15 Comments

  1. Off to Berlin - Grounded Traveler
    September 30, 2013 @ 9:44 pm

    […] I want to get back to enjoying stuff. No more moping and wasting time. Hopefully, I am still an anxious wreck some days, and that is […]

  2. Travel like a 12 year old - Grounded Traveler
    September 28, 2013 @ 8:28 am

    […] anxious misery fades into memory and the coolness remains. Maybe that too is what I am looking to keep hold […]

  3. In the Spice Market - Aromatic Chaos - Ctrl Alt Travel
    September 18, 2012 @ 8:01 am

    […] calm myself from the overwhemlingness of inside. I am totally happy to have gone and such, but the panic does rise when the crowds start to press […]

  4. Becoming an Expat to Escape - Grounded Traveler
    June 8, 2012 @ 8:40 am

    […] of the worldly existence seemed to be less cutting when I was out traveling or living in Europe. My panic attacks were less frequent as well. So as life started to get me down in the US, I built this plan to come […]

  5. Sometimes it sucks » Grounded Traveler
    April 28, 2012 @ 7:20 pm

    […] could have been better on the train, but whatever.) The flight was fairly smooth and yet I had a panic reaction. I’m fine, but exhausted. I still had to work on Tuesday, so no rest for me. By the end of […]

  6. Hogga
    April 12, 2012 @ 8:14 pm

    I totally get this… it’s something that when someone says ‘just don’t let it bother you’ you know they don’t get it at all. Sounds like you’re going pretty well though!

    • Andrew
      April 14, 2012 @ 10:51 am

      Unfortunately “don’t let it bother you” is actually really good advice. It is just REALLY hard to implement.

  7. jimmy
    April 9, 2012 @ 2:48 am

    I use to suffer from panic attacks when I had to get up in front of a crowded room to deliver a speech. Or in this case the results from the week. At the time I was the head of a fiberglass manufacturing dept. and we had to meet every week and discuss what the newest sales figures were.

    The way it was set up was that all of the heads of the other departments sat there while you had to discuss how good or how bad your dept was doing for the week.

    I swear, I would literally freeze each time I had to get up there and give out my numbers. Just seemed like time was barely going by.

    Everyone would be staring at you, and then you would see people whispering off to the person sitting next to them.

    Couldn’t help but wonder if they were talking about me.

    It just drove me crazy.

    However, I did finally get over that fear.

    How?

    Meditation.

    Every morning I began to practice on my breathing.

    I noticed that when I was in panic mode I was taking short shallow breaths.

    After some practice (I used 10 seconds on the inhale and 10 seconds on the exhale) I began to get more control.

    And thankfully today it’s not a problem anymore.

    The main thing that helped me more than anything was that in my mind I knew that there was a solution.

    • Andrew
      April 12, 2012 @ 6:11 pm

      Meditation is a good option as well. I have tried it a few times. Sometimes it helps sometimes it really doesn’t. My head is usually way overactive and even with meditation I can’t shut it off so easily. I have, though, started breathing deeply during the times of high stress and anxiety. In and out seems to help as it makes sure the brain can get air. I also remember that during a heart attack it is hard to breath, so when I know I can breath deeply, I can keep that from being in my head so much as my heart races.

  8. Alison
    April 8, 2012 @ 5:58 pm

    Sorry to hear you have suffered from panic attacks. I’m glad that you have found ways to control/avoid them. I’ve only ever had one in my lifetime, which came on really suddenly. At the time I thought I was dying as my heart was pumping fast and I was shaking ridiculously.I had been run down with a chest infection and was a bit worried about my health, so thought there was something seriously wrong with me when took funny turn. Made me realise I needed to do everything I could to avoid stress. I haven’t had one since and hope that was it.

    • Andrew
      April 12, 2012 @ 6:08 pm

      That is good to hear that you haven’t had more than one. One of my incidents started similar with a stomach ulcer that got me worried and had some nasty drugs that started the spiral. As I write, the problem seems to be the stress of the attack feeds on itself and can cause it to spiral into recurring attacks. Good that you managed the stress. I still have not gotten that fully conquered. Stress is still an enormous part of my life. Again, good on you.

  9. April
    April 7, 2012 @ 6:50 am

    Hey there!

    As much as I HATE that you experience this, I am always so happy to see when other people go through this. I dealt with this for almost a year of my life – I blog about it as well. One of the MOST comforting thing to a person undergoing this IS to know they are NOT alone! Keep writing and sharing your story!

    Check out my blog! My story starts here: http://poynterjourney.wordpress.com/2011/06/ it talks about the ‘panic away’ videos which you can find here: http://www.youtube.com/v/OTQWEtkYsrg&fs=1&source=uds&autoplay=1 This one is specifically about flying….

    But you should check out some of these techniques that helped me to ‘train’ my brain for panic attacks – pretty insightful!

    Shine,

    April

    • Andrew
      April 12, 2012 @ 6:05 pm

      Isn’t it great to know you are not alone? Especially with something like this that is so frightening and disorienting.
      I did many years of therapy and have gotten a pretty good training into my head, but thanks for the links. I write mostly about travel and expat life, but I get into the fear stuff every so often. I’ll keep writing as it seem appropriate.

  10. Gillian @OneGiantStep
    April 6, 2012 @ 11:31 pm

    I’m glad you’re finding ways to help you manage the anxiety Andy and are experiencing these attacks less often. Good for you for continuing to fly even though it causes you such stress – always trying to not give in to the fear!

    • Andrew
      April 12, 2012 @ 6:02 pm

      Thanks. As I think you saw on Facebook we had a really bumpy and windy flight the other day. I even tried that one without a pill and made it maybe 20 minutes into the flight before I gave in. My general life has been pretty attack/free. I still get tons of anxiety, but it has not formed into attacks that severe.