Greetings, I'm new here!

[aphobic]

Hi everyone,

I am SO glad I found this forum! I've been looking for a place to get and give support to/from those with anxiety and panic disorders for a long time. So many of them are inactive with little traffic. This one looks like people are are engaged and responsive, which is great! I plan to be an active member, helping others whenever I can.

I have been struggling with travel anxiety for the past 15 years. It wasn't always this way; I used to enjoy travel and did it occasionally. Now, I am wrecked with panic when I have to go anywhere far and I just learned this is a manifestation of agoraphobia. Now, I don't have trouble leaving the house or living my usual life -- running errands, doing day trips, etc. But I really don't like overnight trips anywhere, and the further away, the more likely I am to FREAK OUT.

I'm not really afraid of flying, per se. It's more just being away from home, out of my comfort zone. I don't know why this is scary to me. Most people cannot wait to take vacations and get away. But for me, vacations by plane create intense anxiety for days -- even weeks -- before I even leave. I have difficulty breathing, nausea/stomach and GI issues, a feeling of doom and wanting to back out (panic), and I feel like I'm just not focused. I seriously OBSESS about trips and my physical symptoms only get worse.

Next week, my family and I are flying to Orlando, Fla. to take our daughter to Disney and I cannot tell you how terrified I am of this trip. I've been in tears twice already in anticipation, and I had a panic attack yesterday. I took 1/4 of a Xanax yesterday and it did very little. If anything, taking it made me panic (I am afraid to take meds, too!). So now I'm wondering where this leaves me, although I may not have taken enough.

This is a week out -- what will happen to me at the airport??!! I seriously need help. I've downloaded some anxiety/panic apps on my phone so I can listen to them on the plane. But I also wanted to reach out to folks here on this forum for help. Does anyone else experience this? I'll post this on the agoraphobia section, too, but I wanted to introduce myself here as well.

Thank you all for reading this far. I look forward to getting to know you. Let's help each other! :-)

[debs71]

Hi....Welcome.

I do sympathise and empathise greatly with your travel anxiety. I also suffer from this, and it is awful, I know. It is also so frustrating and you are kinda left wondering why you feel the way you do.

Mine started after I had a panic attack mid-flight from London to Spain many years ago. Every time I was due to fly after that, I had what I would call 'anticipatory' anxiety, just as you describe. My anxiety gradually gets worse around a week prior to when I am due to travel - heart racing, feeling jittery, not sure if I will be able to do it, etc. The night before I am a bag of nerves - sleepless night and feeling so edgy.

Horrible!!

The weirdest thing is though that as soon as I am on my way in the taxi to the airport, I refocus, my nerves calm down and I am so busy with the whole travelling thing that my anxiety goes away. It is the most bizarre thing.

But still, every time before I travel I get the same panic and anxiety....and not just by plane! Even road trips here in the UK for weekends away!

There is no logic to it, but I think you have really nailed it when you say that we are out of our comfort zones and our 'safe places'.....the place where we feel most settled and that if we are anxious, it doesn't matter as we are in familar surroundings with familiar folk.

Ok.....so here is how I cope with this. Although my anxiety goes when I am on my way, my anxiety rers its ugly head again just before I am about to get on the plane and take off....so I have a few things that help me.

1. Something to listen to/watch - an Ipod or a tablet/portable DVD player. This is a great distraction for the mind, and deviates it from the anxiety feelings.

2. Water and candy/sweets to chew....even gum. This sounds weird, but having something to sip on/chewing sweets or gum helps calm me down. Again, it is a distraction technique and something to keep me occupied!

3. Chamomile tea. This is a great thing to help calm us down. I drink it before I travel and at the airport before I fly. It really helps relax the body and mind.

4. Relaxation apps for the Ipod. There are some great apps/podcasts that you can get that take you through some relaxation and breathing techniques for anxiety and panic. The beauty of these are that you can literally listen to them whenever and wherever you are - in the car on the way to the airport, in the airport itself, on the plane.

Those are just a few things that help me.

Any kind of distraction is key, and we are talking about EVEN BEFORE you travel, like now. Keeping as busy as you can right up to the day you travel is the best way to tackle increasing anxiety. Anxiety such as this just LOOOOOVES as having not much to do, as we have too much time on our hands to dwell on how nervous we are feeling and how our anxiety is growing. It adds fuel to the fire. Anything that fights that feeling is good!

Finally, I know how hard it is not to back out of travel when you feel like you do now. I have cancelled flights, hotels, the whole nine yards more than once myself, before now. Immediately after I did that, I regretted it, felt like I had failed and cursed myself for being so stupid.

This kind of anxiety is a trickster. It makes you think that something terrible will happen, and that you can't possibly do it, but IT WON'T AND YOU CAN!! This is just your mind playing dirty tricks and just nerves and anticipation doing its worst.

Hang in there. You can do this! xx

[aphobic]

Thank you for your note, what a huge help! I will try your suggestions and hope that once the actual travels get underway, I'll be too busy to focus on it. I don't plan to cancel the trip, tempting as it is, so I know I must find a way to make it work.

It's also comforting to know that I'm not the only one suffering through this.