What do you guys do when you have a panic attack in public? Pretty much every public situation gives me an anxiety attack - going to the store, out with friends, out at a restaurant, meeting with people for my job. It's not even that I'm scared of talking to people, my anxiety is health based not social based. I'm actually a very social person and I enjoy talking to people and meeting new people, which makes this so much worse. What triggers me is, I'm scared of having a health episode and collapsing or dying in front of people. That's what gives me anxiety every time I'm out, and the panic attack makes me feel like it's actually going to happen until I finally leave.

I'm terrified of the embarrassment, I'm afraid of people not doing enough to help me if something happens, I'm afraid of inconveniencing people. Every single time I'm out somewhere, I get really dizzy, my body shakes, my heart races, and I feel like I'm going to stop breathing. It's ALL I can think about while it's happening, and it lasts literally the entire time I'm out. I just had to leave a work meeting early because of it and I'm terrified I'm going to lose my job over it.

How do you guys handle this? It's gotten so much worse over the past year and it's only getting worse as time goes on.