almost 23 years old and suffering from driving anxiety

[khij04]

Hi!!! I'm 22 almost 23 and I have been suffering from driving anxiety since I was 19. The panic attacks and anxiety came out of the blue one day in the summer of 2005. I was currently in school in Chattanooga and planned to take my car down for my sophomore year. Then as I was driving on the interstate with my little sister I started to have a panic attack. Luckily I was able to get off the interstate and nothing happened (which I owe my protection to God) but after that I was very confused on what happened. So I talked to my dad about it again and drove the interstate again to see if it would happen again. It did but not as bad. Still not sure what happend, I decided to just drive regular roads and leave the interstate alone. I was doing fine, but before long I had another panic attack on the way to church once again with my sister in the car. Not sure why it happend again I continued to try to push through my panic that only had gotten worse. Before I knew it I was going back to school without my car. I would try to drive with my dad on the weekends when I was home but I continued to scare myself. When summer came around again I went to see a psycharist. I was given lexapro that helped some, but in the long run really only made me gain weight and didnt help much with my driving.

I continued to dig myself in a big hole. I would barely drive and would have panic attacks and scary feelings while doing it. Now that I have graduated school I have my life ahead of me, but it's really hard because I have a hard time driving. I would love to work somewhere farther from my house and drive there. I want to go to grad school in Georgia, but the fact that I have a hard time driving on the interstate holds me back.

Recently I have turned my life over to God completly and asked Him to take my driving problems away. He has given me strength and resources such as the the driving fear program. I have done the free seminars and plan to purchase the program. I have began to drive again but it isn't easy. But as long as I keep having my faith and using the resources that have been given to me I will drive again like I did before. This journey have given me heart ache, embarrasment, and depressing thoughts. I will get through this. I have faith. I just want to enjoy driving like I did before the panic began.

[teaser]

Hi There! It sounds like you are off to a great start and it's wonderful that you have people who are supportive of you! I, too, have been on Lexapro and had the exact same response you did (the weight gain really ticked me off). I think I wanted it to be my magic pill and then everything would be okay. I found that unless I was going to face the problem head on, nothing would work.

Good luck with starting Rich's program! It has helped me so much and he's very supportive.

Keep posting and let us know how you are doing!