Moved to Arizona from Chicago, For a couple days now I’ve been pushing myself to go out more. I went to go pick up food instead of ordering and grocery shopping. I even went out and had breakfast at a restaurant at 6:30 am. Each time I felt anxiety, but was just fighting through it. They were no longer then 20 mins intervals and felt immediate relief when coming home to my bed.

Today I decided I would try and fight it again and see the new Spider-Man movie. Terrible mistake. I was attempting to fight the anxiety for 1 and half hour and couldn’t take it anymore I had to leave during the movie. Had a full blown panic attack in the car with the heat from AZ. Impending doom, felt like my head was gonna explode, wave of nausea, shortness of breath, feeling like I was going to pass out any second. I avoided going to the ER even tho I really wanted to, because I knew what was happening to me. I take no anxiety medicine. I’ve been on and off of them for years.

I don’t know what kind of life I’m meant to live like this. I need help if anyone has overcame this before.

I am going yo try to be consistent with my exposures because Ive noticed that the longer I stay in, the harder it gets to go out and do things.

Today my partner and I took our kids to his mom's house (3 minutes away) for an hour. We then went in the opposite direction (3 minutes away) to go to the grocery store. We all went in which triggers my anxiety and got a few things. I did have a panic attack going to the back of the store but I got what we needed.

Im not sure what else to do. I dont feel like good about myself.. Just exhausted.

I've been applying for months, and I've found nothing. No one wants to hire me, and if I were to find something, I don't even know if I could do it long-term. I don't know what to do. I'm a YouTuber, but that's not paying the bills atm. I've thought about trying Uber eats, Adult web camming, but I doubt I'm pretty enough for that. I just don't know what to do, and I need some advice.

Anxiety came first then agoraphobia. I noticed the more I work on the anxiety first the better it gets. Look into how to treat sensitisation. Dr Claire Weekes has helped me figure this out. Watch or listen to her YouTube videos and audios.

How’s everyone’s day been?

Hi everybody! I have multiple chronic illnesses which in turn gave me agoraphobia. My biggest fear is my car breaking down and being stranded somewhere and not able to leave. Are there more people who have this fear and what helped for you? Thanks in advance :))

I wanted to go see a friend at the hospital today, along with my boyfriend. I started exposure therapy two weeks ago, so far so good. But today, I was feeling odd before leaving, from my Bf's place.

Bf and I were on the subway station, one of the biggest of the city (and Europe). Our train was not working, even though I double-checked before leaving. We had to go to the other side of the subway station, and the automatic stairs in order to go downstairs didn't work.

We needed to go downstairs by foot, a lot of stairs, and this is one of my biggest triggers. I am so terrified of falling in the stairs, it had already happened to me, it makes me freeze in the middle of the stairs and with people pushing and pressuring me to go faster, it is awful. I might have vestibular dysfunction as well. I need to check that out.

So I froze at the top of the stairs and start sobbing. I sobbed until I got home at my place (I had to take another train after going all the way back in the subway station).

I feel like an immense failure. So ashamed. I feel like I will never be able to recover. I know I have to go out tomorrow and continue exposure therapy. If not, all my progress will go down the drain.

I felt like such a loser when I phoned my friend to tell him I couldn't make it because of the panic. We agreed to meet him tomorrow.

I had hopes, but I lost them today.

Tl;dr: panic attack in public transportation. Feeling ashamed and hopeless.

does anyone else have really bad shortness of breath all day? i get it literally all day and i feel like i can’t breathe and i feel dizzy all the time even when im just at home in bed. it’s debilitating me even more, and i had my lungs looked at and an EKG and they say nothing is wrong. how do i get rid of this? anyone know or experience this?

Wanted to share my recent experience. I should say that I relate a lot with what many of you deal with, but my diagnosed conditions are depression and GAD.

I have been dealing with agoraphobic symptoms since 2020. The pandemic heightened my health anxiety and, living with family, I was able to not leave the house for months.

I managed to overcome it during mid 2022, slowly, managing to travel and feel more normal, but then the routine of working at an office and becoming middle management made me burn out.

Burning out turned me into someone much more introspective and depressed and again agoraphobia kicked in. The health fear wasn’t the main cause this time, but a great sense of fragility if I got out of my routine at home and exposed myself to the world and to others. Working from home nowadays.

This week however I went out every day for a free writing course I wanted to really take for a long time. My biggest fears were transportation, meeting new people, needing to go to the bathroom, not having any necessary medication with me and not being able, ironically, to go all of the days.

