lawmomoftwo
03-17-2011, 02:12 AM
Hello everyone!
I noticed I started having terrible panic attacks while driving to and from school is snowy or rainy weather. I'm pretty sure it stems from my father's death in a car accident during the winter. I was in an accident and was unharmed during the winter when I first began law school and since then my anxiety while driving increased. Thoughts of getting into an accident were constant when there was any amount of snow or ice on the ground. I've heard putting yourself in situations that make you uncomfortable will help to make the panic attacks eventually go away. After a 4 hour drive once a week for several years the anxiety did not improve.
I also have terrible anxiety with public speaking. In law school you are called on and expected to recite a case otherwise known as the Socratic Method. I dreaded being called on and had this constant fear I would say something that didn't sound right or made me sound unintelligent. In law school you live with a constant fear of your fellow classmates judging you and for me those thoughts were always running through my mind. I am done with law school now but I have found myself having horrible anxiety as an intern. My body shakes, I get nervous, I have constant thoughts of..."I sound so stupid" or "They think something is wrong with me". It's so crippling. I can't explain to my husband how this has made me feel or how difficult it has been to live with this. From the outside I appear to go on about my day with a smile on my face but from inside i'm screaming.
I was prescribed Klonopin and had taken it for several weeks. It helped but when I stopped taking it the anxiety felt like it was coming on more frequently and intensly. I constantly think to myself how irrational my thoughts are but this thinking has not made the anxiety go away.
I'm happy to have a place to vent and to hopefully get some insight as to how others in my situation cope with this.
I noticed I started having terrible panic attacks while driving to and from school is snowy or rainy weather. I'm pretty sure it stems from my father's death in a car accident during the winter. I was in an accident and was unharmed during the winter when I first began law school and since then my anxiety while driving increased. Thoughts of getting into an accident were constant when there was any amount of snow or ice on the ground. I've heard putting yourself in situations that make you uncomfortable will help to make the panic attacks eventually go away. After a 4 hour drive once a week for several years the anxiety did not improve.
I also have terrible anxiety with public speaking. In law school you are called on and expected to recite a case otherwise known as the Socratic Method. I dreaded being called on and had this constant fear I would say something that didn't sound right or made me sound unintelligent. In law school you live with a constant fear of your fellow classmates judging you and for me those thoughts were always running through my mind. I am done with law school now but I have found myself having horrible anxiety as an intern. My body shakes, I get nervous, I have constant thoughts of..."I sound so stupid" or "They think something is wrong with me". It's so crippling. I can't explain to my husband how this has made me feel or how difficult it has been to live with this. From the outside I appear to go on about my day with a smile on my face but from inside i'm screaming.
I was prescribed Klonopin and had taken it for several weeks. It helped but when I stopped taking it the anxiety felt like it was coming on more frequently and intensly. I constantly think to myself how irrational my thoughts are but this thinking has not made the anxiety go away.
I'm happy to have a place to vent and to hopefully get some insight as to how others in my situation cope with this.