Does anyone have any advice on how to manage or completely overcome anxiety?

[atrizzy]

I'm 27 years old and live a "normal," happy life. Last month I fainted in a crowded room while on a business trip. It was in Colorado so I believe it was a result of the high altitude and dehydration. A week later when I was back home, I started to feel funny while driving in traffic for an hour - my arms and legs were tingling, I felt weak and light-headed. I thought I was going to faint so I pulled over & called 911. I ended up not actually fainting but I felt all the symptoms of passing out. I went to the doctors and they ruled out a panic attack because I didn't have chest pains. They just thought it was my low blood pressure causing vasovagal syncope (harmless fainting).

Now as a result of those two incidents, I have a form of post-traumatic stress where I can't drive for long distances, especially not alone, and I get anxiety when waiting for anything. For instance, I started having an anxiety attack when I was waiting to be seated at a restaurant and then while waiting to be served our food. I started to freak out & feel as if I was going to faint. I couldn't even eat once I got my food because I was so stressed. Then I realized I got the same anxiety while waiting to fly home from a weekend away. I was on the plane and felt so trapped and anxious to take off that I felt as if I could faint again!

It's almost as if I'm fearful of fainting in public again that I cause myself to feel faint. It's a vicious cycle! And now I find myself dreading things that I once loved to do - i.e. hang out with friends in the city, go out to eat, travel, etc. Does anyone have any tips or suggestions how I can overcome this? I'd prefer not to take any medication of any sort. I'm hoping this is a mental state that I can resolve myself but I'm not sure. Can anyone give any advice?

[Paxiled]

First, chest pain has nothing to do with whether you're having an anxiety attack or not -- people's symptoms vary considerably.  Listening to doctors about anxiety can be a rough patch.  So it seems to me, as a long-time anxiety sufferer, that you have two things you need to do:  find a better doctor who can find out why you fainted and deal with it -- if it's low blood pressure, work on that.  If it was altitude and dehydration, or low blood sugar, which is what it sounds like, you need to eat better to work on this.  You don't describe your physical fitness level, but if you're not exercising it might be time to do so.  Exercise and meditation are two things that can regulate your blood flow and make sure nutrients are moving around and your blood is moving around so you don't end up feeling faint.  Second, what you're suffering now I think you've accurately described -- you're afraid this is going to happen again and you're developing a chronic anxiety problem.  I don't know you're age, but it could be you were on the way to developing some anxiety problem anyway, but you want to get on top of it quickly.  There's no guaranteed way to do this, but before avoidance becomes normal for you, which will make the problem worse, I'd get to a psychologist who specializes in anxiety treatment and knows relaxation techniques that can get you past this kind of thinking.  

[atrizzy]

Thank you for your advice, I am scheduling an appointment with a psychologist ASAP to address this anxiety issue. It's getting pretty bad, the fear of fainting again is overwhelming and my anxiety is building up at full speed. I really appreciate your response!