Worse than ever -why?

[sedalia]

I've had agoraphobia for a year now and just lately I've really been making the effort to practise going a bit further everyday to the point where I was able to do the short walk into town and even queue up in the post office. I really thought I had turned the corner and was finally being rewarded for the hard work. Why now, when I have no stress in my life and I'm not worried about anything in particular, has it come back with a vengeance this week. I just seemed to wake up one day and the awful lightheadedness (which I was starting to get used to) is worse than ever.I could barely take the dog round the block just now as I felt like I was going to fall over. There seems no reason for this to suddenly hit me like this. Is this how it's always going to be? Do agoraphobics never recover, but just go through good and bad periods forever? I know I should concentrate on what I have achieved recently but this is so frustrating. If I was worrying about something or was under stress I could understand this setback but it's come out of nowhere.

[keta]

Hi

I'm asking myself the same question, i ve been suffering with this for past 5 years on and off meication, have done CBT and i get good periods of time usually when i'm on medication as i feel calmer and then bad periods that apart from going to work and collect my son from school i feel anxious to do anything else and find it a big problem, i really wish someone had some magical cure for this but i know it's all in my head :weep:
But i understand exctly how you feel.

[paula lynne]

Hi Sedalia..Ive had agoraphobia for over ten years...managed asds the other day, just bit of vertigo. Today Im going to cardiff and already feel unwell and Im still in the house. But Im going anyway, just need to accept some days will be great, others a struggle. Dont give up.x:) I mean asda! haha eyes blurry and vertigo bad at the min!:winks:

[Anxious_gal]

I'm having the same problem, i was doing really well, i still got anxious but managed to still do so much more, I knew that by pushing myself my anxiety would be a little bit worse but my confidence grew :-)
then I had a bad migraine last week, since then I've been feeling dizzy like proper dizzy and too scared to go anywhere now :-( also been getting a lot of headaches too.

I'm hoping next week I might be feeling better.

could be PMS too , as that always triggers of my anxiety.

[Inspires]

Hi Sedalia,

Each day is a different day with me, sweetie.

This evening I managed to take our dog for a walk around the block...although I still felt anxious. But yesterday everything seemed out of control, my thoughts haywire, and physically I felt and looked :lac: a wreck. I tried to get my act together, to face my 'demons' but in the end I decided to not push myself...just keep on taking baby steps...accepting that I am as I am! Blimey, I hear a song :whistles: coming on...nobody would want to hear that....

Take care,

Sue x. :flowers:

[sedalia]

Thank you everyone for your replies. I just made myself go to the local newsagents even tho I felt awful. I must look really stupid, I feel like I'm walking as if I'm drunk and for some reason I seem to veer over to the right all the time! People who don't have agoraphobia just think that it's a thought in our head which stops us going out, they don't realise we get awful physical symptoms too. I don't know if anyone else gets this but apart from the lightheadedness and wobbly legs, I feel like I've got a tight band around my head, and a head full of cotton wool. I get scared to turn my head to see if any traffic is coming as it makes me feel like I'm going to fall over. What made it worse just now is that I met someone I knew who wanted to stop and speak, and I couldn't get away from them. I felt like my body was sinking into the ground. It is so mentally exhausting being like this the whole time :weep: