MY BUMPER STICKER

Here's the pictures of my Agoraphobia Awareness bumper sticker. Not really what I expected. It's more of a window sticker. I was really expecting a magnetic bumper sticker. I think it's back to the drawing board for me. I want to start talking and quit being ashamed of what I have.


Make sure you take the hyperphoria test

by clicking on the left.

Talk to you all later. Yolanda

TEA, ME AND MY CAR

I have accepted an invitation to tea on Fri. night about 7is. Now here is my delima. My husband has been retired for about 20 years, we go everywhere together. Even though my symptoms are really gone and I have been desensitized enough to hit the world with people in it I still get anxiety about striking out on my own. For so many years there wasn't even such a thought. If I had no one to go with I didn't go. But now with my symptom free life my mind still tells me I can't do it without a lot of distress. I still haven't figured a way to shut him down. My husband has even offered to drive me to the tea. But as a self professed symptom free agoraphobic I can't allow that. My plan is to get into the car I rarely drive and go. Wish me luck. I do plan on having a 1/2 of a 0.5 mg xanax. The drive will be about 3 miles. How much trouble can I get into in that short distance?

Remember if you haven't done so already take the Hyperphoria test on the left. And leave me a comment about anything. I love hearing from you.

Yolanda

MY SON AND HIS WIFE

Hi everyone,
Thought I would tell you the story of my son and his wife. My son has always had trouble in school and with life in general. The only book he ever read through was my book. He has a hard time keeping a job and drinks and does recreational drugs. Because Hyperphoria is in our family I always wondered if that is what the problem is with him. So I talked him into going to see Dr. Debbie. Since then he has been opening up more and more about his problems. His biggest is anxiety. I certainly can identify with that.

His wife also has many many problems and is on a lot of medication. While talking to her one day I noticed that one eye was definitely higher than the other. So I also talked her into going to see Dr. Debbie. Their appointment will be the first part of April. I am more nervous about it than them. It is about a six hour ride from here and I am just hoping they can make it. I know they will need more than one appointment but I am anxious to see how many diopters  off their eyes are. Say a little prayer that they will make it o.k..


Talk to you later.

Yolanda

GARBAGE SOUP

Hi everyone, I hope by now you have all taken the test for Hyperphoria and have tried the test cover to help you through your rough panic days.
If you haven't taken the test yet click on the right under hyperphoria tests.

My neck is slowly getting better. I had to put it in traction. I found a place on the net that told me how to do it.
I am also waiting for the delivery of my new bumper stickers. They will have the agoraphobic awareness ribbon like you see on this page. When I get them I will take a picture of it on my car and post it. If you want to know where I ordered them just leave your email and I will give you the site.

I thought I would do something different and give you all a break from the Hyperphoria talk. (Even though you know it's my favorite subject.) And give you this great recipe for soup. Its cheap and you probably have everything in the house. Great for those who would rather stay home. Hope you like it.

On to the recipe for Garbage Soup:  This is great for when there is nothing for supper.

Essential Ingredients:
Leftovers! Anything that is in your refrigerator. Like pizza, noodles, chili, potatoes, casserole, fried potatoes, take out Chinese, chicken, hope your getting the picture.


Unessential ingredients:
Chicken broth, spices, canned mushrooms, frozen green beans, frozen corn, carrots.

How to put it all together:

If your leftovers are pretty flavorful already like gravy you probably won't need any chicken broth. If not add it if you want.
I made this soup tonight and here is what went into it.

1 small can chicken broth,
1/2 cup chopped small celery and 1/2 onion chopped
Leftover chili
Leftover rotisserie chicken breast
1 small chorizo  sausage (I had in freezer)
1 small can mushrooms I chopped
Frozen green beans (I had in freezer)
I added water as needed
also I added salt, pepper, italian seasonings. You can add any seasonings you like. Maybe you would like to add soy sauce. Maybe some garlic anything.

I let this all simmer about 1 hour or until the onion and celery was done. About 15 min. before it was done I added 1/2 cup of rice. Or you could add noodles or creamettes or whatever.

Let me know if you try it.

That's it for now be back soon.

Remember it's not in your head! It's your eyes!

Yolanda

NECK PAIN, BACK PAIN, HEADACHES.

Hello everyone, Are you suffering from neck pain, migraines, back pain?
 I want to talk about my favorite subject YOUR EYES!

Our subject as usual is vertical hyperphoria. We have already discussed the total disability this has caused with Agoraphobia but there are more problems than that. Agoraphobia is the worst by far. But this also causes migraine headaches, neck pain, and back pain. It is hard to believe having one eye higher than the other can cause all of this.

I bring up neck pain because I am going through that right now. A lot of you reading this will say well I have 20/20 vision so that is not my problem. Guess what Vertical Hyperphoria has nothing to do with near nearsightedness or  far farsightedness. It has to do with the position of the eyes.

Your sight according to whether  you have Vertical Hyperphoria is measured in dioptres . We have found that a commercial airplane pilot cannot be one dioptre off in his vision or he cannot fly a plane. It seems like an agoraphobic usually is about 14 dioptres off in their vision. Maybe you are just 2 dioptres off and that is enough to cause migraine headaches. Or maybe you are 1 dioptre off and you get neck pain and don't know why. With neck pain also comes back pain. The spinal cord travels all the way up the neck. This condition usually brings about a head tilt. Your head weights about 20 to 22 pounds, would you believe it! Anyway this weight tilting to the side day in and day out will bring on neck and back pain and throw your spinal cord system out of wack.

