Agoraphobia support thread

[rainbowninja]

Would anyone like to join a support thread about agoraphobia?

It's just one of the many anxieties I seem to have 😂.

I was pretty much housebound for the best part of a year but recently started to take some tiny steps back out in the world and I do mean tiny. Is anyone else in a similar boat and would like to share their experience/support each other?

I don't have a master plan and I thought I was done with CBT exposure type therapy but I've been feeling motivated to take action recently and wondered if anyone would like to join me?

@rainbowninja Hi, I’ll join you.
I’ve had agoraphobia for many years now (I was housebound for about a year around 15 years ago). I’ve since got a lot better and was able to work and socialise (but still with some restrictions).
The last year the agoraphobia has got bad again and now, in some ways, I feel worse than I did all those years ago.
I’m finding I have so many restrictions in my life that almost everything seems like a massive chore.
Over the past week I have been really pushing myself out of my comfort zone, but it’s exhausting!
Hopefully we can support each other’s road to recovery

Hi, I have agoraphpbia too for many years now, I have been household for a year or so in the past. Unfortunately shielding has made me worse and I am struggling to go out again now.

I'd like to join. Agoraphobia with panic disorder. It's exhausting

@KrustyTheKat it sounds like you're in a similar place to me. I also had a bad bout about 10/15 years ago and didn't expect to find myself back in this situation but here we are so it would be great to support each other! Hope your efforts are paying off and agree, it's physically and mentally exhausting.

@Butwhhhyyyyyyy yes I can imagine, if you're vulnerable to anxiety/agoraphobia having a reason to not go out is bound to exacerbate it.

I'm not shielding but I suspect the lockdowns have made it worse for me because they gave me a reason to not go out and then it just got harder and harder.

I'm just taking it slowly at the moment, baby steps and all that.

Welcome @MinnieJackson! yes, you've hit the nail on the head, trying to manage agoraphobia and panic takes so much effort.

Let's support each other if we can, it's important to celebrate the successes.

I posted my Christmas cards today in the postbox on my road, it took me 2 attempts to get there. The CBT therapist said to choose small targets and do them repeatedly which I don't think I'm doing that well because I just want to be able to do things already 😩

Bloody well done!! I haven't walked to the end of my cul-de-sac for over two and a half years. struggle to put the bins down our driveway horrid you feel on the second attempt? I bet your adrenaline crash was massive

How did* not horrid.

Thanks @MinnieJackson, I 'jogged' a bit of the way to get it over with 😭 I calmed down pretty quick thankfully. That might be the propanolol I've recently conceded to take.

And I'm probably understating the preparation, a few months back I set myself a target of setting a foot on the pavement outside my house and I had to just do that repeatedly but I know what you mean, there was a time I'd have avoided even putting the bin out.

I went to the church garden at the bottom of my road today as there was a market on. I procrastinated about it for ages and we only caught the tail end of it but it's another step in the right direction.

That's amazing! I failed 😔 some charity was at the end of our cul-de-sac tonight driving a sleigh for charity with music. I told my husband about it and walked back just after the end of our driveway, to.'check the door was locked' I knew it was, just couldn't go that far. he was very kind and didn't mind (again)

Also the preparation for anything organised is bloody as tiring as going to it. Where's the exit, how long do we have to stay, I'll have a panic attack. And this is at families houses that know I have agoraphobia,(don't know if they know what it is)

@MinnieJackson we had the sleigh thing a couple of weeks back, was dreading it 😩

Didn't go out today but did make a point of having a bath rather than a shower as I tend to avoid baths (harder to get out if you're having a panic) and it was largely ok.

Are you able to get out at all over Christmas? Because I don't go out far we've got various family members coming to us and it feels a bit overwhelming 😬

Omg the bath thing! I thought I was the only one! Many times I've dashed out of it with conditioner still in my hair!

Today I'm going to Aldi with dh to get the Xmas shop, which means I'll go in, leave, retrace my steps back to the car loads of times going in and out, then panic more that people think I'm shoplifting and poor husband won't know what the hell the stuff on the list is. I'm gonna give it a bloody good go though. Maybe take earphones

Many a time people have come over, not masses and I've had to dash upstairs for something extremely important that cannot wait (lie on my bed to regulate my breathing and pray no-one comes in ) I don't like standing up to talk either if we have people over as I feel dizzy and do a weird foot to foot jig.

