IS AGORAPHOBIA A MENTAL ILLNESS/

Do Agoraphobics do this to themselves? Do they exhibit this behavior so they don't have to leave the house? So they can get rid of their friends and family? Can they get over this by proper thinking and putting themselves out there every day?

Some say they can. Most can't just get over it. Most would give anything to get rid of it.

According to the Wikipedia definition on mental illness it quotes the World Health Organization and the American Psychiatric Association. According to them the word mental illness and neurological disorder are tossed about. The words Mental Disorder and Mental Illness are a source of contention. They can't figure how to apply them and to what.

At one time homosexuality was listed in the DSM  as mental illness but was removed when the American Psychiatric Association officially stated that homosexuality per se implies no impairment in judgement, stability, reliability or general social or vocational capabilities.

We have been told we need a psychiatrist to talk about our childhood and what was done to us. Lets face it everybody had something going on in their childhood. Some more traumatic than others. With this theory you fall into the victim mentality and never get better. It's so much easier to blame someone else.

The medical community gets out their machines. The MRI, the CAT SCAN, and any other contrivance they can think of. But the end result is always the same. Can't find anything wrong with you.

The people at Vision Specialists have found a lot wrong with you. They call it VERTICAL HETEROPHORIA. This is a condition where one eye is higher than the other.

Why don't we know about this? Because it has been uncommonly diagnosed and a poorly understood disorder. This is due in large part to the inconsistent performance of the current tests used to identify the direction and amount of VH which makes diagnosing, treating and researching this condition almost impossible.

I took my son to a vision doctor 3 months ago and asked that he be specially tested for VH. She passed a black spoon like device across his eyes and said no his eyes look perfect. At the Vision Specialists office it take 2 to 3 hours to diagnose this condition.

The only way desentization will work is if this problem is corrected first. Now you have to start taking baby steps back into the world you knew and loved.

Its in your eyes not your head.

Hugs to you all, Yolanda 

AGORAPHOBIA AND PANIC GONE!

How to rid yourself of the crippling effects of Agoraphobia and panic attacks. Click on the hyperphoria test on the right and read "My Story" The answer is simple. Just Believe.

All the Best, Yolanda

 

DEPRESSION

HAPPY 4TH EVERYONE!

GOOD DAYS AND BAD DAYS,EVEN GOOD YEARS AND BAD YEARS.

Have you ever wondered how some people with Agoraphobia get over it all of a sudden and then maybe 5 years later it returns? Doesn't this seem strange? I remember reading stories about this when I was searching the net for a cure. I wondered how people with full blown agoraphobia could just get over it. Now I understand it perfectly.
When I was young I would have episodes when I was anxious but they were few and far between. Then as I got older and more pressure came into my life I would have more unpleasant feelings. Like when I was getting ready for my wedding. I was just 20 years old and  because my mother had died when I was 5 I was all alone trying to plan for this event. I remember getting a lump in my throat and thinking I must really have something awful wrong with me. After going to the doctor he told me he could find nothing in my throat. I think he probably tried to tell me just to not worry I was fine. I started getting suspicious when at night it went away and in the morning when I got up it was back.

It took about 20 years to understand this behavior. After I found out what caused agoraphobia I could then look back and know why some people seemed to have had a miraculous healing when their symptoms went away.  I now know that the muscle in the eye compensates for the difference, but in times of extreme stress it can't keep doing this and the symptoms return. Because of our stressful world the kids today are becoming anxious at a earlier age. So being symptom free does not mean that everything is alright it just means for now it's ok.

Take the hyperphoria test on the right and grade your self to see if this could be your problem.


Love to you all,
Yolanda

AGORAPHOBIA AND HYPERPHORIA, IF YOU HAVE ONE YOU HAVE THE OTHER.

