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I have to go to the dentist next week . I'm going to take Xanax 1 hour before the appointment if it doesn't work can I ask the dentist for the sedation gas ? Can I mix the two together?

I truly believe DPDR (Depersonalization or derealization) is way scarier and harder to deal with? Your thought?

28f. Struggled with agoraphobia my whole life, was functioning well until I graduated college, Covid hit and I got in an abusive relationship with an alcoholic and I lost a few family members which really spiraled me into PTSD/OCD territory. Lately I've been able to go to a 3x a week boxing class and it's been much better for me than self-medicating with alcohol.

I want to start running but when I think about it (this could be the OCD talking) I can almost feel the world closing in on me. I don't even know if I could run to the end of my short neighborhood and back. I live with my mom so I don't know if I could plan her as an "out" which helps me a lot to have. We also have a treadmill in the garage that I've used here and there.

Has anyone else started running with agoraphobia? Or any other outside exercise? What was your process? I feel safe in the gym and driving there (<10 minutes away with a 30 second walk inside) but something about being outside and away from a car/house/inside area just scares the fuck out of me.

I have an aunt who suffered from panic attacks and was basically home bound who now runs half-marathons. When I met with her to talk about what was going on, she told me it saved her and she's been really good since she started running ~a decade ago.

I hate this illness. The things that will get me better are terrifying.

Hi! After being housebound for 2-3 years, I have begun to implement the dare response when I do exposures and its helping tremendously!! The thing is that this is after a year and a half of not really reacting in the right way to my anxiety. Since I'm relatively near to dare, i was wondering how any of you would use that for this specific scenario:

Winter approaches, and because of this it gets dark early. I get REALLY anxious at night if i'm out, like to the point where i will run and hide in a store til my bus comes to my stop and then run to my door and panic the entire time i try unlocking my door 💀 i'm also unable to take even a step down the stairs when it gets dark. I was wondering how I should approach this with dare (or if you have any other ways of going about this) because i want to experience the fear and still do it anyways. I've been trying myself but it's like I immediately take a step toward the first step on the stairs and then immediately head back towards my door, and it's really frustrating! If anyone's got any advice pls tell me! Ty guys!

???

Drove to the same retail park. Me and my dad went inside Matalan. I wanted to see all the Halloween stuff. It's all Christmas stuff now. Boo :( And I couldn't get very far anyway. I hung around the exit like some kind of thief. I was anxious, but refused to go until I felt moderately calm. This app I've been using says my anxiety doesn't tell me when to leave, I do. Maybe I'll have the courage to actually browse and buy something tomorrow. Who knows.

-The app is called DARE by the way. You got to pay subscription, but the SOS section is free.

If you could go anywhere without money or agoraphobia being an issue, where would you go? I have always dreamed of traveling to NYC for the holidays.

Hi everyone. I managed to get a job at a shop that is literally at the end of my street. 3 minute walk from my house. Meant to start on Sunday.

But I just don’t know how I am going to be able to go and stay there the whole shift. I just know I am going to be so panicked on and off the entire time. How do I not run away when I first start to panic. I will need to get home quickly. And 3 minutes walking seems like 3 hours when you are panicking.

I think it should just tell the shop that I can’t work there :(

It seemed like such a good idea when I applied for the job, I convinced myself that being 3 minutes away from home is no big deal. But now the time has come and I just know I’m going to panic and mess it all up.

Hello, I'm a 24 year old agoraphobe with PTSD and Generalized Anxiety Disorder and Panic Disorder. I recently found out when EMTs came to my house after testing my blood sugar out of curiosity that I likely have Type 2 Diabetes. Is there some way I can cheaply or affordably have a nurse or a doctor visit me in my home so I can at least get on Metformin, Insulin or Ozempic for the diabetes? I am extremely worried about my health and I monitor my blood sugar constantly, but I am deathly afraid of leaving the house still, despite being very heavily medicated. Not to mention, I've had to take care of my uncle who lives with me and helps pay bills as he's entered hospice care so I've been busy and basically stuck at home. I'm on Medicaid, as well and located in Ohio. Is there anything out there that can help me out? I'm desperate for something like that. I had to even get my State ID renewed by having a photographer come to my house recently.

It’s hard to know now that this is a chronic condition for some that flairs up and ebbs and flows throughout life.

