the daily drive

My mood rx and ap rx have smoothed my road response to almost zero. Pass me on an on ramp ok, cut me off ok, do almost anything on the road and it's ok,,
But my work stress {what I originally sought medical attention for} is as bad as ever. I actually shook today. true overall my stress is down but my pdoc refuses any anxiety meds. He told me to see my t and solve it that way. would love to hear any like stories. also I would enjoy hearing any method for reducing work stress. that responsibility, might fail, under dead line, specific to work...thanks..... **** this is a vent as much as anything****

I'm surprised that your doctor refused you anything for you anxiety. My T couldn't get the thoughts in my head to quit spinning. My mind races non-stop. So my doctor on Klonopin. I know the drawbacks from taking it but I do get peace of mind from it.

I hope dealing with it in therapy works for you.

That's odd. For me, commuting to work every morning was almost as difficult as work itself. I just have no patience when I'm on the road and get irritable very quickly. Then that turns to agitation which lasts all thru the day. I haven't worked in a dozen years (SSDI) but I don't miss any of that. I did work in NM for a while and driving there was not bad one bit but East Coast is too much. People don't even know how to use traffic patterns correctly or how to use their brakes.

I wound up having to take a low-stress job, which is hard to find in nursing. I also can't seem to handle anything close to a full-time (40-hr) work week, so I'm still drawing some unemployment benefits.

It's so frustrating sometimes to be unable to get past my limitations. I WANT to be able to take on more, but every time I even think about branching out a little more, the anxiety takes over and I'm paralyzed. I'm OK in my little corner of the working world, but I'm beginning to think I'll never be anything more than what I am today, just a nursing-home nurse who does paperwork and admissions.

Both my husband and my pdoc say that's OK. I'm at least being productive, and my moods have stabilized thanks to the much-lower stress levels (and of course, meds in the right amounts). Even the Employment Division isn't hounding me about looking for FT work because they know I have a long-term disability and work restrictions.

I wonder sometimes if too much isn't expected of us older workers. A generation ago, two generations ago, people my age (55ish) were retiring and taking life a little easier; we Baby Boomers, on the other hand, are supposed to stay in the rat race until we're 70. Well, unless I missed something, our bodies don't age any slower than our parents' and grandparents'......I'm tired and I don't want to beat myself to death slamming myself up against a wall for another 15 years.

Anyway, sorry to hijack the thread but I got on a rant there and couldn't stop.