Anxiety & fear.

[Julieann89]

I'm a 26 year old working full time, going to school full time, and I have an Etsy shop on the side. The other day (2 Mondays ago) I had a severe panic attack in the car when dropping my husband off at work before heading to my place of employment. I couldn't breathe, I felt a warm sensation all through my body, and I didn't think I was going to make it. My husband ended up calling in and driving us home. We live an hour away from work and now the drive has me terrified. When we got home I threw up in the driveway and puked for about 3 days straight from nerves and anxiety. I tried to go back to work but it was so scary that I was only there a half day. I went home that night still feeling scared and nervous and woke up the next day going to the ER cause I felt dehydrated and sick. They said I was fine and it was all anxiety. I went to my regular doctor who upped my citalopram and gave me xanax. Here it is almost a week later and I'm still not better. I can barely eat, I have no energy, I can't get myself to go to work and if I do I come right back home, the drive terrifies me. I just want to be home and safe forever. My family says I need to take time off from my stressful job and take time to recover but financially I can't do that to my husband. We need both paychecks but I'm not sure how I'm going to be able to keep working when I hate going there, fear the drive, and fear being away from home for that long. Plus the xanax makes me so tired and loopy I feel out of it when at work. My entire family has gone through anxiety and right now I'm terrified of not getting better and ending up in a mental institution.

[ADAAadmin2]

Are you speaking to a therapist too? There are ways to overcome this fear of driving/car trip. It takes work but can be done.

[Ddorne]

Julieann89,

Meds take a while to work. A few weeks at least. And does the Xanax calm you? If it is makeing you loopy, take a bit less. Do you talk to a therapist? They say therapy and meds work best together.