Travelling with health anxiety

[xclyrox]

Right so I have a couple of trips coming up which have been planned for ages but now they are so close I feel sick and ill at the thought of them. I deal with health anxiety on a daily basis which stems from an intense fear of dying. I just cannot handle it or get my head around it no matter how much I tell myself it is a natural part of life which happens to everyone. Because of this, i am scared of being on my own or travelling beyond what I consider my 10-minute radius of a hospital!
At the weekend we are going to Manchester which is a few hours away and when I went before xmas i had a massive panic attack across the Saddleworth moor area. just seeing the open areas makes me panic and believe I am too far away for medical help to reach me in time if anything happened, the experience lasted about 30 minutes and was one of the worst experiences of my life and yet, I am going back?!! for a friends birthday. i am trying so hard to keep a brave face but i am so anxious of anything happening to me. I know its just my anxiety kicking in but my brain won't accept it and believes the worst will happen.

Not long after, we are going to Italy for a few days and the idea of being confined on a plane even further away from any kind of medical help is terrifying me. I don't want to let this control my life and stop me doing anything but at the same time, I really don't want to put myself through what in my head is already going to be horrific.

how do others cope with things like this? i have tried all sorts but when the moment comes and it hits me all the tips and advice i have in my head just gets taken over

hope someone can help and offer some kind of advice

tia

[Mindprison]

Hello there

Anxiety of any kind will cause reactions like this. Because of the fight/flight response your body will associate places or things where you had a panic attack as a danger to you and will actively seek to prevent you from doing it again/going there again.

Anxiety leads to avoidance which leads to more anxiety. The only way I know of beating it is through exposure. Instead of jumping in right away, go a little further from the house/hospital each day until you leave.

Your body is trying to protect you. By reassuring it that nothing bad will happen by doing exposure your brain will learn not to react so strongly to it.

Hope this helps in some way, its a tough one to put down but you can do this.

[NervUs]

I always dread traveling when I am in ha spiral, but find that traveling actually does me good. THere are so many people to talk to, people who don't know you or know you intimately enough to know you have crippling anxiety, that it puts you in normal person mode. It does me, at least :-)