Travel panic

[Bill]

I was a passenger in the back of a car the other day on my way to a match when I started to feel sick. I think due to tiredness and feeling a bit anxious.

My palms began to sweat and the more I thought about how I felt, the worse my sickness felt so I decided to pick up a book to distract my mind but I found that trying to read whilst travelling didn't help.

I then decided to look out the window in the hope that if I looked at things going by, they would help to distract me but again I just felt worse because the "movement" of everything made me feel more sick.

So I decided I'd have to do what I do at the dentists which is close my eyes to forget where I was. I decided to think of a "safe" place which was my bed under the covers. I concentrated on the feelings of being in bed and I began to stop thinking about how sick I felt.

When I felt ready, I opened my eyes and the sick feelings were still there but they had eased.

I must admit I didn't feel well for the entire time I was out but I doubt anyone even realised....and we won our match too despite not playing very well because of the way I felt!:winks:

[fifi]

Well done Bill, for not letting this floor you!

Having not had a panic attack for many, many years now, I truly had forgotten how terrifying they can be. I have anxiety in abundance with the constant butterflies in my stomach, rapid heart rate etc, but since my PND 14 years ago never flipped into a panic attack.

4 weeks ago I went to the cinema to watch I am Legend. Horror films don't bother me and I was actually looking foward to seeing it, quite early on in the film I suddenly realised that I didn't feel quite right but couldn't put my finger on what it was, but I did realise that the anticipation of what was going to happen next in the film was really quite frightening me. As this thought was going through my head, it got to the part of the film where (if you've seen it) Will Smith goes in after his dog and see's the Nightwalkers... the sound in the cinema became so loud and I can remember the panic just washing over me, I remember trying to concentrate on the film but this was just making it worse, I remember then thinking omg what's wrong with me.... why am I frightened of this film?.... Now I really am going mad.... must be schizophrenia that I have and not just panic! Of course the more I fought it the worse it became and how I got through the film without running out I'll never know. By the time the film ended and we got out into the foyer that horrible, unnerving feeling of nothing being real was present and all I wanted to do was hurry up and get home in the safety of my house and be with my children. For 5 days after I couldn't settle, the anxiety was so high and I spent the whole time in fear that it was going to happen again at any minute.

Eventually it subsided, and I found doing CBT and writing about it helped and took the fear out of the situation. I could also see that I had been under a lot of stress and that being in the cinema, with the dark, the sound and the anticipation of the film had put my anxiety over the edge. And I'm pleased to say that It hasn't happened again.

You are all very brave those of you that battle this on a daily basis as I had forgotten what a frightening experience these are, and I am so pleased that people have found this site and get comfort from knowing they're not alone.

Fifi

[t0rt01se36]

Bill I can relate to what you have said. I too panic when travelling. Last year I think it was, I was a passenger in the back of my Dad's car and not long after we set off I started to Panic. I couldn't believe that I felt sick but just hoped that it was anxiety or panic and possibly cos I was hungry.
I knew where we were going and I knew how long ish it would take to get there, so I decided to close my eyes and try to relax.
I can't remember how else I felt and if I recovered before our destination. All I know is that I also felt trapped and glad i was able to close my eyes as I wouldn't of been able to on train or bus etc.

Ju x

[Pink Panic]

Bill,

You could actually have been suffering from motion sickness which is something anyone can be affected by, so it may not have been anx related.
Also reading in a car is not a good idea as your inner ear feels you are moving but your eyes see you are still (because you are looking at the words.)

I think many of us anx suffers tend to forget that not everything is anx related as we tend to think about our symptoms so much.

Pink
xxx

[Gryphoenix]

Congrats on winning your match! It's great that you beat that old anxiety fiend.

On bad days I feel icky in the car, on good days I don't even notice. I often get this weird 'velocity' feeling like I can't stand moving fast in the car. It usually passes after a few minutes but it's really an old flashback reminder of that one bad panic I had in the car once. Anyway I sometimes force myself to be 'scared' so that I know I can handle it and that usually takes away the panic, oddly enough!

fifi--I get like this at movies sometimes too. I want to watch Cloverfield so bad but I might wait for the DVD cause of that. And thanks for the notice, I wanted to watch I Am Legend cause of the Batman trailer but it looked too scary! I notice too that sometimes I can watch any old movie and be completely fine but on bad days where my nerves are shot and I'm anxious I can't even stomach a PG movie. Which is crazy to me cause I'm a big movie buff and I'm always watching movies. So now I have this low-level anx about cautiously picking movies so I won't be 'scared'. I don't mind watching 'scary' movies as much on dvd at home, though. The cinema can be overwhelming, I know. I watched Sweeney Todd with a huge level of anx and I was fine, but tired aftewrward. I saw the preview for "The Eye" and I was practically freaking out during it though.

It's great that you were able to get over it though, even though that feeling lasted for a few days. For me the feeling can nibble at me for months! I feel hopeful after reading that, even with that kind of bad experience you got over it and I feel that I can too!