Hi Everyone,

I hope everyone is well. I am new to the forum and wanted to quickly introduce myself.

I began to have panic attacks roughly two years ago, the first being on a train on my way to work. The doors closed for the next stop and i began to feel like i was trapped, could not escape, could not breathe and was about to pass out. It was the worst feeling of my life and i though that i was going to die.

Over the next few days i developed a heavy fear of the subway and began to avoid it. I started taking the bus to work and things were fine for a few months as long as i didn't have to take the train, but then i moved to a new area where i either had to take an underground subway or cross a bridge via a bus to get to work everyday.

Again, at first everything was fine. I would take the bus to work without issue, but a few weeks ago i had a terrible panic attack on the bus while on the bridge. It was the same trapped feeling, stuck in an situation that i did not feel safe in, afraid that i would do something crazy like ask the driver to pull over in the middle of the bridge, and i now find myself developing the same fear of going over the bridge that i did for the subway. Based on my own research these symptoms would best reflect agoraphobia.

I've had to call out of work a few times when i could not bring myself to get on the bus in the morning and am in fear that I might be jeopardizing my job (although my employer has not mentioned anything).

I see a therapist once a week and was prescribed to carry around a clonopin in case i feel another attack coming on so that I have reassurance that i can take the pill and the feeling will go away.

I basically feel like i am losing control and don't want to end up housebound and read that people with similar issues have found these forums helpful so I wanted to give it a shot.

Any help, suggestions, etc. would be greatly appreciated. Thank you very much.

Best,
DS