วีดีโอ

This video really helped me to understand that I can do it and I’ve been doing it. Just the discomfort I don’t like and I know I can handle it

Thank you so so much, Lauren. I've only just seen this 🙏🏼 x

I find even if I manage to get out with friends I don't have a good time because the anxiety and resulting fatigue

Big shout out from Australia Raymond. Very insightful stuff. Thanks Lauren just awesome👍

This video feels like I could’ve made it myself. Thank you so much for sharing and making me feel less shame surrounding this topic. Much love to you ❤

Thank you so much for the shout out!!! I am doing well, healing is going good so far, not too much pain. I’ve been taking things slowly, but grateful that each day I am improving little by little ❤

The queen has returned!!

I’m 14 and every time I’m in a car or away from home, I feel nauseous and dizzy, feeling like I’m fainting (I’ve never fainted) and I just can’t leave my house without coming home quickly or having panic attacks. I need help but I don’t know how to fix it :(

9 years for me stuck indoors ☹ I'm from the UK where is everyone from?

I can relate 100% I hope I can achieve and overcome what you have done 🫶

My toe was fractured last week at work, so I’ve really had to slow down, no driving, little walking, very modified exercise. This was causing me so much worry and anxiety as I had set all these goals for the month and in an instant at my job they were changed. I don’t have to be good. Right now I just need to heal ❤️‍🩹

To whoever is reading this: the fact that you are here is no small feat. Trust that the world needs you. ❤

I noticed that quite a few people only became like this during the pandemic. That is when it started for me! I can't even go out alone anymore, and if I do force myself out with somebody, I have panic attacks, hyperventilate, and want to go home 😢 I wish I had a friend who has this too, who can understand it!

thank you so much for these tips! <3 i've had toilet anxiety for 10 years but it has gotten a lot better in the past 5-6 years. at the worst times i couldn't even go for walks because i was scared i had to pee. i still can't go for bus rides that last longer than an hour but at least i can now use public transport and drive a car which i wasn't able to do for years. i'm glad to know i'm not alone with my anxieties 🌸

My state is like this and it's School Hols my body is killing me internally in my chest , and i ache , my mind feels unreal i just want to get out of my skin , i have a dread and worried feeling all the time xx

You know what would be a really great invention? The bench press toilet! Guys should be comfortable benching with a turd hanging out of their butts. In chemistry and chemical engineering if youre pooping instead of working youre fired. Back to mommy and daddys house.

Amazing reflections!! I totally agree with this. I’m longing to share my story after many years of isolating. Lol one day the Kooky Lauren will just take over!😊😆

Love this one the best!! So authentic and so relatable.🩵🪽✨

eat more red meat, shhhh its a secret

Are you on meds????

really honest authentic great thank you for sharing bless you

My severe toilet anxiety started last summer, i had a hard year, a very bad break-up, and i got so bad anxiety after that I stayed in the house most of the time, the following year i had some okayish periods but was mostly stressed, now as summer came again it once again flared up, more aggressively and more consistent and I'm so mad, I'm struggling to do simple things, things that i want to do, nothing that im obligated, cause that's another trigger. But even though it seem more agressive, now my mindset has changed, and I'm pushing myself to just do things, cause its always hardest till i get to the place, but when I'm there, at a party, a car ride etc and I'm surrounded by friends it's always a great time, its just getting there what causes the most stress. Now that i think of it I had similar experience when i was a child, when i had to leave on a teip my body started showing signs of an UTI, like i had to pee, and when i would get up the toilet it felr like i was instantly gonna pee myself and had to sit down, bur soon as i focuses on something else and calmed myself it would go away, now it has been replaced by the fear of p**ping myself in public😅 yay! I think the biggest thing I have to work on is too feel human again, and accept that we all work the same way, and it can happen to anyone. Growing up with an ultra critical parent made me want to always be perfect, never be in embarrassing situation, always be better so no one could judge me, and I see now that it might be the whole starting point of my anxiety, cause not being able to let Yourself do mistakes can be overwhelming.Now i try to be good for me, not for my father nor strangers, it's for ME. 😅 I hope that i will get better, and you, reader, i hope that you too manage too get well. I shared this because it helps me heal when i open up and I know it helps you too knowing we aren't alone. 🤗🩷

Were you on medication when you were doing the driving exposure videos? I’m about to start meds and am so scared but I’m not getting better with other methods alone. Also, your videos give me hope! 🩷

I had suffered panic attacks and agoraphobia when my mom passed away back in 2019. It was tough because I would have fainted spells when I have a panic attacks! I went to therapy it help some, I tried everything to go back to the way I used to be, like shopping and traveling all by myself, to being someone who can’t leave the house. So couple months later in January 2020 I felt the urgency to read the BIBLE, LORD JESUS CHRIST literally save me! I started a daily routine which consist of a new morning routine. My day began first by Journaling, Reading the Bible, praying and meditation which worked! I was still afraid to go out, so Jesus lead me to listening to Bible prayers hear on YT. So I listen to these Bible prayers every time I felt a panic attack trying to brew , like an overwhelming feeling that comes over me, like the flight/fight attack. So I started to take baby steps going out by myself while listening to GODS word in my ear through my AirPods, which kept me focused on our Heavenly Father GOD! Long story short, once I put Our Father GOD in Heaven first, I can now do anything! Whenever I feel overwhelmed with anxiousness , fear or anxiety, I say to myself, GOD hasn’t given me this awful thing, but a spirit of clear and sound mind. Trust me, anyone who’s suffer from the debilitating pain, disease, mental stress or what ever you called it, put GOD, JESUS and the Holy Spirit first, it works, as I’m a perfect example of a overcomer. GOD BLESS you all!

