Driving on the highway

Hello All,

I am new to this website, and thought I would give it a try. I am a 27 yo female. I am not married, but have a wonderful long term boyfriend. I live a seemingly normal life. THree years ago I lost my mom to cancer, and I also acted as her primary care giver for the year prior to her death. Long story short it was a battle. Not only because I lost my mom, but because her death left me with extreme anxiety. I would not leave my house to get my mail at the end of my driveway. I ended up doing cognitive behavioral therapy and it helped quite a bit. I also began exercising, and eating well (cutting out most processed foods) as my therapist recommends both for anxiety. Through a great deal of hard soul searching work I am leaving my house, exercising in public, grocery shopping, etc things I never thought I would experience again, but I am definitely far from better. My relationship is moving towards marriage and children and the so called normal things, but here is the catch - I am terrified to drive on the highway. I cannot do it even with someone else in the car. I also have a fear of having panic attacks (i have the flight reaction to panic not fight) and sometimes whenI have them need an escape route. This also causes me to have to have trouble in security lines at the airport and on the subway. I am sure this sounds so crazy. My family thinks I do all of this for attention SO they merely mock me. My boyfriend drives everywhere i cant get via backroads. We own our own business so I never really have to drive on the highway. I have been pretty good about finding back roads to most places, but this is no way to live. I am hesitant about medication, but I truly want to be able to overcome this. I should stress that I never had this before my mothers death. I would randomly have panic attacks prior to her death, but the anxiety was manageable. I am looking for someone to talk about their experience with medication and if they recommend it. I want to say that I am in therapy and have given this a great deal of effort. I just dont want to live in constant fear that if my boyfriend or dog or future baby needed care or to go somewhere that I would be able to get there! I also want to get married in front of my family and with my flight response to anxiety I am afraid I will not have that experience... Medication yes or no? Thanks for any input I really appreciate it.

In other words, educate yourself about medications but be careful about keeping in perspective what you learn on the internet and who the source is.

this is spot on. anybody can be anybody, create a website and write anything on the internet. men can be women, women can be men, complete idiots without a clue can be experts, etc, etc. remember, everybody on the internet is a stranger. be careful when you listen to or trust strangers.  verify.... verify..... verify....