Kevin, a 44-year-old male financial consultant, active in church

How it all started
"...All of a sudden-just out of the blue-I feel like I'm having a heart attack."

Photo does not depict an actual XANAX XR patient.

"I was elected vice president in freshman class, cheerleader as a sophomore—you know, just Mr. Everything. Dated all the time; it was just Utopia. I couldn't have been happier. Then all of a sudden-just out of the blue—I feel like I'm having a heart attack and fixing to pass out. The only thoughts were just trying to inch the car back to the office.

Not long after the first attack, I had another attack. I think the second attack happened in church. I've gone to church my entire life. It's a very important part of my life. And I'm sitting there in church, and I'm feeling the same thing. I left and went to the back and there's a doctor there, who went to our church. He laid me down on a table and tried to get me relaxed.

At the bank one day, I'm sitting there at the teller window, and this same thing comes over me again. I mean, just total. A guy laid me down in the back seat of his car and drove as fast as we could to the doctor's office. I mean, again-all the appearances of having a heart attack—dying. And you get there, and it's like 'instant cure' once you're there. You're fine."

Feeling trapped
"I guess I feel like I've never even come close to approaching what my real potential is."

"There was a tram at the front of Fair Park—to take you back to the stadium. I wasn't even thinking about fear. From the second that thing left the ground, all I'm saying is 'I've got to get out of this thing!' Well, the only way out is to jump. Thank goodness there were locks on the doors. You couldn't have gotten me back on that tram to save your life. There's no way you could have forced me back on that.

So there was an immediate association with that, which I think then translated to things like bridges—like being trapped in anything, whether it's an elevator or in a public speaking situation—that loss of control. It's so much more than the fear of the tram. It's being trapped and anything that relates to being trapped.

Even the job I would take—it had to be something that I could control. It either had to be limited to working in a specific building where I didn't have to go out anywhere, where I could control every aspect of that day—how I got from Point A to Point B and control every single thing that I did. I guess I feel like I've never even come close to approaching what my real potential is. "

Looking for answers
"You're just a slave to this thing, and your whole life is ruled by your slavery to this."

"I called the doctor, and he said, 'Come on over.' So I called my father-in-law, and he came and picked me up and took me to the doctor. He did a bunch of preliminary tests there in the office—and he said everything's 'totally perfect.' I'm fine.

In every situation, they immediately slap on the EKG machines and take all your vital signs and ask you these questions. They treat it like you're having a heart attack. And in every instance, of course, they would say there's nothing wrong. And it was like once I knew that, I was okay.

So that's when they start saying, 'OK, what's going on emotionally?' They start trying to ask if you ever thought about suicide. Well, we've all thought about suicide, you know. And so the answer's 'yes.' So they start picking up on these little catch phrases and looking for the pressure—looking for whatever.

The agoraphobia—it's just like a crippler; it's just a shackle, like being in chains. You're just a slave to this thing, and your whole life is ruled by your slavery to this. If the knowledge of agoraphobia had been there at my first hospital stay 20 years ago, I have no real idea where I'd be."

Note: Individual results may vary.

Back to Real Stories

Taking XANAX XR >>