Over time, they got worse and worse until a couple of years ago when I was taking public transportation in the East Bay and had a full-scale meltdown. I thought I was having a heart attack. I was convinced of it. I felt alone and trapped and terrified. Somehow I was able to make it to my freelance gig where I asked a woman I hardly knew to take me to the hospital. Once there, I was miraculously healed. Every symptom disappeared the second I told the admitting nurse that I thought I was having a panic attack.

After that, I would have at least one major episode annually, more often than not in November. Another doozy was when Travel Boyfriend and I went to Southeast Asia. It was our first night and we were in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Until then I’d only really traveled to Western countries and to say that Cambodia is quite different than your Germanys and Spains is the world’s biggest understatement. Triggered by water retention around my ankles from the long flight and my discomfort at realizing I was as far from home as I’d ever been, this panic attack had me curled up naked on the bathroom floor with Travel Boyfriend feeding me Xanax and talking me down. After that I resolved to cure myself. I never wanted to feel that way again.

At first I tried talk therapy as well as some tapes I bought from that anxiety infomercial lady, Lucinda Bassett. The talk therapy helped with some other issues, but not the attacks. And I was too lazy to get very far with the tapes. Eventually I just decided to live with the periodic attacks and fear the month of November.

But a little over a year ago, I found out about a hypnotherapist in San Francisco named Angie Choi. Travel Boyfriend and I were just starting to plan our dream trip to Egypt and due to a nightmare I’d had in college, I was convinced something bad was going to happen to me there. In fact, I actually believed I was going to die in Egypt. That thought, coupled with the fact that my panic disorder had also manifested itself into a fear of flying quite inconvenient for a Travel Betty, convinced me to give hypnotherapy a try. Surprisingly after only a couple of sessions with Angie, I was able to take my first flight without Xanax. I couldn’t believe that the fear was gone. It wasn’t just sort of gone, it was completely gone.

Encouraged by that short domestic flight, I started to look as forward to my trip to Egypt as I’d always imagined I would. Angie made me a CD that was specific to my fears about the trip and so armed with that and my comfort bag, I was ready to hit the airport with confidence. The flight over went great and I thought I was cured. But at that point, I’d had yet to fly on Egypt Air.

My first flight on Egypt’s national airline had me gripping the armrests from the moment I stepped onto the decrepit plane. As we were taxiing down the runway for takeoff, the overhead compartments were shaking so violently, I thought they were going to crash down on our heads. I was a wreck and disheartened that I wasn’t totally cured. I was also afraid that this flight scare had dislodged all hypnotic suggestion and that I was destined to a life fearful of flying once again.

Luckily, that turned out not to be the case. Now, I’m about 80/20 with flights, and I rarely have to resort to Xanax anymore. Certain things trigger my fears. Anything that makes my body feel not quite right, like a cold or some unexplained soreness. Also drinking caffeine and especially if I drink alcohol the night before. If I’m even slightly hung over, chances are I’m going to feel afraid on the plane. It’s a bummer that I’m not totally cured, but it’s also so much better than it was before. I can’t imagine having gone to Bali by myself without Angie’s help.

Panic attacks are definitely scary, but being able to recognize them for what they are is a huge leap towards being able to manage them. If any other Betties out there have had positive experiences curing or managing their panic attacks, please feel free to share them in the comments section. That way we can all help each other to be more fearless on the road.

Travel Betty Basics

Unfortunately, the fabulous Angie Choi recently closed her practice, but she recommends Marilyn Gordon for other Travel Betties in need of hypnotherapy in the Bay Area.

After a 15 hour flight, my legs are sore and I’m sporting a serious pair of cankles. In the past, this water retention prank has alarmed me to the point of panic attack. Case in point, my 1st 24 hours in Cambodia. It’s the middle of the night and I’m naked, curled into fetal position on the cool, tiled bathroom floor of some fancy hotel. Travel Boyfriend is there feeding me Xanax, which I chew without water in hope that it’ll enter my system quicker.

But now I know better. I know it’s not deep vein thrombisis. It’s dehydration. And the effects of being cramped like airborne veal for an extended period. I know it’ll go away soon, especially with the added benefit of this Hong Kong airport man’s reflexology skills.

After a half hour of soaking, poking, prodding, and kneading, he even thoughtfully attends to a bruise on my ankle by rubbing it with Tiger Balm. Two days later it’ll be completely healed, the arduous flights long forgotten.

The only issue is I signed up for this experience having no idea what the conversion rate is between Hong Kong dollars and U.S. dollars. I’m hoping it’s not an even exchange, otherwise, I’m about to give this guy a $40 tip.

Travel Betty Basics

Oriental Healing Arts
Hong Kong Airport
Between Gates 40 & 41
½ hour reflexology treatment: US $35 + tip

Fortunately though, I’ve found my new favorite place to get shots. It’s the San Francisco Department of Public Health’s Adult Immunization & Travel Clinic. It’s everything you want a travel clinic to be. Clean. Informative. Thorough. And speedy. And in addition to super friendly staff and having a large stock of Lonely Planet guidebooks to peruse while you’re there, the best part is that it is housed in a government building near Civic Center. This gives you convenient downtown access as well as the feeling you’re doing something grand and official.

As the woman waiting next to me chats on her cell phone in an Australian accent about her tiger cubs back home(!), I do deep breathing exercises to try and keep my shot phobia at bay. I needn’t have bothered. The nurse calls for me right at the appointed time. She then explains to me and Travel Boyfriend (already vaccinated, but there for hand-holding and moral support) all of the biological enemies we might encounter in Egypt: Typhoid, Hep A, Polio (no Malaria, thank god). She offers to let me lie down instead of sit and then proceeds to inject me with the most delicate of needles. It must have been a hair’s breath thick and it was over so quickly I didn’t even have time to wince. I’m not lying when I say I didn’t even feel it and trust me, I always feel it.

Thanks to this Angel of Inoculation, I may now lap up steaming bowls of Polio Soup without fear. And you can be sure, should I need a hit of Yellow Fever cultures anytime soon, I will definitely return. Maybe not with overly giddy excitement, but also not with the gripping fear or the kicking, biting, begging and screaming that usually accompanies such tasks.

Travel Betty Basics

Adult Immunization & Travel Clinic
101 Grove Street, Room 102
San Francisco, CA 94102
(415)554-2625
Appointments recommended

Safe & Happy Travels
-TB