Looking for advice

[Alice1990]

I have recently been seeing a therapist and she has confirmed that what I have experienced in the past and still do experience are panic attacks.

Long story short, these panic attacks normally come on when I am in a different place that I haven't been to before or when I am on holiday. Because of what I now know was a panic attack and high anxiety, I have avoided going abroad for 7 years. I have agreed to go on a short break in the Netherlands for 3 nights in January and now I am having serious doubts and wondering whether to back out.

Is it worth pushing through, or sometimes is it just too much mentally and not best to go ahead with? What really puts me off is that it's a morning flight so I doubt I'll get hardly any, if any sleep, which makes me even more on edge.

Any advice would be hugely appreciated!

[Suziewuzie]

Hi Alice. It's really good that you've got to the bottom of what your problem is, panic attacks in unfamiliar places are really common.
The best piece of advice I can give you is not to avoid doing things just because of panic; it's a slippery slope to letting it take over your life.
I'm the same with early flights, I never sleep before them & end up feeling rotten at the airport then arriving at my destination totally uncoordinated & overwhelmed. HOWEVER; flights to the Netherlands are super short. You'll be FINE! Talk to the person / people you're going with and let them know how anxious you are, give them some pointers on how to help if you do panic & work with your therapist to find ways that work to calm you down and feel grounded. Get some rescue remedy for the flight, a good book and some headphones, and use the time to relax.
Remember, if you panic when you're away, you can return to your hotel room and relax.

[Alice1990]

Hi Alice. It's really good that you've got to the bottom of what your problem is, panic attacks in unfamiliar places are really common.
The best piece of advice I can give you is not to avoid doing things just because of panic; it's a slippery slope to letting it take over your life.
I'm the same with early flights, I never sleep before them & end up feeling rotten at the airport then arriving at my destination totally uncoordinated & overwhelmed. HOWEVER; flights to the Netherlands are super short. You'll be FINE! Talk to the person / people you're going with and let them know how anxious you are, give them some pointers on how to help if you do panic & work with your therapist to find ways that work to calm you down and feel grounded. Get some rescue remedy for the flight, a good book and some headphones, and use the time to relax.
Remember, if you panic when you're away, you can return to your hotel room and relax.


Thank you for your reply Suzie! It has been a relief to be able to understand a bit more about what was going on. It's going to be a huge thing for me to go on this holiday as it sets my worries off like crazy. I worry that when I'm there things just won't feel better and all I'll want to do is come back. I do really enjoy the company of the people I'm going wth but I don't necessarily feel comfortable enough to let them completely in on things and I feel like if things were to get overwhelming, I wouldn't really want to tell them.

I think I'll give myself a few days to decide, but at the moment I think I'm siding more with going.

[YouRemindMeOfTheBabe]

Hi Alice, I'm like this too. I don't like being away from home. But I will say pushing through it does actually help. You don't see the affects immediately but it desensitizes you. So you don't get as much fear of panicking the more you do it because you realise you'll be fine and even if you did panic whilst away best thing to do, which is what I do, is to do to breathing and rational talking throughout the attack. Don't run from it. I think you'll do well to go away, you'll be anxious for sure but the long term difference will be worth it.

[RMG1994]

Alice - I had my first panic attack on holiday in Spain, and it started a whole 18 months of anxiety and panic attacks since, so I completely get where you are coming from. Over the last year though, as people have already said, avoidance is the worst thing you can do - I avoided trips, seeing friends etc. and it just makes your life miserable.

I just got back from a trip to Germany for work, where there was a lot of stress, unfamiliar environment etc. and I was quite worried about going a few weeks ago, but guess what - the whole thing went so well, didn't have a panic attack, and ironically the day after I got home, I had one here.

Sounds like you have a similar thing to me about being safe, but in reality in any major city you are always in safe hands.