here!! But I said yes and did fine. :) Pushing yourself always helps. It's really not as bad once your doing actually these things. It's the anticipation that kills. I had to force myself to go out the first few times and it got easier after that. Don't wait until you feel "comfortable" enough to do it. Even if your feeling shitty just leave the house and do something. Start small. Sit outside,do yard work,go for short walks. Then try driving. Then try going in small stores,like dollar stores. Keep a benzo on you. What's the worst that could happen? You have to walk out of somewhere,and go straight home? When you accomplish little things you will feel more confident,and be able to move on to "bigger" things. Keeping yourself busy helps SO much. If your doing enough things,you don't really even have the time to be anxious. PM me if you have any questions. Hope I helped :)

[joeybaby]

Hi id like to share my anxiaty issues with u if u have the time.

[xLorrainex]

It took me about two years to overcome it, but I was very young at the time and had a hard time understanding what the feeling was and why I had it. When I began to improve it was though thinking positively, and convincing myself I was worrying and panicking over nothing and it was pretty hard, but as soon as I took the first steps, I continually made progress. Like Brittany said, if you keep yourself busy and don't allow your thoughts to wander to your worries, if also helps a lot. If you very much are scared to leave home, take small but sure steps- maybe if you have a shop down the road, convince yourself that the shop is within your comfort boundary, or push the boundary slightly. Once you start widening your boundary of feeling comfortable you're definitely on the road to overcoming agoraphobia. But it will get better.

[DrSusanHickman]

Hi Brittany09. I loved reading your post and it is such a perfect example of "systematic desensitization." That's a mouthful of a label just to say that you exposed yourself bit by bit to the very thing that you feared. We have an amazing brain that is great at taking shortcuts to free up processing power (think of how we quickly categorize things so as not to have to think about them...with one glance, we know if that animal was a rabbit, cat or skunk), but this can work against us, too. For example, whatever we go out of our way to avoid, the brain will tag as dangerous. So, one way to change this assigned category is to engage in the feared activity a little bit at a time. And, yes! It will be so uncomfortable at first, but with repetition it gets easier. The anticipation is, as you say, often the worst problem, so directing your thoughts is super important. Great post.

[DrSusanHickman]

Hi xLorrainex. It is very encouraging to read posts like this...it helps me to know that my work with patients is on the right track. I am referring many of them to this forum. I also direct a clinic for people with eating disorders and we have clients coming to the clinic who have to fight agoraphobia to get there. Our program is 12 weeks, and the success of these women during this time in overcoming the agoraphobia is amazing. They generally contribute their success to simply having to leave the house at least twice a week to attend our program and to be in the groups. The other group members serve as an accountability factor, as they know that other group members will miss them if they don't attend, so I have to think this is helpful, too. Thanks for sharing your success and your courage. There really is hope!

[Damavandi]

Hello:

This is a 100% success story. You will be cured very quickly.

For forty years I had panic attacks + what you call agoraphobia.
Accidentaly, I found out that I am deficient on Vitamin D3.
By going to an endocrinologist, started correcting the deficiency.
The first injection of 300,000 IU, after 3 days, started to work. by the fourth injection,
I was completely cured. You do not have to do anything special, just observe your
improvement on daily basis. Your brain will start working normally--something that you
probably have forgotten by now !

I am 100% sure that you are low on vitamin D3. Please arrange for having a vitamin d3 (25-OH)
blood test done at a very good lab. Please make sure that the test is 25-OH. The other tests are not just good.
Please keep me posted.

Best wishes,
Ali

[Damavandi]

Hi:

This is something that all the doctors say" Check your thyroids by blood test".
Very few of them tell you to check your vitamin d3 level. My dear, you are low on vitamin d3.
If you correct the deficiency, the cure will be instant. It took me forty years to find out about this fact.

Best wishes
Ali

[Damavandi]

Hi:

My advice to you is to arrange for Vitamin d3 blood test.
If it is low, by correcting the deficiency, you will be cured.

Best wishes, Ali

[Justin S.]

I haven't had agoraphobia issues constantly but do suffer from time to time when things get bad. There is hope that it won't last forever. Just step back and look at all the things toucan get out and do before you start to feel anxious. Some days will always be worse than others. Your not alone though. Over come the feeling and tell yourself tht you are done!

[younganxdisorder_]

Any advice for a young girl who suffers from severe agoraphobia & severe panic/anxiety disorder? I'm 17 & it has been a year.