Heterophoria is where the two eyes have difficulty looking directly at the image being viewed. The eye muscles take over and try to correct this condition. But over a long period of time the eye muscle becomes over worked and you end up with the symptoms of agoraphobia. Agoraphobia is not the result of panic, panic is the result of agoraphobia. Some symptoms are strained eye muscles which cause headaches, usually in the front of the face or in the temples. As the muscles strain they become fatigued and they quiver, causing the eyes to move rapidly but minutely, which creates the feeling of dizziness, lightheartedness  disorientation and a sense of imbalance. Other symptoms are face ache, eye pain or pain with eye movement. These symptoms are similar to sinus problems, migraines, TMJ problems, neck ache and upper back pain due to head tilt. Symptoms similar to spinal misalignment problems, motion sickness, nausea, poor depth perception, unsteadiness while walking or drifting to one side while walking, lack of coordination. There are also symptoms similar to those seen in patients with MS or Meniere’s disease. Difficulty with concentration similar to ADHD. Difficulty with reading comprehension, skipping lines, while reading, words running together while reading similar to those seen with learning disability. Also blurred vision, double or over lapping vision, shadowed vision, light sensitivity, difficulty with glare or reflection.

Feelings of being overwhelmed or anxious when in large contained spaces. Like malls or big box stores. Feeling overwhelmed or anxious in crowds seen in patients with agoraphobia and anxiety. This condition may be caused by head trauma, stroke, or neurological disorders. However, most often this is a condition you are born with. It may take years before symptoms occur, as the body will do its best to compensate for these problems. This condition runs in family’s

To correct this problem, the optometrist adds prism to your lenses. Prism is a way of making the lenses such that the image seen by the eye is moved up or down or to the side. Whatever is needed to allow the eye to point in the correct direction without straining the eye muscles. Proper prism correction leads to a reduction of symptoms of (on average) about 80%.

This information was taken from the book “If the Walls of my Exam Room Could Talk” by Debby Feinberg O.D.

Click on the Hyperphoria test to the right and see if this could be your problem.

Leave a comment I would love to hear from you.  

Yolanda

HAVE A GREAT ATTITUDE IT ALWAYS HELPS.

There once was a woman who woke up one morning, looked in the mirror, and noticed she had only three hairs on her head. 'Well,' she said, 'I think I'll braid my hair today.' So she did and she had a wonderful day. The next day she woke up, looked in the mirror and saw that she had only two hairs on her head. 'H-M-M,' she said, 'I think I'll part my hair down the middle today.' So she did and she had a grand day. The next day she woke up, looked in the mirror and noticed that she had only one hair on her head. 'Well,' she said, 'today I'm going to wear my hair in a pony tail.' So she did, and she had a fun, fun day. The next day she woke up, looked in the mirror and noticed that there wasn't a single hair on her head. 'YAY!' she exclaimed. 'I don't have to fix my hair today!' Attitude is everything. Be kinder than necessary, for everyone you meet is fighting some kind of battle. Live simply, Love generously, Care deeply, Speak kindly. Life isn't about waiting for the storm to pass... It's about learning to dance in the rain. It's not what you gather, but what you scatter that tells what kind of life you have lived. Life is too short to wake up with regrets. Love the people who treat you right and pray for the ones that don’t.

Life is short live it with love.
Yolanda

DOCTORS, PSYCHIATRISTS, COUNSELLORS, DO THEY HELP?

Lets talk about the help out there. Unless you have suffered panic, agoraphobia or anxiety you probably don't have a clue what the patient is talking about. If they had suffered Agoraphobia they would be home where it is safe.

We look to the medical community for answers. Instead we get antidepressants and antianxiety medications. They tell us we need psychotherapy. We take their medication that they tell us isn't habit forming. They say the end justifies the means. This is very hard for us because we are medicine phobic.

We go through desensitization. This is to face the things we think are going to kill us. They say the more we go to these places that we fear the more anxiety will lesson. This would be fine if we were a dog.

They tell us we have to retrain our brain. That’s like telling the person who is falling that he really isn't falling he just thinks he is. There are a thousand books on agoraphobia aimed to relieve you of your money. They go over and over what you have to do to be well. Most if any of these authors have never had this thing. If you are one of the people who have been helped by these books consider yourself VERY LUCKY. The medical profession has left us addicted to pills and condemning ourselves for our own self imprisonment. I for one am not buying any of it!

So what can we do to help ourselves? Do we have any other options, yes we turn to the internet, and it is our best friend. It is a life line for people like us. The information it pushes out is over the top. God did not leave us alone, He gave us the internet. That is where I found my answer and I know it is an answer for a lot of you.

Click on the Hyperphoria test on the right and grade yourself to see if you can be helped.

The best to you all, Yolanda