Anxiety on holiday - help

[Feelingabitmiserable]

Total first world problem. Currently abroad on holiday. Going home tomorrow. I have terrible anxiety and my stomach is in utter knots. I feel sick and terrified I’ll throw up or get the runs to the extent it happens. I don’t eat much as too scared to. This happens every time we go on holiday. I get scared I’ll get stuck abroad and manage to have a really miserable last few days. Feel like I’ve ruined the holiday for DH and DD. Any tips to help manage the anxiety? Thank you xx First time poster, long time lurker

Can you get hold of some immodium where you are just to get through the day you travel?

Sorry to hear you’re going through this on holiday. Could you get your hands on some Kalms? I find they really take the edge off my anxiety. The Headspace app is good too, listen to some guided meditation to soothe you. Or do some yoga with Adrienne on Youtube or take long walks to burn off some energy. If all else fails, have a nice glass of wine!

Have holidays in the UK.

@RampantIvy - just got some, thank you! And some travel sickness pills too x
@Wineloffa - thank you, will try this x

I hope you have an uneventful journey home

Imodium. And when you get back to the U.K., get a prescription for propranolol.

@LakieLady

Have holidays in the UK.

Makes sense

Imodium purchased. Have promised DH and DD that I’ll get some help with this. It’s not fair on them at all (and awful feeling like this).

Write it down.

"I'm scared I'll get stuck abroad".

Then write down how exactly you would manage to get stuck abroad.

Do you have holiday insurance? Is your tour operator ABTA registered?

What's the absolute worst thing that can happen? Would it be that you never get home and are stranded there forever - how likely is that?

What did you do last time you got stuck abroad? Oh, you never have? So why will it happen this time?

Putting it down in black and white will help you to put it in perspective and will kick the logical part of your brain into accepting how vanishingly unlikely it is that your fears will be realised.

That’s good advice, thank you.
Thanks everyone for your replies and sound advice. The logical part of me knows it’s highly highly unlikely!

Thanks to COVID we have not been abroad for the last two years. Would be okay getting to the airport ,but then inside the building waiting for the plane I would be running to the toilet maybe 3 or 4 times . Of course coming back from holiday I was going through it again . The year before last I actually wore tena pants and these gave me a sense of security has I was getting panic attacks thinking that I was going to leak through.With covid it gave me a few years break from the cycle of going abroad . Another thing that helped me was wearing headphones and listening to music and knowing that I was going home..I am dreading holidays abroad happening in the near future just because of what you are experiencing.

Its strange usesd to love going abroad .. began ro dislike it and am only one who claps when the plane arrives back home. !
Do you enjou it whwn there,switch off and get.a hoilday most of time when you are there ? As for me after 4 days i get homesick and.i wonder id you feel similar hence anxiety. You will of course.get home x

I don't understand what you're anxious about OP. Why wouldn't you get home?

Too add, I also was worried about getting home and not being allowed to travel back on the plane if I was being sick and running to the toilet.

@Tiddleandplonk do people clap on planes at the other end then?! I’ve only once been on a plane where anyone clapped and it was after a terribly turbulent flight in a storm.

Yes to Imodium, as much as for the security of knowing you have it as anything else

And honestly, from experience, a short term prescription for diazepam for this type of situational anxiety was brilliant (I have medication for depression and anxiety all the time, the diazepam was just a short term fix for a similar, time limited situation). Obviously doesn’t help you right now but worth bearing in mind for future trips.

Thanks all for your help. It’s appreciated and there’s definitely a lot I’ll take from it.
I had two really terrible experiences coming home from holidays (sickness/awful runs which were genuine illness) and I think it has just stuck with me. Love it while I’m here and then just get utterly scared the last day or so.
I’m going to go to my GP when I get back home.

Trouble is if you have immodium and propranolol and spare clothes and plan the route etc etc you're just setting yourself to think it's much more likely to happen than it is. The problem isn't the tiny chance of being ill the problem is anxiety. Short term "safety seeking behaviors" work. But they maintain anxiety long term.