[coco.chandelier]

I would just like to say that you should not be scared! As easy as it is to say it but doing it can be easy too. (depending on the type of treatment, if any) I've had panic and anxiety for about 7 years now and have been diagnosed clinically for 2 years. I would say that about 3 the last years I had agoraphobia as well as the anxiety. I was diagnosed with panic disorder and agoraphobia (mid 2011). I have been on medication (SSRIs) and had done CBT for a year and half since I was diagnosed and about a month or two into the meds the panic as well as the agoraphobia finally started subsiding to the point where they are now non-existent. I mean, I still have those thoughts that I'm going to get "that feeling" because I'm alone in public or because I'm doing something for the first time - but that is where the cbt comes in and I have learned from it how to control my thoughts and to remember that we as people with panic and anxiety disorders tend to over-think, think catastrophically and just over all let our brain take control of our body.
I could sit here and talk a lot more about this, but I figured that these posts sometimes get very long. So if you or anyone else would like to talk to me about anything or ask questions - feel free to message me. I hope you find some sort of answer that will help you with this debilitating, god-awful feeling

[anxiousaimee]

I suffered from mild anxiety my whole life... mostly as a teenager. I'm 27 now, 3 years ago went on holiday to the USA for 3 months, had a great time, had a job as a street fundraiser, no anxiety in sight! After being home 3 months I was hit with the worst case of anxiety ever, I actually left the house about 3 times in the space of a year, a WHOLE YEAR! Worst year of my life, I saw no end to it. I started off slowly, forcing myself to go to the supermarket once a week, with my partner, never on my own, and built on it from there. I'm still not "normal" , I don't leave the house that often, I avoid it, can easily go 2 weeks before i realise I haven't went outside, but I am living my life. I have a work at home job now, not great for getting back to real life, but I did manage to go to an external interview and a day of training for it, panic free. Though I know I'm not ready to have a proper in office job, too much social pressure, but I'll get there! But I can now do so many things I thought were gone forever, going to the in laws for dinner, birthday parties, I even organised a hen do, I done bridesmaid at a wedding this year...... a great amount of stress comes with everything I do, but it's not always doom and gloom, it's just a long path, and the easiest thing to do is accept that right now, that's who you are, and be fine with it, then the rest will come! Baby steps for everthing, always baby steps! And never think you are going backwards and you wont!

[hopeNfaith88]

Any advice for a young girl who suffers from severe agoraphobia & severe panic/anxiety disorder? I'm 17 & it has been a year.

Yes - u can't let it consume you. Take steps everyday to fight it. Take a walk, or go to a store close by. Eventually it gets easier and you can get a grip on it. I am doing so much better, I still have bad days sometimes but I know they won't kill me and I push through it. My best advice is to get help! See a therapist, get a small script of a benzo for emergencies. I always carry a Xanax pill in my pocket but never need it. It's just in case. Now I can go to school, drive 4 hours to visit my parents. I've even gone back to work. Life is almost normal again after a very scary 6 months. Just the memory of what I went through can flare it up but I refuse to let myself get that bad again (extremely agoraphobic)

[hopeNfaith88]

I suffered from mild anxiety my whole life... mostly as a teenager. I'm 27 now, 3 years ago went on holiday to the USA for 3 months, had a great time, had a job as a street fundraiser, no anxiety in sight! After being home 3 months I was hit with the worst case of anxiety ever, I actually left the house about 3 times in the space of a year, a WHOLE YEAR! Worst year of my life, I saw no end to it. I started off slowly, forcing myself to go to the supermarket once a week, with my partner, never on my own, and built on it from there. I'm still not "normal" , I don't leave the house that often, I avoid it, can easily go 2 weeks before i realise I haven't went outside, but I am living my life. I have a work at home job now, not great for getting back to real life, but I did manage to go to an external interview and a day of training for it, panic free. Though I know I'm not ready to have a proper in office job, too much social pressure, but I'll get there! But I can now do so many things I thought were gone forever, going to the in laws for dinner, birthday parties, I even organised a hen do, I done bridesmaid at a wedding this year...... a great amount of stress comes with everything I do, but it's not always doom and gloom, it's just a long path, and the easiest thing to do is accept that right now, that's who you are, and be fine with it, then the rest will come! Baby steps for everthing, always baby steps! And never think you are going backwards and you wont!

I'm glad you are doing better. You aren't done, u will continue to improve! I went back to work at my customer service job. I was terrified but it went well.

[Beth]

I am not fully cured but I am getting there! :) I've had panic disorder for 6 years and agoraphobia came about last year although I think I really was agoraphobic for much longer, I just didn't let myself realise. I was fine going out with my husband, but terrified about going anywhere alone which meant I couldn't work.
After a few walks to a local park with my husband, I knew it like the back if my hand and one day I simply decided that I was sick of agoraphobia and I walked there on my own. I say on a bench when I was there. I made sure not to text him because I figured that would defeat the purpose of the exercise a bit. I brought some rosehips berries back to prove to myself that I'd done it, and I took photos :) I didn't have one panic attack while I was out there! And I went out again 2 days after. Again, no panic attack.

I spent a while not going out because I wasn't really pushing myself enough and I was in a fragile mindset, but I got back up again after rest and went out again. When I came across people, my irrational fear was that they would attack me, so I turned in the opposite direction when I saw an old man in the distance, lol! But then on my way back I had to pass another old man in a long coat with black gloves on and a hand in his pocket, and for some reason that really terrified me, but I walked past within a metre of him and he didn't attack me! Yay! Lol. It just goes to show that fear really does override the rational part of your mind, and sometimes it's good to think, "Am I being silly here? What are the chances of anything bad happening?" And carrying on.

