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Situational Anxiety/Anxiety while driving.
I don't know if this is even a legitimate problem area, but I'm having problems with anxiety while driving in my car. It's getting to the point where I'm afraid one day that I won't be able to even get into the thing. My Dr has had me on Prozac and Celexa but I'm now off of both due to the bad side effects I was having. I go back again on the 17th of this month to see what else they'll prescribe. Anyone else have this "phobia"? Thx, Thom.
I am grateful for not being alone with this predicament. I just got my license in October (I am 34) and have recently found temporary work (lasting up to 2 months) my husband and I have one car currently and he must travel next week. (My first start) and it's 30 minutes away, we're finally purchasing a 2nd car so I'm able to go back and forth. I now however have found myself terrified, I have never driven longer than a few miles away by myself. The thought of highway driving even this short distance worries me so much (my anxiety is about being in an accident) so much so that I am so anxious I am trying to find ANY reason to not take this job. I don't know what else to do. It's not that I don't want to work. I am scared of possible outcomes. Hoping someone out there can help.
1 Comments
The last post is 12 months old so they likely won't see your question. You can start a new thread if you want.
While I realize this is an old thread, it's also one of the top Google hits for driving anxiety, so I wanted to share my story because it's so similar to others' here. I've gone back and forth with driving anxiety for a while now. I have panic disorder in general, agoraphobia that is somewhat controlled, situational panic attacks, an inner ear condition, and PTSD. I used to take xanax but now take klonopin, not for driving, but in general, for life. So when I got my driver's license twenty-five years ago, I was anxious from the get-go in traffic and on bridges and avoided both. I live in a suburban area of California, and the freeways are pretty large here -- six lanes wide. Some of our bridges don't have shoulders.
My condition comes and goes, plain and simple. I will be fine for a year or two, and I will drive hundreds of miles on freeways and take road trips and everything, although I always have extreme difficulty being a passenger in a car, and I cannot take public transportation except busses or trains (I think because they're larger, but then I can't take subways, so I don't know). Then I will invariably have a panic attack of massive proportions while driving, and recently, this has nearly caused me to crash and has been also severe enough as a passenger to jump out of a not-yet stopped vehicle (no injuries). I'm scared of how intensely these things hit. I'm also horrible in the left turn lane or at a stop light. I almost always stay in the right lane.
I'll be fine, driving, but then I feel a rapid tingling up the back of my scalp accompanied by an urgent feeling of "get away." If I can pull over or off the freeway, I do, but on many of our freeways, there are no pull-offs or stops are miles apart. So if I cannot pull off, that's when things are bad, and the attacks come so darned quickly it's unbelievable. The next feeling that I have is complete confusion and faintness, and I am 90% sure my blood pressure drops. I'm not actually scared of anything though. I basically just feel trapped and overwhelmed. I have dim vision. If this continues, then I will get rapid heart rate and breath fast. It's all worse at night, on hills, and ascending or descending, as well as on wide freeways where there is a lot of motion from other cars. If there are no other cars on the freeway, I'm 100% fine driving by myself (but the traffic is heavy here, so that's really rare).
The thing is, that I'm worse as a passenger because I feel even more trapped. In that case, I often just feel kind of motion sick but not nauseous. This could have to do with my inner ear plus the anxiety. I often just feel like jumping out of the car and running away, but I have to soldier through it, and my heart starts racing, I sweat, I shake from head to toe, and I either shout out in fear or cry in terror. I have been very embarrassed to have this happen many times now, so I avoid driving with others.
Then the whole thing will go away again since I have no choice but to drive. We don't have good public transportation here, and a bicycle isn't an option since things are too spread out. Besides, I am a big fan of going places, so I always suck it up again, but I can have back-to-back attacks or pull over again and again which is rough. It's usually hard on my passengers too.
I've never been in a car accident, ever, and have driven across country as well as in other countries. No idea why this crops up sometimes. It does go away. It can also come back. I find it depressing and strange. It's good to read accounts from people with such a similar issue because driving panic is NOT LIKE other panic attacks (I've had them all, I think!) -- it's more faint-y and also, you do feel kind of paralyzed during the episode, I think because you can't always fight, or flight, so you freeze. It's also a situation where you are not totally in control, so it's not just in your head. I think if you are better driving back roads, that's fine. It definitely responds to exposure though, and it can recur, but will go away again with exposure too. I feel crazy sometimes though.
