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driving/ riding anxiety

I have been dealing with driving anxiety for several months. It is mainly on highways. Somedays i do great and i can drive on busy highways fine. OTher days even smaller highways around 55 mph freak me out. IT worse on straight roads w/ litle traffic. NOw, im even scared to ride w/ others on hwy. i have been in therapy for a few months and we are going to start emdr. I am taking buspar 30 mg a day. I dont want to start taking an ssri because i want to have a family soon. Any suggestions???
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Avatar universal
do  you have problems with depth perception? ive always felt like maybe I do... what can they do for such problems?
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144586 tn?1284666164
Try renting a large automatic straight truck from Hertz. Drive on side streets. Becoming accustomed to the larger vehicle will make driving a smaller one much easier. You might also consider having a full opthamological evaluation, to include a test for depth perception. The depth perception test is very important, Lack of depth perception is directly related to anxiety while driving. Use your rear view mirror frequently. Try driving alone for a while. The presence of a passenger adds to anxiety.
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2010625 tn?1329372056
I have driving anxiety. I can't even drive on the highway at all, I just avoid it because it makes me too nervous. I still have problems driving on city streets too though. I always have this paranoia that I am being a bad driver. I really don't like driving at all, but I have to. My anxiety got so bad once I couldn't even ride in a car when someone else was driving. I tried buspar and it did nothing for my anxiety, SSRIs didn't work well for me either. I would get bad side effects from them, or they just didn't work. I also tried Vistaril and it just made me pass out or get grumpy because it made me tired. I tried Ativan which worked but the doctors don't want you to be on it long term because of its addictive qualities besides I wanted something more preventative. Now I am on Trazodone for my anxiety and it seems to work well on mild anxiety, but not for severe anxiety. I don't seem to have very good luck with these medications. I hope you find something that works for you.
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Arlington, VA
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Arlington, WA
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