In article ,
"Stormin Mormon" wrote:

I'm OK on flat roofs, but climbing the ladder terrifies me.
And the moment betwen the ladder and the roof terrifies me
even worse. Next week, I've got to do a building that is
about 20 feet tall, and that's really going to be a bad
experience. Gives me sweatty palms. I should buy a small
container of foot powder, and powder my palms before I climb
the ladder. My palms are sweatting, as I type, just thinking
of climbing.

I keep a bottle of Ativan (lorazepam) on hand for anxiety-producing
situations and to break the cycle of insomnia when it becomes
repetitive. 0.5 mg will let me sleep all night, and 0.25 mg is perfect
for the kind of experience you're talking about. Put it under the tongue
20-30 minutes before you get the ladder out.

It's a benzodiazepine (like Valium, aka "mother's little helper") so it
can be habit forming. I know quite a few people who take it nightly for
sleep, but I wouldn't do that. A bottle of a dozen usually lasts me six
months or a year.

It is not a sleeping pill, so it's not likely to make you drowsy. (It's
effect on sleep is to quiet the mind. Like meditation, but faster.)