I developed panic disorder with agoraphobia about 10 years ago. I wasn’t sure what was at the time but gradually I got through it. Thought it was just a phase in college. I went from housebound, ER visits, constant running out of classrooms, everything around me felt unsafe to eventually traveling the world alone. I was hopping on flights to other countries, long roadtrips constantly, business trips, social events everything.

Then, in 2018 on one of my adventures I got a panic attack hiking in Iceland. One of those random ones that seemed to creep up. Came back to the US with the same old dread feelings. This time had a more formal treatment plan of therapy and meds. Pretty much full remission after a few months but some safety behaviors lasted after, fear of heights, I prefer driver instead of someone else, relied on klonopin for planes. Still was able to hold a good job, go on business trips, long drives, and vacations.

5 years later I experienced a string of trauma, what do you know? Random big panic attack out of the blue. The past year I fell into a deep agoraphobia depression. This time I’ve become so tired of dealing with this. Having to accept that this may be the cycle of my life has me exhausted. As Claire Weeks says something along the lines of “the patient starts to dread the next bout of malaise”.

Sigh, here I go again, back to dread, safety rituals, and a world as small as maybe one block. I know I can try my best to get through it.

tldr: Has anyone had to cope with multiple flairs and remissions? I’m getting tired.

I just started working for the first time in retail and i desperately need new shoes. The ones I have right now aren’t sold by the company and are just falling apart and now causing me pain. I know that we don’t have my size in the store of shoes I have been thinking about getting and they would need to order. We get a 60% off discount that we can only use at that specific store in person so getting a pair there that will last me and help my chronic pain is the best choice. I’ve been working there for only a month and have been nervous to ask about it since I haven’t been trained in that area yet. Would it be weird of me to go today on my day off? Also the store is connected to a mall so would it be weird to go into the mall in general?

Hi everyone,

Im doing intensive exposure daily. I am the most afraid of that massive, intense panic feeling (so that i cannot function and something embarrasasing will happen). Cause my first PA i could literally not walk anymore.

So my question,

Im doing exposure now for 1.5 years. Every exposure i got the panic feeling pretty intense, however not as intense as the first couple PA.

But now im doing more difficult exposure everyday and i do feel anxiety but far from intense. No i just feels like big stress and not panic.

Is this common in exposure therapy that the panic feeling becomes way softer or do i need to bumb it my exposure up to intense panic? Anyways im making big progress.

I would usually ask this my T but i dont see him for 1.5 week and i wanna know talk experience.

Maybe this is a stupid question, but I'm wondering if people have any knowledge or things to say on the idea that having such massive anxiety could be linked to being autistic?

Want to hand out candy...but the doorbell ringing makes my soul leave my fucking body 🫠

I did it. I went almost an hour away, stayed there for another hour and then went back without calling a taxi. I walked 20 minutes until the subway station, took 2 subways and a bus to get back home. I still can’t believe I did all that. I haven’t been outside my safe zone without my safe people for ages. So there’s that.

By the end of the night, I’m pretty tired every day, so I sleep well, and normally have normal dreams. But probably once a week or so, I have a disturbing dream about me in a situation where the agoraphobic thoughts take control. For example, last night I was meeting my family half way to go to some lake, and the trip was almost over and I had an hour drive home and the entire dream was just thinking and panicking about that imaginary hour drive home. I’ve done a million hour drives at this point and when I’m doing them, they feel a TON better than what my mind imagines, but in the dream it feels sooo real and maximum level uncomfortable. It’s just annoying cause it bleeds into my mornings and starts my day off sour.

I will say however, these dreams used to really affect me, convincing me against doing hard things, but as time and trials have shown me, the way you feel in dreams is NEVER how it actually is. A month ago I just moved to Chicago and I had probably a dozen dreams about it, almost all of them uncomfortable, but being here has been an absolute blessing, feel at home here. Anyway.. anyone feel me 😂?

I’m just going into town to get some things with my boyfriend then coming back home. Idk why i’m so scared, I just don’t like being outside, it feels impossible to even get out of my bed right now and get ready. I hate this

Hey, I’m slowly recovering from agoraphobia. The main thing I still struggle with however, is public transport.

I can just about manage on a train, as long as the journey is no longer than about 20 minutes.

I’m struggling to get out into the world because I can’t get a train everywhere and in some cases I would need to get a bus or taxi to get there and get home. But I’m too scared to do that so I just avoid going to those places. Again, it’s that feeling of being trapped which gives me intense panic attacks and I feel like I need to leave immediately but I can’t. Trains aren’t so bad for me because I can stand up and walk around a bit and go to the bathroom if I need to calm myself down. But I can’t do that on a bus or in a taxi. I’m also terrified of taxis because I don’t feel safe as a young woman being in someone else’s car, I immediately think of all the things that could go wrong.

