I just got back from a three day road trip out of state with my husband. It went awful! My absolute worst fear is having a diarrhea attack which causes me ALOT of anxiety when I have to get in a car with anyone! It happened to me all three days on this trip. I was VERY glad we weren't with anyone else (another thing I go to great lengths to avoid) because I had to stop frequently. It's getting to the point where I don't want to go anywhere with anyone. And to top it all off, we have another week long trip coming up in two weeks where we will be with other people who I don't even know for at least part of the trip. I am SO depressed - why can't I relax and enjoy these trips instead of dreading them???? The whole time we are gone I shake and tremble and have irrational thoughts - I'm so wrapped up in my fear and anxiety I can't enjoy any of it.

blondie57,

I feel your pain! I have avoided riding in the car with anyone but my children and husband for about a month now. And on Wednesday I'm picking up my cousin to go to a formal event and I'm already having anxiety over it.

I just don't want to even deal with this. It's annoying and frustrating. I hope to be able to write again on Thursday with a success story. I want that more than anything.

I don't have much advice because if I had the answers, I wouldn't have the same condition. All I can say is try to control your thoughts and don't let them get to far ahead of the present moment.

Good Luck and WE CAN DO THIS!!!!
K

Have you tried imodium? That works good for me, but everyone is different. I have the same troubles. I know that relaxation does help, but you have to stop the diarhia (sp)otherwise it gets you all freaked out. Try Imodium, if you haven't.

Hi,

One thing I have done and it does help is to write out some very positive sentences about the upcoming trip and repeat them to yourself many times everyday. Replace the fear with positive phrases. YOu deserve to have fun on a trip. It should be exciting, relaxing, enjoyable, intrigueing, and just plain fun. Tell yourself that you are going to have fun in spite of any anxiety and/or ibs symptoms. I've never tried immodium but it helps many people. Anyways, give yourself permission to enjoy yourself and let the anxiety get pushed off to the side. YOu can do it.

Reena

It is so great to hear that there are other people who have the same thoughts as me!

For years I have avoided being in vehicles with anyone except my husband and daughter. I also worry about diarrhea and stopping often.

I have a success story about this! It really does not make any difference who your with. The difference lays in our thoughts. I took a trip in August. The car ride was 4 hrs. I wrote out positive statements about how I wanted to feel on this trip. I read these over and over each day for several weeks leading up to my trip. It worked! I ended up feeling good, and having a great time, just as I had written about.

I think facing our fears is the hardest part to recovery. We must trust ourselves that we will be fine. This is still a struggle for me!

Good Luck to everyone!

Thanks for that bit of information PeeWee-I have a big event on Dec. 8th, it doesn't involve a car trip, but I am going to try this. I don't want to freak myself out and postive things will help!

I have a friend that swears by bannanas. She says that she always eats them on car rides to stop her from getting diarrea. I haven't tried it. I'm not a big fan of bannanas.
Giselle

You don't know how good it feels for me to read this post and know I am not alone! I too, have worries when I am travelling about having to stop all the time due to diarhea. Or I worry about having to travel with others and they will have to stop several times for me. That then leads me to be anxious and feeling icky in the stomach the whole way. But I try not to let it stop me. I just came back from a 4 day trip with a 9-hour drive and I was anxious and had some bad times but I never did have to stop hardly at all. I did have to try and overcome the obsessive scary thoughts and what-if's, they were there alot throughout my whole trip, but I still was able to get out and enjoy the things I wanted to and I think "so what is the big deal if you have to stop" but it's hard not to think the bad stuff. I also have a hard time when I am on trips with eating out, I get anxious that something is going to happen to me or I am going to have to go to the bathroom several times etc...so I hardly eat when I am on trips and then I get scared that something is gonna happen to me cuz I'm not eating! Vicious cycle! I am slowly working on the program and back on my medication, so I am trying to be patient and get myself motivated to keep working on it! I'm not much help on the advice part right now, just wanted to reply as it gave me some relief to know I am not alone. I really need to commit to writing down the negative and replacing with the positive and then read over and over several times. Thanks for that advice.