My sister had this so bad that she almost had to go back a grade back in Jr. High, she was so bad she missed over half the year of school for "sick" days. Now she's in collage full time and has two part time jobs. She had to see a therapist and they had to try a few different medications till they found one that worked for her but I think you'd do so much better and have a fuller life if you saw a therapist or doctor on this. It's not bad to get help when you need it, everyone has troubles they need to overcome. I hope you don't take this the wrong way people sometimes get offended when I tell them they need professional help. Good luck!

I say seek the help of a therapist and see if that will help because it can get bad were you are a shut in and we don't want that you sound young and you need a life outside of the home.This will take some time to fix but it is fixable believe me I know . I also have a mild case of this and had to over come it you can just takes perseverance on your part and you can god bless.

Hi - sorry you're not feeling so good at the moment...

Anxiety is a perfectly natural feeling - it evolved to protect us from danger - but when it gets out of control and stops you living your life, that's not good. What is NOT natural is to have extreme fear reactions to our own sensations and thoughts.

The part of our brain that responds to anxiety is too primitive to tell the difference between real danger and imaginary danger. The logical 'thinking' part of your brain knows there is no danger at the store.

Please go and see your doctor - ask them to arrange some counselling sessions for you.

I know that sounds difficult , please just take a deep breath and make an appointment. You'll be glad you did.

I wanna go out and have fun, but i cant even face people, its just really hard for me to be myself in public, like i want to but something seems to always stop me,, i feel better in the house, being out in the world i cant seem to handle. I just wanna be normal, i do not feel normal. This whole social anxiety thing has ruined me. I am very quiet, i dont talk to anyone, its so hard for me to make friends. I just wish someone will understand how hard this is.

Like when i go in the store like i get so nervous i start shaking and i just have to leave out. Going to the doctor is the same way.
I wanted to start college this June for nursing, but then again i cant get the courage to even go to college, so im starting an online program for health information tech. They said i dont have to interact as much, but i just hope i can handle it and be able to work. Because its very hard for me to cope with everyday life at this moment.
After getting a job and getting a house and becoming independent i do plan on having a baby, but i do have anxiety about that to, but i love babies lol
Some things i cant even explain. Sometimes its hard for me to talk on the phone and im not even directly talking to them.

I don't feel that you can tackle this on your own. You will need to see a therapist.

I can't imagine how this affects your life. Just to know that going out the front door scares you to the point of turning back into your house. This has to be very frustrating for you.

Make yourself understand that this is an illness, and needs treated by a professional. You will have to make yourself go see a doctor, to get help. Ask a friend or family member, that you trust, to come and go with you, so you won't be trying to go alone.

You need to be out in the world, living your life. Be determined to get some help for yourself.

I can only imagine the nightmare that you are living. I highly suggest that you seek proffesional help for this. You can not go through life this way and you can't afford to wait any longer before you get the help that you need. Make an appointment today. You deserve better than to suffer with this disorder any longer than another minute. I know that it will be very difficult for you to take the steps to get the help and to go see the doctor but you must be strong and force yourself to go no matter how hard it is. In your case, you must go through hell to come out the other side. Once you do though, you will feel so much better and be able to live life and enjoy life as it was intended to be. Please get help and follow through with your appointments. You won't regret it. I wish you the best of luck and all the happiness that this world has to offer

I have suffered from this. I would probably say that you are suffering panic attacks. Basically you feel like you are about to have a heart attack... your arms go tingling, your heart beats faster, your breathing becomes quick, and you find yourself just running away from the store... However, once you get back home, in your room, you calm down and start to feel 'normal' again.

There is no way to describe the feeling to someone, becuase they simply do not understand how truly terrifying it is. It really does feel like at any time you could just drop down dead from your heart exploding.

It ruins lives, but the great thing is, is that you can get on with your life almost as normal. www.panicaway.com is the best resource i have come across that helps you deal with the emotions that goes on. I have used it, and have bought 2 versions of it over the years.

The first time I bought it was about 1o years ago. I had panic attacks and anxiety so bad that I could not sleep at night, and ended up being off work for 2 months. In that time i thought i was actually going to die. Not a word of a lie. I eventually found panic away, and it literally cut my anxiety in half, and over the next coupld of months, i started to live a normal life.

I got married in November, and had so much stress going on in my life (marriage, potential redundancy, threatened miscarriage of a baby, 3 deaths of close family members in 3 months) that it came flooding back. I am still no the road to recovery, but it gets better day by day. I can not believe i was in that place only 4 months ago - I am totally different again.

