Hi. I'm no stranger to this forum, having been reading it for most of my life but I'm getting particularly down about my newest anxiety issue.
I started with GAD when I was 16 after losing a close friend suddenly (although it can probably be traced back to losing a sibling as a child) and panic attacks and agoraphobia took over for a few years. I made a huge turn around and regained control of my life since then but have had residual anxieties mainly around health/death and since COVID, social (because why not add some more spice!) I generally cope very well and lead a very fulfilling life. I have attributed most of my success from making myself do things I am uncomfortable with and in the last ten years I have been very fortunate to travel around the world.
I used to love heat and hot countries and have never had an issue with it until I did a trek in Cambodia and on the 6th day suffered heat exhaustion. Most of our group had it at some point and it wasn't serious and I completed the trek, however the experience must have scarred me as I sometimes have vivid flashbacks to the trek team seeing me look unwell, running over, laying me on the ground and pouring ice over me, lots of people including the doctor were around me and I think the medical aspect of it frightened me more than I thought at the time. Since then I have had a real fear of getting too hot. I got heat exhaustion after walking for 11 hours in 37 degrees heat and not eating anything (because I was scared of food poisoning) which is really extreme but now, I start with a panic attack when I'm a bit too hot in bed or walking or something, doesn't have to be extreme but it feels extreme. I've continued booking trips to hot places to try and rid myself but I'm finding I become worried about trips rather than enjoying them and I'm ruining situations I would usually find pleasant because I'm desperately trying to control my temperature (I won't go out in the day, won't walk anywhere. The other day I walked out of a restaurant because it was too hot) and it's really getting me down. My partner rolls his eyes and just says "it's not that hot" but then I see the news warning people about heatwaves and people dying of heatstroke (famously the TV doctor last year) and it's getting worse. I don't know anyone else with this fear or how to try and help myself with it. None of my usual 'face my fear' tactics are working.
Can anyone relate?
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