Hi I have been prescribed etilaam 0.5 mg sos for anxiety and feeling fearful when I am outside my home. Can I drive after taking this? Can anyone please advise on this. Thanks.

Question

It will impair cognition, so it is not advisable to drive. Good luck

Prof. Jagadeesan M.S. · Accepted Answer

It will impair cognition, so it is not advisable to drive. Good luck

Saranya Devanathan · Answer

Dear Abhishek,
Etilaam is an anxiolytic. How can one be free from anxiety while driving? It is not only your capacity to drive - it is for being constantly aware of others on road. So avoid driving. For reducing anxiety there are other treatments available.

Keerthy Reji · Answer

It has sedative effect. So better not to drive immediately after taking it. But if you drive after 7 to 8 hours and provided you are feeling awake and alert, then it must be ok.

Saarika Reddeppa · Answer

Dear lybrate-user,� firstly the medication given to you is to deal with your "anxiety" issues. Any medication takes�its own time to reflect on your current state of mind. Since it is an sos dose, it may not be that severe. Also since your anxiety escalates especially when you go out, the fear is related to facing people: social anxiety. You need to meet people more often and face them. Many people may also suffer from social anxiety: you are not alone. However, it is safe and best to rest yourself for a few days until the medication settles in your body. Try and avoid driving for a few days.�i would like to add, fear is the baseline for anxiety. I hope you are handling your fears rationally.�if you do not handle fear well, and over time, you develop abnormal reactions to fear then it finds various forms one of which is anxiety. To put it in very simple terms, anxiety is an overreaction to fear but it will always have a fear basis to it. Normally, fear is generated when we think too much into the future. But there is another type of fear that is generated from the past wherein we have not been dealing with it appropriately. We have failed to develop suitable responses and may have a lot of unresolved fear too. These together are difficult to handle when they are clubbed with current situations of fear and then we develop anxiety because we are overwhelmed by it.� I suggest along with medication consult a counselor who can help you go through this journey. All the best take care saarika reddeppa.

Rachna Mishra · Answer

The most effective solution for dealing with anxiety for me personally was waking up early. I am not a morning person but once I tried this, I was surprised how good this made me feel. It helped me find peace and calm myself down. Having so much time in my hand I could do small things that made me happy and I felt a sense of accomplishment just by waking up early. I feel the most anxious during the night- so sleeping early really helped me tackle it to a great extent. Meditation was another thing I tried when my anxiety was at its peak. Trust me- for someone who thinks a lot, it is no joke to shut your mind down and focus on your breathing. I could concentrate for very few minutes in the beginning but my thoughts kept spiraling back. So listening to some meditation music while I meditate helped me increase concentration. It helped me analyse my recurring thoughts and gave me more clarity about them. Mostly during such times I don?t feel like interacting with anyone- thinking that nobody will really understand how I feel. It?s great if you can talk it out and rant everything going on in your mind to someone who cares to listen. Taking it all out really helps. If you?re someone who is not comfortable with addressing this with anyone, then you can try writing down all that is going on in your mind. Once you take it all out in any manner, you will feel relieved. If you feel like you are stuck between your thoughts and feel very helpless, just do something. Take a walk, call up your friends and talk about something random, play with your pet - just do something to break that cycle that is going on in your head. Do anything that will distract you even for sometime. Take action without overthinking anything. Just go for it. Being positive and thinking right is almost impossible during such times. One of the main reasons I avoid talking to people during this time is because they may feel bad/ give some positive shit which is not what I want. You know yourself the best- try starting small and appreciating small wins. Having a motivational self-talk session/ looking in the mirror and giving yourself some positivity might help. Appreciate yourself for how far you have come and remind yourself about your strengths. Try to get a balance of the basic things that need to be right- sleep, food, health and water level. Once you get these things in check it will show better results over time. Having any kind of physical activity or a workout routine will help you fight anxiety. Doing this releases endorphins which trigger a positive feeling in the body. It will also help you reduce stress, improve sleep and help in fighting with anxiety and depression. If all the above things do not help and you are still stuck with being anxious, then there is just one way out. Confrontation. Ask yourself what is troubling you and analyse your thoughts. Address it and not run away from it. You have to feel the anxiety, be curious about it and seek answers and find out what is really going on. There will always be an underlying message or something you?re trying to run away from and are too weak to confront that. No matter how much you run away from it, sooner or later you will have to face it. This is a long process and you need to be strong and have patience to tackle it. Lastly, know that you are not alone. This feeling is just temporary. Think of it as your body?s way to communicate something with you. We feel this only when we have lost perspective and when we are lacking inspiration. We have to just find ways to get out of the drama going on in our heads and gain perspective. Anxiety is something most of us go through at different levels. We are just too weak to talk about it. It is a part of being human- you are not alone.