9 years and still no better, please help!

Hi all

I'm 34, live in Milton Keynes, have a 10 year old daughter and a girlfriend I have been with for nearly 3 years.

I have a fairly wide medical background. My Girlfriend is a Mental Health Nurse, my Mum a Mental Health Secretary, my Step Dad is a Mental Health Nurse and I used to work for Two Shires Ambulance.

Ok here goes!! I have tried every SSRI and TCRI, been on Citalopram for the past 7 years and Diazepam @ 10mg per day for 7 years. I have tried CBT & Psychotherapy...... All this medication and still cant lead a normal life, well I say normal, i'm fine if i'm near home, once I start to travel I get the most horrific panic attacks. Time is getting on now, 9 years and still not been able to travel. I have travelled to so many Countries as a child and loved every moment of it. My shrink is now saying he wants to put me on a drug called Nardil, it belongs to the MAOI family. My Mum used this drug back in the 70's as she suffered from anxiety. She said it changed her life around and said it was the only one that worked for her. My Shrink seems to think if it worked for her it should work for me due to genetics. At the mo' i'm on 20mg of Citalopram a day and upto 15mg of Diazepam a day. I'm finding it very hard to come off Citalopram. I need to be off this drug for 2 weeks before starting an MAOI. I would be really gratefull if anyone who has tried any MAOI could have an input, also coming off Citalopram, was it hard? Any ideas on being able to travel again??

I want to get married in October and would really like to get married in Southern Italy so need to be able to travel!

Any help would be great

Many thanks in advance

Is it travelling anywhere? is it a fear of flying you have or just being away from home.

di xx

Hello Di :)

Its a fear of being about 35-40 miles away from home. I'm a lot better if I know where I am. I'm from Tring originally so areas around there like Hemel Hempsted, Watford etc i'm ok with. As soon as I go in the other direction like Northampton I dont like it. I had to go to Gatwick Airport last year, the only word I can describe that journey was 'horrific' I had to drive on the M25. I kept on burning up inside, palms were sweating, legs felt like lead, feeling I was going to go mad etc etc.

I'm desperate to go to Brighton, about 120 miles from where I live. I want to take my daughter and Michele (Girlfriends) daughter there. I have such wonderful memories of going to different Countries as a kid, I cant take Michele or my girls anywhere :weep:

Sometimes I wonder if its learnt behaviour as my Dad could never travel far from home. It was other family members that would take me away on holiday........ I honestly cant see any light at the end of the tunnel. Tried every medication (except for MAOI's) Every Benzo, herbal medications, anti-anxiety diets, books, therapy.....the list goes on and still cant travel.

Right the way i am dealing with this at the moment is to keep going to different places as often as possible, 40 mins in the car has been about my limit too, however i have got an upcoming journey soon that will take about an hour and a half, but because i have been doing so well lately i'm quite excited about it.

So try doing your usual 40 mins journey, then up it slightly each time after that, if you keep doing it, it will become familiar to you, the other thing you can do is have someone follow you, like another friend with there family, make a day of it, i always find that if there are a few drivers i am less anxious.

hope this helps

di xx

im currently on nardil 45mg/day so far not made a big dent on my social \anxiety but i have to stick with it-been on it 2 months now-early days.
also taking klonopin,its a good combo nardil and klono, ssris screwed me up-to many side effects. do try nardil-the diet restrictions are minimal very outdated,i have pretty much ate everything off the banned list-and alcohol\isnt a problem...let me know if you get the med and im happy to pass on my knowledge so far.

my shrink hadnt prescribed it in 25years either ssris took over the world,but maois were far better for treatment of anxiety-u have to push very hard to get em thou.
good luck