The problem is not so much the attacks themselves, but the fear of having another one. You start thinking about this and wondering about the 'what if' consequences. This is where you start feeling 'weird' when you leave the house, because the what ifs become actuals (in your mind only).

The book is a massive help, and is by far the best thing i have ever come across to help me. I really do hope it helps you too. I am not associated with it what so ever, but think that this should be prescribed by the medical agencies becuase it really does have an effect.

Please try it (I believe that there is a money back guarantee on it if it has no effect on you). YOu really do have nothing to lose. It is not easy, but once you hit the point where you WANT to make a difference, you will find that it is brilliant. I still read his newsletters as he is really an inspirational guy. Actually I bet that once you read is summary you will be able to tell that he has actually suffered the same things as you (us!).

Here's a big thumbs up to your recovery. it can come if you are brave enough to stand with it (you will realise what this means in the book!)

Thanks! I will try my hardest to go get some help, but i get these feelings like i wanna change but i dont. It might sound crazy but these are the thoughts i have.
Like i wanna be able to do what everyone does, but its just so hard for me.
I just want to be able to talk to someone about this, i feel like im all alone no one cares. I suffered from depression too, i still get depressed sometimes.
I feel trapped, i dont have any friends or a boyfriend. I want to be able to have friends and have a boyfriend. But i guess im just not normal enough :(
My mom has to usually go to stores for me because i cant go in them anymore.

A simple thing you can do is to identify what are your negative thoughts in a particular social situation and then challenge them. So let's say you go to the store and you buy something at the register.

Then you might start feeling nervous, but try to identify what the thought in your head is that made you nervous. For example, it could be: The cashier doesn't like me.

Once you have identified the thought, then challenge it. You could say: The cashier likes me at a very small level. This way you create a seed of doubt in the negative thought and gradually build to a more positive thought.

It is best to practice this at home and think of social situations which make you nervous. Then try hard and think of any negative thoughts that caused you to be nervous at any time. Then write those negative thoughts down on paper. After each negative thought leave a space of a line and write a challenge to the negative thought in capital letters and in red.

Keep doing this for any negative thought that comes your way. Each day read only the positive thoughts you have written in red. You should find your nervousness and social anxiety decreasing within a weeks time. Keep at it. Keep creating seeds of doubt in your negative thoughts. In time, you will learn to challenge your negative thought without the use of paper. You will also learn to be more accepting of positive thoughts.

If you think it might be too stressful for you to go and see a therapist, maybe you could try sedating yourself a little bit beforehand? That way you would have an easier time setting up the appointment and going there.
I have an anxiety disorder, too, and usually I'll take something to make me drowsy before I go shopping or leave the house.
I normally just take a Benadryl and wait for it to take effect before I leave. One is always enough for me, but you can experiment beforehand to make sure it's going to be enough to calm you down when you need to go the actual appointment.

Note that you don't want to be driving yourself anywhere after you take any kind of sedative; you would need to get family member to actually drive you to the therapist.
Anyways, that would help you actually make it to the first appointment and hopefully the therapist would be able to give you some anti-anxiety pills then (either a prescription or some sample pills).
I don't know if you're supposed to take any kind of sedative along with the anti-anxiety pills, so make sure that ask the therapist all about that.

I think a therapist would be a good place to start. I know that won't be easy for you. Not only will you have to face a person you are not familiar with but you will have to discuss issues that are uncomfortable. However, I don't believe you have an option if you really want change.

In addition to counselling, there are medications that have proven effective for treating social anxiety disorder. A therapist can't prescribe medication but s/he will refer you to a psychiatrist who can. Most therapists and psychologists have doctors they work with closely.

The best man at my daughter's wedding almost didn't make an appearance because of social anxiety disorder. Shortly after that, he began to take Paxil and the improvement was remarkable. Now, he is happily married with two children and a stellar career.

It is exhausting to constantly worry about interacting with others. Your condition may worsen over time so seek professional assistance before you get to the point where you are unable to leave your house completely. It sounds like your condition has already progressed. It will take some time and work but you can lead a happy, productive life.

Thanks so much, i will talk to my mom about helping me find some help.
Thursday i have to go to the doctor, and im so nevous and i just cant stop thinking about it.
Like this is with every place i go to. Especially if its new to me, i will be really shaky and nervous.
I need encouragement to go.
Right now i just dont have the guts.
Someone please help me.

You'll find the guts to go because you know you need the help to effect the changes you want. You took the first step. You talked to your mom and made the appointment. Baby steps; take baby steps.

Im trying my hardest.
Its just really hard to make the next steps.