Problems With Crowded Areas?

[Melody coates]

i been noticing that i might be having problems with crowded areas. i'll be sitting there and then all of a sudden my heart rate will accelerate and my breathing will accelerate as well as if i'm not getting enough air. this will continue for a minute or two and then go away. this has happened twice now. i hope this is nothing serious and i'm just jumping to conclusions

 

[Indi33]

You're not alone. Sometimes when my PTSD is really sensitive, the anxiety part, I feel like I'm being rubbed wrong. Crowds feel claustrophobic and I need to remove myself because I'm being too over stimulated. I have to go some place quiet and do deep breaths and focus. My ex boyfriend (who I am still very close to) recorded a little voice recording I keep on my phone. It's him saying 'You're fine. Deep breath. You're safe. Big hugs.' He says it over and over again along with a few other really calming things. It helps me find a calm in my storm.

So...

You're okay. You're safe. Breathe deep. Quiet space. Quiet place. Big Big Hugs.

 

[NoWhereKnowWhere]

Don't avoid crowded areas this just makes things worse have a little google of exposure therapy and (seperately) 7/11 breathing or box breathing. You phisically can't be on high anxiety (and I mean high) for a long time (without another stressor/trigger) so your anxiety level will fall with the right breathing and time.

Avoiding is what we want to do but it won't help in the long run. I could write more but the google will be more helpful and I'm not exactly eloquent <~ except for that word of the day shit right there. Xx

 

[Indi33]

It helps if I duck away into the bathroom. I used to work in an 85,000 square foot market and stand in crowds all day sampling food. When you have 10,000+ people coming at you all day, stepping outside a crowd that side is important, for me at least. When I have a panic attack in public I just duck into the bathroom, listen to my little recording, take a few deep breaths and go on with my day. Men are one of my triggers, so going into a 'Lady's only washroom' makes me feel secure.

 

[Friday]

It's pretty common with Hypervigilence running riot.

It also happens with SPD (sensory processing disorder) kids, as well as a few other disorders. Even if you don't have trauma related to crowds. Essentially, your brain is trying to process everything because of the hypervigilance and getting completely & totally overwhelmed. It's hard work.

Some things that help:

- Scanning... Deliberately look at an area before entering into it. Note features, note traffic patterns. Mark exits. Give your brain a moment to pay attention to everything, with nothing else competing for its attention.

- In crowded places... Sit in a corner, ideally, or back to a wall. That deletes 1/4-1/2 of the room your brain is trying to pay attention to / gives it a null space to rest in. Also saves on neck-aches & ear strain, since you're not constantly checking what's behind you. A nice quiet safe wall is behind you.

- Sugar... Forget fish, your brain runs on glucose, and glucose alone. All that work your brain is doing? Burns a lot of sugar. Converting glucose (the simplest sugar) from complex sugars (most carbs) is totally possible, but it takes effort. Having a bottle of soda or sweet tea, or a few sugar cubes or candies to suck on will greatly improve that muffled/ crosseyed/ fatigue/ headachy feeling... And lower the anxiety that spikes when that happens (and your brain starts hollering at the digestive system to convert-convert-convert-noooooooooow!!! like the wild haired PMS lady with a gun next to a Haagen-Däs truck.) Sucrose... That super processed only 1 step away from glucose that everyone says is bad for you... Is best. Unless you can get your hands on some diabetic glucose candies.

- Limit your options... *Music can be a great way to tone down how much work your brain is doing. I do have trauma directly related to crowds, so I can't do this, exactly. Serious anxiety spike if I can't hear everything going on around me. ONE earbud, however, will provide a normalizing backdrop for all the other sounds. It really, really helps me. For others? It can be just one more sound contending with every other sound. *Another trick is turning down the volume. Drummer's Earplugs, or Shooting ear plugs allow crystal clear sound to pass through (unlike regular earplugs which muffle sounds), at a lower volums... And eliminated the screeches & booms of upper and lower registers. By either drowning out, providing a unifying backdrop, or turning down the volume? It limits all the sensory information competing for your brain's attention.

