Elle-Kay
22-06-04, 22:00
Hello everyone,
I just signed up tonight, after finally owning up to my problem on another (unrelated) messageboard, and being contacted with the "No Panic" website address, through whom I found No More Panic :)
My name's Leah (unsurprisingly!), I'm 22, from the East Midlands (UK) and I've just been (self)diagnosed agoraphobic, after about 7 years of suffering, without knowing what I was actually suffering with. Now, I know self-diagnosis makes alarm bells ring for a lot of folks, but trust me, I fit every description of agoraphobia I've read to a 'T' :) For me, it manifests by going anywhere away from home and being afraid of being trapped (I will *only* drive myself, I won't use public transport, and I have to take various 'safety' devices everywhere I go - calm remedies, a book to keep me occupied, mobile phone etc.), and it manifests *in* panic attacks, feeling nauseas (I also take a paper bag everywhere, and have to find the nearest lavvy first thing *g*), and more panic attacks when I become afraid that I'm going to be sick.
I had a period where I was "better" for a year or so a few years ago, but a string of deaths in the family put the scuppers on that, and now I'm back in the loop (though not as bad as age 15/16). My current biggest worry is that I've been offered a job within the past 2 days. It is only 10 mins walk from my home, in a part of my hometown I know well, but a job means I'll be 'trapped' from 9-5.30pm every day, bringing on all the associated fears and panics (and fears of panics! *g*). I'm also feeling dead guilty for pushing my partner away at the moment, but in my less lucid moments, I think it would be better for him to have a life without me clogging it up :(
So anyway, that's me...hi!
Leah
I just signed up tonight, after finally owning up to my problem on another (unrelated) messageboard, and being contacted with the "No Panic" website address, through whom I found No More Panic :)
My name's Leah (unsurprisingly!), I'm 22, from the East Midlands (UK) and I've just been (self)diagnosed agoraphobic, after about 7 years of suffering, without knowing what I was actually suffering with. Now, I know self-diagnosis makes alarm bells ring for a lot of folks, but trust me, I fit every description of agoraphobia I've read to a 'T' :) For me, it manifests by going anywhere away from home and being afraid of being trapped (I will *only* drive myself, I won't use public transport, and I have to take various 'safety' devices everywhere I go - calm remedies, a book to keep me occupied, mobile phone etc.), and it manifests *in* panic attacks, feeling nauseas (I also take a paper bag everywhere, and have to find the nearest lavvy first thing *g*), and more panic attacks when I become afraid that I'm going to be sick.
I had a period where I was "better" for a year or so a few years ago, but a string of deaths in the family put the scuppers on that, and now I'm back in the loop (though not as bad as age 15/16). My current biggest worry is that I've been offered a job within the past 2 days. It is only 10 mins walk from my home, in a part of my hometown I know well, but a job means I'll be 'trapped' from 9-5.30pm every day, bringing on all the associated fears and panics (and fears of panics! *g*). I'm also feeling dead guilty for pushing my partner away at the moment, but in my less lucid moments, I think it would be better for him to have a life without me clogging it up :(
So anyway, that's me...hi!
Leah