Posted by oceanblue on February 28, 2007, at 2:53:40
I've had social anxiety / phobia for many many years, perhaps since I was 8 or 9. I do remember suffering severe panic attacks from public speaking and reading aloud in school as early as the 4th grade.
I just turned 40 last month, and these phobias continue to this day, the social anxiety peaked in my early 20s when I found it difficult to do much socially, but I somehow stayed in college and now I manage to live life without thinking much about the occasional pain and embarrassment -- you learn to let it roll off your back a lot. I also learned a lot of tricks to avoid situations that are difficult. My wife doesn't even know I have a problem, I tried to broach the subject on occasion but she says "your just shy"...
About 20 years ago I sought help for several years in counseling, even trying hypnosis and acupuncture, but nothing offered even the slightest improvement. A number of new phobias have come and gone through the years, I had a wave of them in my late 20s, including fear of flying, elevators, escalators, driving over bridges, and swimming in deep water. I think they all are still related to the social phobia, in that I am terrified of having a panic attack in public -- and all of these are situations where there is no way to quickly escape.
All but the last two phobias -- bridges over water and swimming in deep water -- have dissipated over the past 10 years. And I should mention at this point that I love swimming and am a good surfer, or at least I was in high school. And I have been going surfing again recently and have fallen back in love with the ocean, but even today I simply cannot paddle into water over my own height -- I get very panicky about 20 to 30 yards from the beach. But I've decided that this is the year (my 40th birthday present to myself) that I get back in the water and feel comfortable surfing, snorkeling, and swimming again.
Honestly, given the choice of "fixing" the social phobia (that is, being more comfortable at parties, dancing, becoming a leader at work) and "fixing" the water phobia -- I would choose the latter because I simply love being in and around the ocean so much! The most frustrating thing about this lingering phobia of water is that it is the one environment where you simply cannot afford to panic. Being on an elevator and having an attack is one thing, embarrassing as it may be, but in deep water if you panic you really can die!
I am planning to see a Dr. about prescribing something for the phobia, but I'm not sure which route to take... I would really rather go with something "as needed" like klonopin, as opposed to a daily. But would one be able to take a benzo -- and would it even work -- for an activity like swimming? Or would I be too "groggy" or otherwise impaired?
Anyone else have advice for, or experience with, water-specific phobias?
Thanks so much for listening!!! I haven't talked about this to anyone in years.
poster:oceanblue
thread:736969
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20070224/msgs/736969.html