Panic attacks/Breathing difficulty when driving

[RVP]

Hi all,

To keep it short I suffered a really bad panic attack whilst on the dual carriageway (it was also night) roughly 2 months ago and ever since then my anxiety and panic attacks have been terrible. I'm OK (most of the time) driving the car during the day and I've also made a habit of continuing to drive because I love driving and it's my freedom. However, when I drive at night or go on a slightly longer stretch I start to panic uncontrollably, to the point where I've had to stop on the side of the motorway (I wasn't even driving this particular time).

If anyone please has some tips to stop racing heart or silly thoughts whilst driving then please let me know. It's my nephews birthday this weekend and it's a 2 hour drive. I don't want to miss it due to anxiety but I already keep playing it in my head like "am I going to have an anxiety attack" "will I get there okay?" etc etc it's horrible.

It's also not even just driving, it's work meetings, going to the hairdressers, going out or even just being outside at shops I go through these scenarios in my head and that obviously makes my anxiety worse because it's almost as if my mind is saying "okay you're now in this situation start to panic" or I start have irrational thoughts that make me panic such as "the world is falling in the universe" and just having that thought messes with my head and I start to panic.

[fishman65]

Hi RVP, I think the fear of having a panic attack while driving is a common one. I did go through a phase of panicking while driving, and reached a similar point to where you are in terms of dreading driving on public roads.

What I did when starting to panic, was to ask myself if I was losing control of the car. My answer was always 'no'. Even though I often thought I would lose control and crash, I never did.

Try a quiet country road first and have someone with you who understands if it helps. Then if you can tackle that, try a busier road and so on. Once you realise that your vehicle is not going to crash despite how bad a panic attack feels, you will come through this. Do keep us posted and good luck.

[nomorepanic]

All my panic comes from driving.

Have a look at the website page as I wrote some tips to use whilst driving.....

https://www.nomorepanic.co.uk/articles/coping

[Cconnie]

I have this problem too, I also have similar thoughts to you even the one about the world. It is something I find very hard but I still continue to drive. I find making a mix of my favourite songs or playing a favourite CD and singing along helps, if I feel like I need to hear a person talking I may play a podcast. I've also started trying box breathing where you visualise a square while counting your breath. You breath in for four, hold for four, breathe out for four and hold for four before repeating while I visualise a box being drawn. Sometimes I draw this square using my finger on the steering wheel. I've also tried a different breathing technique which is to breathe in for four, hold for four and breathe out for 6 seconds, this one also helps as it lowers your heart rate and helps to stop panicking. If I'm really bad I may call someone through the Bluetooth and talk to them.

[LeFi_81]

Oh I relate. The dual carriageway was one of the worst for me during my suffering with anxiety. It is good to read up on the experience of others, it helped me. Good news is you can learn strategies to cope with it and myself use the calming effect of radio. I listen to classic music all the time while driving, but I like it. I hope you find your strategy.