Agoraphobia, Anxiety and Medical Problems

People ask me a lot about the relationship between stress-related medical problems (ulcers, high blood pressure, migraines, etc.) agoraphobia, and anxiety disorders.

Generally, people with anxiety and/or panic disorders, including agoraphobia often want to know if their disorder is physically dangerous and if these stress-related medical problems are caused by or are symptoms of their anxiety disorder.

I decided to take the time to post some answers.

First - Neither anxiety disorders or panic attacks are physically dangerous. To my knowledge, no one has died or been put in critical condition from anxiety or a panic attack.

But -if you have an anxiety disorder or experience panic attacks you should get checked out by a doctor. That's because some medical problems have symptoms that are similar to anxiety and panic symptoms, and if your problem has a physical basis then you should treat it as such. Also, you want to make sure that your anxiety or panic attacks do not aggrivate a physical condition that you already have.

Second - Although anxiety and panic disorders are not known to cause stress related medical problems, many people with anxiety and panic disorders (including agoraphobia) also suffer from stress-induced illnesses. One doesn't cause the other. But stress-induced medical problems can be caused by the same factors that cause anxiety and panic. In other words, they are physical and emotional effects of a similar cause.

Personally, I suffered from ulcerative colitis after I thought I had recovered from agoraphobia. I eventually realized that the same factors that led to agoraphobia were later being expressed as ulcers.

That's why its important to deal with the root cause of agoraphobia, an anxiety or panic disorder and not just take drugs or do relaxation exercises to mask the symptoms.

When I've got more time, I'd like to talk about the factors that I think caused my agoraphobia and colitis. They have to do with things like genetics, personality, family relationships, life circumstances, and so on.

More later - I have to take a phone call.....