Anxiety and travel.

[Sambo_C]

Hi all,

As an anxiety sufferer with a lot of pride I tend not to speak out. However I recently had an experience I never to wish onto anyone and would like to share and potentially find a solution.

Three months ago I traveled Europe by myself and I knew I had issues being away from home and being alone but I didn't want to let it stop me doing things in my life if always wanted to. No friends/family wanted to travel. I was ok to begin with enjoying myself. However upon reaching Portugal I began to have the avalanche of anxiety set in, being alone, in a strange country to me and recently loosing my phone.

Over a day I began to stress, chess tighten, self diognosed health issues, hot and cold sweats and severe loneiness, I needed help. I always at home went to family and just sat on the lounge near them and never brought it up. Just there company was enough to help. But overseas I had nothing.

So I borrowed the hostel phone and called a few Australian 24/7 doctor services as listed on the Medicare website however the area code from overseas showed the DRs I was overseas and they could not advise me on anything as there registration ends at our border. This only made it worse to the point where I layed in bed and sleep fir days and wake up to to violent fits all the time.

I went on the Beyond Blue website and attempted to access the forums but it does not allow people from other countries onto its site.

I feel it would be great if we had a overseas travelers section to help with this. Never have I felt so alone and sick. Looking back all I needed was to be told I'm fine and it's anxiety but we all know it's not that easy to tell yourself.

Thanks for taking the time to read my story and I hope we can grow from this together as a community.

Don't be scared to speak out, I feel much better now I have 🙂

[White_Rose]

Dear Sambo

Hello and welcome to Beyond Blue. The site was open to overseas posters but it became too unwieldy to manage successfully and registration was changed. I think you can access the site as a visitor just to read the posts but of course that was not what you wanted.

I think it must have been a terrifying experience and being overseas without support would be disastrous. Glad you made it home safely.

Do you still have any anxiety or did it go away when you returned home? I have never been good going on holiday on my own. I can travel to the UK to see family so long as I stay with one of them. No good being on my own in a hotel.

I hope all is going well for you now but please continue writing if it is helpful.

Mary

[Sambo_C]

Thanks for that White Rose,

I have always had it, it' just worse when I'm away. School camps used to be a real challenge. Work and stress get it going also but I use each time as a learning experience and am slowly winning I believe. However I'll never forget that week in Europe.

Thank you

[Doolhof]

Hi Sambo C,

I too welcome you to the community here. Must have been a really tough time for you being away from loved ones and not having your phone to help you contact people. I don't know a great deal about needing help while overseas, it is an interesting point, who can you turn to!

Hopefully you can learn from this and if you go overseas again, have some ideas and back up plans organised. Maybe let someone in your family know so they can support you and understand your needs.

Regarding that awful week in Europe, so as not to be haunted by the memories for ages, can you recall any good parts to that week? The positives might help you to overcome some of the heaviness of the negative memories. I find it can be easier to remember the unhelpful than the helpful.

Cheers for now from Dools