Advice?

It's a perfectly normal symptom of anxiety. I myself suffer from it quite badly (had to leave a comedy show early because of it).

I commend your efforts to try and deal with this without medication, but if you are consistently having this problem, it may be worth visiting your doctor to see if there's anything they can give you to deal with these 'flare ups', so to speak. When you're not in those situations, how often do you get worked up into a highly anxious state?

It helps some people to have a mantra. My own personal is that I know it's anxiety and so nothing serious beyond a panic attack can happen.

Hi Kiran,

Great advice above!

When I was early on in my journey...we went on vacation to DisneyLand...

It was really hard! There I was, like you...going without meds, and relying on my coping skills....at one of the most populated places ever!

I was trying to hold it together for my kids...all the while struggling not to freak out.

One particular challenge was waiting in a crowded line, or a parade crowd where I felt 'trapped'.

The positive mantras, the breathing all helped...as did a couple of other simple tricks.

One was to wear sunglasses almost constantly. It is a really easy way to have a 'barrier' between you and the world! Seems silly, but it does help.

The other similar trick it to just close your eyes for a bit if things get too overwhelming, or you are getting stimulation overload. You can go into mini meditation mode for a bit by just shutting everything out...closing your eyes, breathing...

(wearing the sunglasses has the added bonus of no one knowing you are sitting down for a minute and closing your eyes.)

Hope this helps! I can be in crowds no problem now...keep up hope, you will get there as well.;)

S.C.

Agoraphobia has caused me so many times to stay home while my husband and son attended family get togethers. I can go to town and get groceries most times but that's about it, and I also wear sunglasses in stores around people.

I too have this. Someone mentioned how her husband and son would go places and she stay home. This has happened so often for me too! i miss out on so much life because of this. I am doing better, bit by bit. Therapy and medications have me doing way more than I ever thought I could. Still have so much farther to go with all this. I guess what I am getting at, is that there is hope. With hard work, this can change and we can begin to see glimmers of hope.

All the mindfulness and breathing and having a mantra are so helpful. Simply telling myself that It is just anxiety and I am not dying or going crazy has helped a little. Yet sometimes I even feel beyond this. i feel like it is , pardon my language, but a crapshoot each day as to what I can expect. Some days are more unsurmountable than others, and some days are not so bad. Thank God for those ones!

Hope you find some sort of peace in all this chaos in your mind. It's an awful thing. Good for you to reach out here and post. I think you'll make some great connecctions here.
All my best.
Linda