- Grounding... Ah, grounding. Useful so many places!

- Timeouts... Bathrooms, parking lots, service hallways, rooftops. Wherever is quiet, peaceful, and away. Apply liberally.

 

[MysticRose]

You're not alone in this! I've had this long before I knew that I have PTSD. At first, it kept me from going anywhere. Didn't know what to do with it. However, I found a way in managing this.

Whenever I need to do some shopping, I'll pick a quiet time (like in the early morning, when my daughters have left to school). That way, you can easily avoid big queues.

I don't go out much, but when I visit a gig or something similar, I make sure I have a standing place. If that's not possible, I won't go. Because I can stand in stead of sit down, it's easier to oversee the crowd and it makes me panic less. It's still there, but it's controllable.

Hopefully for you, it'll be something you can manage easily!

 

[user27357]

I had a day of this kind of crowd fear today. I have had feelings of frustration and anxiety with crowds before but today had me shaking and sweating and now I am in physical pain and distress hours after the fact.

I took my wife shopping for clothes at a large mall that I have been going to all of my life except that I have lived in a much more rural situation and don't go back to the big malls unless we have to these days. Buying a dress for her to wear to our daughters wedding meant that we had to.

I should have just sat near the fitting rooms and played solitaire on my phone but as the hours ticked off I went walking in the mall and was clear at the other end when the after church and out for lunch and shopping crowds hit. It was a struggle to get back to where she was and since she can't walk well with a bad hip it was a struggle to meet her at the door and drive her to the next store and drop her thee and park again and then repeat the process, each new store becoming more crowded and the people becoming ruder and more competitive both inside and outside in the parking lots.

She found the perfect dress and some great shoes, she was perfectly happy and I went out to get the truck and bring it around to pick her up at the last door of the last store and found that someone had door dinged me hard, leaving a dent and obvious paint transfer from the door of their car and the side of my truck and vice versa. Great!

After that, I was like a penned animal and couldn't feel safe in traffic or able to trust another driver enough to pass them or come to a stop in front of them at a red light or feel safe that they would stay in their lanes as I approached them on the 2 lane roads. As I got closer to home I entered my own county where I have served as an EMT and started remembering all of the horrible scenes I had responded to at some of the intersections and curves I had no choice but to travel through.

Here I sit, a lovely dress and a happy wife and a stomache full of what feels like steel wool to show for my venture out into the world.

Crowds suck, and sometimes all it takes is just the right act of rudeness and I am slammed against a wall of frustration and fear of the stupidity and carelessness of those around me.

I feel like panic is just a scream and a shout away when I am in a crowd, and death is just a stupid move away when I am in traffic. A full day of it is more thanI can do I guess.

 

[NoWhereKnowWhere]

It's important to know your limitations. I feel much worse if it's something I absolutely have to do like I have no "out" so to speak. I can't abandon and try another time I have to do it now, today. I think it's a control thing.

I absolutely live for music, but I've never been to see a well known band in a big venue. Maybe one day but it's not like I feel like I'm missing out I think thank France I haven't had to go through that ordeal.

@enough as well the next time you need to go to the mall this experience is what you'll think about (well that's what I do). I could work myself up to a panic even thinking of going to a crowded area just from past experience.
Yeah crowds do suck.

 

[StarParker]

Yup use to happen me back when I was in Middle School

Ha...I remember having panic attacks in the movie theater

I almost passed out

But it sounds like you have small panic attacks

Hopefully it won't get as bad as mines didn't (I couldn't go anywhere without having one.)

I agree don't advoid crowded areas...

(Even though I do XD)

Take deep breathes...maybe get an inhaler.

 

[InvisibleSun]

I agree with @FridayJones..I attended a huge wedding earlier this summer that caused a bit of anxiety and I implored a lot of those same suggestions with great success. Excellent tip about the sugar, too..i'd never thought of that before.

Do not hesitate to step away from the situation, if necessary. Breathing exercises and simple grounding techniques really help with short, small attacks like yours. It takes time, but it does get easier.