I’m going on a big Halloween night out tomorrow evening, and I should be excited, but all I can think of is ‘how on earth am I going to get home!’ And terrifying myself. I’ve looked at the bus timetable, looks terrifying to me. Looked at Ubers, too frightened. Even with the Uber safety features in the app, I’m still too scared and would feel trapped and immediately panic, especially alone. I just don’t know what to do. My girl friends all get Ubers and taxis alone at night but I just can’t bring myself to. Anyone else struggle with this?

So want to share how I feel about seeing people recently and would love an advice of any kind... already posted a few times here and always saw even a little help in your comments. The short story is, I do have panic disorder and it got a lot worse a month and a half ago after a party where I had some massive panic attacks making me feel really bad and scared. Since then, I have trouble going outside (even I do occasionaly go for a short walk). I have also been avoiding seeing people, just my family. So the issue is... a friend (one who was at that party) just called me yesterday and told me he is coming to town and will come to visit me. I know, not a bad thing at all... but not sure my mind and body feel it that way. For some reason I could not sleep last night, started to feel really bad mentally and physically (intense fear, very fast heart rate, nausea, high amount of pressure in my head and body and other not pleasant feelings). I do feel angry and even furious at myself for feeling this way about seeing a close friend... this is just awful. I mean I can live with the anxiety and fear but feeling sick in a physical way is just ruining everything. And that is when I thought I was starting to become better... My explanation about this is - my messed up brain associates this person (that has never done anything bad to me) with a few not so pleasant things - first, he was at the party which worsened my condition and I am afraid that I will start having panic attacks again and I most likely will. Also he usually wants to have some drinks together and I have been avoiding alcohol recent weeks. I'm also afraid that he might ask me to go somewhere I wouldn't feel good, because he is a person that have been trying to push me trough my fears etc but it is not always really working. It is like my brain is screaming "danger" to my body and that makes me feel really sick with a whole package of physical feelings. Haven't slept also makes things like 100 times worse. I've had similar feelings like these before but it was never as intense and strong as now, I feel it is getting out of control. Everything is telling me "just don't see people and relax" but I don't think this is right... I mean, I cannot just refuse to everyone till the end of my life and never do stuff with friends anymore. But it is being a real struggle... I am trying to talk about this and I do share I have a big issue with anxiety and panic attacks, but people refuse to understand and say "you are fine, you are going to be all righ, nothing bad is going to happen to you etc" and does not make me feel better at all. So that is what I wanted to share. I know it is good to see poeple but is it really when it makes you feel sick? Have anyone else experienced this and how do you manage with it?

This was my first date in three years, and it’s technically my first first date because every day I’ve been on (7 (i know, i really know how to pick em)) has been with men I was already dating. this was the closest I’ve come to a panic attack in a long time. I had taken a Xanax before, and still got extremely close to panicking, which I haven’t experienced before. Five minutes into the day I asked to use the bathroom and took another half a Xanax and decided to go back out. My two roommates sat behind me sharing drinks while I was on my date. Everything that I thought was going to go wrong on the date went wrong, but I survived! He didn’t really look like his pictures (one thing he lied about was his height, i was slightly taller than him), he was a very dry conversationalist, wasn’t too warm, didn’t really smile much, didn’t ask me anything about myself or try to continue the conversation, and we pretty much ate in silence, except for me talking and trying to drum up conversation. he also paid for the date while I was in the bathroom and when I came out immediately stood up to leave instead of sitting down and chatting more, so the whole date lasted about 45 minutes and then he decided to walk me home, which I thought was nice, so I offered him a snickerdoodle, and he came inside my house and ended up spilling JUICE** all over his pants. That humanized him a little bit to me, so I decided to chat more with him in my living room, and we talked for three hours about the most misogynistic things. He is very much into “ men have their roles and men do men things and women have their roles and women do women things“ he also made some trans phobic and homophobic remarks, exhibited some controlling behaviors in his ideas of what he believes his girlfriend should be able to do without him, and doesn’t believe in feminism and quoted Andrew Tate. I’m glad this part of the date happened at home, but by the end of it, I felt like I lost so many brain cells talking to someone like that. i’m proud of myself for getting through something like that without having a panic attack. I joined up with some friends for drinks afterwards and everything, which I didn’t think I would be able to do prior to the date.

