I'm completely housebound with agoraphobia, anxiety and panic disorder. I've been that way 34 years. I don't leave my house at all. I'm registered housebound, everywhere. Two months ago, a FIT test came back positive and doctors wanted me to go to hospital for colonoscopy, to rule out anything serious. I had appointments but couldn't do it. I stepped outside and freaked out, pushed hubby over and ran back into the house, panicking. Called the hospital and told them I couldn't get there. GP had arranged all this. He knows how severe my agoraphobia is, so spoke to the hospital Consultant and asked if it was possible to have a capsule endoscopy done at home. This was two weeks ago. The reply that came back was along the lines of 'he can't get a nurse to go to the patient's home, to carry out this procedure'. Instead, he suggested getting a psychiatrist to try helping me overcome agoraphobia. I mean, 34 years of being housebound and he expects a psychiatrist to cure me? I've had many many forms of therapy in the past. None have worked. My GP knows this. He even said to me, they would normally do this AT the hospital and it's just a case of swallowing a camera, then sending the camera data in, to be analysed. To me, it sounds like the consultant is doing this out of spite because I couldn't get TO the hospital for the colonoscopy. He doesn't understand how severe my agoraphobia is.
Can a GP over-ride this and have it done by sending a community nurse out to my house, to watch me do it? I'm speaking to my GP tomorrow at noon. I'm so anxious about what's going on because I fear they're going to force me to go to hospital and that is going to traumatize me even more. And before anyone says health is important blah blah, you have to know what agoraphobia does to people. It's not like I've stayed in my house for this long, because I want to. Any help please? And thanks!
