26f looking for some suggestions to help with this. I’ve struggled this and overcame this randomly when I was 18. I stopped sch at 17 and went back in 18. And it got so much better than I was able to tour around Korea, Seoul alone for a day (age 21) whereas my friends were in another part of Korea.

I’ve struggled w anxiety and panic disorder since 14 years old. Agoraphobia since 21 years old. I’m on antidepressants since 22 years old. Ever since graduation everything just goes down. Especially these 2 years. I can’t travel alone. Once I’m alone I start to hyperventilate and I will pray hard to not get a panic attack.

Any helps for this? I think with me trying 3-4 days weekly taking a 5min bus ride to work = exposure therapy. But sometimes I still feel so scared that my mum will have to accompany me to work. Other days I can function myself, and some days I’ll just call my mum to chat and distract until I reach.

I feel very useless and dependent which I don’t like it at all. I want to be independent. I’m so sad. I just changed my psychologist and psychiatrist.

New psychologist will do choice therapy with me and not typical cbt. He say he’s a senior doc so he has another way/plan. I’ll try this out. Also my psychiatrist doesn’t want me to rock the boat and change meds.

I just want some tips and tricks from people who suffer the same thing as me… much thanks guys.

a week ago i texted my boss telling her i needed a break from my job of 5 1/2 years partly due to anxiety but also because i just couldnt do it anymore. it was becoming too toxic of an environment and i couldnt handle it. so i thought quitting would help me but it only made me spiral out of control. for two weeks my anxiety has been the worst its been in years. i cant eat or sleep properly and ive been losing weight that i cant afford to lose. i wake up and go to sleep anxious.

this anxiety has been creeping into other parts of my life like going out with my friends, being in the car and going to the store. all of these things i was completely fine doing a month ago. i just want this to stop. i dont know what to do at this point besides try to go on meds to help cope with the anxiety symptoms because i need to be able to eat and sleep. i’ve been trying to do some exposure therapy but it doesnt make me feel any better afterwards i just feel like an idiot for feeling anxious about stupid things like being a passenger in a car.

i feel so defeated. when i was first diagnosed my psychiatrist made it seem like getting my license, getting a job and going to college would cure me. two of those things i did and i was doing good for a long time, but i feel like it was just a temporary solution for a serious problem in my brain. now im back to square one and i dont know how im going to pull myself out of this again. i just want my life back. sorry if this makes no sense, any advice is greatly appreciated

Hey, I have a new girlfriend that fulfills a dream I always had: she’s bisexual and not interested in other men but in other women. I can join when she has a girl.

But you can guess: When I’m in a club/disco like surrounding I’m more grasping for air than having any sexual fantasies. I’ve tried it last night. The club wasn’t full but I didn’t even want to leave the car. After 2 hours hanging around we left.

She says it’s ok for her and she won’t have any sexual intercourse without me but wants to go clubbing.

I would so so like to overcome my phobia and have fun in clubs. Dance, flirt and have a moresome with women…

…any ideas what I can do to change my mindset or overcome whatever bars me from having fun???

(Background: I have Epilepsy and lost my wife last July. I’m in therapy since 2 years and have also been in a clinic for 3 months till February.)

Spent the last 6 months inside getting panic attacks when going to the kitchen.

Today I went and sat 3 hours in a car dealership to purchase a car with a friend, and went and ate at a restaurant to celebrate.

I’ve been having a rough time so my mom flew to Montana to try to help me get out because I’m here alone. I feel like all I needed was to just give it a shot. I got to the dealership and was very uncomfortable, and disassociating bad. After all I sat there and did breath work and made it through.

We got this y’all!

Sooo. Today was my cousins wedding. She had previously asked me to be in it, to which I said yes but had to back out of due to... you guessed it! Anxiety! Anyway, I made it to the actual wedding (only 10 mins from my house) - but after the ceremony they had like a 2 hour break in between annnnd I basically shouldn't have went home In-Between.. but i did. I couldn't make it back to the reception because I was having panic attacks. I felt/feel horrible but like.. I made it to the wedding at least!! I stayed and said congratulations. I am also 2 years sober so I wasn't sure how I would feel around alcohol at such a big celebration. I havent been around a trigger like that.

