Damn These Dreams

[armyvetwolf]

Yea, i have panic attacks on the road. Only when i am a passenger. I used to watch for IED's, VBIED's and dead animals with possible IED's rolling down route irish in Iraq. And some of that fear of those is still stuck with me and i freak out in traffic and trucks that get to close to my car, i squirm, yell, scream, get pissed...all at once. Drives my hubby up the wall! Sometimes to the point he wants to slap me in the face...but he hasn't.

 

[Jimmy1]

Kirsten, good old Route Irish used to be classed as the worst stretch of road in the world at one stage.

Therapy is the only way to deal with that issue and it is possible otherwise you would have a million nut jobs out there. It's a matter of taking things a little at a time. Get in as a passenger and drive down the road, stop and get out and reaffirm that your in the USA not Iraq. It's a matter of doing that over and over.

I still have bad days and those are the days I don't go in a car, simple, and if I have to, I go the path of least resistance.

You will get there.

 

[armyvetwolf]

I have tried facing my fear by simply just sucking it up, closing my eyes and holding on for dear life... but it got worse since we moved here to "Hell" Paso/El Paso, TX near Ft. Bliss. The environment here is exactly like Iraq...weather, urban area, foreign people driving, crowds...last place we moved from was more spread out, wet climate, no heat or sandstorms and i had no issues as a passenger...i had a feeling it would get worse here. But in 2.5 years when hubby retires and we move back to where we came from, the feelings will subside i hope.

 

[Jimmy1]

Hey, it's not a matter of facing your fears at all. It's reassuring yourself your not on the Red Route, just plain and simply El Paso. Any therapist worth his weight or her weight will be able to help you out with that one, otherwise you will be a danger on the road. You know you can actually talk yourself into it. For years I never went to fireworks displays on New Years eve because of the noise, the crowd, etc, I convinced myself I would panic there. Last year I went for a little while during the kiddies one at 8.30 pm and this year I will go to a full one.
You can get anxious over getting anxious, trust me on this. You are in El Paso, not Iraq. Yeah there are similarities, but you are not there. Learn how to deal with it that way you won't freak out all the time if the kids were in the car.

 

[tho9900]

The environment here is exactly like Iraq...weather, urban area, foreign people driving, crowds...last place we moved from was more spread out, wet climate, no heat or sandstorms and i had no issues as a passenger...

Dunno about if hubby goes up for orders before that 2.5 yrs but Fort Polk is about as far from the Iraq landscape as you can get... humid, big pine forests... long rolling green hills.. the locals are a bit off tho... but if you have seen Deliverance you have it down lol... and no not all of them..

And hear you on the burrito thing.. some of the worst dreams I have had and no not being facetious.. anything greasy and spicy like that...

And ya thinking about it... all the armor you are stuck behind driving on base.. choppers flying over, jets etc.. can see the similarities.. and ya the sand with all the scrub brush on the hills

 

[tho9900]

sorry Bill I got side tracked, Ft Bliss in in my neck of the woods and got caught up

My dreams usually are ship side.. coming in in a CH-53 (never trusted them for good reason) clipping the deck with a patient on board.. the 5000 emotions at once abt me.. abt the patient abt the crew... I shoulda wen't Fire Control Technician... look at a little red arrow on a comp screen and plot the missile course etc...

A lot of them are on the chopper.. losing control of a patient (and no offense to you airedales) and having the crew more worried abt the patient than flying the chopper... re: my story of having them bring it down so close to the deck we are getting spray from the waves thru the door..

I guess looking back at them and thanks because this is the first I thought of it this way... it's always about losing control... that's always what let them slip through... well ok no... it was meant to be... but I felt so helpless then...

And you can ask your doc, but for me Trazadone worked well... brought me past REM sleep fast.. helped a lot with the stress and all too... actually sleeping vs thinking with my eyes closed... side benefit is it is a mild antidepressant with little side effects but the sleep thing...