panic while walking

[helenclaire]

Well i have just been out for a walk, i prefer to go at night so i do not see anyone, but i felt so bad i didnt think i would make it home,i had visions of lying on the pavement until someone found me.
I was walking at a fair pace due to the fact that it is pouring down, but after a few minutes i started to get churning in the stomach and felt sick, then i started feeling light headed, by now all i wanted to do was get home, i tried to walk faster but my legs felt like jelly and the lights seemed really bright i really thought i was going to collapse.
Well obviously i made it home but i still feel lightheaded and jittery, now i am worrying about why i felt so bad, this is not going to help my agorophobia as now i am scared about it happening again.
Does anybody else feel bad like this or do you think it something physical.
I cannot remember the last time i felt well, i am so fed up of feeling this way everyday.
Helen:weep:

[domino]

Hi , how are you feeling now ? is there noone there to walk with you, i,m sure it was just a blip, try not to dwell on it too much :hugs:

[Anna C]

Hi,
I don't suffer from agoraphobia but although I work I find it hard going out at weekends. I try to go early in the morning as there are less people about, and also like you when it is dark.

A few weeks ago I went out early one saturday morning I was fine on the way to the shops but on the way back I panicked. On the way back I had a few heavy shopping bags, the sun was in my eyes and I started to feel hot. I was about 15 mins away from were I live and I honesty felt that I couldn't make it home. So what I did was breathing exercises I don't know if you know how to do this - breathe in for a count to 4 then all the way out for a count of 4. I learnt to do this through No Panic when I did their telephone recovery programme and I really didn't think it would work but it has helped me alot.

Anyway when I didn't think I would make it home I stopped outside a shop as if I was looking in the window and I tried to concentrate on my breathing I did 15 lots of breathing in for 4 and out again. I still felt anxious but calm enough to make it home. I also recommend a relaxation tape done every day as well as breathing exercises it helped me.
Well done for going out I hope you try again and don't be hard on yourself if you find it difficult. Good luck.:)

[sheba2]

Hi Helen. I know exactly how you feel. I just keep on saying this is panic this is panic and then if I can I change it into one of those marching marines songs. I make it up as I go along but if it helps it is something like this

This is panic here we go
Take a breath and make it slow
Keep on walking look around
Take a step you're on firm ground.

Panic's coming really fast
Only I can make it last
Keep on breathing nice and slow
Panic's gonna have to go

Hope you get the idea. I know this probably sounds mad but concentrating on the rhyme really seems to help and the marching movement uses up that excess adrenaline that makes you feel shaky. I also find looking up and out at the world instead of looking inside myself at all the scarey feelings helps but it takes practice.

[Bill]

This is interesting because I think perhaps it shows how even the weather can be a trigger for panic because under the right circumstances it can make us focus on how we're feeling.

I was walking at a fair pace due to the fact that it is pouring down, but after a few minutes i started to get churning in the stomach and felt sick, then i started feeling light headed, by now all i wanted to do was get home, i tried to walk faster but my legs felt like jelly and the lights seemed really bright i really thought i was going to collapse.

On the way back I had a few heavy shopping bags, the sun was in my eyes and I started to feel hot. I was about 15 mins away from were I live and I honesty felt that I couldn't make it home.

In both cases, you were put under duress. In your case Helen, it was pouring down which made you feel you needed to hurry which then created adrenalin which caused you to focus on the sensations causing your panic because you then became afraid of not getting home.

In Anna's case you were carrying heavy shopping bags in the sun which combined made you feel hot. Hot sensations mimic panic sensations (bring out in a sweat) which made you focus on your hot sensations which caused you to panic because you became afraid that if it was a panic attack, you wouldn't make it home.

We have to remind ourselves that these are natural sensations brought on by circumstances such as the weather and not to focus on them unduly, and that way they'll go.

After all, you both got home OK and you need to remember that if there's a next time.:hugs:

[anxiety1]

The same thing happens to me as well, but "sometimes" not all the time for whatever reason that i don't know of i feel like I'm going to loose my balance like I'm swaying around and swaying back and forth it's almost like vertigo but not as intense sometimes it's really bad and i almost have to hold onto something and i have a pressure in my whole head and that makes the panic way worse. I take a xanex and about an hour later it go's away. Has anyone else ever had this happen to them?

[helenclaire]

Thankyou for your replies,
I felt so bad it really scared me, i really need to try again but i am so worried about it happening again, unfortunately its these thoughts going through my head that caused the agorophobia in the first place, i keep thinking i just about made it home last time but next time i might not.
Bill i understand what you are saying about the weather because i was probably walking faster than usual hence feeling hotter and more out of breath, as for walking in the heat, i really hate this as it does seem to make the physical symptoms so much worse.
I would love to be able to just go for a stroll without hurrying to get home safe.
Helen

[debera]

hi helen
i know just how you feel. i have agoraphobia too. its getting better but yes somtimes when i go out walking. i start to fee weak. sick to my stomach dizzy and feel faint and eveything seems to look too bright. but just keep going out the more you keep doing it, it does get better. i used to get this all the time i went out but now just once in a while. hope this helps
love debera:hugs: :hugs:

[Anna C]

Hi Helenclaire,
I feel alot like you do, but as Bill has said you did make it home. Now you are worried about the next time just incase you don't make it home!
I do this too. As I was reading your last post I thought but the only way is to keep going out until it gets less scary and also to prove to yourself that you always will get home again.
I was thinking of my own situation and that this is what I need to do, its so hard though - I hope it works for both of us.

Thanks Bill, it makes sense the way you explain it. I think its less scary when you understand why you can suddenly feel so panicky and scared. Its just that at the time when you panic and feel so scared its hard to be logical and to think rationally. Thanks again.

Sheba2 I love your marching song it made me smile - I'll have to try to remember it next time I go out.