However, my boyfriend and I didn't go home.. we went down the road from my house to the Mexican food truck and ate there. Then we went further down the road to this potential job opportunity that I've been so scared to even drive down to.. but I made it there. Then we came home to our kiddos. This is also my second time away from my kids in the last 2 years since they've both been born. It was hard.

So like.. im kind of proud of myself but also angry at myself for not going back and afraid of how she will react. Idk I had a good day though.

For my whole life I've been going through this, I'm not sure what could've spawned this. I always described how I feel as "a weird phobia of the floor" until recently when i discovered agoraphobia and heavily related.

If I'm alone sitting on a chair I can't have my feet on the floor or else I feel an intense fear and like something is going to get me even though I know its not true. Same is true if I'm standing on the floor, I'll feel fine but every few minutes or so I get that same intense fear, shaking, rapid heart rate, and an intense urge to run to somewhere I know I'll feel fine. I have to run and hop on something like my bed and wait a few minutes to feel safe again before I can stand on the floor again. In every room I know where the exit is and I always have a plan of escape but if there is no clear exit I'll get extremely anxious. I get scared in my living room because it is an open space and there is too many places to consider where danger could come from. Some places I feel like this is elevators, showers, hallways, sitting to close to an entrance or not being able to see the entrance/exit. But when I'm with friends or family I feel completely fine and I do like to go out with them. I feel fine with other people unless something triggers me to get anxious and I'll become even more terrified because I have to consider their safety as well despite knowing it's unlikely for anything bad to happen.

Most of the time I don't fear the places where I know this will happen but I fear it when I'm in that situation, if that makes sense. These fears happen daily and constantly i think because it's in common situations. Thank you if you read this, I'm just very confused about this and why it's been happening my whole life

At home, I have a weighted vibrating heating pad that helps with anxiety . But at work and in social interactions, I don’t really have anything and meds take time to set in. Does anyone have any devices that help calm them?

Fidgets do not work. Vagus nerve stimulation helps, but it’s odd to do it in front of others, which only makes it worse.

This might sound stupid but does anybody else afraid of walking or standing too long?

One of my biggest fear is fainting in public, and while my anxiety progressed I developed this fear that if I walk or stand too long I start to worry that what if I will faint so I get dizzy and lightheaded if I think about it. Even worse if I don’t see any seat for example in buses then I start to panic and I have like 10 minutes while I stand/walk then I start to get this dizzy feeling. But if I though it out then I get better like today I had to stand for more than 1 hour and at first I thought I won’t make it, then at the end the fear and dizziness was gone. I even walked a lot after it without any problem.

(Sorry for my English!)

Here I am in my studio, extremely active and trying out new things.

My husband says he wants to drive to Orange County for a gallery show and if I want to go (I don’t even go for walks)

I say no, but he’s free to go. He says he doesn’t want to go without me.

Well, we do nothing together and it literally made me die inside

Currently choking back tears and earlier had a panic attack because I forgot to pay my car tax/registration on time. It was due at the end of April, so I'm a few days late. I was still able to pay over the phone, but will need to go in person to the DMV to receive my new license plate sticker & registration. :'(

I don't understand why they can't still mail it to me, as they would have if I paid on time. There aren't any late fees due or anything, so it seems pointless to make me sit & wait in their busy building. I had to make several trips there a year ago when I first got my car, and I survived. But of course each time strikes fear in me and I get so overwhelmed. It's crowded and you're trapped in there, waiting hours for your number to be called.

I hate that I forgot to pay on time. I was caught up in paying off my other bills that it slipped my mind. I'm feeling so beat down and overwhelmed about this.

Hey guys,

So I quit reddit years ago for a variety of reasons, one of which was to help me go outside more (look where that got me). I created this account just to post on this subreddit because I suffer from severe agoraphobia and I can't find support anywhere besides my therapist. None of my family understands and I have no friends. I also have bipolar disorder which I feel was probably the cause of my agoraphobia.

I am in online school right now and I am succeeding but pretty soon I will have to go in person and I am terrified to do it. I don't think my therapist even realizes how bad it is. I am able to go out and on walks but simple things like just going to the store are extremely painful. If I am to succeed in school I will need to overcome this illness but I am terrified I won't be able to get my degree because of it.

My therapist and psychiatrist both think that going outside is the cure and I agree. But it feels like torture and I don't have a car or friends. I was thinking about going to a local game store to play Magic the Gathering but that feels like jumping into the ocean without knowing how to swim.