I can now go to that park on my own without fear at all. And I am actually enthusiastic about making progress elsewhere now too instead of fearing it all! I figure once I get on the bus a few times on my own, I could get a job.

So, I haven't completely overcome agoraphobia, but hopefully my story gives you some hope. :)

[metallijim]

I suffered a really bad panic attack last October. I was on my way to work when it hit, there was nobody around and naturally I freaked out. I managed to get a hold of someone to come pick me up. I took a couple of days off work. When I decided to go back I got as far as the front porch and I had another panic attack. I didn't leave the house then for over 2 months unless there was someone with me the whole time. Christmas week I said to myself enough is enough. I started going for short 5 minute walks around my street. Gradually extending the time I spent out every day. This week I finally built up the courage to walk downtown on my own. Spent over an hour walking around the town alone. It felt great, like I won a huge battle. I work in a local pub and I start back next weekend after nearly 4 months out. I'll only be doing a couple of hours in the afternoon, just to settle back in and hopefully I can get back to some normality soon. Thankfully everyone at work has been very understanding and helpful which has gone a long way to helping me too. I know I haven't suffered to the extent of some other people here but for me it's a huge victory. I was in a bad place for a couple of months and seen no way out and I'm not going to pretend it was easy because it takes a lot of work to get out of that frame of mind but it can be done. I hope that everyone who has and is experiencing this has a breakthrough.

[Malyn]

That's an inspiring story. I know I used to like to go shopping alone but since October when I got sick my anxiety flares up bec of work stress. I felt a little better in 2 mos but now I am having panic attack again.

Do you get dizzy with your anxiety. That is my main prob going out bec I get dizzy when I panic and I freak out

[xxcraigiexx]

Its nice to hear these inspiring stories. I think i am borderline agoraphobic, it started last year when I began having horrible panic attacks over the fear of dropping dead. I guess my main fear about going out on my own is that something will happen and my family wont be there with me or maybe no one will be there to help. I still go out on my own sometimes when I really have to but it is always a battle...im only 26 years old and i feel like my life is ending before it ever started.

[JessicaK]

Hey there. I have some encouraging news for you. I myself was agoraphobic. Sometimes the urge to not leave my house is there, but let me tell you I fight like hell to keep it at bay. When it first happened, it was really bad. I could hardly even leave the room I was in. I just laid on my couch and cried non stop and hardly ate. I felt so horrible. I felt paralyzed with fear to leave my house and I missed a few weeks of school because of it. (I was in high school at the time). I think the biggest motivator for me to push through it, was that I realized I was turning into someone who wasn't me. The Jessica I knew was fun, outgoing, loved exploring and doing new things, not THIS. I felt bad for myself for a few weeks but then I realized I wanted to be myself again. I wanted to be the fun loving person I knew and would be damned if I let this control me. I had to start by going back to school cuz it was my senior year and I did not want to miss graduating because of missing days. What I ended up doing was waking up like 2 hrs earlier than usual and pep talking myself. I told myself I can do this and that I am stronger than this. I took it one step at a time. My pre school ritual consisted of getting up and doing the usual getting changed and brushing teeth. That extra time I allotted to myself was forcing myself to stand outside on the front porch. Once I realized I was ok, I managed to sit in the car. After a few minutes I started to drive. When I got to school I sat for about 15 minutes in the parking lot. Then I got out and stood by the car and breathed in the fresh air. Fresh air helps!!!! Eventually i managed to sit through one period, than another, than another. With therapy and practice, I found myself going to school again and graduating. I was still afraid of going new places I haven't been, so I would have panic attacks if I went into a new town or city. Travelling is still SUPER hard because the unfamiliarity of places really makes me anxious for the safety of my house! However, I kind of force myself to suck it up, and if I have an attack, I have an attack. Over time I've learned to accept the attacks and just push through them. You have a warrior spirit within you! Bring it out! :)

[nancyga2013]

I'm 25 now and have not had this in quite a while unless its a bad anxiety attack but you will not be stuck forever. Off and on throughout my teenage years I would go through periods and sometimes months of not wanting to leave the house. I would literally panic at the thoughts of leaving the house. My parents would have to pick me up and drag me out to the car to get me to the psy! And the whole time I had extreme anxiety. It did pass, and you can overcome this!

[Lin]

During many post natal depression bouts over 28 years I have never suffered from agropohobia but this depression because of hormone imbalance because of my age started in March 2011 and for the first time I have suffered from agrophobia. My favourite weekend is getting in from work on a friday night and not leaving the house until monday morning. I have stopped my social life, running my 13 year old cub pack I founded, and going to town, food shopping or watching my local football.
Going to work is a nightmare and some days I cry all the way there and push myself to get there and all day at work I struggle to seem normal and the pressure of that all day means I am exhausted at home in evenings so not kind to husband or want to do anything.
When off sick I have less pressure, but still not want to go out, and have to push my head to do so. Really hard and husband sick of me not doing things and either him having to do them instead of me, or go alone to watch something without me.
Can only hope that my hormone treatment, medication and other therapies I am trying like meditation and reflexology start to all work, and I hope to be back to doing all the things outside not done for over 2 years.