Hello everyone it's me. I am going to give you a lesson in agoraphobia 101. There is a lot of misconception of what agoraphobia is. The majority of people who don't have agoraphobia think it is a condition where one won't leave the house because their scared of something. They say we can't go to the store, or movies, or driving. We can't leave our room etc. Most believe we don't want to. Actually a lot of agoraphobics think the same thing. There are a few fighters out there that have a suspicion that something beyond their control is at play, not many.
Agoraphobia comes in 3 sizes, small, medium and large. I am only going to discuss the large variety in this post. The small and medium are no walk in the park but not quite as bad as the large.
Agoraphobia is the act of being DIZZY!
Many of you don't even know you're dizzy. When this first happened the first word you used to describe it was dizzyness but in time you let your friends and family and the medical community convince you that you weren't really dizzy or you would not be able to walk straight. How do I know this because that is what happened to me. Instead of saying you're dizzy you just make an excuse that sound good and go with that.
So now that we have a diagnosis let's talk about it. This dizziness comes and goes. In the large size of Agoraphobia the dizziness pretty much is quite regular. In small and medium it is intermittent. That is why a lot of them can still go out to work and lead more of a normal life. I did not say NORMAL I said more normal.
Here is the scenario: You are at the mall, all of a sudden out of no where you're dizzy, the first thing a dizzy person does is look for something to hold on to. Finding nothing the FIGHT AND FLIGHT response kicks in, with all it's adrenalynn. Now we are having breathing problems and shaking and our hearts are pounding out of our chests. This is what people do when they are overcome with fear. Now it's a race to the door. After a few of these episodes you are now in the fox hole (in our case house or bedroom) hanging on for dear life. The end result of one of these episodes is post traumatic stress syndrome. This is the condition they want you to desensitize yourself from. GOOD LUCK!
You don't have a fear of open places or going to the store or driving the car or going to restaurants you have a fear of being dizzy while you are doing these things.
Have you ever heard of the vestibular system? No? Your eyes, the inner ear, and the sensory systems of the body (such as the skin, muscles and joints) make up the vestibular system. This is also called the balance system. Really! Now being dizzy our balance and equilibrium is thrown off. So now we have to find out which one of these systems are making us dizzy then we can get it taken care of and guess what the agoraphobia is gone because the dizziness is gone. By the way being dizzy can bring on a host of problems along with the agoraphobic symptoms. There is nausea and vomiting, unsteady gate, drifting to one side while we walk, unsteadiness.
The good news is I have already done the work for you and it's your eyes. The condition is called HYPERPHORIA. This is a condition where one eye is higher than the other. You might not be able to tell by looking if one eye is higher but if you have agoraphobia you have this condition. It also has nothing to do with 20/20 vision. You can have 20/20 vision and still have hyperphoria.
This condition could affect stroke victims, traumatic brain injury, and neurological disorders.
At this time there is only one place you can go to for help. Why? Because in the school for ophthalmology this condition is not taught. Only a small testing with a spoon like device passed before the eyes is used. It takes all of 2 seconds. It should take over 2 hours and needs a doctor knowledgeable enough to do it. This knowledge did not come through the school it came through trial and error and a honest concern to help people. The place you have to go is Vision Specialists of Michigan. Through a unique set of circumstances they have perfected this and have helped many, many people. Go to www.vsofm.com for more information. This might be hard for some of you to believe that only there you can get help but regretfully it is true. Those of you from the UK and Australia go to the web site and ask for help.They love to share their knowledge with any doctor willing to come to their offices and learn. (Could some doctor come from Illinois and go there and learn this technique? Please) In the mean time read "MY Story" and take the test on the right.
I am inserting a list of doctors that have went to Vision Specialists and have learned this technique and if you're lucky enough to be in their state you can go to them.
From now on if someone asks why you can't leave the house or do the things they want you to do just tell them you can't because you are DIZZY and no one can help you.
Those of you living in Canada Vision Specialists office is very close to you just over the border.
The best to all of you always, Yolanda
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