Fear of new places/areas

[[Go...]]

Has anyone dealt with the fear of going to places away from where you live; not necessarily trips or vacations, but wanting everything to be located with say a 1/2 hour drive of where you live?  I feel like I've had this fear for years.

[[Re...]]

 

Hello Gonzo,

Oh yes, before I go to a place that is far, that don't know, or meeting people unknown I ruminate about it waaaaay before and I have a lot of fear. I had to leave the town recently, it was not "pleasant" at all. 
My mind is replaying the scenario over and over way before and I have that feeling of electrifying fear. It searches for everything that could possibly go wrong, annihilation and embarrassment. 
It is one of my main symptoms. I know how it feels and I am so sorry.

I now that being away from home is scary too, I had to take the train until I gave my apartment back recently. I am still surprised how I did it (once I had to wait hours on a train because of a delay, It was 4 hours).

I have had something similar while on the meds, too, very interestingly, I read that it is possible to develop agoraphobia while we are on the meds. Weird, right? 

I am still looking for a solution, too, I decided to believe easing will come with time. Progress seems to be very slow here.

You are already doing an incredible job! In time I truly believe you won't notice how away you are from home. I hope the same thing for me. 

Sending you hugs, Gonzo! 

 

Edited January 23 by [Re...]

[[Go...]]

Thanks @[Re...]. The problem is, I dont even go to places far off!?  I always wondered about agoraphobia, and if using Klonopin for 21 years made this worse.  I think I had it before, but it seems worse now.

Edited January 23 by [Go...]

[[Da...]]

45 minutes ago, [[G...] said:

Has anyone dealt with the fear of going to places away from where you live; not necessarily trips or vacations, but wanting everything to be located with say a 1/2 hour drive of where you live?  I feel like I've had this fear for years.

Absolutely.

[[Re...]]

I think what you write absolutely makes sense and fits the picture. ( rumination and fear). I didn't know that the symptoms I wrote were actually caused by the benzos, now I know it. I have had flare ups of this symptom (with extreme rumination, memory issues, weight loss, insomnia) while not knowing what is going on!

We have time, so don't need to rush it. I am doing the exposure thing, some say it doesn't work. But I definitely see progress I think, even if it is very slow and full of flare ups.

I hope others will continue to share their experiences 

[[de...]]

I have most definitely experienced the fear of venturing  too far from my home.    It will get better.   How are you feeling these days? 

[[or...]]

I absolutely felt that @[Go...] I was very restricted in where I could go and what I could do on my taper. Nothing new or unfamiliar. But the good thing is that it passes. Hang in there. You'll get your old self back.

[[Th...]]

Gonzo,

As I said in earlier posts...I had constant fear of going anywhere for months.  For example, I had fear going Into a grocery store, driving down a road with cornfields on both sides, filling up my car with gasoline or even pulling the trash cans down to the road for pickup.  It eventually faded and ended.  Benzos cause this fear.  3 months of use did it for me so I am quite certain 21 years of Klonopin use did the same for you?  It will slowly fade.  The only problem is nobody knows how long that will take?  Peace!

Edited January 24 by [Th...]

[[Go...]]

15 hours ago, [[d...] said:

I have most definitely experienced the fear of venturing  too far from my home.    It will get better.   How are you feeling these days? 

@[de...] I have moments where I feel “ok”, then the fear picks right up where it left off? I am doing more things than I was 11+ months ago which is good.  That negative thought machine is non stop though.

[[Hu...]]

When my GAD started, about 2 years ago. Everytime I went into the supermarket I got this wave of anxiety over me. Never had it before, didn't know why I got it. Maybe the echoes, smells, different heat, crowded place? I just ignored it and after a few month it got better.

Last week I was in the "big city", if you can call a European innercity large. But it was crowded, night, busses, traffic, teenagers going out etc. I got a real cramped feeling. Then I realized, I hadn't been there in a long time, especially at night. 

Last months have been my small cocoon, my room, my hobbies, the park and not much else.

Avoiding things is probably the worst you can do.

[[Th...]]

Those moments where you feel "OK" are what's referred to as a "Window."  Even if that window is only a few minutes or a few hours.  Eventually the length of those windows will increase until the windows are longer than the "waves" or times when symptoms are at their worst.  That's typically how healing and recovery play out for almost everyone.  You're healing and recovering even if it doesn't feel like it!

[[Go...]]

6 hours ago, [[T...] said:

Those moments where you feel "OK" are what's referred to as a "Window."  Even if that window is only a few minutes or a few hours.  Eventually the length of those windows will increase until the windows are longer than the "waves" or times when symptoms are at their worst.  That's typically how healing and recovery play out for almost everyone.  You're healing and recovering even if it doesn't feel like it!

@[Th...]I feel defeated b/c you had told me the same thing about windows back in August.  It feels like nothing has improved since then??

[[De...]]

I couldnt Go anywhere and felt agoraphobia for almost 3 years, Fully agoraphobic for 2 more , also due to start tapering pregabalin, Very sick and debilitated also

 

Never hád agoraphobia or anything else prior from being assaulted with psychiatric drugs when i was 17 years old, the brain damage got me severly agoraphobic, at the time i was going to School everyday, never even tought about depression or anxiety, Very outgoing, all of a sudden from two monhts of torture i was completely debilitated, paranoic, agoraphobic and much more , of course since i suffered a major brain injury, to the point of loosing the Control of my movements, and having uncontrolable involuntarly movements almost to the point of breaking my spine and neck, 

 

Fully recovered from this, didnt had a single symptom anymore, úntil i was tortured again, this is what this drugs do

 

ALL this crazyness, toughts, etc etc etc , this drugs cause, brain injuries and auto-imune encephalitis also cause such  things

 

Im free of psychiatric drugs, still feel ill given my injuries and disabled, but have no anxiety or agoraphobia, Just trauma and depression and functional issues , and pain

 

Imo Give it time and do what you can to curb neuroinflammation

Edited January 29 by [De...]

[[Th...]]

@Gonzo

You said you have moments where you feel OK.  That is a window, even if it is only for a few minutes.  It doesn't matter if you "feel defeated."  Healing is taking place with each passing day even if it "doesn't feel like it is."  Those minutes of feeling OK will eventually progress to hours and then days.  Although it is very up and down and very non linear.  You could have minutes, hours or days where you feel OK only to go back to minutes hours and days or weeks where you do not.  They is the UP and DOWN part of recovery.  Eventually it evens out.