The bad news is that eye doctors do not normally test or treat anyone with vertical hyperphoria. They are told in school that the eye muscle will make up any discrepancy in vision so not to worry about it. That is true as long as the muscle that is holding it all together is in good condition. The problem comes with our high stressful world. More and more kids are getting symptoms sooner.  More bad news is that most eye doctors cannot treat this condition. They have no training. There are two doctors in our country right now that treat this. One is Vision Specialists of Michigan and the other is The Reedley Eye Clinic in California.

There might be more but I am not aware of them. The people at Vision Specialists of Michigan are willing to train any doctor that wants training in this field. If your an eye doctor and want to help in this field go to their web site and talk with them.

Remember it's not in your head it's in your eyes!

DOES YOUR HUSBAND, PARTNER, PARENTS, FRIENDS REALLY KNOW?

Hi Everyone, it's Sunday here in Illinois and we are expecting snow. My neck is getting better slowly but better slow than never.
On this post I would like to talk about husbands, wives, and significant others.
I want to talk to those of us who met them when we were fine. I don't think enough has been said about the people who find they have a whole different person living with them. As we know we become a different personality with agoraphobia. Our problem is so severe that all we can think about is us. Family and friends don't have to live with us but they do.

After I wrote my book while it was still on sheets of paper I asked my husband if he wanted to read it. He said yes I gave it to him and he spent the next few hours reading it. He finished it that day. He came to me with tears in his eyes and said I didn't know! He said I should have helped more!
For some reason we think our partner knows all we are going through, this is not true. If we could only take our selves out of our body and look at us through their eyes we might find the answer to our rocky relationships if we have any.

Whats the answer. I think you should all sit down and write a letter to your mate and explain in vivid detail not leaving anything out what is happening to you. You might have to update it at times but they have a right to know.
Another side is how we perceive our mate. Because they are usually our safe person we go overboard in treating them special. We bend over backwards for them because they represent a link to the out side world, also the things we can't do they will do. Life can get a bit lopsided with this thing that we have.
This Agoraphobia field is wide open and new. No one knows how to navigate it. It is not a mental disorder. That is why psychiatry doesn't work. We have to start looking at this thing and calling it for what it is. We have to talk about our symptoms. Example: I'm having head spins, I can't quit shaking, can't talk on the phone, can't ride in the car my heart is beating out of my chest etc. Let's make this thing as real as we can get it.

Remember it's in your eyes not your head!

Yolanda

BACK FROM MICHIGAN AND WHAT I LEARNED

Back from Michigan. What a trip.We were going to spend 2 days and we spent 4. Dorothy is so right "there is no place like home."

Dr. Debbie is busy doing what she does best, Helping People. I felt very welcomed by everyone and Dr. Debbie refereed to me as "The Author".
I couldn't help but look back on the first time I went to her office and spent 8 hours having my eyes checked. I am a completely different person from that person that walked into her office. I am more sure of myself and certainly more out going. Most of my vanity that I felt has gone. I just feel like one of those normal people. Thank you prism glasses.

My exam only took about 2 hours this time. We were happy to find out that my prisms were holding and no new prisms were needed. This was a big breakthrough because eye doctors will tell you that once you put prisms in glasses more and more prisms will be needed. We found this is not the case.

Also we found out that a girl that I had met on the net and sent to Dr. Debbie had the same amount of correction as me. Is it possible that all agoraphobics need the same amount of correction? New tests are being put into use there all the time.

 The place is a bee hive of activity. You would never believe this is a eye glass place. There is hot and cold water machine. Next to that is tea of every assortment. Also Apple Juice that you can put hot water into. All kind of energy bars and goodies to eat. That kind of tips you off that your appointment might run a while. It is quite an adventure. You should try it.

 You know what the interesting part of this visit? Everyone in the office talked about Agoraphobia like they had it. They understood all the symptoms and one office worker had a daughter who was house bound and room bound. She had prisms put into her glasses and now she has a job. It gives you a good feeling to know that someone is out there trying to help people like us.

 Another interesting thing was when Dr. Debbie and her husband Dr Mark Rosner told me this story. They went to an Agoraphobia support group in Michigan and presented the group with the questioner they use on their web site. It lists all the symptoms of Hyperphoria. Out of 20 people about 18 had all the symptoms! I asked them if anyone made an appointment to have their eyes checked.
No One!!! I have run into this same problem in support groups and even with my own friends.
I would have tried anything went to any lengths to get rid of my symptoms. Has our world been so conditioned that they can't accept any new concept except the one they have been fed by the medical community! How sad could this be.

Anyway what about my neck pain. Well it is my computer that is doing all the damage! Do you think that because I am on it ten hours a day could be the problem? Not only that but I have been doing that with bifocal  glasses. So in essence what I am doing is bobbing my head up and down ten hours a day. Its almost like banging your head against the wall that long. What was I thinking!
So the answer is computer glasses. I was fitted for a pair of computer glass that didn't have a bifocal in them but my prisms were put in them so that I didn't loose any correction.

The minute I put them on I could feel the difference. I have had them 3 days and already the pain has let up. It took over a year for my neck to get like this so it won't be an over night thing but it isn't getting any worse and I can already feel improvement.

I hope you enjoyed the resolve of my neck problem, Life is really just problems that need a solution.

The solution for your agoraphobia is in your eyes. Really it is!