Help!!!!

[aramsey]

I came from a broken home, mom and dad would always separate. At the age of 16 mom and dad got a divorce. I started to party the night away from the age of 16-20. I'd smoked $100 a day of weed, and drank about a case of beer a day as well. At the age of 20 I decided to stop all the partying and start living my life on the right track by going to church. I started to feel that my world was crashing down. I was scared to go to places and scared to drive, thinking something bad would happen. It got where I didn't want to come out of my room. I started to surround myself with positive church going people. After joining a good church and surrounding myself with positive people I started to over come my fears. I got married in 2004 and the anxiety started to come back. This time it was keeping a job! I never told anyone about my problem I just kept it in. I didn't want people to think different about me. With my anxiety I had a hard time keeping a job, and then my marriage was starting to hit rock bottom. In 2008 I got a divorce and got out of church. I started to feel better about my anxiety. Got it under control. In 2010 I got married again to the most beautiful woman ever. Everything was going great. We planed a road trip to NYC and my anxiety started up again. I though something bad would happen. We went to NYC anyways. I was fine when we got there. My anxiety started back up on the way home. Got home everything was fine again. My anxiety only started up when making long trips. 2011 started a good job making good money, one day at work I took a few hits off of a joint. First time since I was 20.( I'm 30 now) 10 minutes later I started to feel funny, like my heart was about to beat out of my chest, and my body was tingly. I left work and never returned. Now my anxiety is crazy. Driving doesn't bother me anymore, going on long trips doesn't really bother me. Now it's just thinking something bad is going to happen to me like dying, or getting some type of deadly disease. I see new moles I think I have skin cancer, I get a head ache I think of a brain problem, I got a infective tooth and I think I have month cancer. ( I started dipping a year ago). I fear about losing my mind, fear about going crazy. I feel like I'm in a dream of some kind, like when I'm awake. My wife knows about my anxiety now, I went to Dr. about 7 months ago and she said I have generalized anxiety. I then tried to get on disability for having problems keeping a job because of my anxiety. ( I got turned down for that). She gave me Paroxitine 15mg. I took them for about 3 months and stopped. Just because my refills ran out, and I have no insurance. I applied for college last week to become a Police Officer at a Police Academy school in East Tennessee. It's a 7 hour drive and now I'm freaking out about long trips again. PLEASE HELP!!!! Sorry for typing so much just wanted to get all that out there. Just to let people know all my symptoms. Thanks again for your time.

[AceParadox]

Oh wow. You sound exactly like me! If something feels wrong with me I freak out, and do tons of research and sometimes scare myself with the "Possbilities" of what it could be. I hate it. I just fear for my health the most. Until just last week, I was an every other day pot smoker on and off. Like I'd smoke every other day for a month then stop for a few months. Then after my appendix surgery, I started getting frequent anxiety to where it was an every day thing. I thought smoking dope might help, but one night at a friends house, I smoked waaay more than I ever have. And I got the same symptoms as you did. The pounding heart and my body was all tingly, then I got a full on panic attack. I've stopped completely since then, tossed the stuff away. Both to keep the anxiety under control AND to get a job again. I fear about going crazy too, but I just keep telling myself that this is just anxiety, I can get through this, this isn't who I am. Sometimes it feels like I'm in a dream, but I just shake it off as my imagination working up, which is exactly what it is. I think back to how I thought BEFORE anxiety hit, how happy and care free I was. I'm almost positive this anxiety was brought on by all the money related stress I'm under. The surgery put me $3000 in debt, and I have no job atm since I was laid off 4 months ago.

Talking about it sometimes helps, whether it be with close friends or family. Perhaps discuss it with them. Do you calm down at all when you drink soothing tea's? Like chamomile? Bringing some of that in a thermos along the trip might help. Try to get to the root of it, write down what your scared of about the long trips? Car accident? something like that? and then convince yourself that there is nothing to worry about. Think about all the millions of people driving everyday, think about all your friends who are driving everyday, even if it isn't a long trip, they still aren't worrying. That's how I look at it. I look at my friends and other people, and say "They're not worrying about it, so why should I?" and it helps me calm down. I don't know if all that might work for you, but I thought I'd share since it worked for me. What has worked for you in controlling this anxiety before other than medicine?

[aramsey]

Just the thought of getting lost, breaking down on side of the road, and a wreck. The only tea I drink is green tea and reg. tea. The keeping a job part is the fear of not being in my comfort zone. Like being around of a lot of people. I feel more safe at home or around close friends and family. Where do you get the other kind of tea at? I'll have to try it.

[aramsey]

Most times I play games on my iPhone, or surf the web for old vehicles. I'm an old school junky when it comes to rides. That's how I keep my anxiety level down it helps a little. Mainly if I have a lot of time on my hands my anxiety level gets high.

[AceParadox]

Hmm. Well if you get lost, you can always ask for help :] Or maybe buy a cheap GPS off ebay. Breaking down on the side of the road, people will usually stop to help (I know I would, had I the mechanical know how), AAA is handy too. I like close friends and family too, more secure. I get chamomile tea from my local Cub foods. Normally, any tea that associates itself with the word "Sleep" has chamomile in it. Like one kind I came across was called "sleepytime" :P the kind I got was honey vanilla chamomile tea by Celestial Seasonings. Green Tea works well for me too, some people say the caffiene isn't good, which may be true for some but not for me, green tea calms me down, but I use Chamomile when I get really bad episodes, like full on panic attack. Calms me quite quickly.

Keeping busy is definitely a priority then to keep your mind off worry as much as possible. Any sort of games (especially ones that are competetive and make you think), movies that you know you'll enjoy watching, TV series (I just recently got hooked on watching The Trailer Park Boys on Netflix which keeps my anxiety down), anything you can think of to distract yourself. Books... little projects around the house, helping friends or family with stuff. All might help :]

[gungadin09]

Did the antidepressants work? If so, it's probably worth it to get a new prescription. You can get a month's worth of Prozac at Walmart for $4. I don't know about Paxil. I don't have insurance either.

Pam