I'm a year into agoraphobia

[BlessedBackyard]

Hi,
I've had anxiety off and on for a few years, beginning with birth control in 2008. Panic attacks started about 3 years ago, turning into agoraphobia in September 2015. I was seeing a psychologist before the agoraphobia, and he helped enough that I didn't feel I needed medication. I thought I could handle the rest of recovery on my own, stopped seeing him, and months later became homebound.

Through symptom tracking, the panic attacks seem closely tied to hormones and menstrual cycle. Now the problem is trying to get hormone testing done when I'm not leaving home.

[fixmybrokenmind]

My mother has dealt with many hormone issues and they definitely affect her mood and anxiety dramatically. Test your estrogen and progesterone as soon as you can.

On another note welcome! :)

[gypsylee]

Hi there and welcome :)

I'm 43 and I'm really starting to wonder how much of my anxiety and depression is related to my cycle (and how much has been overlooked by the medical profession). Last year I started getting this horrible adrenaline rush thing when I was trying to sleep and I wasn't even worrying about anything. I googled perimenopause and read all these stories from women around my age who experienced the same sort of thing and thought they were going completely crazy.

Anyway, you can get blood tests done at home (at least you can here) - my mum had one last year because she was housebound due to problems with her legs.

I get bad social anxiety as well but I'm pretty good at the moment. Being housebound is horrible and there are things you can do to get over it :)

Cheers,
Gypsy x

[BlessedBackyard]

Thank you both for the welcome and encouragement :)