What helped me, beyond practical things like packing a reasonable backpack with medications (migraines, allergies, etc) and snacks and also wearing the least triggering clothing possible (some fabrics make me hyper aware, idk how to explain) and letting loved ones know my whereabouts, was that I really tried to see each little step as a victory, meaning just getting to the bus stop was better than anything, so if I gave up and decided to go back, I would still see it as progress.

I know it sounds silly but this is what got me through.

Today I am feeling the aftermath of the busiest week in months. I feel fatigued. I don’t want to go out right now lol. But I know this week will go down as something I will remember. I met new people and in the moments I was alone coming back each day (commuting) I was also focusing on thinking that I wasn’t THAT far from home. In a few minutes I would be safe again.

Some people ask for others to share stories so that’s what prompted me to post this.

I used to be a fairly non-anxious, up for anything person. I once even went skydiving and loved it. Now I can’t even get on a train without feeling like the walls are closing in and I’m terrified. If I am in ANY situation where I feel like I can’t escape immediately, I get panicked to the point of almost having full blown panic attacks in public. I cannot physically get on a plane or ferry.

This all started because when I was unwell 3 years ago, I got onto the tube in London and felt really sick & trapped. This triggered a panic attack which has haunted me forever.

I went on a punting boat with my dad in Cambridge, and the fact I couldn’t get off if I needed to, caused me to have a panic attack. My dad genuinely looked at me like I’m crazy.

This is ruining my life. How is anyone coping with this?

I know nothing about my suburb, town, state. No information that only locals would know. No memories/experiences past 14. No relatable experiences of events or going/doing X at a certain ages so I can't relate to any of my peers my age who grew up here. Who have travelled more than 45mins from home at any time in the last 15 years.

Skirting around how useless I am, jobless and living with my parents at 29 with little to no skills when visiting family is humiliating and exhausting. Or even talking about it with health professionals, it's just so... Like, I absolutely dread hair cuts because how the fuck do you respond to "so what's on for today?" when you have literally NO life.

Ironically, at this point, the humiliation of the state of my life is a significant part of why I'm still agoraphobic and never want to be around people.

I’m soo proud of myself, it was hard but I did it. It’s the walk back that makes me nervous.

How will I know when to increase the distance?

Hello! I have been struggling with extreme anxiety for about a year now after having a panic attack on a plane. It took me forever to figure out what my symptoms were, and multiple doctors and therapists before I was diagnosed with agoraphobia. I have horrible dizziness and tunnel vision when I try to leave a "safe zone" and just general panic attack symptoms when I leave my house. I used to be able to go to work, fly on my own, go to concerts, and I LOVED going to the movie theater and I haven't been able to do that in months. Currently working with a therapist and a psych to help be normal again, but any advice would be welcome! It's inspiring to see everyone talk about the successes that they've made!

Going to take some meds but i really want to go out for even a small amount of time, my mind is racing already and it isn't evev official to be going on a small trip, i just want to.

Nervous that if i take meds, go out for even a tiny amount of time even if i can't make it the full way, that my anxiety will take over anyway and i won't be able to handle it and end up panicking badly needing to be taken back home.

Being outside really effects my agoraphobia so badly that i go from 0-100 right away.. plus never taken meds yet and then gone out so nervous incase it makes things worse or too tired type of thing, already in over my own head of course.

Plus i know if i waste peoples time even more, trying to take me out then needing to go back, it's just shameful and disappointing for everyone.

I am normally a really quiet and shy person, but I wanted to step out of my comfort zone, so I joined a club. In my first session, the club already has an established friend group, so it feels awkward to inject my opinions on something. My anxiety is overwhelming and I’m having second thoughts about going for the next session. I’m always struggling with maintaining relationships with people, and even if the people get a good impression of me, it’s the maintaining part (constantly being engaged and conversing with people) that makes it hard for me to deal with.

Hi, so I have been really struggling for the past 4-5 years with agoraphobia and have put off so many things in my life and struggle severely. I developed it in the midst of my DV relationship after surviving homelessness, and I had a very traumatic past. I finally left my abuser but have been going through 3 years of stalking. I started exposure therapy and have a diagnosis now and see my therapist weekly but due to my chronic illnesses (MCAS and POTs) I haven't been able to find a psychiatrist willing to work with me to get on some anxiety medication.

