pcali, I had to go to the doctor's about a month ago and was very panicky. the office was too small so I paced the hallway till my husband said they called me. When they put me in my room, to just wait some more, I, in tears, told the girl how anxiety ridden I was, that I struggled with panic, and that I may not be able to stay. She was SO sweet and comforting. I came out of the room about 3 times and told her I have to leave, she kept saying "ooohhh...dont' go, you're almost there." If it wasn't for her kindness, I wouldn't have stayed. Anyway, before my suggestion, I wanted to show you that someone DID freak in the doctor's office and stayed and lived through it. My suggestion? Can you make an appointment before you run out of you xanax so that you can take one? Stupid me, who hates drugs, didn't GULP down 1/4 of and Ativan till I had already been there freakin for a half hour. By the time the doc pretty much said "you can get dressed now," it kicked in... So, if you can, take a xanax and go. Take the edge off. And remember, I lived through it, even though I felt like a five year old. The bottom line is?? I stayed. Big deal for me. I normally would have run. bonnie This message was edited by am on 4-1-03 @ 8:45 AM

Good Luck!

Hello again, Thank you for your prompt responses. Actually, there is a lot going on in my life right now, and I'm finding that discussing my anxiety excessively is causing me more anxiety, and I would prefer concentrating on developing skills rather than discussion. I have a taped program (CHAANGE) that I used very successfully several years ago (and still have), so I'm going to work with it again and make my progress primarily using that. Thank you again, and best wishes to all, pcali

Hi, I have some questions for you and if you don't want to answer them that's fine. I'm doing personal research on this illness. I have panic attacks as well although only recently have they developed. I'm 30 years old and although I can't say for certain, I think that mine are hormone related. I feel bad for you. I am curious as to where your parents are. Is your mother still alive? Could you describe your panic attacks to me? Are they actual "attacks"? Or are they more general? Do you know if they happened on cycle periods? Have you or are you going through menopause? Agorophobia is strange. Did it start out subtle and get more intense or did you just all of a sudden find yourself scared to leave one morning? I'm interested in your fear of being in a hospital. Do you ever feel like it's almost as if you remember being locked in a hospital in a past life? I know that's a strange question...kind of hokey too..but i'm just curious. Why would you have such a specific phobia? Regarding Paxil, i'll bet some of the experiences you had geting off of it were "electrical shock" sensations. Right? All I know is that's what happened to me as I weaned off it a couple times. Why did you decide to get off it? Just felt you didn't need it anymore? Feel free to talk to me about any of this. I would love to hear from you. I hope you're able to get to the Dr. office ok. Try to pretend that you're in a vaccuum and nothing can harm you while you're in it. I assure you that they will not "lock you up". This is something they need a lot of legal reasons to do nowadays. As long as you don't mention being suicidal or something, you won't be "admitted" anywhere. Okay? Here's one more thing I want to suggest to you. I want you to see if you can find some photos of you when you were younger. Try taking some time alone in your room and "remember" who you were then and how you felt. Consider the cycle you are in now and ask yourself how you got from the point of then to now. See if anything clicks. Ok? We have the power, Andrea

Welcome! I do hope you'll make good use of our free ste tools. You can begin with the anxiety test and print out the result to take to your appointment. Your fear need not come to pass. Plan your trip, perhaps by visualizing each step of the ride and the visit, one single step at a time. While you do so, practice some deep breathing and relaxation techniques. Perhaps you can get your husband to coach you in doing this, again one step at a time? And perhaps he can continue in this way during the actual ride and visit? Good deep slow breaths. If he were to touch your wrist for instance, would it help calm you? Think of things and methods to keep that relaxation in the forefront. Let us know how this goes?

Hello, I'm new here too. I'm 49 and have had panic disorder/agoraphobia off and on since age 25. In the past, the acute phases were fairly shortlived, and when I made some changes in my life situation, the panic attacks would disappear and not recur for some time, even years in some cases. However, I am in an acute phase now, and I'm having a hard time. I had been on Paxil for two and a half years, and felt pretty well on it, although it didn't really curb the panic attacks much. I stopped taking the Paxil (I tapered myself off it) in late January, as my prescription was running out and, being homebound, I was unable to go to my doctor's office to get her approval for a refill. I had no real problems while tapering off the Paxil, but when I finally stopped it completely, I had many problems and symptoms that I won't go into now, which have persisted for the past few weeks. Suffice it to say, my anxiety is pretty bad now. I am essentially unable to work (I do medical transcription from home, as does my husband, but it's hard for me right now because the work is so depressing that it makes me feel worse than ever) these past few weeks, and we need both my income and my husband's to be able to pay for our house and our other expenses and I am unable to hold up my end of contributing to support the family and I feel very bad about that. We are in danger of losing our home, and it feels like it's all my fault. Because of my increased anxiety being off the Paxil, I have been sparingly taking some of an old Xanax prescription, hoping that would get me through. It has helped to take an edge off some of the worst times. However, I know I need to see a doctor. I have only enough Xanax to last eight more days, if I take as little of it as possible. I am terrified of the ordeal of having to go three miles to my family doctor's office, even with my husband driving, but I'm going to have to endure it soon, as I guess it seems I've painted myself into a corner and there's no way to get out of going. My great fear is that I will "freak out" at the doctor's office and she will think I am so bad off that she will want to send me to a hospital or something, and that is my greatest nightmare in life, that I will end up being sent to a hospital against my