Struggling Agoraphobic.. help, please..

[jellywhirl]

I'm 19 years old, and it's been officially 1 year since graduating high school. And I've been homebound since.. I rarely leave the house, and lately.. it seems to make me a bit.. stir crazy?

I just want to know.. does anyone else feel like this? It really makes me depressed, anxious, paranoid, maybe delusional, I don't even know anymore... I'm having trouble with my memory and I get confused a lot, everything's hazy and foggy and grey, and then when I DO leave, I get so.. so afraid and I become depersonalized and I'm just in a constant daze..

Do you think I could get over this? Do you think it's Vitamin D deficiency or something..? I don't know what to do, I don't know how to stop worrying and I'm really afraid that I'll never be able to get over this, or enjoy anything, or function ever again...

[jessed03]

I get like that even after having a cold and being stuck inside for a week! Makes me feel nuts. I feel your pain being stuck in all the time.

Have you ever tried exposure therapy for your agoraphobia? It's one of the most recommended treatments for it.

I think your problem is just high anxiety, rather than any kind of deficiency. Sure, stuff may contribute to it, getting yourself fighting fit will only help you, but I don't think anything is causing it other than a lot of tension.

The symptoms you're having are usually the result of a lot of anxiety or stress or tension. They can really mess you up. I'd have times where I couldn't even say a coherent sentence. I'd mutter when asked my name. Thought it was a neuro problem or something, but it was just a tonne of anxiety.

Do you know why you have problems leaving the house? Do you just feel weird when you do, or is there a process behind it? That may be able help you find a root. Sometimes agoraphobia can even be down to social phobia.

I think you can get over it. I was in a rut like yours (although not necessarily agora related) for a while, but when you keep chipping away at it, over time you make some progress. Most people as long as they keep improving little by little do make quite a lot of improvements. I've seen so many people on this site who were in such bad shape I just never believed they'd get better, ever. Yet after some time they make break throughs, a drug works, or a therapy works, or they get a rush of inspiration or something, and just push on from there.

Trying to work out what happens in your head in that short space of time before things feel really nasty is gonna be a big thing. Just try and keep an eye in what's happening, finding a root should be easy.

Then just working through whatever you've found, and gradually exposing yourself to become comfortable and confident again is the way to move beyond it.

It's not easy, but you just keep playing around with your condition like a Rubiks Cube ya know, and something usually clicks if you do it enough.

Oh and every time I see your name, it makes me wanna eat cake