I hate this illness and the living hell it creates for me. I can barely function as a person because of it. The worst part is people just expect me to "just get over it". I'm so fucking frustrated sometimes I want to scream.

My psychiatrist prescribed me ativan to help with the anxiety and it does somewhat but nowhere near enough.

How do you guys manage this?

I'm sure it's a thing but I don't know the name for it. It's a mental response to the anxiety for sure.

Best way I can describe it is when you get lost in your thoughts but you have no thoughts, your vision gets sort of tunnel visioned, you lose awareness of your surroundings. I'm probably making it sound a lot worse than it is, it's more just like your mind getting fuzzy and you aren't exactly thinking clear. I've noticed it during higher anxiety but far from panic.

30F. I have developed a fear of fainting in front of people. This developed after fainting as a bridesmaid in a wedding - we were standing up outside in the Louisiana heat for a 40 minute ceremony. Had a work up by my PCP and a cardiologist including 14 day heart monitor, and everything was fine.

I am not scared of the actual act of fainting or having a medical condition or even dying from it, but I am scared of the attention it draws… I have always been reserved and hated being the center of attention. I dreaded my own wedding lol (luckily the fainting incident happened after i got married, otherwise I would’ve had to elope).

This sense of panic has started to happen in restaurants, especially if I’m not seated on the perimeter. Has also happened at work a few times. Also at church. I never get up and leave. I just force myself to get through it. My husband is pretty good at distracting me from it.

Has anyone had and overcome this fear? How did you do it? I’m not opposed to medications, but I prefer to try the CBT route first.

I recently posted here about my travel to New Zealand. To cut the story short, I made it.

I rode the plane for a total of over 22 hours with zero meds. I still brought Xanor just in case I panic.

After 2 years, I was out for eleven days straight. I rode the car, plane, bus, and two cruises the entire trip but I got through all of them. We even drove going to Milford Sound for eight hours. Not gonna lie, the freeways really bothered me.

There was plenty of opportunity to get comfortable with the uncomfortable. I experienced the things I didn’t know I had enjoyed before. I lost count of how many times I gazed up at the sky and felt incredibly grateful to exist. For the first time, I’m extremely proud of myself for being brave.

I have been back home last week and haven’t really left for 5 days. Tomorrow, I have to work outside and still feel nervous. I hope I can make it out again. I hope this fear will dissipate soon. Sending you all love and light.

Go on. They said, with a just. Will have to try leaving my house again. Fresh air. Maybe it helps.

I was wearing bright green fluoro safety vest and was waiting at a marked pedestrian zebra striped crossing with a slight elevation or bump. Which I believe is to slow down the cars. By law, Cars should giveway to pedestrians with intent to cross the road on a designated crossing. I hope I am absolutely right, there. No dramas? I'm not entitled person. It's only my legal right under the law.

I followed prudence, caution rules. I stopped and waved at the car. pointing across the road. This pickup truck slowed down, I start to cross. But he Revved his engine and accelerated. and I was scared and I back off. His mirror of the truck bumped into me.

This is unsafe! Why is it so difficult for him to follow the rules. I made myself very clear and obvious and I didn't wear black as well. The time was midday on a sunny day too.

I can't even walk across the road in peace and safety to the job search office and social welfare office. How can I work, if the very society tells me that I have to go outside and face my fears. Is this what I have to face, a warfare battle, every single commute?!?!