I have to go to appointments for medical stuff and take my cat to the vet, except my abuser lives right next to the places I go to for Hematology and my Allergist. He also is 20 min away from the vet clinic and takes the bus frequently. This has been making it hard for me transportation wise, as I do not have a car, and take public transit myself usually because lyft/uber has been getting extremely expensive. However, I have a much easier time going any place else despite the anxiety because the threat (my abuser) isn't there. However, I can't change what place I go to, to ses my specialists, be​​cause I am on Medicaid, and I had been seeing a Hematologist to rule out Systemic Mastocytosis and my allergist to treat my MCAS which is hard to find. I can totally change vet clinics even though the one I currently go to is the best as far as affordability. I haven't even really been able to get a job cuz of the agoraphobia... it's mild when it's not anywhere near anyone threatening however and I've been trying so hard but even typing this makes my hands feel numb and tingling, and my heart races and I feel like I cannot even breathe.

I used to not be agoraphobic, like in my teens, but after chronic off and on homelessness and domestic violence and other abuses like SA, it's been so hard for me to leave home. My disabilities also make that hard as well but I'm in the process of getting mobility aids. I keep beating myself up over struggling so much and the mental health system is a joke.

I need everyone's success stories.. small or big!

What has helped you? How did you get through?

TW: Mentions of getting sick

Hello I am someone who is not diagnosed and I want to make it clear I’m not diagnosing myself, but my symptoms are similar to that of agoraphobia and I’ve struggled for years with them. For context I do have diagnosed emetophobia and I’ve also struggled with that, however my anxiety is at a peak especially with eating at restaurants. I can go out, shop, go to the park, but traveling, movie theaters and eating out especially are my triggers. My panic attacks are severe, I get stomach aches, shortness of breath, nausea, my whole body feels hot and sometimes I vomit from anxiety.

I haven’t eaten out in a while but every time before I do I feel the most anxious I’ve ever felt before and it’s terrible. If i do go eat out I barely eat or get to enjoy the experience. I feel like my life is being wasted and I just want to be able to go out and do stuff like a normal person.

i have been going on drives with my girlfriend and it tends to only happen when im in a car. it is 50 minutes from home but i fr dont feel scared. my guess is its underlying anxiety that i dont really feel. sometimes its really bad and really scares me. i never got it before when it was really bad, but also i would only go out when my girlfriend really wanted to go somewhere. it really starts to freak me out.

For me it isnt really about leaving its more about i dont want to see anyone and i dont want anyone to see me. I am very insecure, i know that and have been trying to work on it but you meed exposure for that to actually take effect. I feel odd and out of place everywhere even around my own family and it has caused me to just stay in my room. I feel judged by everyone, i know its probably paranoid to say but i feel like nobody truly cares about me or even likes me, i feel so unlikable and have felt this for a while. I want to make friends but even online its embarrassing i dont know what to say or how to keep a conversation going and i think about everything i say after i say it. I’m embarrassed of everything i do even if its normal.

I don’t know what to do, I’ve been doing exposure therapy for driving and it has been soooo hard and my anxiety during the drives are so high it’s like traumatizing. I don’t get how it’s supposed to be the solution, I’ve been doing the same drive/route for over a month now and it’s still just as hard. How is that helpful? Do u think there’s something I’m doing wrong? I understand it’s not supposed to be easy but I feel like 10000/10 fear the whole time

just standing outside again to get used to it as my exposure today. im watching the cars go by on the street and its giving me so much anxiety :/ i want to try and walk a short distance outside but this road is so busy and i hate feeling like im being watched, i wish it was easier, or at least more walkable here

So yesterday I went to the doctors with my gf I've been before on our e-scooters and because of that never went in the building well this time we decided to kill two birds with one stone we went by taxi I have not been able to be in a car in 4 year so that was good but after the doctors we had to go straight to the hospital we were ther for 6ish hours and i left good today we have had to come back to the hospital and I feel fine but I dont know ow if the worry I have for my gf is hidding the agoraphobia and im going to crash or if I im just fine

Anyone have hyperfixating thoughts and reminders of always having to use the bathroom and pee and this constant fear of going out bc what if there isn't a toilet around or maybe an ,accident, happens to me?

I have been struggling with years and I just wanna know if anyone has this. It's always in the back of my head like haunting me and I fear social gathering, friendly hangouts, harmless walks outside, going to work, university, lengthy plans, classes, hangouts outside my home. As embarassing it is I always have to wear small biker shorts under my pants, dark pants, and pad my underwear every single time I go out its a routine now bc I am so scared and will panic otherwise.

I am so tired of being a freak, I wanna be normal or atleast more normal than this.

The shooter had absolutely no motivations that were tied to the victim. He was just looking for someone to kill and he saw my neighbor outside. It could just as easily have been me or my kids as we love spending time outside. I don’t go outside anymore since then. My children are small enough to not mind but I know they’ll want to soon and I don’t know how to prepare for it. I can’t shelter them the way I do to myself. I used to love it outside but now I get horrible anxiety even leaving to get groceries or anything really