Rose, I have been told that people with anxiety should not spend a lot of time together as we tend to feed off each other and make things worse. That actually does apply to me at least, because nervous people just make me a wreck.

Anyway, you were around what sounds like some hyper individuals (from my limited experience, manic behavior can come off as hyper) and it was probably feeding right into your anxiety and that bad energy was exacerbating things.

My mom used to panic in the store, but I never really had trouble until one time when all of a sudden everything sounded loud. The store wasn't particularly crowded, but the sound of the metal carts over the bumpy floors and the bright lights overhead overloaded my senses. Sometimes my anxiety presents itself in the form of extreme crabbiness/irritation and I know I was scowling as I rushed like a madwoman to get out of there. It's why I choose when to go to the store very carefully because people drive me nuts. They are just seemingly everywhere at virtually any time of the day flooding wherever I need to go, and my city isn't exactly a major metropolis.

Try not to be so hard on yourself. I really do think the energy of that place was what you were sensing and what triggered your reaction. I'm sure it has happened to most of us with these problems.