Hey another success to add to the list. I’m still struggling tremendously despite doing things but i’m really trying. I drove 30 minutes in the dark last night by myself to visit my friends at college and stayed overnight! I actually can’t believe I did that I haven’t done that in two years and always made excuses when they had asked me to come. At first I made little excuses not to go but I would rather feel fear than sit with lasting depression that I didn’t go so I said yup I’m coming. Within 15 minutes of my drive I j got really panicky and had that fear of far from home, no one here to help me with my panic all by myself, so started panicking even more. I took my Ativan quickly and I’m upset I didn’t try to push through, it was kind of impulsive the second my symtpoms hit me. I wish I didn’t take it so I could prove to myself I can do it without help but I took it and am a bit upset about that because now I feel I can’t do it without medication but I’m the end I still went. I only took 0.5 mg and it honestly doesn’t even help my anxiety and panic anymore so idk if it helped me maybe a little bit. Butttt I even stayed over night despite fears of insomnia and hadn’t seen them in two years because of agoraphobia! I was so happy to see them I missed them a lot I just want to be by my friends all the time they make me so happy and make me laugh. This illness really has taken my happiness away I forgot how I used to be and last night I was back to my “usual” self around my friends it was nice to see that side of myself for a brief moment again. It just reminded me how much there really is to life and how much agoraphobia steals from you and i’m not going to let it do that to me again, I’m going to try my best to say yes to as much as I can and do whatever to prevent myself from falling down the hole again. I will have to work on driving places alone for long periods of time because the fear of panicking, myself with no safe person, no one to help me, takes a while to get home, stranded, is really strong again because of that Ativan moment and I’m worried I’m going to fall back into not wanting to go out or drive and will prevent me from seeing my friends and doing things. Hope it’s just a small bump in the road and I’m sure it was heightened because it was very dark out. Thanks for reading!

So tomorrow I have to run errands with my boss and I still have trouble going out and driving going far. I have fear of having that panic attack and fear rush, incredibly helpless and dreadful feeling like no one is there to help me I’m on my own with this fearful panic attack, there’s no escape home, takes a while to get home, I’m stuck feeling like this with this fear on my own etc. i’m really nervous about running errands tomorrow because I have those fears running through my mind and keep picturing myself panicking having the fear and feeling helpless it feels so real I have already imagined it. What can I do to help tell myself/change my thinking or do. Idk what to do I just keep fearing a panic attack far from home when I’m by myself the fear that comes up when it happens is just so bad feels like I have to run home and can’t make it home it’s hard not to fear. I feel stuck and don’t want to experience that. With my boss I’ll feel helpless and like I need to go home but I won’t be able to and just have to suffer through. Is the only way to get over this exposure? I just have to push through it, experience it and all it’s sensations right ? No matter how strong the fear is and how scary and helpless it feels ? Ugh I’m worried I’ll panic bad and will all be disoriented and shaking and embarassed then I go back to the office after. I’m just stuck. If anyone can help please share some advice thank you :)

Hello all, My sister has Agoraphobia and she recently got a VR set (Meta Quest 3,) and I'm looking for free/cheap ways to help her with it using the VR set. I have a laptop, Asus FX506HC-RS51 TUF, so I might be able to download stuff to it and connect it to the VR set. I haven't tried any of that yet, but looking for recommendations, if any of y'all have any, and ways to help. I take her driving when I'm able to, but not having my own car and relaying on a friend to let me borrow one sucks.

Thank you all for any help.

I don't know if it's just me, but I feel like the anxiety pours out of me and even some agoraphobia feelings when I exercise. Especially to the point where I'm tired and looking forward to having a shower and sleeping/relaxing. I think it does help with my agoraphobia. It's not fully gone but my body feels more at ease. (And working out sucks sometimes but the benefits are amazing!)

After being isolated for a long time and not really socializing (also dissociating) I feel more awkward, more clumsy, less aware of physical things because I have my head in the clouds.

I'm in treatment right now and on meds but reintegrating socially and just plain being outside made me aware of how awkward I have become.

I wouldn't say I was the most social or the most confident back in my school days, but I think I'm more of a social person person back then and much less awkward.

Anyone here can relate? I would love to hear your experiences or opinions.

I’ve been dealing with agoraphobia for a couple of months now and I had to take a long haul flight while I was struggling with it. On the way to the destination, I took a beta blocker because I didn’t wanna risk it but on the way back, I didn’t take any medication at all, didn’t have water with me during the take off and I’m so proud to say I did not have a panic attack. I was definitely anxious but thankfully it did not escalate. Sharing this so that everyone else that is struggling with it knows there is hope and that you’ll be able to live your life, no matter how hard it may seem rn

I have been making good progress these past few months but yesterday I did a little too much and went too far. Some old fears came back and today's drive my anxiety levels were higher than usual. I didn't do what I was able to do yesterday but I still made myself go to the gas station that was close to home and had to wait for like 15 minutes and did a long drive afterwards and waited for 5 minutes before my anxiety came down before leaving. that drive is still pretty new to me and long.

