Hi all,
I’m on vacation with my boyfriend now in the UK. I normally have mild anxiety (just general worrying about dying or extreme nervousness in social situations) however since we’ve arrived I’m suddenly experiencing severe anxiety in my whole body. I feel shaky and dizzy and like there’s something buzzing in my body and brain constantly. It’s not even a sense of fear grounded in anything in particular, which I think is what makes it most scary because I feel like I don’t know how to fix it. I think I might have picked up some kind of stomach bug in the airport and I think the fear of puking/fainting (I have a history of fainting) made things worse. But now my stomach seems to be better but the anxiety is EXTREME and non-stop. I feel like I can’t do anything or even think about anything besides it. I feel like I’m going crazy and this is inescapable. I hadn’t been sleeping well until last night when I finally got a full night’s sleep. But this morning when I woke up, the first thing I thought was “Is the feeling back?” and I’ve been feeling it ever since, like the fear of the feeling is triggering it but I don’t know how to stop that. I think the stress of the time change and wanting to make sure I make the most of the vacation and being out and outgoing after a pretty anti-social, indoors time for the last two years in the pandemic has made it worse, since I’m usually a home-body. But I wouldn’t mind being tired or even stressed if I could just get rid of this constant, panicked feeling. I feel like I’m so alone in my head and so trapped even when my boyfriend helps me and I’m so scared that something’s wrong with me and I’ll never feel normal again. I don’t even feel like myself right now. And it’s been constant too for the last few days. Anyone have any suggestions for how I can quiet this incredibly painful feeling and feel like a person again??? Or how I can try to stop thinking about it to have some peaceful moments anyway? Or could it be more serious because I have the stomach problems also and it came on so suddenly? If I went to a doctor, would they even be able to do anything? It’s just the worst I’ve ever felt in my whole life and I feel like there’s nothing anyone can do to help, which makes me more scared.