Another person who panics while driving!

[cobrose1]

I would be very interested to chat with other people who panic while driving. I have had the problem for some years and am trying to deal with it but it makes it much easier if you have someone to talk to who understands how you feel. Not met anyone else with the same problem so it is quite lonely! I do worry about journeys particularly long ones and motorway driving especially if I have a passenger or even worse lots of them. I have become a pain to travel with as I drive on the left hand side of the road all the time so that I feel safer and more able to get off the road in an emergency...I hate overtaking as I then panic ..does anyone else feel like this? When the road divides and I have to take the right hand road I really hate it and when lorries overtake on the left it really freaks me as I feel I can't get back in if I need to.

[trac67]

Hi,

Welcome to the forum, you will get a lot of good advice here and make some new friends.

Try this link it is a thread that Nicola did all about her driving phobia and see if it helps :

CBT therapy for driving problems - my diary (http://www.nomorepanic.co.uk/showthread.php?t=7162)

Take care

Trac xx

'Live your life with arms wide open, today is where your book begins, the rest is still unwritten'

[jill]

hi cobrose

WELCOME TO THE SITE :D

There are lots of nice people here who will help and support you.

TAKE CARE

LOVE JILLXX


When you fear something,
learn as much about it as you can.
Knowledge conqers fear.

[goslow]

Hi Cobrose,

I too have problems with driving but mine effects me on motorways only. I have got to a stage that I am too terrified to even get on motorways. I have not met anyone else who suffers in the same way so it is nice to know that we are not alone:D

[nomorepanic]

Hi and welcome aboard.

Well I have this problem too and am currently having CBT for it.

That post is here .....

CBT therapy for driving problems - my diary (http://www.nomorepanic.co.uk/showthread.php?t=7162)

Here are some other posts about driving ....

Hi new member mom w/ panic and dp/dr (http://www.nomorepanic.co.uk/showthread.php?t=1239)
Driving (http://www.nomorepanic.co.uk/showthread.php?t=6038)
driving phobia (http://www.nomorepanic.co.uk/showthread.php?t=5105)
Hi, I am new and need re-assurance (http://www.nomorepanic.co.uk/showthread.php?t=6527)
Panic - When driving (http://www.nomorepanic.co.uk/showthread.php?t=6631)
Panic attacks while driving (http://www.nomorepanic.co.uk/showthread.php?t=7291)

Also on the website are some coping techniques I use ...
How to cope with Panic Attacks, Anxiety, Phobias and OCD (http://www.nomorepanic.co.uk/NMPcms.php?nmppage=coping)

There is a bit on coping whilst driving on that page.

Hope these help.


Nicola

[Karen]

Hi cobrose

Welcome to the forum.

Karen



Happiness is not a state to arrive at but a manner of travelling.

[Shirley]

I am fascinated to come across this forum and see that I am not actually as 'unique' as I thought.

Driving on motorways that are full of huge trucks, road works and barriers with no hard shoulder that I can stop in when I panic ( which has NEVER been necessary) is something that I am really struggling with. Contra flows are guaranteed to have me feeling light headed and faint. I am interested to read here that there is vitually no-one who has actually fainted, but for me the thought that I MIGHT while I am driving on a motorway is the thing that makes me panic the most. I can drive all day on single file roads or even dual carriageways, but the thought of the M25 or the M1 really has me shaking.
The incident that I believe triggered this for me took place about 12 years or so ago. We were living in the Middle East and I had flown into Heathrow with my two children who were then about 5 and 3 years old. I have always loved driving and I was happy to hire a car from Heathrow and drive up to my parents home in Wales.

I hired a smallish car, maybe a VW golf or similar, put my suitcases in the boot and buckled my children into their car seats in the back seat.

When in the Middle East the roads there are very wide and very quiet and the cars are quite big. The day of my drive up to Wales was a very, very windy day and the motorway, either the M25 or the M6 was very busy and full of lorries which at that time didn’t bother me at all as I had always loved driving.

At one point on the motorway we had to drive over a bridge, I was in the third lane overtaking two lorries at the time and a gust of wind caught my car as we drove over the bridge and rocked it so much that I felt I was being pushed into the side of the lorry. It gave me such a fright at the time because I was very conscious of having my two young children in the back seat and being in such a small car made me feel quite out of control. I wanted to pull over but I couldn’t because there was so much traffic on the inside lanes and I had to wait until there was a space for me to move over. As soon as I could, I left the motorway and had to stop for a while to calm down.

I drove the rest of the way on non motorway roads. A few weeks after that I returned to the Middle East after the summer to my normal car and totally forgot about the incident.

We moved to England again in August 2000 and almost straight away I started to feel claustrophobic on the M25.

I do drive on motorways now and although I drive a biggish car I prefer to stay in the slow lane because I have to feel that I can pull over if I need to stop, but by staying in the slow lane it usually means I am surrounded by lorries in front and behind and they can be very intimidating.

If there are road works on the left ( the Heathrow M25 extension is a no go area for me ) and the hard shoulder is blocked off and there are lorries in front and behind me I feel ‘trapped’ and have often had panic attacks where I feel so light headed that I think I might faint and this is now a terrifying experience for me. I don’t put myself in this situation at all and would rather drive on minor roads for hours more than to put myself in a situation where I feel out of control.

I am very interested to hear from other people who might have the same problem and how they are dealing with it.

Thanks,
Shirley

[westmeathangel]

panic attacks and driving gosh my worst nitemare, couldnt even get to the shops or worse still was determined to get to the shops got the bread and milk and couldnt get home, i live out in the country so having a place to pull in wasnt the problem just getting home so i could die in my own house was the problem because everytime i got an attack i thought this is it im going to have a heart attack, but with a lot of determination and a considerate husband ( took time to get him to listen and understand) that was a struggle too but now i can drive from my home in the midlands in Ireland to Dublin without giving it a second thought. its like a death in the family i dont think it ever goes away but it gets easier

[nomorepanic]

Shirley

Wow - we sound identical in our fears.

I have had this for many years and decided that I had to do something to overcome it so I am back doing CBT again. It is really helping but is hard work.

What I am doing is telling myself that I am fine in roadwork's, I don't need to stop or pull over. It is just another ordinary road except it has cones on it etc etc.

It is all about changing thought patterns and building confidence. I know it sounds mad but I couldn't do this alone and just seeing this lady for CBT has helped me immensely. She encoruages me, challenges me and above all makes me believe I can do it - and I know I can!

I will help you all I can along the way and give you any tips I can as I know how horrid this is for us.

It can be done but it takes a lot of persistence and reassurance that you will be fine.

I am not cured yet by any means but I am on my way and I am determined to overcome it.

I wish you all the best too.

Nicola

[Alexandra]

Hi Cobrose,

Welcome to the forum

Take Care



Alexandra

[Meg]

THis is an extremely common fear and it is one that increases by ecery journbey that we do that has scared us and takes some time and considerable effort to unravel, road by road and cone by cone.

For my work I couldn't avoid motorways so had to JFDI it and whilst I didn't like them and spent many hours in tears and freaking out but learnt that nothing awful ever did happen and it dawned on me that if I had things to do in the car for distraction and some items of comfort it helped enormously to change the negative thoughts that cause all the rising anxiety and subsequent panic.

Its not easy but progressive exposure along with thought/ self talk changing is definately the key to recovery.

Meg
www.anxietymanagementltd.com

Your anxiety is the human representation of the pictures that you paint using your many vivid colours of revolving and reoccurring thoughts.
How big is your gallery ?