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View Full Version : how long you ever been housebound?



Wannabeloved85
25-07-06, 15:27
Just wondering, if youve ever been housebound, how long for? is your still housebound {like me :(} just tick the one that makes it so far.
Could you also share lil stories of how you took those first steps if you managed to become un-housebound, if you did, GOOD ON YA [8D]:D[8D]:D[^]
Becci X X X

Wannabeloved85
25-07-06, 15:29
I voted beytween 2-5 years. ive been here bout 4 :( But im gonna change that {i hope}

honeybee3939
25-07-06, 17:14
Hi,

I was Housebound for just over 2 years, (my bedroom for 6 months), i took little steps at a time eventually got in the garden and to the top of the drive, then the top of the street, took me about a year to eventually get into my local town i went a little futhur everyday,its been hard work but i am getting there.


Love

Andrea
xxx

Will Loynes
25-07-06, 19:37
I have cycles of depression and agrophobia, this year I have managed to beat it and keep on beating it. I do have set backs but im determined not to end up stuck in a room for ever!

Cheers

Will

[8D]

eeyorelover
25-07-06, 19:45
I was housebound for about 4 years. Didn't even really realize how small my world had become until I started taking little steps out into the world again.
It's amazing what you can get used to not doing because of fear of panic!!!
I still have my days where when I venture out - I get the dizzy not with it feeling but somehow I manage to make it :)

chedda
27-07-06, 12:44
Hia all:D
Ive been house bound for just over 12 months but am getting fed up of waiting for CBT therapy so this week have ventured one house up my street several times ...lol .Not a lot i know but its a start and hopefully i will keep progressing

sheena
28-07-06, 12:36
I had been housebound for just over 3 years. Gradually I started to go out with my daughter and my ex partner. Only in my home town of Luton. I then started to go to the corner shop. Some days I did not make it because of the anxiety and panic. Now I go every day and I am ok. My car helps me and enables me to go to the doctors and the dentist.
My next step is to make it to the supermarket as my daughter is going on holiday for 2 weeks today. I shall taken my ex partner with me though. The way I see it is that I have been along time housebound therefore it will take along time for me to get back some form of normality. I just so glad that I have made some progress. Have you tried CBT. I have and it has helped. Baby steps. I hope to, in the future, go to the supermarket by myself. I will do it stages. First get there. Next time go in and buy a couple of items and then build my self up to getting more shopping.

Sheena

SHEENA

fairygirl
01-08-06, 17:06
Becci
You can beat it, but youjust have to keep going. I became agoraphobic alongside my anxiety about 13 years ago. I had a really bad patch for about a year where I wouldn't even be in the house alone, my Mum came to stay when my husband went to work. I got some help from a Community Psychiatirc Nurse who was lovely. I don't have drugs as I am phobic about taking tablets after a nasty experience with seroxat. One night my 12 year old son was very ill and admitted to hospital and wanted tme to stay with him. It nearly killed me driving to the hospital, but he needed me and I was determined to be there. I gradually made myself do things. I still get days where I don't want to go out but I have just finished my teacher training and to do this I had to drive 14 miles to college and back on a regular basis. I had 2 occasions in the year when I didn't do. I don't say I am cured but I am managing better. I am going on my first holiday abroad to Spain to visit my sister on Aug 7th am very anxious but determined to do it. You need to take small steps and keep doing itIf you go to the end of the street or wherever your boundary is then keep doing it , do't sit back and think I've done it I'll have a rest!! Keep pluuging away and eventually you realise you can ride the panic and come out the other side. Ii would never have believed I could complete my Teacher Training, but I did and got brilliant reports in my placements. My husband is so proud of me it made the stress worthwhile. iF i CAN DO THIS SO CAN YOU SO TAKE HEART AND TAKE YOUR FIRST STEPS NOW
WENDY
XXXXXXXX

dawnym
04-08-06, 00:48
Almost 12 months.I never really thought about it until I read this poll.How time flies.
I do go out occassionally usually kids birthdays.
Agrophobia is awful and people dont get why I cant just go to shop or go into front garden.
xxxxx

Rik
07-08-06, 14:05
since december, so around 8 months ive started walking the dog at night which is a good thing, and can get up to about, well furthest ive been is about 15 houses away but only did that once and cant do it again, and i make my self upset about it and worry i'll never do it again which is wrong.

