Challenges Faced by Those Living with Anxiety Disorders

My world is in my home and the internet! I can not go out of my home except for rare occassions! My challenges faced by living with anxiety disorders are very extensive. I can not go out of my home because I fear what is out there. What is it that is out there that I fear? I do not know. My disorders don't allow me to rationalize this situation.

I am diagnosed with several physical and psychological illnesses. The psychological illnesses include Panic and Anxiety Disorder, Bi-polar, PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder) and also clinical depression. Along with these come OCD (Obsessive Compulsive Disorder).

My world is in my home and on the internet only. Fears arise out of the challenges of every day life. Oh my God, I've got to go to the doctors! Oh my God, I've got to go shopping! Oh my God, I've got to go to the post office! These are the feelings I have when it is time to go out of the house for every day chores and errands. I have been discharged from medical treatment at a doctor's office for the inability to appear for appointments. Is this fair when they know of my illnesses? I say not. But their rules are their rules and you can not change their minds. I now try to make all of my appointments no matter how much I am afraid.

This fear is not related to just going out of the house. I am even afraid of getting into the shower which is not a great health attribute. You can get an odor pretty quickly without showering at least every two days. This is not a great feeling.

People do not understand these fears. I do not either. I face challenges every day. Fear of going out without money. Fear of what might happen if I do go out. When I do go out my mind runs wild with 'what ifs'. This is clearly a major challenge to any person.

As I drive what if something happens. What if that car hits me? What if I were to be in an accident. Will I be able to survive it? How will I survive it? Will I be caught in my car and need the Jaws of Life? These are all typical 'symptoms' if you will of the challenges faced by me every day with every event I must face.

These challenges are not easy to deal with either. They help increase depression symptoms by quite a bit. Almost 75% of my depression is due to getting out of the house. The only thing I am able to do is go out with my mother and my husband to go to Bingo once a week. I know all of the people there so it is comfortable for me to be there unless I can't make myself get showered, dressed and ready to go. Having a routine does not help. If you can't force yourself to take care of yourself what are you to do?

These challenges disable me every day. The only release I have is that these panic and anxiety attacks make me a better author. In my world I write. I write about the active imagination that I have. It helps create wild stories. All those 'what if' scenarios make for better writing. An active imagination can be a good thing to have if you use it well.

Therapy hasn't allowed me to figure out how this is happening or why. The reason for that is the place that I receive therapy wasn't getting paid enough for their therapists through my state aid medical coverage and Medi-Care. So they stopped providing services to those receiving state aid as the state aid covers you first then Medi-Care kicks in. Those having just Medi-Care get more funding to pay for therapy related services so they are not dis-allowed. Where is one to turn?

Damned if you do, damned if you don't. Therapy WAS working well for me and we were making headway. This too is a horrible challenge to face but making it there helps. Medical funding is a challenge in its own as you can see.

No wonder people deal with anxiety and panic related issues. It is a difficult challenge to bear. Take some time to help family members with these issues. It is some times beneficial make a point to go to someone's house with this disorder on the spur of the moment and ask them to go somewhere. It sometimes is easier to go no the spur of the moment so someone isn't panicking about going out because they have had a long time to think about it. Please take the time to understand and assist someone with this disorder.

NAMI (National Alliance on Mental Illness) has FREE brochures on this disorder as well as any other mental health issues to assist you in understanding and assisting someone with any mental illness including panic and anxiety disorders. Please contact them at any time for questions relating to this order and you too may be able to assist someone like me in your collective circle of friends and family.