vintage1980
07-06-12, 23:34
Hi all,
I'm actually on holiday at the moment but tonight I had a panic attack in the middle of the street.
I've been on edge throughout the whole trip during the evenings as the city we're in looks quite rundown and for some reason my brain links that with being rough, even though we've been fine so far. So tonight we were on our way to a restaurant which was at the end of what is a main shopping road but the shopping road turns into a bit of a ghost town with delapidated buildings along the way, which exacerbated the edginess. Anyway the restaurant was shut so we turned back to go to the main shopping area which means we have to pass quite a large group of young guys that looked quite intimidating. We were on the other side of the road, almost completely opposite when there was a lot of shouting coming from inside the building where they were all hanging out and then really loud sounds of a LOT of glass being smashed with people then running out of the building onto the streets - all angry with each other, not passers-by, but I got so frightened .. my fiance and I turned back and went to go down another street.
Instead of me thinking 'that was a bit of a scuffle!' or similar, I started panicking - I couldn't breathe properly so got really dizzy, my legs turned to jelly and although I felt like crying I just couldn't. I think that's probably classic fight or flight mode. All I wanted was to go home to England and into my safe zone, which is my flat.
We had dinner elsewhere and although I relaxed loads, I still couldn't fully shake it off and to cut a long story short, my fiance took me back to the hotel, he tried to understand the panic but because he's never really had anything like this before, he finds it difficult to understand, though he does try. I sent him out so he could enjoy a few beers but I feel terrible. It's one thing that it affects me but when it affects him that's really bad. I don't want to use him as a rock or leaning post because I need to be able to cope on my own but what do I do? I'm so embarrassed by the increasing attacks because I just feel so pathetic - when I try to explain what goes through my head I feel so stupid because it's when I'm explaining everything it brings it home that it is all in my head.
Can anyone relate to this? Usually my panics are about health 'issues' that my brain dreams up but this was slightly different.
Thank you,
V x
I'm actually on holiday at the moment but tonight I had a panic attack in the middle of the street.
I've been on edge throughout the whole trip during the evenings as the city we're in looks quite rundown and for some reason my brain links that with being rough, even though we've been fine so far. So tonight we were on our way to a restaurant which was at the end of what is a main shopping road but the shopping road turns into a bit of a ghost town with delapidated buildings along the way, which exacerbated the edginess. Anyway the restaurant was shut so we turned back to go to the main shopping area which means we have to pass quite a large group of young guys that looked quite intimidating. We were on the other side of the road, almost completely opposite when there was a lot of shouting coming from inside the building where they were all hanging out and then really loud sounds of a LOT of glass being smashed with people then running out of the building onto the streets - all angry with each other, not passers-by, but I got so frightened .. my fiance and I turned back and went to go down another street.
Instead of me thinking 'that was a bit of a scuffle!' or similar, I started panicking - I couldn't breathe properly so got really dizzy, my legs turned to jelly and although I felt like crying I just couldn't. I think that's probably classic fight or flight mode. All I wanted was to go home to England and into my safe zone, which is my flat.
We had dinner elsewhere and although I relaxed loads, I still couldn't fully shake it off and to cut a long story short, my fiance took me back to the hotel, he tried to understand the panic but because he's never really had anything like this before, he finds it difficult to understand, though he does try. I sent him out so he could enjoy a few beers but I feel terrible. It's one thing that it affects me but when it affects him that's really bad. I don't want to use him as a rock or leaning post because I need to be able to cope on my own but what do I do? I'm so embarrassed by the increasing attacks because I just feel so pathetic - when I try to explain what goes through my head I feel so stupid because it's when I'm explaining everything it brings it home that it is all in my head.
Can anyone relate to this? Usually my panics are about health 'issues' that my brain dreams up but this was slightly different.
Thank you,
V x