hello corcorana. welcome to ds. sorry for what brings you here, but glad you are here.

peer support makes a huge diff in my own anxiety management and ds is chockfull of great peer support. alas, this particular forum is one of the slower forums on ds. i hope you'll take the time to surf around and see if some of the more active forums might help. don't be afraid to cross-post where you copy and paste the same post in multiple forums. i often do that just to get a more diverse range of responses.

welcome aboard. i hope you find healing companionship here.

Thank you so much. I will do that. I joined a lot of forums.

Welcome to DS! I am so glad to see you here as it is a great support.

Feeling the motivation to get up and shower is a great accomplishment! So proud of you!

Thank you.

Hello Corcoranna, I have been right where you are. In 2008, after years of depression and severe anxiety, Agoraphobia hit me out of nowhere. I didn't have a clue that there was such a thing. I couldn't leave my house for 3 months. Finally, I managed to force myself out and straight to a counseling center, it has been baby steps ever since. I learned what was wrong with me, have learned (and developed my own) coping skills. I am not saying that it is easy, it isn't. A lot of hard work, it is still an effort to go outside or leave my property. And at times it can take days to recuperate. This past June, I forced myself to go back to school online (Criminal Justice/Human Services) and it was the best choice I have ever made. The boost to my self-esteem and confidence is amazing. I am raising and home-schooling a 14 yr grandson and it has helped him immensely as well. I still avoid crowds, as they trigger me. No concerts, movie theaters, concerts, usually I can handle shopping, except near holidays. I had a fantastic service dog for 8 years and have another one now. They respond to my anxiety/panic and bring me back to reality. Also monitor my blood pressure somehow and alert me if it is high. as well as standing firm to assist me in rising from the floor if I have fallen or needed to be there for some reason. They also keep me feeling safer at home.

Thank you so much for your reply. I can relate to that. It really is debilitating. I have other things go on, mentally and physically that I can not work. It's so devastating. I realize it may not be forever. My doctors want me to take time to truly work on myself. I also live with chronic pain and that just raises all my emotions and mental health. I'm glad to hear you are doing better. The only time I do leave my house it for therapy, my psychiatrist and PCP. Even that's hard. I have to sometimes ask for it to be telehealth because it's hard for me and they know.

I don't know you or your situation, but I can say that I understand what you are going through. I just want to say that you should never give up or stop fighting this. Be patient and kind to yourself, you are braver than you think.

So sorry you are going through this nightmare, I too totally understand, years of not facing up to a nightmare childhood and past and the the last two years to key events I had a seizure due to dehydration and surgery to due together vertebrae in my neck otherwise I could of been paralysed. It started with massive panic and fear and anxiety attacks and not wanting to go out. I also have bad back pain which doesn’t help my mental state. I have currently trying psychotherapy and relaxation tapes, trying to understand why I am the way I am bought some painful emotions to the front. You are braver than you think, focus on what you can do and try and focus on a better future where you can get back to the life you want to live. Where we find ourselves only happens to strong and caring people as the other sort don’t give a thought to how their actions can impact other people and go through life being uncaring and horrible. You will improve, that’s what I keep telling myself, you are getting professional help and please give it time.

First a suggestion. I think you first look at what is prompting the underlying anxiety. Perhaps you worry how people will react. I have a son who has given presentations for 9000 people. One good thing he learned was sports and that things didn't end when you win or lose. So you have the confidence to say hopefully people will like me but if they don't that's all right too.

I lived next door to a professional football player. They were playing the Patriots around Thanksgiving and some announcers foolishly said hey the Patriots are weak, soft and needless to say they came out motivated and trounced my friend's team. I asked him didn't you get annoyed after all it wasn't you talking but he smiled and said, it's all good man, it's all good.

So you try to worry a little less. Perhaps if it's a social event you try to prepare.

So good luck and perhaps a question. If you have a family member with anxiety about events, what's the best way to handle it.