u/JonWilso

Hi all,

Wanted to see if anyone else has tips on this as it's something both my girlfriend AND I have dealt with.

For me, I've had panic attacks start a few times over the last year when I was either stuck in traffic, driving long distance, or at a concert where I'm not able to easily leave.

Only one time did it get really bad for me and my girlfriend was able to swap and drive for me, other times I can keep it under control but the thought and what not lingers.

My girlfriend ironically on the other hand recently tried starting effexor for generalized anxiety and occasional panic attacks.

Well, it made them significantly worse and now she's really struggling with driving despite her doctor having her stop the effexor due to the side effects.

She went from being able to drive over a particular bridge during her commute every day to now being unable to at all out of fear of having a panic attack and she hasn't been able to snap out of it — which is impacting her work and life. It's the fear of it happening while driving that really impacts her.

Anyone have any tips for these situations? I've done everything from listen to the radio loudly, sour candy, gum, whatever...

Hey all,

This has been something that's developed with me over the last year.

I never suffered from any panic related issues despite having pretty bad anxiety all of my life. Randomly, once, while stuck in traffic and being a bit overly tired, it hit me and I started to have a panic attack.

I got tunnel vision, my legs got warm, I felt an intense wave of emotion and also that I was going to pass out or throw up.

I was able to fight it off, but ever since, I've had this happen a few more times while driving on road trips and once at a concert.

I've started to learn that it seems like a trigger for me is being in a situation I can't easily walk away from, whether that be traffic, a large crowd, etc.

My fear than shifts to, am I going to pass out? Or, is this panic attack thing going to now keep happening until I get out of this situation - repeat.

I'm on Lexapro for anxiety, and will likely see about increasing the dose but otherwise, I'm not sure how to shake this happening so often in these situations that I can't always avoid.