Well I guess my government phone is off. I knew that ACP was ending. But I don't know what to do now. I have to figure out how to go get a new phone. And I have to try to get someone to help me pay for it. I can use Wi-Fi at home. It's all just so overwhelming.

Hi

I’m so thankful that this day has come. I wasn’t a regular Reddit user but I guess I will be from now..

Quick background:

I (F21) had an ear surgery when I was on 8th grade, minutes into it I felt so uneasy and I was panicking inside yet I didn’t know what to do. Then I fainted.

Days after it was so worse that I couldn’t eat, I keep on vomiting to the point that my grandmother said we have to see a doctor. But I couldn’t even get up from the bed so we invited some idk folk healer(?) to diagnose me LOL, anyway long story short it didn’t help and I actually don’t remember how I got better.. But eventually got worse after the pandemic happened

But years later I noticed that I avoid situations where I don’t seem to have an escape (like riding a plane or even getting a haircut), it got worse and then eventually got better, but I still can’t see myself riding a plane, or a boat, a ferris wheel. I’m even scared to have a class reporting because what if I get an episode while talking in front of people :( I’m even afraid to have medical examinations, etc.. basically situations where I don’t have control over. And I’m thinking how will I be able to live my life like this?

I always thinking about the worst that could happen, and my coping mechanism for it is that I always make sure that I have an accessible bathroom wherever I go because that’s my safe space..

It’s so hard that I can’t tell my family about this.. And I’m so thankful reading across the posts in this community.. It feels good to see people who finally understand. This is such a healthy environment..

I’m also planning to have myself assessed.. I’m just curious, for those taking medications, could you tell that it has positive effects? are you actually getting better? because I’m worried that it may not and I get even worse through side effects etc..

Thank you everyone, you guys are my hero 🦸 We’ll all get through this!

It's so hard to celebrate small victories without serious backlash from my own brain like why aren't you normal. But I had to get cash and I did it! It was really hard and I had to call a friend on the phone and my heart was hummingbirding the whole time but I made it.

I had a work from home job for three years, so it’s been a very long time since I’ve last left the house alone for anything other than meds or quick doctors appointments, but today I took my brother to school, fueled my car, got a library card application, and an employment application (only because I told myself I needed to get at least one before I could let myself go home) without anyone else with me, it involved a lot of anxious driving on backroads to stall so I didn’t have to go places right away, but it was still more than I’ve done in probably years at this point. I feel like I could sleep until Monday now, but I’m still really proud of myself and if I tried to tell anyone I know in real life they’d think I was being silly, so I figured I could share it here.

I feel like people look at me and talk about me behind my back and certain people that I don't know near me know me they don't smile or anything like their gossiping but I've had that happen irl but that feels different than this am I insane?

Hey everyone, today I turn 24, usually I’d spend my birthday going to dinner or the club with friends but due to this I just can’t So I told myself I’d just like to go to a shopping center near me and buy myself something.. I will be leaving in the next hour or so and I’m already feeling to stay home😞 I didn’t get any sleep last night, and usually before my exposures I like to make sure I have everything planned, that includes a good nights rest, because I didn’t get that I feel like it already threw off my routine and I feel the anxiety creeping in But I really want to get better and do this for myself:/ Any advice

So lately whenever I've been trying to get some form of exposure therapy it's been really small like a 2 minute car drive to the store and Max 15-20 minutes of shopping with family for groceries. Which is great in progress for my agoraphobia but I've realized I still always feel anxious going places even with other people (as I've cancelled so many plans the past month or so) I've been constantly trying to push myself to get out of my house for a small even 5 minute walk but I think I really fear walking alone where strangers could be so I've always bailed last minute. However today I was feeling like I should be productive of some sort, or "adventurous" so I took a nice cold shower, took my noise cancelling headphones and decided to walk all the way to a park 1 street away (15 minute walk in total)

And I did it! Most of the walk was pretty nice as its starting to get colder where I live, but unfortunately my phone died as I got to the park and panic started to set in as i didn't have a distraction. However I just ended up sitting at a bench for a moment and watched these dogs walking around, then somehow managed to walk all the way back home with some minor stomach pain probably due to stress.

I know it feels like a small accomplishment but I do hope to either keep doing it or walk to other places like the store (so I can hopefully stop asking people for rides just to get groceries and be a pain) just need to fight my anxiety one walk at a time.