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Gryphoenix
03-04-07, 01:14
Hi everybody,

Wonder if anyone else besides me feels like this, lol. It's not exactly a 'fear of enclosed spaces' but more like a fear of 'not being able to get out of a situation.' I feel oddly panicky sometimes when even doing something mundane like washing dishes or brushing teeth because the thoughts of 'It would be really weird to suddenly stop dishes or brushing, no one ever does that,' and then I'd get the urge to run away and stop doing it, but I couldn't because it would again...be odd if I did do said action. Then that causes me to get all anxious and there we go.

Is that really strange sounding or what? I get like that on elevators or even staircases too cause you can't just 'stop and get out'. Stairs as in most people don't just stop in the middle of the stairs to take a break (my worry is of course that my heart will be beating fast when I go up stairs it'd get me in a tizzy cause it reminds me of PAs, yeah you could say I don't like my heart beating fast but I've been trying to exercise slowly to get out of that, it still bothers me though.)

I once had a mild PA a few years ago before I really started having them and before I knew what it was, in a car we were driving on the highway and I had been on a terryifying, literally claustraphobic ride the week before (Mission to Space at Epcot, anyone? They strap you in a little car, four people wide, no room to move). It was probably the first time I had felt actually physically claustraphobic and in the car it reminded me of the ride and I started freaking out because I knew that we couldn't just stop in the middle of the highway and I felt all closed in and stuff. The ride didn't actually bother me just after it, either, guess it took a week for it to sink in?

I don't really feel 'physically' claustrophobic that much anymore is what I'm trying to say, but when a situation is 'closed in', that's what bothers me.

Piglet
03-04-07, 12:15
I think all that you have said is totally common amongst anxiety sufferers and none of it sounded odd to me hun.

Piglet :flowers:

belle
03-04-07, 14:56
Hi there...
I recall when i was at the worst point of my illness i was scared of washing my hair. I have to put my head over bath to wash it and that would ALWAYS make me feel terribly claustraphobic.

Strange.

Sarah

Gryphoenix
04-04-07, 15:42
Really, wow, I thought I might've been the only one like that, thanks. :D

Wenjoy
05-04-07, 20:22
I so know wha tyou mean - I feel panicky and GOTTA GET OUT of so many situations like shopping, the drs, talking to someone in the street, pubs etc its that feeling that I cant leave when I want whichi s silly really coz of course you can ifyou chose to - its your life - having said that- I stay in the situation and put up with the panic and breathlelssness and will it to go away and am sooooo relieved when it passes!!! Wenjoy x

groovygranny
05-04-07, 20:50
Absolutely not odd Gryphoenix!

I even want to run away from me sometimes !!! :huh:

You know, that 'I -want- to- jump- out- of- my- skin- and- run- away' feeling?

Def do not like being somewhere I can't get out/away from - and small lifts and confined spaces are not my fav places to be!!

But like Wenjoy, I usually stand my ground til the feeling subsides. I will not get beat!

Gryphoenix
17-04-07, 03:20
I even want to run away from me sometimes !!! :huh:



I TOTALLY agree with you, during a PA I just want to jump out of my skin and run as far away as possible, that compulsion to escape and there's nowhere to go.

That's really good advice though, to stand your ground. It's probably the best way to go about this thing, so carry on I shall! :yesyes:

Anglergirl
12-12-11, 20:16
I am breathing such a sigh of relief right now, thanks to all of you, I know how to categorize this feeling!