Crowds make me feel ill (Agoraphobia?)

Post Reply New Topic

I have never been good with crowds or public places, but lately things have gotten a lot worse. The last couple of times I have gone out in public, I have felt ill, only to return to normal once I go back home. I'm worried that this may cause me to never want to leave my house.

To be more detailed:
It starts the moment I walk into the public place. I begin to feel emotionally uncomfortable, a feeling that becomes increasingly stronger the longer I'm there. My stomach starts to cramp a little and my throat tightens. I can't see anyone or anything within my peripheral line of vision, as though I'm wearing blinders. My hearing becomes slightly muffled; noise from crowds begins buzzing like bees and I have difficulty hearing people when they're talking to me.

My hands start to tremble and sometimes my legs feel weak. All the color drains out of my face and my mom keeps asking me if I'm OK or if I want to take a break. The moment I leave the public place I begin to feel better, especially when I get back into the car and put on my music. When I return home, all the color comes back into my face and I feel normal again.

I wonder if I may be developing agoraphobia. I did a little research on it and I am within the age of onset, and a female as well (from what I've read, women are much more likely to develop it than men). I also have a history of panic attacks, which I am on medication for.

What are your opinions?

It sounds like your hyperventilating with anxiety, practice deep breathing to calm yourself, breathe in for a count of 5 and out for a count of 7.

make sure you keep going to the places that make you ill as it gets worse the more you limit where you go, you need to make yourself keep going out and do deep breathing.

try saying a calming mantra to yourself such as 'I am calm, I cope wonderfully', think of one that makes you feel good..

maybe try getting a CBT book on anxiety/social phobia from the library.

I am always a little confused about agoraphobia. I think I have a misunderstanding of what this disorder entails. Some of my psychs over the years have suggested I might have this. For me, the problem is not really anxiety attacks or panic when out, rather, it is the sensory stuff that gets to me. I have so much stimulation coming at me from all angles that I have a hard time seeing and hearing what I am supposed to. It is just so damn hard to focus with all of the noise, lights, movement... I hate it. My husband was telling the psych at the university how I lean in to talk to the cashier if she says something to me. I did not know I did that. It makes sense though, I pretty much have to be in your face to hear you if I am in a public place... and then you have to almost yell at me. At my worst, I run our of places and pass out in my car if it is just too much for me. But I get that weakness, shakiness, tunnel vision stuff as well.

Do you have sensory issues? If you do not, I would be inclined to think it is panic attacks and they maybe the starting of agoraphobia. If you have sensory issues, try doing something like wearing your headphones, listening to music in a tore the next time you go out and see if that helps. I do better with a buffer between me and the world, but like I said, I think my stuff is mostly sensory related... I did not realize how bad my stuff was though until I started taking preventative measures.

I have only one piece of advice. Tackle this NOW not when it gets worse. If it is indeed agoraphobia (it does sound a little bit like it) then you do not want to let it get control. I used to suffer from agoraphobia and I spent 3 years unable to leave the house except to go to 'safe places'. It was horrible. By the time you get to that stage, it is much harder to come back out.

I feel exactly the same. I have started a couple or three threads on this same sort of thing, but they don't seem to last very long, so I'm assuming that it isn't that common among Aspies alone. But knowing that there's another person who feels very similar to how I feel about this makes me feel better, since it's easier to understand how we feel and to share tips and ideas in which to help.
I have Agoraphobic symptoms. When I walk alone in the street, I feel that I'm being watched by everyone, and if I do something minor like trip (not fall right over, just trip a bit), I feel that everybody saw - when probably nobody really noticed. But it’s just the way I feel, and it's difficult to stop those paranoid thoughts chattering in my head, once you got the anxiety in you. It's so easy for others to say, ''just ignore it,'' because it'd be like a non-smoker telling a smoker to ''just stop smoking tomorrow, it's so easy,'' when it's not to them. And because I know how judging NTs are to others (even random people they meet in the street), it makes me feel worse about myself. I make a lot of effort with myself, like wearing nice things and keeping up with the trends, so I don't physically stand out there.
I haven't really got much advice what can help you, I'm afraid. I'm struggling with what to do myself. There is one thing what I do, but it may sound silly to others. What I sometimes do is sort of pretend I'm somebody else. Sometimes it's a man I fancy, or a really sociable, confident cousin of mine....sometimes a bit of imagination brings out confidence in yourself, and shows it too. I don't know if other Aspie females on here have many crushes or obsessions on men, because I don't think many Aspies get obsessed with people (I do), but it might help if you know somebody else who is confident, or if you know someone who makes you laugh and you admire their personality, or anything like that. That's all I can give, sorry if it sounds pointless.

Does that happen with all public places or just if it's crowded? I usually just avoid huge crowds because that sort of thing happens to me if there are too many people around.....I litterally feel like I can't breath. Sometimes my family gets pissed off because I don't like family gatherings, and I am still living at home so my mom and her boyfriend get irritated because I dont go to my brothers games, recitals or whatever else and also my mom and her boyfriend are in choir and I do not plan on going to their concert thingy. some of that is related to where these things are to.....I have PTSD related to something that happened at my highschool so being in schools makes me really uncomfortable.

I can make exceptions for some things like concerts of bands I like...but then I might have a couple of drinks first just in case, because alcohol usually prevents me from getting too overwhelmed in crowds.

So anyways this might not be too helpful, but I would suggest avoiding some of the situations that make you most uncomfortable.....and if you still feel things are getting worse definatly try and get professional help before it gets too bad.

What you are describing is very common in people with ASD, but I am contrary. I prefer crowds over smaller groups of people because I like anonymity. With anonymity the stakes are much lower. If you "screw up," well the person you're interacting with never knew your name and will have forgotten you by the end of the day, so you can just go talk to someone else.

I prefer being alone above all else, but if I have to chose between a crowd or a company of three or four, I would choose the crowd.

***************************************************************************************

Check out my IMDB page!