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I didn’t have a panic attack today while someone else was driving. That’s really good progress; I might be able to fly on a plane again come December. However, I will not chance it for Vegas in November. I have to get over this.
I freak out a little when I’m a passenger in a car that’s going a bit too fast for comfort. I feel powerless against any situation that may eventuate. I also get an overpowering feeling of “butterflies” in the pit of my stomach when the driver suddenly accelerates. Sometimes the feeling is too much to handle and I feel I have too grab onto something. It’s weird.
I really don’t like flying. I can handle it but avoid it unless I have to.
Same with lifts. I really do not like getting into a lift at all. It is the worst feeling in the world. I feel like I cannot breathe and that there’s no air in the tiny space. I dread to think what I would do if I was ever in one that broke down. I think I’d smash my head against the wall until I blacked out.
No idea how I’d go living in a place like New York City. I’d have to get into a lift every day. I’d end up moving to the country.
I’m serious. I can’t handle lifts.[/reply]
I feel your panic attack. My last extended-ride lift was at John Hancock Tower in Chicago. I have also been to the Empire State Building Observation Deck in NYC. Most high-rise buildings have express lifts to significantly decrease the time of the ride and a good portion of residential buildings in NYC are so old that they do not have lifts (unless they are high-rise, have been retrofitted for ADA compliance, or the person who lived there was wealthy).
I’m lucky that it usually only happens when I fly or when someone else drives, but I have had it happen when being interrogated in a meeting at work or when I was driving by myself in my own car (only when under severe stress). I break out in a sweat, my heart races, my chest tightens up, I can’t think straight, I start fidgeting, I can’t breath, my stomach twists into knots, and the adrenaline tingles run through my fingers and toes just like they do when you have a near-miss accident. I want out of the situation; immediate exit required. That’s a bit difficult when on a plane in mid-flight for five or more hours. I can normally calm myself down by getting up out of my seat, excusing myself to the lavatory, and talking myself through it. I take meds already. However, I am now to the point where I am going to have to go in and be professionally treated by the psychologist.
I used to love to fly and really looked forward to it. Now, it is pure torture. I was age 29 when I had my very first panic attack on a flight from Houston to Las Vegas. As I have aged, it has become worse. I think my issue is a combination of stress and lack of control mixed with claustrophobia, but it does not happen every single time I fly (If I am in First Class or an upgraded class, I am better than if just in standard coach. In January, I flew first class from London to Newark to Orlando, 14 hours without even a twinge of a panic attack. Weird.). The subway/train doesn’t bother me because I know that I can exit it at any stop or if it stops between stops, there is still a way out.
My mom and younger sister both have it too. My younger sister is severely claustrophobic and recently freaked out in the hospital when she was going to have an MRI. She didn’t even make it to the slide table, let alone into the machine. She had to drive four hours one-way to go to an open MRI facility. Eight years ago, we were at a concert when she freaked out in the crowd of people; she had to go outside to catch her breath. Yup, she also takes meds for it.
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