Agoraphobia

[teez]

The goal of treatment is to help you function effectively. The success of treatment usually depends on the severity of the phobia.
Systematic desensitization is a technique used to treat phobias. You are asked to relax, then imagine the things that cause the anxiety, working from the least fearful to the most fearful. Gradual exposure to the real-life situation also been used with success to help people overcome their fears.
Anti-anxiety and antidepressant medications are often used to help relieve the symptoms of phobias.Call for an appointment with your health care provider if you develop symptoms of agoraphobia.

i went to my gp with my aggie years ago ,,,to be told to pull myself together,,or he would have me sectioned,,,mmmhhhhmmm,,, never went there again,,and this doctor doesnt believe i have agoraphobia because i can get to his surgery,,,no pleasing some lol,,,i dont want to take meds,,as i feel if i win this battle on my own without chemical intervention ,,when it crops up again which having this as my second battle i,ll know how to deal with it ,,which is what i and hopefully my comrades julie and sue are going into battle to do ,,oh and anyone else whose willing to join our club ,,

[julieb]

Hi everyone,
first thing i want to do is give everyone a huge apology, i said i would come on here everyday with an update and only managed 2 days!!!! Well Tuesday i had no internet and thought theres nothing i can do about that so i would come on on Wednesday and apologise. Wednesday i came home from work and just got straight into bed with the migraine from hell. managed to go to work Thursday but had to wear my sunglasses all the way as the sun was shining and making my head worse. Got to work and felt so sick and ill all day that i didnt dare go onto the laptop when i got home as it would of made it worse. Its only today that ive started to feel better. i know its just stress with going to work after 6 weeks, evryone is complaining that they are worn out and stressed but with my agoraphobia on top its been awful. So ive not really been working on myself as ive not had the energy and been too stressed. Today i have taken my dog for a walk at rudyard lake but didnt push myself too hard as its the first day ive felt well and just wanted it to stay that way. got to go to liverpool in the morning with my daughter to take all her things back to uni which i am dreading but i need to make sure she is ok. will take a few things in the car as a distracion. the worst part of the journey for me is the motorway. i get really anxious as soon as i get on there as i feel trapped inbetween junctions as we cant just turn around. also i fear there being an accident or roadworks and getting trapped on there. So wish me luck everyone and i will be back tomorrow with an update. keep up the good work everyone and hope everyone is having a lovely weekend. xx

[julieb]

Hi Sandra,

you dont live far from me then if you are in Leek x

[sue.b]

Hi Julie

Good luck with the journey, I worry about getting stuck in traffic too. Distraction is the trick, (says she)!!!

I have had a couple of "not so good days" so strange isn't it, today in Tescos with my husband i felt quite anxious, just wanted to run for the door, but managed to keep going. Where as earlier in the week i had no problem in there on my own!!!

I have been invited out for a meal tomorrow evening, it's my sister in laws anniversary. Last week i would have breezed through it, at the moment i am not looking forward to it. Having the "what if" thoughts.

Anyway enough about me. Have a good journey tomorrow.

Take care

Sue xxxx

[julieb]

hope you enjoy your meal. have a few drinks for a bit of courage!!

[Alabasterlyn]

I'm another fellow agoraphobia so thought I would add a little bit about my experience with agora on here. Mine started back in the 70's after a stressful few years of moving to a new part of the country, leaving school, having chronic anaemia and just being basically very unhappy.

I'm now 54 and I can honestly say I have tried everything to overcome this horrible agora, but nothing has really helped that much. I've had periods of years when I couldn't even get beyond the front door and even hanging out the washing was a nightmare. I could sit here and write a book about all the things I have missed out on over the years whilst dealing with this and have gone through a marriage breakup and lots of other life changing events due to this.

Right now my safe zone is pretty much the town I live in, although I can get further when it's dark as for some reason I feel safer then. I can walk to my local shops alone which are just around the corner, but on a bad day even that is impossible. I go into town probably once a week when it's late night shopping and I can get around a mall that has 140 shops in it, but only by moving the car from car park to car park so that I'm never too far from the car!

I do take medication but quite honestly feel that a lot of medications don't work long term but have stayed on them as I just get myself worked up into a state if I try to come off them.

