Agoraphobia & Social Anxiety Support Group
Agoraphobia is an anxiety disorder, often precipitated by the fear of having a panic attack in a setting from which there is no easy means of escape. As a result, sufferers of agoraphobia may avoid public and/or unfamiliar places. In severe cases, the sufferer may become confined to their home, experiencing difficulty traveling from this "safe place."
Hello, I am new to the group and I am trying to find people who can relate and that I can talk to. I suffer from depression, anxiety and agoraphobia. I have been mostly house bound for the past 7 to 8 months. I am a stay at home mom to my beautiful 5 year old daughter, and my husband works full time. I've been battling depression and anxiety for years. I tried medication, but had a terrible experience so I am trying to fight this without medication. Lately it has only gotten worse to the point that I fear leaving the house, even to go to the store or take my daughter to doctors appointments, etc. I experience trembling, dizziness, nausea and sometimes even vomiting. I worry about ruining family outings with all my weirdness which only makes it worse. My husband has been very understanding, but I know he is getting tired of picking up my slack. I should be able to do everyday activities and my inability to do so makes me feel like a freak. I know I need professional help, but there is no one to watch my daughter so I could go to multiple appointments every week. My husband has been supportive, but the rest of my family doesn't consider depression and anxiety to be "real problems" and I encounter all sorts of negativity, especially from my parents who think I am just weak minded and overly emotional which only makes me feel even more pathetic. I feel so alone in all this.
Is there anything that helps for any of you such as medication or any techniques? I'm honestly afraid to try prescription meds again. I have a phone app to help talk myself down, and I have tried breathing, but nothing seems to work that well when I am really panicked. I keep pushing myself forward and I will either have a successful outing with minimal anxiety (about 1/3 of the time) or I will feel panicked and have a bad outing which discourages me greatly.
I read that if you force yourself to remain in a situation instead of fleeing that eventually the feelings subside and you can overcome your fear of the panic. This hasn't been the case for me. It's very back and forth for me. It's such a struggle.
I don't want life to pass me by while I hide out in my house watching Netflix for the rest of my days!
Is there anything that helps for any of you such as medication or any techniques? I'm honestly afraid to try prescription meds again. I have a phone app to help talk myself down, and I have tried breathing, but nothing seems to work that well when I am really panicked. I keep pushing myself forward and I will either have a successful outing with minimal anxiety (about 1/3 of the time) or I will feel panicked and have a bad outing which discourages me greatly.
I read that if you force yourself to remain in a situation instead of fleeing that eventually the feelings subside and you can overcome your fear of the panic. This hasn't been the case for me. It's very back and forth for me. It's such a struggle.
I don't want life to pass me by while I hide out in my house watching Netflix for the rest of my days!
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On Saturday, while I was at yard sales with my best friend, my lawn guy texted me that he did my lawn. This costs me $70 every two weeks or so. I don't have great grass so sometimes, he skips. Anyway, I paid him on CashApp when I got home. On Sunday morning, he texted me again, to say goodbye because he was moving. My little thinking cap went on and I thought about how I am healthier...
Orsa, it is encouraging to hear all you have accomplished while dealing with your depression and anxiety. It gives me hope that I can get through this and restore some sort of normalcy to my life.
It's comforting to know I am not alone in this.
This is a coping skill. I call it stacking and is based on the fact that a person can only concentrate on six thoughts at once. When you have an anxious moment on the verge of panic pick something neutral to concentrate on. Something not related to what is making you anxious. I use horses, boats and flowers. I think of six different horses. Different enough to take up those six thoughts, then I clump them together and set them aside and think about boats without actually letting the horses go. Six different boats. Different shapes and colours but still boats. Clump them together and set them with the horses. Don't lose them or the horses and now I think about flowers. Because the anxious thought is not related it gets dropped in favour of the other thoughts. Unless you look for it it will stay gone. Those who have tried this say it works well for them. One lady uses golf clubs. Lots of people use dogs, cats birds or the surrounding buildings. The only conditions are there have to be six or more and they can't be related to the anxiety trigger. When driving as driver or passenger you can pick out one thing in your view and expand on it. Most driving takes enough concentration that there is no room for anything else. Negative thoughts cut into your concentration and given more than one can cause you to drop a necessary thought increasing your anxiety and making it worse. Thinking three or four thoughts unrelated to driving can make diving difficult even for those without an anxiety disorder.