Retiree and sufferer of GAD/agoraphobia

[Susanc241]

Hi, I know how much sharing problems can help and as I am experiencing a resurgence of my symptoms (50 years in total) would love to be able to have honest chats with someone similar. I have wide range of interests, history, science, reading, knitting/crochet, cross stitch and a lot more. Love to hear from you. Susan

[Andyroo]

hello Susan i also suffer from anxiety it has been gone up until recently and that is what brings me back to this forum. my gad is made worse because i have had a few health problems hit me. id really like to make a new friend and have someone to talk to as well. im andrew. please feel free to contact me

[Susanc241]

Hi Andrew
Sorry not to reply sooner. Had a bad couple of days! What's new? As I mentioned in my original post I am a very long time sufferer and in the early days had classic agoraphobia. Gradually over time, couple of decades, as I learnt how to manage the fear of being out of my home, it changed to being a problem only for certain things. Things mainly out of my daily routine, like dentist, doctors and hospital appointments. Also holidays or other visits away from home. I did work and once I found a job I liked I stayed put, so unless I had to move location due to my partners job, I didn’t put myself through any unnecessary stress of frequent interviews. I managed to cope within my local area and also learnt to drive (early on - boy! that was mega stressful) as I just couldn’t cope with public transport. These last 20 years have been reasonably OK with minimal problems apart from non routine scary stuff as above. My doc allows me one prescription a year of Lorazepam (28 tabs) which I guard jealously and use half a 10mg tab on days I have scary stuff to do. So on the whole life was manageable. I retired a few years ago and eventually last December got the little dog I had promised myself. The idea was it would force me to go out every day to walk it. WRONG! From day one I had a sudden upsurge in my anxiety levels to the point it disturbed my sleep, I wake with butterflies in my stomach and my heart in my mouth and tends to be with me most of the day. Walking the dog makes the symptoms worse (my husband has been a brick and taken over most of that though I still try to get myself out with her a few times a week). It is not helped that the dog has issues that increase my anxiety state - freezes on walks and won’t move for love nor money, seems to get upset stomachs every other week, whines a lot and we can’t find a reason, and so on. I have an appointment to see my doc but not till early April as she is on hols between now and then, but hoping she can help me with some short term medication like Amitriptyline (which I have used once before for a difficult period). Obvious answer is to return dog to rescue shelter but hubby has bonded with dog and doesn’t want to give her up. He admits he hasn’t a clue what I am feeling physically - says he doesn’t think he has ever had butterflies or heart in mouth feeling in his life!! If he did I am sure he would appreciate that having a dog probably wasn’t my best life decision. Currently between a rock and a hard place.
Sorry so long (typical female!) but if you want to continue chatting is there a way to do so privately on here?
Thanks for responding even if this message puts you off.
Susan

[ladyhawke77]

hi susan, i suffer from anxiety, panic attacks and agoraphobia for years now, you can contact me anytime

[Elizabeth78]

Hi Susanc241.
I have suffered from anxiety from being a young child. It has prevented me doing so much of what I would like to do, and limited my life choices. You can chat to me anytime, sometimes it's good just to write it down, it gets some of the pain out of your system. I have found my anxiety has come and partly gone over my life. Now I'm late 40's and it's just getting a little worse right now. My family circumstances have caused me to get anxious again.
By all means message me when you feel down.