Rik
07-08-06, 14:06
since december, so around 8 months ive started walking the dog at night which is a good thing, and can get up to about, well furthest ive been is about 15 houses away but only did that once and cant do it again, and i make my self upset about it and worry i'll never do it again which is wrong.

dawny
30-07-08, 15:45
hi,

i too am agrophobic, but i am nearly cured, i say nearly as i think i will like others always have a bit of anxiety.....

the one thing i can say that really started my path to freedom....was losing the fear.....

its the hardest thing i have ever had to conquer, but small steps, repeated over and over until you are comfortable is the way forward.

good luck

dawny xxxxx

Nechtan
30-07-08, 17:00
I'm around about 2 years housebound I think. I really mean to write a timeline of events to put things in perspective so I know exactly how things happen- I'll do that today. 6 years ago my wife and I went on a bus from up here to Prague and then back again. 4 years later I found even just getting out the house the the end of the street too much of an ordeal.

It's been mostly housebound for me these last two years but before I joined here I had a spell of bliss in January where I was going to the shops and dropping my daughter off at nursery in the car. That is now gone but the fact I done it gives me the hope I need. If I can do it once then I can do it again and if I can do it then I'm sure everyone else can too.

All the best

Nechtan

kendo59
31-07-08, 02:00
I felt quite housebound for a few months, gradually forcing myself to go out in garden, then to local corner-shops, and when I have docs appointment, I force myself to walk thru town centre to bus stop. Sometimes it is easier than other times. Sometimes I get dizzy and think I'm gonna pass out. But I stop for a moment, hold onto a wall, then grit my teeth and force myself to walk on.

It gets easier as time goes on.


A journey of a thousand miles, begins with a single step.

Alabasterlyn
02-08-08, 08:40
I've been agoraphobic for over 30yrs now and spent about 7yrs hardly able to go out of the house back in the late 80's after my marriage broke down and I had no one to help me go out.

I still have trouble going out and really don't venture out much on my own even now. However I am fine going into town when it's late night shopping as it's very quiet then. I am also okay with supermarkets when I am in the right frame of mind and they aren't too busy.

I have tried for years to do the 'baby steps' thing but it really does not work at all for me. On a good day I can walk to the shops around the corner or in the other direction to the bus stop. However, no matter how often I try, and believe me I have tried over and over and over again, it just does not get any easier.

belle
03-08-08, 09:54
For me the longest period i was housebound was around 18 months - 2 years. During that time i also became roombound. Scary thought now looking back. I wasn't able to be alone in certain situations either, for example, my then husband worked 2 minutes away by car, but i would panic for those 2 minutes i wouldn't be able to get hold of him and it would be the same for when he was coming home too. I recall one day he had to go ONE mile away to pick someone up for work, but i changed his alarm clock so he over slept. I was so panicky about those extra minutes that i wouldn't be able to get hold of him.

If he went shopping, i would have to have my mum sit with me until he got home. I was in a really BAD way.

For some reason, i would also HATE having all the children hanging on the streets during the holidays, that would make me anxious too. Can't quite explain that one.

Thats all..

x

Nechtan
03-08-08, 13:55
For me the longest period i was housebound was around 18 months - 2 years. During that time i also became roombound. Scary thought now looking back. I wasn't able to be alone in certain situations either, for example, my then husband worked 2 minutes away by car, but i would panic for those 2 minutes i wouldn't be able to get hold of him and it would be the same for when he was coming home too. I recall one day he had to go ONE mile away to pick someone up for work, but i changed his alarm clock so he over slept. I was so panicky about those extra minutes that i wouldn't be able to get hold of him.

If he went shopping, i would have to have my mum sit with me until he got home. I was in a really BAD way.

For some reason, i would also HATE having all the children hanging on the streets during the holidays, that would make me anxious too. Can't quite explain that one.

Thats all..

x

It's good to look back and see how far you have come. I can relate to alot of that.

On the last point I feel the same. I'm very paranoid about going out. Because I can only go for short walks I get to a point and then have to turn back for home. So I get very paranoid about anyone looking and what they might be thinking. More so when I am in the same area all of the time seeing mostly the same people.

All the best

Nechtan

thevoicewithinme
04-08-08, 09:28
This for me is the second time I have been agoraphobic. After the birth of my daughter 19 years ago, I suffered with severe post natal depression which in turn led to me being agoraphobic and back then I was housebound for 7 years and couldnt even open the front door and had to have all windows shut. I eventually overcome this (after nearly taking an overdose) by taking baby steps i.e. I opened the front door until I was comfortable with it, then into the front garden and so on from there...took a while but I eventually conquered it.

For 12 years I led a 'normal' life. Yes I had the odd panic attack here and there, but they never stopped me from going back out...I always coped.

Unfortuantely though in February this year, I had a massive panic attack as I joined the M1..luckily my bf was with me and he told me to stop at the first service station, which I did and he then took over the driving. Over the next couple of weeks I managed to get the kids to school etc..but each time felt panicky...and now, well, now I dont do it at all. I can go into the garden, I can go to the local shop with someone with me...but apart from that I cant go anywhere. I havent left the estate now for nearly 4 months.

I keep telling myself that if I beat it before, that I can do it again..but lately my fight is leaving me..and I am going further and further into my shell. I know to beat it, I have got to face the fear...but that is what I am so scared of doing. I think with it being the school holidays at the moment, I am suffering even more, as I cant take my boys out (10, 6 and 5) and for that I feel like such a useless mum and its killing me.

Kaz

dlou84
04-08-08, 10:07
Hia all:D
Ive been house bound for just over 12 months but am getting fed up of waiting for CBT therapy so this week have ventured one house up my street several times ...lol .Not a lot i know but its a start and hopefully i will keep progressing

THATS HOW I STARTED!

:)

Just walking around my street for 30mins a day..

OOOooh what the neighbours must of thought haha..

I'm (finally) getting out again..

I went to play basketball with my little brother yesterday at the park..

I was so proud of myself that I could get out and do it..

AND NO SINGLE OUNCE OF FEAR!

:)

dlou84
04-08-08, 10:20
For Kaz and others...

http://www.hypnosisdownloads.com/downloads/phobias_fears/agoraphobia.html
http://www.hypnosisdownloads.com/downloads/phobias_fears/panic_attacks.htm

I recommend you try these..

your brain has conditioned itself to see the situations your in (such as the M1 motorway) to be a situation of danger.

and your body automatically triggers its primeval suvival mechanisms we all need to retrain our minds to understand that we're not in a situation of danger and therefore do not need to trigger the "fight or flight" response.

Imagine in 10,000 BC and you were walking along the edge of a cliff to escape from a sabertooth tiger.. that would trigger the response and thats why it exists.. Your pupils dilate to allow you to see more of whats around you.. your hands sweat to give you instantly more grip. your body releases chemicals into your blood stream to give you instant energy and feeds them direct to your muscles (so you can peg it!) your even programmed to be sick... why? to spoil the meat so you dont get eaten!

but guess what? we dont live that life anymore.. but we are still the same human beings with the same responses.. we all are actually out of sync with our own evolution.

We're not built for credit cards loans jobs or anything.. We're built to suvive and replicate. Go to any tribe in africa and you will not find a single mental health case... Why? Because they're living out the lives they were set..

Anyway.. download some of them hypnosis tapes.. I was really scared to try them because I didnt want to be "hypnotised" but its not like that at all...

Its just suggestive talking.. you can get up and stop at any point.. its not like deep hypnosis its just retrains your subconcious..

Anyway PM or reply if you need anything.

Nechtan
12-08-08, 11:34
Thanks for the links. I will give these a try tonight.

All the best

Nechtan

Tom_M
12-08-08, 17:31
When I had acrophobia bad it was more that a year I was housebound. Now I'm free as a bird and love it. You can get over it and have a normal life, I did it!