I had my first memorable panic attack a few years ago on a flight, and that kick started my agoraphobia. I’ve flown a few times since then, but they’re usually under two hours. They are always uncomfortable, but I always get through it. This time I chose a longer flight than usual, to a further destination and I picked a super early departure time which was my first mistake. I was nauseous, VERY anxious because I didn’t want to get sick on the plane and felt so stuck. It literally was a terrible time from start to finish, and I didn’t feel through my anxiety, I was white knuckling it. I was genuinely struggling to keep it together and not outwardly cause a scene. But on the bright side, my flight home was only slightly uncomfortable. Now that I’ve had that horrible experience I’m actually pretty willing to fly again, and try a 3-4 hour destination. I figure as bad as it can get, I can handle it. The anticipatory anxiety is what has been stopping me from living my life, so I have to make the choice every single day to NOT allow that. If you’re reading this, this is your reminder to take anxiety with you wherever you go, as you live your life.

I spent 2018-2021 mostly in my house, with occasional trips (with anxiety) within a mile of my house. Ask me anything. Feel free to PM me if you don’t want to post here. No judgement

I had a really bad panic attack yesterday. I guessed whatever I'd face out in the real world can't be as bad as it was. And it wasn't. Whoo! We actually parked the car and I actually GOT OUT THE CAR AND WALKED INTO A SHOP! I walked all around Pets At Home and I was barely anxious! Obviously we didn't buy anything, but it was a step in the right direction. I'm very proud of myself.

I feel worthless, a complete waste to society. I am now on disability due to this nightmare and I just feel like a drain to society. The depression of not being able to provide for my family is wearing on me every day.

Now that there is a push for return to office, I feel even more hopeless in finding a work from home position.

I have no motivation/energy anymore to fight this demon.

I feel like most of my agoraphobia is centered around the internal debate whether you should leave or stay. If im far from home and focus on this question i can feel my fight or flight response getting ready for action. Then i end up deciding one of them (stay or leave) and the panic subsides, as long as i fully stand with that choice.

I literally feel like im more scared of panicking and leaving than panicking and staying. If i stay i at least dont need a planned exit route/excuse/check the traffic......

Im scared of loosing control, going berserk and making an exit towards home with a panic strong enough to make me unable to get home. Or mabye im on the way home and the raging panic wont subside. Im not however, scared of the sensations of a panic attack alone. Theres a reason why im litteraly immune to anxiety/panic when im at home, because my mindset changes completely. The other day i suddenly got chest pains and blurry vision at home. I cant even remember what i did because it was just ordinary kitchen stuff. I feel 100% panic bulletproof at home.

How can i get rid of this fake belief that a panic attack makes me loose control and go crazy? Everytime i panic far from home i quickly realize that im still in control of my body and the panic goes away. This happens EVERYTIME. However, this is obviously not enough to get rid of the avoidance and anticipatory anxiety, hence im in this sub lmao. I feel like my safe zone is imploding and i need a new strategy.

edit: please dont comment on this saying youve completely lost control while panicking, even though i dont fully believe you it would still really mess with my head

What tools do you use to help you take that first step out the door?

I find that once I am out and about, my nerves start to calm.

Coming back home after being out somewhere I feel so good and less anxious.

But right before I leave I get a major panic attack almost everytime.

Hi guys, I started having panic disorder and being agoraphobic in April. I’m in recovery and have come so far. This might be a stupid question or sound crazy but has anyone gone in a haunted house? I’m a huge Halloween lover, it’s my absolute favorite holiday and this is something I always enjoyed before. I couldn’t leave my house before and now I work 25 min away, I drive myself everywhere, I’ve gone far away, and over the summer I went to an amusement park! I was out last weekend at an art museum that is a huge building with ample space and high ceilings. Something about it not having windows and going down the winding halls made me feel trapped or on the verge of panic. There was an event there and it was really lively so I just left and I was really annoyed with myself because I have come so far. So this has made me think that I wouldn’t be able to get through a haunted house but mainly I want to know does anyone else feel like that in other places or buildings that have little to no windows?

I am looking for a free support group online. Lots of people can give advice but when asked where is this group meeting no one has any websites to share or can't think of anything. Please let me know if there is an active group. It will be much appreciated.

I hear many people say join a free group therapy for losing your spouse. Does anyone know of a free support group.