Panic attacks can lead to other anxiety conditions such as agoraphobia. Phobias are often defined by extreme avoidance to certain situations that the sufferer fears will spark a panic attack. 

Samantha has struggled with agoraphobia for years. It started simply enough with a panic attack that shocked her by its presence and overwhelming power. She was so frightened by this occurrence and so confused by it that she felt like she was in shock.

She went to the doctor, describing her symptoms convinced that something was seriously and terribly wrong. The doctor didn´t have any answers for her and after giving her an examination and some blood tests sent her home. 

This didn´t seem like a sufficient explanation to Samantha and she became convinced that the doctor was hiding bad news from her or worse, was incompetent. The heart palpitations, the sweating, the tingling sensations, the difficulty breathing all meant something was physically wrong with her. 

She worried that her heart was giving out but that also didn´t seem possible, she was only 31 years old. She worried that her teenage smoking habit might be coming back to haunt her. Why did she even care about looking cool when she was young?

What if it was some rare condition or even CANCER! The C word terrified her, her mother had died from cancer when Samantha was just 8 years old and she was now terrified that the same young death awaited her.

She went to several more doctors and none could find anything wrong with her. Her anxiety worsened during this period because without an explanation, she was left to only imagine the worst and several more panic attacks had occurred. 

If Samantha had done some research and read some articles online like you are doing now, she might have realized that she was suffering from an anxiety disorder. However, when this was happening to Samantha over a decade ago, there wasn´t the same kind of proliferation of information as there is now. 

Samantha was in the dark and terrified. Finally, a doctor, which a family friend referred her to after her latest attack, told her that these terrifying episodes were panic attacks and that she suffered from an anxiety disorder. This diagnosis was such a relief at first. She finally knew what was wrong. 

While Samantha took great comfort in knowing that her death was not imminent and that she had a real condition and these episodes were not just a figment of her imagination, it didn´t solve the problem. 

In fact, Samantha´s problem grew worse as she sought to avoid activities, situations and encounters that might spark a panic attack. While her doctor reassured her a panic attack wouldn´t kill her, it didn´t feel good and she wanted to avoid them at all costs. 

Suddenly she was avoiding crowded places, noisy places, places she associated with prior attacks and people she associated with those attacks.

When you avoid situations because of a fear that you might have a panic attack then you are probably suffering from agoraphobia as Samantha was. As her fear of the panic attacks became more pervasive, the changes she made to her life became more destructive. 

Many phobia sufferers avoid their fears to such an extent that it can have a profound impact on personal and business relationships as well as their own self esteem and happiness. Samantha was suffering and she needed help to regain her prior life.

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Tagged with: Agoraphobia • Anxiety Disorder • Anxiety Symptoms • Anxiey Attacks • Generalized Anxiety Disorder • Obsessive Compulsive Disorder • Panic Attacks • Social Phobia

Filed under: Agoraphobia

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