Tom

lesleya
16-08-08, 18:30
Hi
I had agoraphobia/social anxiety for over 15 yrs, and was housebound with it for 10 yrs after post-natal depression. My gp back then (wish i still had him) got me off valium and gave me counselling sessions for nearly 2 years and i got my life back ...baby steps at first then built myself up to being able to go out anywhere, and it was great...in fact you couldnt keep me in.
I still do get social anxiety a little but nowhere near as bad as i used too.
Take care and good luck

Anxious_gal
14-09-08, 07:00
the most for me was too weeks, but i could still go out if i was with someone, doesnt anyone else get bored from being inside? thats what has always got me out, was pure boredom

thinker_bell
06-10-08, 17:09
does anybody recognise this...
i do go out, as much as i can but the fear is there.. before i go out i get terrified, not sure wot about but i have lost alot of confidence and begin to panic with the minutes counting down before i have to go out and sometimes when i go out i have to come home ... the thing is though is that i DO go out ! well at least i try to, im a young mum with a young child and cant eactly leave him at school so i have no choice other than to pick him up but i have college once a week and make every excuse i can not to go as i get scared and think people are lookin at me and judging me all the time and i dont know why.. i get very panicky if i am more than a mile or so from home and get severe panic attacks as i know i can tget straight home if i need to incase i have a panic attack etc... is this still agorophonbia, a few years ago when i first had a break down i was only 18 and all my friends would go out and i would think about going but then have a panic attack set off my ibs and saty in and this went on for about 4 months jus not leaving the house but i do now but it is very traumatic.. i assume i still have mild agorophobia but my doc fobs me off all the time, any advice??? xxx :shrug:

lennons_mammy
19-10-08, 15:47
I have had agoraphobia 3 times now and everytime lasted a different amount of time so I have just picked an answer for this time which is between 2 and 6 months so far.

lennons_mammy
19-10-08, 15:52
Dahlia its not odd to not be able to do things with other people around. I prefer my fiancee not to come with me because I worry I will panic in front of him and I just don't want him to see me like that.

charlish74
19-10-08, 17:32
im scared of not wanting to go out now, since the panic attacks and the need to dash to the loo when it happened to me the other day when i walk into town i was fine on the back i dont know what happened my legs went i needed to rush to the loo in a pub in town i only just made it home needed the loo again but when i was in i shut the door i felt relief safe. i could go to the loo as much as i needed to im on 5mg of diazapan wich does seem to calm me down. but i said to my husband god what if i feel like this again and carnt get out how can i control this the panics i can sort of control its the urgent bowel movements i carnt handle it scares me so i feel safe in my home.just want to go out today but i closed the door x

Oceanblue
27-10-08, 17:43
It's funny with me because I have Bi-polar, and because of that my moods can go from one extreme to the other.
I feel that I'm through my very worst though (I strongly believe that the feelings I once felt in the past could never happen again), I honestly believe that. I have managed to find different coping strategies and have found a much better perception and positive approach to the depressive side with regards to my illness, and so that I will never become so ill again.
With regards to agoraphobia, I have had times where I've been housebound and roombound, (only I would put this down to depression), not so much the fear of going out, although this did cause me stress/anxiety. If I'm honest I couldn't really say for how long exactly, but it was long enough. I hate to think back at those times really, say about a year roughly I'd say :shrug: . There was another period before this time, only years before and that was about 1-2yrs. So I guess bits and pieces for me.
So, judging by those times, I know i'm over my worst.

With my anxiety now, ( I have no idea what causes it exactly),... if quite high, then I try and avoid situations like going to certain places and sometimes putting off going out all together, only lucky for me,.. this can now just last a day or two. I then push myself and try and challenge the fear and it does work for me, it starts to fade away.

It must be terrible to have severe agoraphobia, I just couldn't imagine.

There's so much out there to see, it would drive me up the wall !

Hoping those that are still suffering get well very soon.xx
:flowers:

Twin Galaxies
10-11-08, 03:41
i was house bound for about a year, everytime id leave id have the worse panic attacks and run back home this was at the age of 16 and im 22 now it still scares me at times now, i got over the fear in the end i still suffer with panic attacks and anxiety but my point is it becomes easy to leave the house after your first few time

EdwardP
24-11-08, 11:10
I've been housebound for nearly three months now. I am terrified at the thought of walking out the front door. I'm ok around my family some days, but most days I stay locked in my room and don't even leave to eat or drink. Last week I attempted to go to the ATM machine at 6am in the morning and even though there was no one around I became very anxious and my legs started to go weak. I'm going to try and get out of this though.