1:19 really felt this ❤

Thanks so much for sharing your story it made me sad but better listening ❤

I'm driving on the motorway daily to try and get more comfortable with it. I'm still on edge and some days are easier than others. Sometimes the anticipation anxiety is quite bad and then it actually goes really well and I feel this amazing kind of high/buzz while doing it and after it. Some days it's a little harder than I was expecting and I don't feel as proud or amazing after it but thats fine, I still did it. I've also decided to record and vlog them. I actually find it sort of reassuring talking as if someone is there with me, it's a good distraction too but I'm making sure to not always record it incase it becomes some sort of safety behaviour

Omggg this is what im going through once i got diagnosed with blood clots and using my nebulizer machine has made ne scared to go anywhere

Im so scared of been in the car

I have this... Pray for me...

I've suffered with GAD, and can barely leave my house. But I think we all get distant from everything because of the anxious feeling we're getting. I have lost so much to this anxiety. And your right it is a scary place to be when you feel disconnected from yourself. I'm there!!! PS. I think you should let everyone know at work because there still going to love you,,we've all heard your stuff and love yah!! PSS,, Do you still feel anxious even on your meds?? By the way your voice is just beautiful and calming!!!

I have agoraphobia due to a few years ago getting hypoglycemia while I was driving and almost passing out while driving on the highway. It’s been 3 years for me. I haven’t seen my family in years. They live 1000 miles away. I’m house bound. For me, it’s partially mental. Mental in the sense where I’m asking the What Ifs…….. like what if I black out, go into shock, and die. Or what if I have to be hospitalized. The root of my fear is losing control. Being physically active makes me feel weak. I can barely even stand some days. Other days, I do 4000-5000 steps doing things like cleaning. Ocasionally I have done things like go out to a restaurant, go to the dentist, take my pets to the hospital for an emergency… but I can only be out for like an hour before I start to lose it. I’m 26 years old… what’s crazy is only like 5-6 years ago I was climbing mountains and going on 30-40 mile multi-day hikes in the wilderness. Thinking about being in those situations now gives me the cold sweaty feeling. I wonder a lot if I’m going to be like this forever. I want to build good habits and maybe try walks, but I just feel so damn tired all the time.

Have you ever considered recording audiobooks? You have one of those soothing voices.

Needed this x

Not agoraphobic, but bodily dysphoria replicates a lot of the feelings from it. The anxiety is overpowering, and it’s hard for others like my mom to really understand. I still need to go to school and stuff, and everyday feels like flipping a coin to whether im gonna have a breakdown and need to force myself out the house, be totally fine, or not go at all.

I've been going through the same past few months. Sorry about Pig. 🥹

Amazing. No one understands until you got through it. It’s how uncomfortable you feel outside of your home and it just happens.

I’m so glad I’m not alone ❤

I’ve had anxiety/ panic attacks since 2016 but I didn’t have medical issues now I have blood clots / asthma and so much Phlegm production . And I haven’t felt healthy so I isolated myself from everyone . And I can’t even go throw out the trash or walk through a store because I’m scared if I can’t breathe I won’t have my inhaler or my nebulizer machine . This is insane and I have even called 911

Hi Lauren, did you still use antidepressants while recovering from agoraphobia and doing exposure therapy? I’m currently doing exposure therapy while off my antidepressant and it’s quite hard, I’m curious if you’re still on yours or if you managed to recover without using them anymore. Thanks 😊

Thank you so much for making this, when you took any of the medication did you found it actually made your anxiety worse at all? I'm currently on day 3 of an antidepressant and I feel like I'm going so far backwards it's hard to keep taking it

Two amazing souls❤

The Queen had returned!!

Really good discussion, Lauren. I certainly feel like there are times that I've pushed too far and encountered more than a panic attack, but a traumatic panic event. Your discussion here makes me question how much of that trauma was caused by me rigidly trying to push through, versus how much was the actual situation itself being "too much". Either way, these traumatic panic events have definitely set me back, or introduced a new set of PTSD-like symptoms that I've had to dismantle over time. I guess where I'm going with this (sorry, I'm formulating my thoughts on the fly a little here, again, thanks to your thought provocative video), is that I do believe that you can push "too far". But if your goal in exposure therapy is to avoid discomfort, then you're simply re-enforcing your boundaries and building those boundaries stronger. The goal of exposure therapy should always be to experience discomfort and practice using the tools that alleviate it. Hopefully that makes sense!

❤

6+ years for me, i have a disabled pug and i cant help but blame myself for stopping his walks, i can hardly look after myself because of my mental health, i also have really bad health anxiety but my bowels for a year have been very concerning and yet i'm too scared to get help for it so i hope one day the universe helps me but for now, i just accept whatever happens, happens for a reason😪 i got emotional at how relatable your story was, i missed out on so much, even saying goodbye to two dear family members, agoraphobia is such a cruel disease, so glad you found your way 'NOT HOME' 😂🙏🏻❤️‍🩹

I am doing flooding exposure. It works much faster. It's 2 weeks and I am able to go to grocery store already but not with my kid yet

Thank you so much 🫶🏼

I would really love a video of the exact mindset and steps please a lengthy one like this one, I’m a my wits end