Agoraphobic?

Hi everyone,

My name is Tyler and I was diagnosed with bipolar disorder I, generalized anxiety, ocd, and adhd at the age of 16. I began self-medicating on and off with marijuana since the age of 19 (I am now 22). From the age of 19 to 21 1/2 I was able to smoke marijuana, socialize, hang out with friends, go to school, work, and function "normally". About 3 months ago, I began smoking much higher concentrated forms of marijuana (3-4x as potent as what I was smoking before). I experienced a little anxiety and paranoia when I first started smoking these "concentrates", thinking that it would go away on its own. Unfortunately, it did not. About 2 months passed, during which time my anxiety and paranoia grew to the point that I dropped out of college, quit my job, avoided many public places, and stopped meeting new people. Now, I have anxiety just thinking about leaving my house, and when I do leave I have panic attacks and become paranoid that everyone is looking at me. I have not left my house in about a week and I am afraid that it is only going to get worse if I do not do something about it.

(I am currently taking Effexor, Depakote, and Seroquel, but they seem to be less effective than they once were.)

Am I agoraphobic?
What can I do to get better?

I appreciate all responses and thank you all for your time.

Smoking definitely made my agoraphobia worse. I got totally paranoid, now I won't touch the stuff. Sometimes I think it's just ignites an already present issue though. I've heard a lot of people make that connection. I find that baby steps is the best way to get back out there. Sometimes that means only getting as far as the gate in your garden and then coming back but little by little that's how you do it. Or tapping things out on your fingers to distract yourself when you go a little further like I sometimes do I'll tap I-am-in-con-trol just quietly to myself feck it if anyone notices my fingers tapping against each other it helps me I know the christians tap -the-lord-is-my-shephard. Whatever you tap, if you want to, it does actually help.

Also Hi Tyler welcome to spw

Welcome to the forum, Tyler!

I am 23 and agoraphobic as well, along with ocd, generalized anxiety and panic disorder, bdd and several other disorders/illnesses I won't bother listing.
I first became agoraphobic at 15 after being brutally assaulted by my only friend/ first cousin.
I prefer to be unmedicated even with all of my disorders because I hate not being 'clear headed' or feeling like I'm being controlled by a substance aside from my unbalanced hormone-driven brain.

One thing I can tell you for sure- not from experience but simply as a child of 2 adults who self-medicated with marijuana; it never works.
Will only amplify paranoia, fragment sleep and become something you absolutely depend on to help you 'loosen up'.
Same goes with alcohol and neither should be taken with medication because they diminish the effects and screw up your system.

You can check out this thread to see what others have done to help 'cure' themselves of agoraphobia.

I have not left my house in about a week

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When your week turns into several months and then years, then I would say you are agoraphobic. Right now you are having a hard time caused by a substance. I would really suggest you stop smoking pot altogether, or at least switch to a milder type and a vaporizer.

I am personally horrified by the thought of both depakote and seroquel, but if they seem to work for you, that's good. They each made things 10x worse for me (depakote made me gain 40lbs and become more reclusive and depressed, seroquel made me feel like a record player spinning too slow. I was still feeling all the anxiety and terror, my body was just extremely slow and unresponsive, which was terrifying in itself)

Since you're on meds, I'm assuming you have a psychiatrist. I would go to see them (have someone else take you if it helps, they can talk to you and keep your mind off your anxiety) or at least call them, and tell your psych exactly what's going on. Exactly what you told us here. They're not going to report you to the cops for pot, there is a patient confidentiality thing. But they can talk to you about what to do from here, whether to change your meds or what.

Effexor, by the way, is an antidepressant and is not good to use with Bipolar disorder, especially if you are dealing with paranoia/mania.

DO NOT STOP TAKING ANYTHING WITHOUT TAPERING DOWN, though. I did that with seroquel and it launched me into the most mind-bendingly horrifying manic episode of my life, complete with hospitalization. DON'T DO IT.

This seems to be the beginning of becoming a homebound agoraphobic. Depression Glass is right. It goes from one week, to one month, to one year and before you know it your world has become your house and escaping is not a simple option. While my meds are tame compared to yours (I take Lexapro and Remeron) I do know that if you're on something for a while your body can become used to it. You either need to increase one of your doses or change meds, I would certainly advise both options be talked with your doctor first! When it comes to anxiety, bipolar, and ocd, and now the beginnings of agoraphobia you unfortunately are like a guinea pig in the sense that doctors don't know what will help you, as an individual, and what will hurt. You just have to be willing to try new meds or increase the ones you have.
Trying to break agoraphobia has been something that I've battled for eight years. I recently bought an Agoraphobic Workbook but have yet to receive it. All I know is that you should try baby steps. Try just going outside for a little bit everyday. Then after a week, try going a little bit farther. Then stay that distance but do it for a longer amount of time. Baby steps are the key and relapses do occur but don't let them deter you!