My condition comes and goes, plain and simple. I will be fine for a year or two, and I will drive hundreds of miles on freeways and take road trips and everything, although I always have extreme difficulty being a passenger in a car, and I cannot take public transportation except busses or trains (I think because they're larger, but then I can't take subways, so I don't know). Then I will invariably have a panic attack of massive proportions while driving, and recently, this has nearly caused me to crash and has been also severe enough as a passenger to jump out of a not-yet stopped vehicle (no injuries). I'm scared of how intensely these things hit. I'm also horrible in the left turn lane or at a stop light. I almost always stay in the right lane.
I'll be fine, driving, but then I feel a rapid tingling up the back of my scalp accompanied by an urgent feeling of "get away." If I can pull over or off the freeway, I do, but on many of our freeways, there are no pull-offs or stops are miles apart. So if I cannot pull off, that's when things are bad, and the attacks come so darned quickly it's unbelievable. The next feeling that I have is complete confusion and faintness, and I am 90% sure my blood pressure drops. I'm not actually scared of anything though. I basically just feel trapped and overwhelmed. I have dim vision. If this continues, then I will get rapid heart rate and breath fast. It's all worse at night, on hills, and ascending or descending, as well as on wide freeways where there is a lot of motion from other cars. If there are no other cars on the freeway, I'm 100% fine driving by myself (but the traffic is heavy here, so that's really rare).
The thing is, that I'm worse as a passenger because I feel even more trapped. In that case, I often just feel kind of motion sick but not nauseous. This could have to do with my inner ear plus the anxiety. I often just feel like jumping out of the car and running away, but I have to soldier through it, and my heart starts racing, I sweat, I shake from head to toe, and I either shout out in fear or cry in terror. I have been very embarrassed to have this happen many times now, so I avoid driving with others.
Then the whole thing will go away again since I have no choice but to drive. We don't have good public transportation here, and a bicycle isn't an option since things are too spread out. Besides, I am a big fan of going places, so I always suck it up again, but I can have back-to-back attacks or pull over again and again which is rough. It's usually hard on my passengers too.
I've never been in a car accident, ever, and have driven across country as well as in other countries. No idea why this crops up sometimes. It does go away. It can also come back. I find it depressing and strange. It's good to read accounts from people with such a similar issue because driving panic is NOT LIKE other panic attacks (I've had them all, I think!) -- it's more faint-y and also, you do feel kind of paralyzed during the episode, I think because you can't always fight, or flight, so you freeze. It's also a situation where you are not totally in control, so it's not just in your head. I think if you are better driving back roads, that's fine. It definitely responds to exposure though, and it can recur, but will go away again with exposure too. I feel crazy sometimes though.
1 Comments
I am also having this problem exactly how you described it and have stopped driving. It's been two years since I have really driven around town. I have been in my car since then but I only will go to the end of the street. I also have panic attacks when I'm standing in open spaces. I had this problem as a kid and now it affects my driving. I don't know what to do to cure this. I feel crippled and I want to get free from this!
Don't stop driving. It will only get worse. Mine is better but not before some low times. One day I got in my care and said "dammit there are places I want to go and I'm not going to let this control me" the more u get out and do it the better it gets..my Dr told me my fears were all imagined, that helped me as well. I really hope this helps :)
Wow this sounds a lot like my situation. I feel like my eyes want to pop out and my head wants to roll off my shoulders. I like to go so I forc e myself I think my blood pressure is thru the roof when I'm on the highway. I drove 3hrs today and I'm physically exhausted. And I always liked driving
I just recently developed this problem. What triggered it was that I have high blood pressure, and finally was hospitalized for it. I have meds for it now, but I worry I will have something happen to me while driving, that I will hurt someone else, etc. I had no idea other people suffered from this same problem until now. And here's the really bad part of my particular situation: my job is a medical van driver. Basically all I do all day is drive all over southern ca area picking up sick people to take to doctors, etc. Not EMT, thank God, but still stressful. Even if I'm feeling okay, all it takes is a client to flip on me about going a different route than what they want, or just talking too much to me and being overexcited, and that can send me into a panic attack. The attack will spin worse and worse because I start to dwell on it and how I know I can't just pull over with these people on board, etc. It's gotten to the point I might have to find a different job, it's that bad. I will probably have to get on some real meds for the anxiety, or hopefully find a job that only entails driving to and from work. I can definitely sympathize with anyone else going through this.
I am going to take my driving test tomorrow for the forth time....and my parents are pressuring me since I go to college and they do not want to drive me there anymore.....the thing is, I really want to pass and I know how to drive but i start to get very nervous and hyperventilate when i drive....I cried after my third test fail and now my dad keeps telling me not to cry, such as in a mocking manner. They think I am crazy and that i do not want to pass but they do not want to see that i have a driving phobia.....and maybe perhaps just anxiety problems..i read these stories and i am glad that i am not alone.....wish me luck tomorrow!
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