Mar 02 2009
Being Bipolar: Agoraphobia
“Agoraphobia is anxiety about being in places or situations from which escape might be difficult (or embarrassing) or in which help may not be available in the event of having a Panic Attack or panic-like symptoms.” (http://psychcentral.com/disorders/sx29.htm )
Agoraphobia often occurs with other anxiety disorders, like panic disorder. Symptoms include:
- Panic attacks
- Becoming housebound
- Loss of independence, dependence on others
- Fear of being alone
- Fear of losing control in public
- Feelings of detachment or estrangement from others
- Feelings of helplessness
- Feeling that the body is unreal
- Feeling that the environment is unreal
- Unusual temper or agitation with trembling or twitching
- Abdominal distress that occurs when upset
- Difficulty breathing
- Chest pain
- Confusion
- Fear of dying
- Fear of going crazy
- Dizziness
- Excessive sweating
- Changes in heartbeat
- Lightheadedness
- Nausea and vomiting
- Numbness and tingling
- Skin flushing
Anti-anxiety or antidepressant medication is often used to treat agoraphobia. Therapy sessions and systematic desensitization are also used. The success of treatment typically depends upon the severity of the condition.
I suffer from somewhat severe agoraphobia. It is something that has gotten worse over the past few years. I am struggling to do better by forcing myself to go out more and more. I still feel sick when I have to leave the house. Crowds make me feel like I am going to crawl out of my skin. I never go anywhere alone…with the exception of my doctors. My primary care doctor makes every effort to see me as quickly as possible each time I visit because of this.
Do you suffer from agoraphobia? I would love to hear your experience with it.
Lola, I am terrified of crowds. I do okay when I have my own crowd with me. That’s why we take people with us on vacation and when we go camping. I would have to say it is part of it because that is mostly how I explained it to my therapist and that’s the diagnosis I got.
Jane, that’s how I am. If I have to go to the doctor I will feel sick (like I have the flu) but I can manage to make it. I don’t go grocery shopping or anything else. My husband takes care of everything. I just can’t do it.
Agoraphobia is a serious problem that not enough people are aware of. I have been suffering from it for the majority of my life (I was homeschooled as a child because of it) and it makes it impossible to find and hold down a job, live a happy, healthy life, and fuction normally. I’ve actually reached the point of not being able to even have my own circle of friends anymore. I can’t do it anymore, as lonely as it gets, I just need my solitude of I break down.
I really want to thank you for writing this arcticle, like I said, not enough people are firmiliar with agoraphobia, it’s important to hear about it from the horses mouth, as opposed to reading it out of a psych text book.
Best of luck on trying to overcome your fears, I hope someday I’ll have the same admirable motivation.
Hi, I’m 52 and was diagnosed with Bipolar,Manic depression about 11 years ago. I am worse now than I was then. I too am agraphobic to the point that I can’t stay at my Moms on Christmas with my very close and very BIG family. I have a panic attack most times.
I stay in my room. My boyfriend moved to a different bedroom. He won’t give me a straight answer But, I know it’s because I’m not who I was when we started out.
I can’t kick my depression or my fear of leaving my bedroom. My boyfriend provides for me.
I have 4 Grandchildren. They seem to be my only joy as long as they don’t stay too long. (4-5 hours is good)
I love them with all my heart. They lay in bed with me and we rent movies.
I’ve had counselers, One very special lady who died of breat cancer. I haven’t found anyone I comfortable with since. My primary keeps telling me I have to have a counceler. BUT, That means I have to leave my house.
I used to be so active. Was always the life of the party. I had a great young adulthood. Lots of friends and fun. True friends. I alianated all of them. They call but I let the machine get it. I am NOT this Scared, Depressed type!!!!!!!!!
I hate my life and I can’t fix it.
Thank you
When I was young most of my peers thought that I was strange because on the playground I would generally keep to myself or to a small, controlled group of friends.
In High School everyone thought that I was a complete jerk because even though I was a star athlete on our football team I never went to any pep rallies, dances or any other social event.
In college it was the same story, though in college I started to consider the fact that maybe this was more than just some mild anti-social behavior which is often displayed in adolescents.
After college I joined the Navy, and in my desire to avoid large crowds of people I joined the special forces where we were kept in small teams and not hastled much by superiors. In truth this was where I was the happiest in my whole life, however when we were put into the field I found out a very terrifying truth…. Crowds will kill you.
When dealing with crowds of hostile people the innumerable loose ends and x factors begin to come into play and you cannot watch every person and you cannot control them. It was during this time that I was able to add logical reason to my illogical fear… As it stands now if I am in a crowd large enough that I cannot see everyone’s hands I lose control, I pour sweat and my heart palpitates.
This is a terrible thing and no amount of therapy or medications have been able to help me. I am not necessarily afraid of leaving my house, though I don’t particularly like to and I don’t have a problem holding down a job, (I am an audiologist and only see one or two people at a time ) but when it comes to being able to take my wife out to dinner or dancing or even to the mall to pick up a few things I cannot do it.