Will the anxious feeling ever go?

[Carla]

Hi,

I have panic attacks and have been agoraphobic on and off for about 12 years now. At the beginning of last year I started seeing a CBT therapist and she's been great and I've managed to make some progress from being pretty much houusebound. I also got a dog last summer which has helped so much. Anyway, at the moment I'm working 4 afternoons a week in a charity shop (voluntarily) and obviously I go out every day for at least an hour to walk my dog.

I started at the charity shop over 4 months ago and I've been going out every day to walk the dog since july. My anxiety is better than it was but I'm starting to wonder if it will ever go away completely. Every single time I go out I experience some anxiety - sometimes its mild and sometimes its nearly enough to bring on a panic attack. I thought that by consistently going out day after day my anxiety would diminish until it was pretty much non existant but that hasn't been the case yet. I just wondered if this was normal? I don't want to live the rest of my life feeling anxious every single time I leave the house.

Thanks,
Carla

[Richd]

Hey Carla,

I'm similar, I've never been agoraphobic, although at times I've been close, but at one point my anxiety was very extreme, coupled with depression, it was the only thing on my mind, I constantly felt dreadful due to it.

Lately, thanks to CBT, and I think time, it's eased a lot and I understand it all so much more, but the feeling does come back. And my doctor has told me that it possibly may not ever go.

It took me a while to get my head around that fact, but I think I have now. There will be good days and bad days. I guess the bad days, you just have to let it be, give in and know that tomorrow will be better.

I've been experiencing bad anxiety the past 3 days due to work, but I have tomorrow off of work, and that's been getting me through, knowing that tomorrow I can rest, just have a calm, self indulgent day, and then things will be better.

So yes, there's a chance that it may never go completely. But in a weird way, accepting this may actually help it to go away completely, because if you're worrying about the fact that it may never go, that's just yet more anxiety. If you accept the fact that it may never go, and not get anxious about it, that's one more anxiety out of the window :D

x

[Carla]

Thanks Richd. Not sure what to say to your post but thanks for replying.

[gtrgrl3369]

Hi, I just wanted to tell you that it will go away. I had severe anxiety and depression last year and also never left the house. Heck, I never left my room. It is now a year and a half later and I am doing very well. When I first started going back out, I would still be anxious wondering when my next panic attak would hit. Those days are gone now. It takes time for your mind to heal and not keep a constat vigil for something to happen. There will be a day though that will come and you will realize that for that entire day you had no thoughts about anxiety. Then those days will become more frequent until you feel like your old self. Take care and I hope it works for you.

[CrystalStar]

Eek!! Looking through these forum postings I guess I have anxiety too!

I have what you guys are all talking about....... shortness of breath, thumping of heart, feeling dizzy...... is that really all caused just by anxiety? Oh my god! That's scary. I don't like this feeling of not knowing what's going on.

Think I'm going to have to go and look up this stuff on the net just to get my head around it all.

Great forum, guys. Good to know there's others who know what I'm on about.

[louise6]

Eek!! Looking through these forum postings I guess I have anxiety too!

I have what you guys are all talking about....... shortness of breath, thumping of heart, feeling dizzy...... is that really all caused just by anxiety? Oh my god! That's scary. I don't like this feeling of not knowing what's going on.

Think I'm going to have to go and look up this stuff on the net just to get my head around it all.

Great forum, guys. Good to know there's others who know what I'm on about.
yes this sounds like anxiety to me now you know what it is you can get help, even just knowing what these symptoms are help me, good luck!

[CrystalStar]

Thanks, Louise 6. I feel better already knowing that there's people on here I can talk to about this stuff.

I have to say though, giving it a "title" has hit me a bit hard for some reason. I guess you can ignore symptoms if you try hard enough but giving them a condition name....... I don't know, that just seems to make it more scary to me.