Hi all….so I found out last week that my lil sister, her husband, and her daughter (both of whom I have never met) are moving from Florida (I live in Maine) to Hawaii due to his change of orders in the service. Well, my Mom is going down tomorrow night driving to stay for 10 days since it will be the last chance to see her for a while … well I decided to go … ever since I made this decision I have had HUGE spikes in my panic. The first night I had a migraine then all of a sudden the pain stopped for a brief time and was replaced with a huge wave of hot panic. The next night had a panic attack while eating dinner, then I was at my friend’s house and had a wave of panic there and now I have had two huge brain rushing feelings accompanied by hot flashes and my brain went kinda hazy and foggy. It’s been months and months since I have had any of these feelings. I know it must be all kicked up from the stress of leaving the safety of home and staying somewhere else. So I will kick myself if I don’t go and everyone is ready for me so I just need a little bit of encouragement that this is temporary and happens to everyone when a new stress comes in. Just freaking out a bit. Just need to know this will pass and the trip will be fine. It is riding in the car for 27 hours and basically hanging out at my Gram’s house and seeing my sister and niece spending some time away from home which is just in a lot of chaos these days and then coming hom. I don’t have to drive or fly so I don’t know why there’s so much anxiety and weird brain symptoms flaring up after a few months being dormant. I can do this right? I might not have more flare-ups right?
Oh, and by the way, my anxiety and migraine symptoms were a lot better. I decided to stay off the boards and not give this illness any attention and it did help. I was nowhere near 100% but I was still off-balance sometimes and had been having quite a few headaches as of recently but doing tons better and it seems this trip stirred it up again! But this is my one chance to meet my niece as I have no idea when I will see them again so I HAVE to go; there is no question but I need the proper state of mind and encouragement to get out of this fear bubble … perfect week for my therapist to cancel lol…
I can tell you I had very bad symptoms for a while because of extreme insomnia (bed was rocking) which of course made me very depressed; I snapped out of it and symptoms dropped so don’t worry.
We have to live as well don’t we? If I’m not mistaken you are pretty young like me? We can’t waste our lives, even with this SH*T of a disease. If I were you I would go!
While travel has been tough for me (striclty by car, I wont even temp an air trip right now), once I get to where I am going, the change of scenery has been a positive thing. Being around family should help too. I have done the car trip from PA to FL a couple of times since having this condition and managed ok for the most part, although I cannot drive anywhere close to the amount that I used to and have become accustomed to the passenger seat. Bring lots of good music! Good luck!
I suggest valium. Should help a lot with the panic and also while travelling as it supresses vestibular stuff.
I think this is also a case where CBT would actually be helpful - that is, don’t freak yourself out by dwelling on how bad you might feel (self fulfilling). You may even feel better from the trip - catching up with supportive family, having a break from the everyday, change of scene and so on. At the very least, I agree with Mikael and Ben - wherever possible you need to live your life.
thanks guys…cant take valium though as i hve low blood pressure and it dips it too much. I used to be on it before I had vaso vagal episodes… I think it will be good. I need to meet my niece and home is so hectic right now with the kids home from school I just need a vacation lol…
Yeah, definitely go. The only way to beat this type of anxiety is to grab the bull by the horns and just deal with it. You’ll find it’s never as bad as you think it might be. Surprised to hear valium causes a blood pressure issue. Never heard of it interfering with BP before. Are you certain about this?
Just allow yourself time to chill out occasionally with all of the action and excitement. It’ll likely rev you up a bit but it can hurt you as you now know so nothing to stress over.
You need to go on the trip. The only way to LIVE with anxiety is to consistently do the opposite of what you fear. If it is the 27 hour car ride you fear, then you need to go on the ride. You might feel anxiety, dizziness, a migraine or whatever, but you will also feel a sense of accomplishment that you have completed something that is of value to you. You will see your sister and meet your niece and brother in law. How great is that! Just know that you can survive it, you have done it before… dizziness, migraine, you are already living with that. Whatever “pain” you may or may not have to deal with, you can do it and simulatneously live the life you value and in the end find you probably will have a good time. Enjoy your trip.
BTW - My family and I drove from RI to Florida last year (twenty something hours) with the kids. I was also feeling anxious before the trip. I felt ok in the car, dizzy at the stops and when we arrived I felt similiar to how I felt at home. I enjoyed the trip and have such fond memories. I made a nice photo album and the kids and I look at it from time to time. Go see your sister and make some memories.
I hadnt been abroad for years and last year decided to take the plunge. Was worried about having a severe vertigo attack away. I stopped and thought what was the worst thing that could happen to me. Well I could be dizzy, I could have migraine, yes, but the worse was the severe vertigo attack. I thought to myself, well, I will be with someone so lets try it and see. My worst fears happened, two days before we were due to fly home I had a really severe vertigo attack. I lay in the room with it spinning, and it went on for over 24 hours. I was panicking, saying to my husband, how are we going to fly home if this doesnt pass. He said, well, if we cant, we cant, we just stay here another day. That made me realize, there is always a way. The day we flew home, it had passed enough for me to get on the plane, feeling a bit sick and dizzy but not too bad. Yes, I was grateful to be getting home, but when I got home, was so pleased I had achieved something.
Now, 10 months later, I am thinking of trying again. I have had this illness for over 20 years, I want to live my life. Think to yourself, what is the worst that can happen, am I with people, and how will I cope, and you will realize that you can.