Stress Center Peer Support

I would say Driving TO the destination is the problem. It is my biggest issue. Even though I know whats going on with me and have known it was panic for years this is the hardest thing. Oh and If I have to "ride with someone other than DW forget about it!!!!!!!!

about 10 years ago I had a panic attack on the 24 mile bridge here in my city. you can only turn around ever 4 or 5 miles so it is the worst place in the world for a panic attack. I am petrified still to go across this bridge.

For me once I reach the destination I am fine. and the ride home is super easy with zero anxiety. Today I drove only 15 minutes away from the house and i would rate my panic at a 5-6. Thew problem is the further I go the more it will increase until. I feel Very Dizzy, Palms sweaty, crawling skin, cant sit still, abrubt movements, depernsalazation, want to jump out and run away.

I think its the fact we have to sit in the car, with minimal stimulas. We tune out the Radio just like any other person we can tune out while having panic. Driving is so automatic we have too much resources free to think about how we feel.

My max is about 5 minutes into the Car, after that it just slowy creeps up until lvl 10

I am new to the program I wanted to join the group and get help as soon as possible because I am so much worried about this condition. The sooner I overcome this debilitating problem the better it will be for me. I have been driving myself since I started driving, now I find it difficult to drive on the high ways or long distances, because I fear that I will meet rush traffic that will hold up the traffic then I will be faced with panic. My main problem is stopping on stop lights on hold up traffic can some one please help me? I do not have problem as long as the traffic is moving.

hopefull418 wrote:I am in week 2 of the session, my main crutch is fear of driving, it seems everytime I am getting ready to drive I get nervous so I can't go anywhere. My fear is that I will get a panic attack and then get into an accident. I can drive ok when someone is with me, just not alone. Has anyone overcame this, or dealing with the same issues?

wow im just like you i can drive with someone in the car with me but cant by myself.i was not that way befor i dont know what happend to me its like im not me no more.but hey its ok we are getting help we just got to trust ourselfs and go for it.i know its our head telling us that we cant and everything that comes from our head its not true

I am there 2!!! I can drive as long as I have someone with me but if I am by myself then I can only go a few miles from home. I feel like I have been drinking if I am alone... like my vision is foggy and blurry and my heart pounds and I just cant wait to get home!! Have any of the ppl that posted a few yrs back been able to overcome this with the program? I hope someone answers with good news!!

i do not like to drive alone either i absolutely hate it .. it makes me feel very strange .. my chest starts to hurt a lot and i lose my breath so im taking a break

For the whole month of August 2013 I did not drive at all.
I took cabs everywhere I went to for an entire month.
My elderly mother had been placed into an assisted living facility at the beginning of August.
I was so deep into my depression at this time that I did not even
realize that the fear about driving was all about my mom's failing health.
It was ridiculously expensive to take cab rides all over town.

I guess by September 2013 my grief / anxiety had calmed down some.
I was able to drive by September.

I am just fine now with driving about town and it is January 2014.
The only block for me, now, about driving, is the distance from
my apartment. I feel fine when I am only about 10 miles away in every
direction. It seems that if I have to drive farther than 10 miles I feel
like I am driving way far away from where I live. So that is the next
block I have to conquer in this driving challenge.

LyndaLu