Plz Help

[TonyT]

I have hit rock bottom, I don't know what to do. I'm 32 years old have a 6 year old baby girl and a wonderful fiancé, I haven't left my house in 5 years, I can't force myself to go see a doctor, I don't even have a family doctor. My social anxiety is so bad that this is the first time in my life I have ever posted anything on the web. How do I get help when I can't even leave my home to get some help? My daughter is going to play sports next year and I Really don't want to miss out on that. My mother has been in the hospital for 2 months and I can't even go see her I have my fiancé go stay with her and update me , how pathetic is that.. I don't even answer my phone if anyone calls they have to leave a message.. Is there any others this bad? It's like some kind of mental block. I sit looking out the window to see when people pull in my driveway if they r coming in an if so I go to the bedroom and act to b sleeping so if my fiancé is not home to answer the door I just let em knock till they go away. I don't know I'm just messed up I guess. Plz if anyone has any suggestion let me know thanks. Sorry I typed so much, this is my first post ever and prob. My last..

[Leyi-Kathleen]

Hey there, I don't suffer from exactly the same problem as you, but I can definitely relate. Leaving the house is near-impossible for me without a "safe-person", such as my mother and I want to hide whenever I hear the doorbell ring. First of all, You're definitely NOT pathetic, anxiety of any kind whether social anxiety, agoraphobia or generalised anxiety disorder etc. etc. is a genuine problem and the feelings can be so strong and so seemingly overwhelming that they influence us to act in certain "irrational" ways and avoid certain situations. However, you can definitely recover from this and live the life of freedom that you deserve, there are a lot of extremely effective treatments, especially Cognitive Behaviour Therapy. I know your main problem is how to get help in the first place when your problems seem to be a block to this first step - if talking on the phone is a problem, could you ask your fiancé or any person that you trust and are comfortable with to call a doctor's surgery in your area and arrange a home visit if possible or just to enquire about the best course of action in your situation. You are definitely not alone in your anxiety problems! :-)

[alankay]

It's agrophobia. I'd ask a doc via phone/email to rx you 2 -1mg tabs of ativan(lorazepam) and take one an hour and a half before leaving for an appointment with him/her(promise them to go in). If you have a friend with a good doc ask them to liason with them. If you're still very anxious take the other one under the tongue and let it dissolve. You simply cannot live this way forever when there is help out there.
You are not lame. You have a medical condition. I have Panic Disorder with agorophobia and have traveled to Europe and within the US many times because I got treatment and learned all about anxiety. I use an ssri daily along with valium and inderal just for situational use(air travel, dental appts, interviews). PM me any time. Alankay