@MinnieJackson oh the woes of the living with panic 😩 good luck at Aldi, I've managed to post a couple of Christmas cards to neighbours and do a short walk down to the high street where I lingered looking awkward and then came back 🤣

How are you doing @Butwhhhyyyyyyy and @KrustyTheKat?

Oh and I've signed up to an app called 'dare' for people with anxiety and panic, hesitated because it wasn't cheap so I'm going to have to make sure I use it!

Dare?! Are they trying to goad us? does it set tasks?

You went to a high street with actual people!! That's amazing!
Hope everyone's ok

Hi everyone, thought I'd join you. I've had agoraphobia for about 16 years now. I've had times where it's significantly improved but covid hasn't helped and I'm currently back to pretty much housebound. With Christmas and New Year just around the corner and all the pressures they bring I'm not even trying to fight it at the moment but I plan on trying again with exposure therapy in January.

I was diagnosed with agoraphobia and panic disorder about 12 years ago. I seem to improve for a while then the people supporting me drop off once I have managed an outing or two and then I am back to square one. Within my house I am totally fine but when I try to go outside it's like someone put bars on the window to keep me in. I can't plan things because I spend weeks worrying about them and that makes getting out even harder. Earlier this year I really seemed to be getting somewhere then just as restrictions were lifted I managed to trip over indoors badly breaking my leg and ankle leading to enforced staying in for over 4 months, my leg is going to take a while longer to fully heal and for me to build up strength and stamina so now I have that to deal with on top

What l found with my panic attacks was that the CBT etc, was a temporary coping mechanism that sometimes helped abit, but mostly didn' t have too much effect, because once you are in the middle of a full blown panic attack your fight and flight instincts kick in and there is no over riding it.
It was only after l had literally tried every coping mechanism going that l got to the stage where quite honestly l could no longer bloody well care if l had a panic attack or not, and thats how l got rid of them. If l felt dizzy and faint so be it, if l felt like l was going to sick, so be it, if l felt god forbid l was going to wet myself, so be it, infact l actually tried purposely to do all of these things once those awful symptons kicked in, nothing terrible or humiliating happened ever, and the panic subsided, it broke the cycle and l am now panic free.
There is a good book called "Dare" on Amazon that uses same technique. Its just having the courage to do it.

I've had issues with panic disorder and agoraphobia since I was a teen. It lead to an alcohol problem and I was 10 years sober until recently. I've taken Proparanol in the past which helped. I work as a nurse but find on my days off I struggle to leave the house. Thank you for this thread.

That's amazing @Moonface123. I'm just waiting to go to Aldi.
I completely agree with the cbt. Your not going to become fluent in Mandarin doing an hour a week, same with the cbt, I had to do something everyday but then just couldn't face it and have up. It took me two sessions to get up and down a flight of stairs at the hospital.
I have never fainted, wet myself etc, it just feels so real.
It's crazy the amount of planning that goes into outings, like, I can't wear these shoes because if I panic my feet will sweat and I'll trip and can't escape. I 'll need sweets because the adrenaline will make my blood sugars too low and i'll faint (im not diabetic). What if, what if, what if. My therapist told me he'd like to be with me in a sniper situation as I'm so hyper-viligent!

@MinnieJackson you do have to be in the right frame of mind for 'dare'! It's actually
an acronym for a technique you can use - Defuse, Accept, Run toward and Engage. I'm not sure if I'll follow it to the letter but I think I'm starting to understand the message, the harder you resist the anxiety, the worse it gets.

You did amazingly to even attempt Aldi, hope you survived relatively unscathed!

Welcome @SomethingPunny that sounds like a pragmatic approach. I'm also trying to be realistic about what I'll be able to do over the next couple of weeks, just don't want it to get any worse!

@dancingthroughthedark oh no! What bad luck 😩 how mobile are you now? And what did you do earlier in the year that helped?

@Moonface123 good to hear another vote for the 'dare' approach. I'm reading the book and I've just downloaded the app. I think that's where I'm at too, I've explored every possible way of trying to get rid of the anxiety (and changing my diet has helped reduce some of it) but now I don't see any other option but to lose my fear of it.

@LemonPeonies me too, turned 40 this year but I've had anxiety and panic since my teens. Work kept me going for a long time too. I can understand how anxiety lead
to an alcohol problem, where are you at with it now?