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Going to the doctors with agoraphobia


10 years ago 0 11213 logo logo logo logo logo logo logo logo logo logo 0
Welcome Morphingjar90,

Sorry to hear how you have been feeling. Agoraphobia can be terrifying. I do want you to know that you can find relief though. It will take a bit of time and some hard work but you can take control of this. The first step is to begin working on this program. Have you had a chance to put some work into it and complete the homework? Any questions so far?

Ashley, Health Educator
10 years ago 0 2508 logo logo logo logo logo logo logo logo logo logo 0
Good Morning Morphingjar,
 
Congratulations on taking Your First Steps to wellness by joining the site here and posting in the forum..
Welcome to the program and support group..The CBT program here helped me and many others too so I am sure that it can help you too. Now is the time to start reading the sessions in the program they offer here. You set the pace so all you need to do is get started if you haven't already..Take your time with it and things should slowly start to improve..
 
Time is on your side now..
 
Red.
10 years ago 0 6252 logo logo logo logo logo logo logo logo logo logo 0
If you look closely at your thinking as you try to do the program you will notice a few things if you are in really bad shape. The worst two are "I don't want to do this" and "why should I have to". First off you do have to because it very very seldom goes away. Second, you are right, there is nothing wrong with you, your thinking is skewed. And because it is skewed, without direction you can not change it. Start the program and do each section over and over till you start to think more rationally. It will be slow but it will come.

It is early in the morning and I am enjoying a coffee I can drink again with no anxiety. I have an interest in life again and I ache like hell from overwork yesterday, but it doesn't matter. Life is good again.

Davit
10 years ago 0 6252 logo logo logo logo logo logo logo logo logo logo 0
Having gone through this I know there is no easy way to treat it. Two things I can tell you. It can be cured. Second it can not be cured with kindness. It is an aggressive condition that will try hard to destroy you and everyone you love. They will get tired of propping you up long before you are cured and they will not understand why you are the way you are. If you can not afford a good therapist then we are your only chance.
Do I sound mean and aggressive. Believe me it is necessary and I was lucky to have a no nonsense therapist that let me get away with nothing. There were times I hated her. I owe her for giving me back my life or more correctly for showing me how to take it back and not letting me give up. I was a challenge and years later she told me I was the worst case she had seen. I basically had to change every way that I was thinking. And I had to do it on my own. There was no one to hold my hand and let me slide back. I even got committed and met a lot of broken people just like me. People with nothing left to live for. People with no hope any more. But there is hope, and I guess you would say I'm cured since I'm more normal than the normal people I know.
Are you ready to cry a lot and be embarrassed when you think people are staring. Are you ready to fight back and lose once in a while. This is not an easy thing to do. You are going to rebuild totally how you think so anxiety and panic can not live there. And if you stick it out you will get cured. And I can guaranty there will be times you will hate me because I don't understand you. Believe me I may not know you but I do know your condition and never for a second think I don't know how you feel. I can feel your pain and there are times I wonder why I don't just get on with my life. Well I am believe it or not. 
So do you want to be able to walk into a store without a twinge of anxiety. Do you want to shop without noticing every little thing around you and freaking out at them. You can you know. That is a normal life and it can be yours.

I sound like I'm selling a book. I'm not, I'm selling something better, I'm selling freedom and I'm selling you because I'm sure that if you stick to it you can be just like me.

You need to make sure there is no physical cause and if there is you need to accept it. I have Arthritis and Hypertension, I know this and know it contributes to anxiety. But doesn't have to trigger it.

You also need to ask for help when you need it. How else will people know when to help and when to back off.

The walk in clinic here is staffed with people who genuinely want to help. Here is where I get to be mean again, are you looking for excuses, no excuse is acceptable. If you start making excuses you might as well nail your feet to the floor, you will get no where. This will be hard enough if you do every thing right. But the beginning is the hardest, it gets easier and you will get proud of your accomplishment long before you are truly free. And you will have set backs because this condition does not want to let go.

This is where I have to say this is just my take on the subject and I'm not a Doctor. I'm just right. I'm also anxiety free.

Davit.

By the way I'm willing to explain things to your mother or any one you trust.
10 years ago 0 5 logo logo logo logo logo logo logo logo logo logo 0
Hi. After years of procrastinating, I've decided that this way of living is no longer acceptable to me. I want out of this never-ending anxiety. My agoraphobia is so bad, that the last time I went into a store was in November of 2011, and even then, I needed to use a wheelchair, because I'm terrified of having a panic attack in public. I have no idea how to break this fear cycle. And on top of that, I feel very guilty for putting my loved ones through this.

I want to go visit a doctor, to get a physical and make sure there is nothing wrong with me other than the anxiety, because I'm a hypochondriac and tend to think the worst, but I don't have insurance and I'm not convinced a walk in clinic would understand my problem. I'm afraid they may be judgmental if someone was wheeled in there with a psychological problem, as opposed to a physical one, but I desperately need help. I'm also very timid and would likely need my mother to do most of the talking for me. I'm against using medication, but I'm willing to at least give it a try if it could subdue my symptoms. I am at my wit's end, and I don't know what to do or who to talk too. 

It feels like there is very little support for people like us. Any advice about what I should do?

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