Simone Gannon on living with chronic anxiety: I was awake but in the middle of a nightmare

When she began experiencing symptoms like slurred speech, tingling limbs and nausea, Simone Gannon was stunned to discover that she was experiencing panic attacks

Simone Gannon: 'I felt like I was losing my mind. Nothing is wrong, nothing is wrong, everyone kept saying'. Picture: Emily Quinn

I’m never sure where to start with this story, so I will just start at the beginning.

My family and I had decided to make a move overseas. My husband went ahead of my son and I to get everything set up, while I packed up the house and our life, still working full time. I spent weeks rushing around embassies, government offices, tropical medical centres, and passport offices in preparation for departure. In the midst of this, airports started shutting down as Covid-19 arrived. In the end, we flew out a few days before the airports, and ultimately everywhere else, shut down.