Raygoddamn
Dumber than I look
It's the most fucked up thing.
I've always been fearless. I use to crawl through three foot deep crawlspaces in large buildings navigating above or below pipes and ducts. Same with attic spaces. I'd sometimes work in those environments half a day at a time and It never bothered me.
Suddenly out of nowhere I'm claustrophobic. I went to get an MRI for my shoulder tonight and I couldn't do it. Had to ask the tech to slide me out of the chamber. I felt like an idiot.
It started last year on a flight home from Costa Rica. The first leg was a 7-ish hour flight, followed by another 3 hour flight. I sat at the very back for both flights and I felt fine. When the second flight landed we sat on the tarmac for about 10 minutes before moving to the gate. When we got to the gate everyone on the plane filled the aisle to start de-boarding but it took another 5 minutes for the them to open the door. So I'm sitting in the back of the plane with 180 people in front of me and nothing's moving. That was the first time I have ever had a panic attack. I'm 51. Never had a problem before. I always just roll with the punches in scenarios like that. But I completely freaked out this time.
I didn't worry too much after it was all over and we were in the airport. I figured it was just a once in a lifetime occurrence.
But two days later I went to get my car washed. I decided to use an automated drive-thru near me where you sit in the car and the machines work around you. Three minutes in and my mind starts racing. Heart starts pounding rapidly and I'm sweating. Now I'm getting another panic attack. "I need to get out!!". But I fought through it until it was done. It was only 10 minutes max but it was hell.
I went to see my doctor after that and he prescribed some pills for anxiety. I'm not a pill taker unless I absolutely need it but I decided take these every day. I'm not sure they're helping.
So now I'm afraid of elevators, car washes, any kind of confined space really. My heart starts racing if I fumble de-clasping my snowmobile helmet.
Does anyone else here suffer with this? What have you done to try to deal with it?
I've always been fearless. I use to crawl through three foot deep crawlspaces in large buildings navigating above or below pipes and ducts. Same with attic spaces. I'd sometimes work in those environments half a day at a time and It never bothered me.
Suddenly out of nowhere I'm claustrophobic. I went to get an MRI for my shoulder tonight and I couldn't do it. Had to ask the tech to slide me out of the chamber. I felt like an idiot.
It started last year on a flight home from Costa Rica. The first leg was a 7-ish hour flight, followed by another 3 hour flight. I sat at the very back for both flights and I felt fine. When the second flight landed we sat on the tarmac for about 10 minutes before moving to the gate. When we got to the gate everyone on the plane filled the aisle to start de-boarding but it took another 5 minutes for the them to open the door. So I'm sitting in the back of the plane with 180 people in front of me and nothing's moving. That was the first time I have ever had a panic attack. I'm 51. Never had a problem before. I always just roll with the punches in scenarios like that. But I completely freaked out this time.
I didn't worry too much after it was all over and we were in the airport. I figured it was just a once in a lifetime occurrence.
But two days later I went to get my car washed. I decided to use an automated drive-thru near me where you sit in the car and the machines work around you. Three minutes in and my mind starts racing. Heart starts pounding rapidly and I'm sweating. Now I'm getting another panic attack. "I need to get out!!". But I fought through it until it was done. It was only 10 minutes max but it was hell.
I went to see my doctor after that and he prescribed some pills for anxiety. I'm not a pill taker unless I absolutely need it but I decided take these every day. I'm not sure they're helping.
So now I'm afraid of elevators, car washes, any kind of confined space really. My heart starts racing if I fumble de-clasping my snowmobile helmet.
Does anyone else here suffer with this? What have you done to try to deal with it?
