Wetsuit Claustrophobia

Since I started tris in the summer, and live in the Florida Keys, I have given very little thought to wetsuits. Looking forward, this winter I will be doing a HIM in January, and this will likely be wetsuit legal. Other than that, I have very few races where I could actually use one. I was planning on getting one for the HIM because I will be doing a full IM in Texas in May and that one may be wetsuit legal (it's flopped back and forth over the last couple of years as the temp is always on the edge). So I figure it'd be worth the investment since I'd at least have it for the HIM in January. I hadn't given it much more thought until I saw an ad (for TYR I think) that was a video on how to put on a wetsuit. So I gave it a click and watching a woman (some pro I don't know her name) writhe and squirm her way into a wetsuit just about gave me a freakin panic attack. I don't know what it was, but it totally freaked me out. I'm not hugely claustrophobic, but for some reason things like this really get to me. Like watching escape artists getting out of straight jackets or contortionists. I honestly can't watch.

So my question is, is this common? Has anyone dealt with something similar, or is it different watching it vs actually putting one on? I suppose the only way to know for sure is to go to a store and try, but I also don't want to freak out in a dressing room. The other reason this kind of rang a bell with me was because I was talking to a guy at a store a couple of weeks ago and he mentioned that he had a panic attack during the swim at his last IM (he's done a ton of them). He is a strong swimmer, but something just made him lose it. He said he didn't know that it was a panic attack at the time, but had to get his wetsuit off, so he swam to the side, took it off and handed it to a staff member then finished without it. He didn't say the two were related, but for me, it sort of aligned.

Anyone have any experience with something similar?

I'm a pretty strong swimmer, so I don't know how much it will help me anyway. I'm now flopping back and forth as to whether or not I should pursue the wetsuit at all.