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Another thing that helped me (and others) was to just sit back and say "OK you wicked beast (anxiety or panic), "COME GET ME".......you see, if we are not afraid of the feelings, they won't come. They only want to get us all worked up, and if we are OPEN to the feelings coming - they wont. They dont like us when we want them !!!! (Believe me, I KNOW it is hard to think about wanting those horrible feelings , but it does honestly work !!!)

Another skill is using diaphragmatic breathing. If u have learned about the :"fight or flight syndrome" that goes with panic and or anxiety, we start breathing very shallow to prepare to run like heck away from the 'imagined' danger . If we kick the breathing back into the right gear, MANY MANY MANY of the other feelings that can come with an attack just wont happen. Hope some of the tips help. I have a ton of them (17 years of bad habits that are now all gone, and mainly because I used the skills I read about or was taught). Remember.....There IS life after Panic ! :-)

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Again, I agree with all this. Fear is a bully.

Part of my anxiety was to have 'irritable bowel syndrome' and in my challenge to this nasty symptom I travelled to Spain on my own, flying (always a trigger for me) and travelling on buses, staying in hotels etc. I don't speak Spanish, but did have a friend in Las Palmas, which gave me a focus for the trip.

I discovered that you can just walk into bars and cafes in Spain and use the loo. Nobody bothers you. This experience didn't make the IBS go away, or the anxiety, but I had some sunshine and saw some beautiful places. Above all, it reinforced my courage in the long term. It was a kind of pilgrimage maybe. If I had been hit by panic while travelling, there was no back up, I couldn't even ask for help in Spanish. I just said to myself, "What difference does it make where I am?"

I'm not saying that everyone should go these extremes, but I am so glad that I did it. My father could never get on a plane, or any form of public transport, his anxiety always held him back. I know how he felt, but I wanted to push past that if I could.

Good thoughts to you, Parker.

Myzen.