I recently went on a camping trip with some friends to the desert for a few days, and I was surprised by how little anxiety I had (I had some, but not nearly as bad as I was expecting). I insisted on driving and I was the only one who wanted to drive anyway, and this definitely helped a lot. Driving is very calming to me... Is anyone else like this?

After a few hours of driving we stopped at a store to get some supplies, and after about 10 minutes of walking around in there I started feeling very anxious. I couldn't stand to hear my friends talking to me and asking me questions (I was near panic-level), so I went and locked myself in the bathroom to calm myself down for a few minutes. I managed to leave the bathroom and go to the car when we were ready to leave without showing my anxiety. I've become very good at disguising it; in fact, no one knows I have anxiety problems except my mom, one of the friends, and my old psychiatrist. Once I got back on the freeway the anxiety disappeared.

I didn't have any more anxiety for the rest of the trip there, even when we stopped for snacks and gas. And when we actually got there, I was fine as well. I felt great and barely gave a thought to my anxiety, because I only brought non-perishable foods and there were bathrooms with soap and everything. The first night I almost started feeling anxious because I didn't feel anxious, it was like, "I feel good. In fact, I feel too good. Why don't I have anxiety? Something must be wrong with me! I'm getting nervous now!". Luckily, I managed to go to sleep before those thoughts could get the best of me.

I was pretty much anxiety-free while actually camping, but on the way back I had some acute but severe anxiety. We stopped for lunch in the same town where I had anxiety on the way there, but we went to a cafe a few miles away for a brief lunch. I started feeling a bit nervous as soon as we went in there (this is relatively normal for me) but I sat down and ordered lunch anyway. I ordered a lemonade, but they brought me a diet lemonade made with sucralose, which I absolutely hate and that increased my anxiety a bit. I got a hamburger, and I was very hungry so I ate it fairly quickly (I am a fast eater normally, though).

Cue the panic attack. I don't know why, but a couple minutes after I finished the hamburger it felt like the anxiety was "punching" me in the stomach. Very intense bouts that lasted a second or two with weaker anxiety in between. I still managed to hide all this from my friends, and I think I only appeared to be a bit rushed to get the check and get out of there. We left the cafe, but then they insisted on stopping at a candy shop to get some "dessert", and my anxiety was increasing by the second.

That place was awful (only to me though because of my anxiety). I went in there and the smell fudge and caramel and everything else sugary was overpowering, which is absolutely horrible when I think I'm n* and on the verge of a panic attack! And then there was this horrible fluorescent lighting in there, a couple of the lights were old and flickering, which aggravated my anxiety. I told my friends I would wait for them outside and left the shop. Outside wasn't any better - the smell from the candy store was still very strong and there were tons of people out there talking loudly, which made me feel even more anxious!

I managed to hold off the panic attack long enough for my friends to buy their stuff and come outside (which probably took about five minutes). I was so petrified as we started walking back to the car that it was difficult for me to breathe and I was sooo certain I was going to v* and have a massive mental breakdown right there in public. It was horrible and I wanted to die, but somehow I managed to reach the car and get in the driver's seat, and I started fiddling with anything I could get my hands on in order to prevent myself from bawling my eyes out in front of my friends. I managed to put my keys in the ignition and