It's tough, certainly. I lost my husband because of my Agoraphobia. My reluctance to socialise with him left him free to seek the company of other women, one of whom he lives with now
It has made relationships with my family difficult, too. My sister refuses to accept that I suffer from these social phobias which has been a great cause of friction between us, and my mother....well, mother is dead.
I was on a prescription of propanolol about six months ago. I thought that it was helping me. As "always drunk" said, they did help to reduce my level of anxiety a little...but honestly, not by enough to allow me to go out and enjoy a "normal" social life. That's also partly because they had a terrible effect on my bowels (can't believe I'm talking about this!) I found that by the time I had taken my fifth or sixth dosage in a day I was suffering from horrendous diarrhea.
There was this one occassion while I was at work in the stock room of the small charity shop where I volunteer when this struck with particular vengeance. I'd been feeling my bowels murmuring for a half hour or so but didn't want to take a break or leave (I have a poor attendence record...I tend to take a lot of time off when I'm feeling down) and as I was due to finish within the hour I felt confident that I could hold it in. Anyway, as I stretched to reach a box of donated shirts from an upper shelf I felt a small, gassy rupture....and sure enough, my knickers were.....well, lets just say that they couldn't be re-sold!!!
I felt so uneasy trying to make it through that last half an hour at work without anybody noticing the way I'd walk with a shy waddle, trying to disguise the arouma with a semi-used bottle of Intimate Victoria Beckham Eau de Toilette!
So yeah, I'd avoid the propanolol.