Next month I have a wedding to go to and I am dreading it already as it's right in the middle of town on a Saturday afternoon and I'm not sure that I can handle that.

[julieb]

Hi Lynn, Sue, Sandra, Teez and anyone else who reads this post. Yeah its weird isn't it, one day you can do things with ease another day the same things feel so much more difficult. Funnily enough Sue my partner Chris asked me the very same question today. I felt dreadful this morning when i got up as i'd had hardly any sleep at all with worrying about going to liverpool today but i still went ahead with it. i used distraction and what ive started to do is keep a diary as i go along so i can look back and see where i was my most or least anxious. while im writing this it does help to distract me a little. when i got onto the motorway today my anxiety level went up to about an 8/10 i use this scoring system all of the time as a good judge of how anxious i am. tell you what i will copy you todays page from my trip to liverpool to see if it will help anyone. hope you dont get bored reading it lol.
8.52 set off from house for liverpool anxiety about a 2
9.00 get onto a500 ( this road is a dual carriageway and can get busy so im expecting my levels to go up )
9.03 its really foggy and ive gone up to a 4
9.05 just got onto motorway and shot straight up to about an 8. going to try to do the crossword in newspaper.
9.23 watching and working out how far it is between exits incase we get caught in traffic. was don to about a 4 but just shot up to an 8 again as ive heard that a lorry has shed its load on the m6 in cheshire but i didnt hear where so now im watching the traffic to see if its slowing down and cant concentrate on my crossword
9.44 left motorway and still about a 6/7. need the loo desperately now. a combination of adrenaline and sugarfree mints isnt advisable!
10.01 arrived at nikkis house and unpacked, still feel really anxious and like im having trouble breathing. decided that in for a penny in for a pound and im going to go down to the albert dock to see if we can park near a shop to go in to buy some beatles memorabilia for my other daughter jemma as she is a massive fan.
had to park right by the shops and i did manage to go in 2 and buy something. i couldnt walk all around the semi circle of shops i had to do a few then go back to see where the car was and go to them again from a different direction but i did it and now i feel great and my anxiety is only about a 3!!!
11.15 set off from docks. this is bit i hate now as traffic is a bit busier than when we arrived and it looks like we may get sent around a one way system and not the way we came. its ok we could get out the carpark another way and go back the same way so i feel easier about that now.
11.33 got back on m6 and not such a sharp rise in anxiety this time, not sure if its because i have just got used to it today or because im playing a game on my phone?
12.00 just noticed that my thumb is really sore and ive bitten my nails quite short. dont remember doing that?
12.06 made Chris get off the motorway a junction early as the traffic is building up and im worrying that it may be due to that earlier accident.
12.20 home and i feel pretty proud of myself. got to think of a nice treat for myself now!!!!!
So there you go girls, i made it. im just really tired now tonight so im going to try and have an early night as ive got a busy week at work but more of that tomorrow. take care everyone and keep each other updated with news, good or bad. i started this thread not just for myself but so we can support and encourage each other xx

[julieb]

lynn

im sure you will be fine at the wedding. i hate anything ilke this too. i have a 21st party on saturday night and my partner wants to have a drink so it means walking or a taxi which i dread too. be nice to actually enjoy a social event for once wouldnt it!!!!

[sue.b]

Hi Julie

Well done you deserve a treat. I bet you are tired, it is exhausting dealing with anxiety etc.

I managed to go out for a meal tonight. Woke up early this morning dreading it though. I have a vague feeling of anxiety all day. I managed to get an hours sleep this afternoon which i find helps.

I felt pretty brave when I left home, when we got to the restaurant we were told it would be 30 min wait....anxiety went up then!!!!!

[sue.b]

oops posted too soon...

So distracted myself by looking around the bar, played the fruit machine, and chatted.

I can't say the evening was fun but I coped. I took my mobile phone and did some texting that i had to do, and then just tried to listen intently to the conversations that were going on at the table. I managed it .

Lyn, maybe you could try to plan the distractions that you could use at the wedding. I think sometimes the antisipation of an event is worse than the event itself. I will try to come up with some suggestions for distractions that you could use.

Take care everyone.

Chat soon

Sue xxxxx