Traveling with panic attack. Any Solutions?

[Yyeh]

I had a very bad panic attack during my last trip to Bangkok with my fiance and parents and literally felt so horrible. On the last day of my trip, the sensations became worse and I felt very weak, as though I was down with fever (but I dont) and felt nausea with fainting spells. I literally dragged myself from Bangkok Airport to Singapore.. The next day I was feeling much better. During the trip, I didn't even dare to step out of my hotel room and felt much better if all our meals were settled in the hotel. Because of that, I didnt dare to travel for a year eversince that inccident.

However, I decided to take the first step out to travel again to Bangkok in 3 months time. Am wondering if there's any useful tips to cope with panic attacks when traveling. Or are there any supplements that I can take prior to traveling. Also during an attack when I am traveling, what are the things that I can do to make myself feel better. Hopefully to decrease the panic sensations, especially the fainting spells.. Thank You!

[aphobic]

Hello -- I know just how you feel. I hate traveling and go into a complete panic. I'm supposed to travel next week and I'm already having trouble. From what I've been reading, it seems that the best thing to do is to keep in mind that these feelings of discomfort will pass and will not kill us. Once we accept that, it helps calm us down. I also suggest you bring a book or listen to a podcast about anxiety during your travel. Like you, I suffer from nausea and stop eating when I'm anxious, but at least continue drinking so we don't get dehydrated.

This is a terrible condition that we suffer from, but making occasional trips seems like the right thing to do. It's the only way to fight these feelings. Please know that you are NOT alone, and that these feelings are just mixed up chemicals in our brains. Everything will be fine. :)

[Marko_]

Hello,
This is my first participation in this forum which I found during my surf about anxiety and panic. I'm 33 years old and I suffer from panic attacks and severe anxiety for couple of years now. The reason why I write to this specific post because I planned to do my first travel after 2 years of avoiding. During my panic and anxiety I developed a flying phobia, so I decided not to deal with this phobia right now and just take the train instead.
Maybe the biggest concern about this journey is the agoraphobia, as I'm traveling alone and I think too much about how to get help if needed on the train or in a strange country.
I'm planning my first journey to Germany by train soon and I'm looking forward to share my experience and get some support.

Thanx

[HalfJack]

It's good to see so many people going on adventures :) It's probably important not to ignore that you have anxiety, be aware of your needs and such too.
There are likely some useful links to CBT exercises on the site, either in the therapy forum or in the articles on the front page, might help you prevent panic attacks from getting on top of you in the first place.

One thing I found useful when I have very bad agoraphobia was to look at something (anything) and ask myself questions (one at a time) and answer them in as much detail as possible. So say I was looking at a pearl necklace on a poster in the station.
What is it? A pearl necklace.
What shape is it? Circles, 10 circles connected together on a silver chain.
Are they all perfectly round? No some are more egg like.
What colour is it? Do they look new? Where is it? What size are they? Have they been photo shopped? etc just keep asking yourself questions and answering them. For a minute or so. Or just describe it to yourself in fine detail.
That always calmed me down, engaged the other part of my brain that wasn't panicking.

[Marko_]

Thank you very much for the advice, I will prepare myself well and share my experience here if that is welcomed.

---------- Post added at 14:29 ---------- Previous post was at 14:28 ----------

Thank you very much for the advice, I will try to prepare myself well and will share my experience here if that is welcomed.

[Ms.Black]

Hello, I'm new here.
I'm 22 years old and I suffer from panic attacks and anxiety since 5 years.
I already was in a hospital and took medication and normally I feel great. I also was in Italy in June with my best friend, and didn't really have an attack, but now we want to travel again in 2 weeks. Just a weekend, but for some reason I'm more afraid now than I was in June when we were away for 10 days. I don't know why, but the city we want to travel to is great and I've never seen it before, so I really want to go.
My best friend is great and he really helps me when I get an attack, but now 2 other friends go with us, and although they know I don't feel as comfortable with them as when I'm alone with my best friend.
I don't really know what I want to read in response, maybe just reassurance from people who really know how I feel.