Pebbles
25-11-08, 21:54
i can go to towjn but dont like open fields or bridges and cant walk far only stay local im on DLA 4 it

EdwardP
27-11-08, 16:45
I left the house this morning to get to the Doctor. It nearly terrified me but I managed it because I knew it was for my own good.

Lou17
03-12-08, 06:18
I was housebound from being 16 to 21 and then I had an alright year and a half. Unfortunately my brother put to much pressure on me to go to an important event with loads of people, it freaked me out and Ive allowed myself to be housebound again. Ive tasted freedom and I want it back, but Ive been like this for about 7 months and it only seems to be getting worse.

BasilCat
30-01-09, 10:31
I was housebound for a year when I first started with panic/agoraphobia when I was 19 years old. That was 1976. The doctors werent as clued up about anxiety then as they are now and I was in a really bad state. Should have been in hospital really. The doctors told me I was being stupid. I was living in sheer hell. And of course we didnt know what was wrong. Then the anxiety, not agoraphobia this time, came back 10 years or so later. I was cured in 6 months by a Psychologist who showed me that I was hyperventilating and took me through breathing exercises. Then the anxiety kicked in about 7 years later when I was getting married and I had a bad anxiety attack on honeymoon! We were on Barbados at the time and just as our plane was leaving for Gatwick, I was in the airport medical centre being pumped full of Valium!!!!!! It was dreadful. But I got over it in about 4 months and then it returned 2.5 years ago!! I hope and pray that this is the last time it will ever happen to me.
Shirley

sunshine-lady
16-02-09, 15:14
I was housebound for over 18 months. With the help of my husband and CPN I can now venture out with 'safe' people. Would love to be able to go out alone.

mau
19-03-09, 06:23
Staying indoors keeps you safe.

i DON'T KNOW WHAT IT KEEPS YOU SAFE FROM.

I have a dog and he helps me to leave home but most days the whole preparation of leaving home leaves me mentally exhausted.


My anxiety levels go into overdrdive before I leave the house, numerous visits to the loo, sweating, : Then I just give up.

The rational part of me knows I can do it yet I don't..

tigger1964
20-03-09, 07:51
this time i was housebound for about 6mths, but im slowly but surely making progress and getting out and and about again. Its not an easy thing facing the fear and going back into a world that you have narrowed down so much, but it can be done. Small things each and every day, all help confront the fear and broaden your outside world again.

Jhey
28-03-09, 03:54
It's not so bad anymore my excuse for not going out is, "If there's a good enough reason to go out, then I'll go"

Dizzy-Dave
30-03-09, 00:53
I've just reached 7 months of being housebound, but ironically I had my first major breakthrough 2 days ago and managed to walk to a shop and back. I was with someone which helped alot and i had done it in stages.

Going to upload footage of the achievment tomorrow :noangel:

gazania
08-04-09, 22:32
I haven't gone out on my own for nearly 15 years :ohmy:

I can only leave the house if I am taken door to door by car, preferably to somewhere familiar where I know where my escape routes are!!

Last year I left the house 6 times, each time to the doctors or dentist.

stacey2712
28-04-09, 21:20
Hi just been reading all your posts....i hope everyone gets better soon, it must be horrible not leaving the house for days, months or even years on end. Im not agrophobic (however you spell it) but i am emetophobic (fear of vomiting) and finding it difficult to get out of the house due to an unfortunate sickness bug i got a couple of weeks ago. My anxiety is the real issue as it makes me feel sick all the time and i have bad irrational thoughts....anyway i hope you all find the strength within to beat this!
Good luck x

Bluebelle
28-04-09, 23:47
I was housebound for a year although my family says it was closer to two years ! This was about 10 years ago. I started going out again at "low traffic" times. If there was a 24 hour grocery store I would go at night when there were less people- my sister drove so I had someone with me.

Lately I have been vigilant about people seeing into my house which is how it started last time so I am trying to stop it at this level before it escalates. Already I am living in fear of someone knocking at the door and I don't want to become housebound again so I have to try to build up my comfort levels, again.
This can be beaten. For me it was really is a case of 'baby steps", building up my comfort at certain distances from my sanctuary -home!