I drove to the store last night. Recent drives have been ok. Last night was very uncomfortable.  I did have a cup of coffee in the morning, which I quit drinking over a month ago. I wish I knew why I get nervous at some times and other are okay. 

When I have a bad drive, I dont want to keep on trying.

I dont like taking medications, but not nervous about them. If they help thats a good thing. 

I too was on a beta blocker in the past, along with a SNRI and it helped. I am not now due to seeing a different Pdoc and his views are different. 

My goal is to ultimately not rely on meds. I am trying to "do the work" to get through this. Meds I feel are great short term, to stabilize us, so we can get to a point where we are able to work a program and get through this.

Its not an easy road and takes time. I started having panic attacks 7 years ago and alway turned to and relied on meds to "fix" me. They dont, we have to do the work. 

Had I realized this long ago and gave it an honest effort, maybe I wouldn't have suffered so long.

I purchased Lucinda Bassets program a few years ago and went through it, but wasnt thorough and was still relying on meds. When meds werent enough I turned to additional self medicating with alcohol. Thats works great until it ruins your life.

Now I am attempting to do things the right way. This site, another preogram I came across, excercise and just plain taking good care of my self and learning new things.

I beat myself up over this for a long time. Its hard because friends, family, whoever, if they havnt experienced what we go through, they have NO idea what its like. They are seldom sympathetic and think we should just "man up" or whatever and the simple fact is, at a point we cant.

My panic attacks helped ruin my life. Today Im at a point where I am fighting back to have a new life.

So far my exposure driving is consisting of driving to the store, about a mile each way, when I absolutely have to. One time I drove around for a while, but only on side streets.

I was having a issue with riding the light rail, so I ride it every day now and it's gotten much better, you might say enjoyable.

I'm NOT following this program well, nor am I reading Panic Away. I'm not "doing the work".

I need to get out of my comfort zone and DRIVE, but fear keeps me from going far and doing it alone.

I need to master this, sadly enough I'm not working right now, but this has given me the opportunity to deal with these issues, and I have I just need to forge forward and do this.

For many jumping in a car and driving, as I did for years is a much easier task than my recent at SSC. I am beating that, now I need to kick the panic demon to the curb!

I have been putting off my exposure work, I think since it scares me.

Today I needed to to shop, so i drove to the store and it wasn't bad. I thought about driving this morning to the train and chickened out. So I walked in the pouring down rain.

I could simply drive that half mile, park for free and take the train downtown. But it's on a busier street, there is a traffic signal and it puts me in a situation that I am stuck in. If that makes sense, I have no safety net in this situation at certain points.

I need to move past this, I need to be able to drive anywhere, it is really limiting my potential.

Hi, if you have questions just post them, like you did and one of the Health Educators (moderators) will pick up on it and help you out. They are very nice. A Blog, it's just a short story about you. It just tells people a little about you. I have been in to computers for quite a while, but missed the begining of the "Blog" thing, so I had to figure it out.

I to have dealt with depression and anxiety issues for the last 7 years, but now I am taking a much more active role in dealing with it. For a long time I just tried to medicate it, the problem was it doesn't go away like that, I found I need to do the work.

This site is a tremendous help with that, tools, feedback and your not alone anymore. You have full time access to people that understand and care. In my recent past I was looked down on for being "weak" but thats not the case. There are reasons we suffer, but I feel we don't have to if we learn and participate.

Nice to meet you.

Well in light of how I have been doing and my recent lifestyle changes (quiting smoking, working out and a better diet and supplements) My doctor and I thought it would be okay to wean off mirtazapine. Though it's not firstline for anxiety and was mainly for depression, I think it's an important step. It made me sleep way to hard and it was hard waking up in the morning.

I'm pretty happy about this. I would much rather deal with my issues than to medicate. I'm doing the work to move forward. I only wanted to rely on meds to stabilize myself, so I could be at a point where I could move on. I'M THERE!

I'm being very cautious to monitor my moods and pay attention to how I'm doing. This is a positive step

Quitting smoking was one of my most recent changes I made in my attempt to overcome my panic issues, that as well as diet and excercise ( body and mind ) 

I always wondered if smoking and panic had a relation, so I researched it. Nothing is concrete as their havn't been a lot of study on this, but the studies I have found do indicate a relation to panic/anxiety in smokers.

So in my attempt to work on my issues, I chose to quit smoking. At 25 days quit I notice a difference. I am much more calm and the short drives I have been making are better.

It doesn't happen over night, we need time to heal from the effects, you can't expect to quit and the next day all is well. I do think once you give your body and mind time to heal, not only will you benefit from quitting, but the way you think and perceive things will be better as well.

I was diirected to the Stop Smoking Center site from here. It is a wonderful support community. We can achieve our goals here and not be alone. It makes a huge difference.

I feel stuck, I am stuck, I need to be progressing faster and I dont know why I put off doing what I need to do to progress.

My life will not improve until I am driving everywhere. I know its fear and I need to get past it. How do I get past my fear of fear?

I have my car, but rely on a friends help to go places, This cant go on.

Whats holding me back is the fact I have myself worked up about having a panic attack, that I am scared.

I really dont know what the problem is, is it fear? I drove before and did fine. Do I just need to get out there and do it?

I'm going nuts having someone else drive me in my car. I can see how I can have a car a long time and have it stay in good condition, compared to how others operate a car. It is very frustrating and more so right now with my med issue.

I am so "off" right now. I dont understand how the way I perceive life and things is so distorted sometimes.

So, what next on driving, I go see my therapist Tues and I know, training or work will be starting very soon. I was hoping to be past this issue by then.