A small victory

[Alan Mack]

I'm a bit shy when it comes to posting threads but here goes,

I had a appointment today to see my doctor at the local mental health clinic to discuss my agoraphobia, I had appointments last year to see her but unfortunately last year was a really bad one for me as I could hardly leave my house due to the panic attacks being to strong so ended up cancelling most of my appointments by phone,
so today got ready for the appointment and as usual my nervous system felt like it was plugged into a power station, I thought 'oh here we go again' then thought no I'm going make it this time, so I left my house and managed to walk all the way to the front door of the clinic by this time I'm starting to panic so I sat on the wall just outside the door and took my phone out of my pocket and pretended there had been a text message as I didn't want to draw attention to myself (sounds silly), but while I was sitting there I kept telling myself you can do this, then after a while walked into the clinic and up to the receptionist, at that moment fear gripped me and my body felt numb, I looked at the receptionist and said is it possible to book another appointment as I really can't make do it today, she could see how nervous I was then she said 'no problem' and booked me another appointment, I felt bad when I got back home because I never managed to see the doctor but then thought it wasn't bad at all as I realized that I managed to get out of the house and walk all the way to the reception of the clinic so really it was a small victory :yahoo:

suppose what I'm trying to say is don't be so hard on yourself if the panic has been to much and you have had to turn back, if you do half or even a small bit of what you planed to do then it's a small victory and you should be proud of yourself :yesyes:

[lizzie29]

Definitely! That is a huge achievement, there were many times when you could have turned round and given up but you kept doing. Well done!

[Alan Mack]

Thank you lizzie :)

[TooMuchToLiveFor]

Proud of you, Alan! (From a fellow panic disorder warrior. :)

[Alan Mack]

Proud of you, Alan! (From a fellow panic disorder warrior. :)

Thank you, I really love your thread about the dragon within :)

[MrAndy]

small steps lead to victory !

[kittikat]

That is fantastic news and you must be so proud of yourself, well done! :yesyes:

I completely get what you have said, but you achieved a massive step today. If you're anything like me, the worst part is actually getting out of the front door in the first place following all the anticipatory anxiety of what if's....oh, and the distraction trick with the phone? I've done it many times myself too!! :whistles:

Perhaps between now and your rescheduled appointment, it would be good just to take a walk to the surgery and back, it's good exposure therapy... I'm sure you will make it for the next appointment. I wish you all the best. Kitti :)

[Alan Mack]

small steps lead to victory !

This is very true, how does that saying go "a journey of a thousand miles starts with the first wobbly step" although it didn't have wobbly in it but it sounds good :D

---------- Post added at 17:13 ---------- Previous post was at 16:51 ----------


That is fantastic news and you must be so proud of yourself, well done! :yesyes:

I completely get what you have said, but you achieved a massive step today. If you're anything like me, the worst part is actually getting out of the front door in the first place following all the anticipatory anxiety of what if's....oh, and the distraction trick with the phone? I've done it many times myself too!! :whistles:

Perhaps between now and your rescheduled appointment, it would be good just to take a walk to the surgery and back, it's good exposure therapy... I'm sure you will make it for the next appointment. I wish you all the best. Kitti :)

Thank you Kittikat :bighug1:
my next appointment is in a few weeks so hopefully I can see the doctor then,
Kitti I really hope you can venture out soon without feeling anxious even if it's just a small walk, it's a horrible way to live but I want you to know you are not alone and we can all help each other:D

[Rubicon]

Well done, you must be chuffed :D

I don't think any of us can expect to do anything we see as scary without at least some fear or panic the first time we do it, as we expect panic, so panic comes, but 100% if you repeatedly do something it gradually declines further until we have done it enough times it just becomes a non-issue and we are totally relaxed about it.. that's the way i am (still) beating this.

Hope you can continue your success. I couldn't walk to the corner shop without freaking out a year ago, let alone get public transport.. recently went to the Caribbean for 2 weeks, passed my driving test, drove on a motorway alone, been to restaurants, big shops, cinemas etc in the last few months. Nothing feels better than facing your fears head on and squashing that little voice in your head that's constantly saying 'what if..'.


Wishing you lots of success for the future and let us know how you're doing x x