Driving anxiety is driving me crazy...

[deemcg]

Hello,

I am a 24 year old woman.
I have had anxiety since highschool.
I was panic free for over two years until recently.
Hungover and driving a long distance I had a complete breakdown and couldn't even drive the rest of the way home, I had my boyfriend take my car.

Typical, after that one episode I am still suffering three weeks later.
I feel a general anxiety a lot of the time but I suffer major panic attacks while driving.

I have no idea what is causing this.

I really have everything I have ever wanted...moved out with my long term boyfriend, new good paying job and we recently got a cat.

Maybe a bit home sick and living/working in a new city is the reason?

I find myself not wanting to go and do things because I want to avoid driving.
Any tips on what I can do???
I don't have an attack every time but when I do - I really panic...
I have my mom on speed dial so I can talk to her because for some reason it helps. I really don't want to rely on my mom though....

My symptoms are dizzyness, racing heart, blurred vision, out of body feeling and my general anxiety is causing some IBS (not fun)

How can I back to how I was?!? I am a girl who went kayaking in the panama canal by myself surrounded by alligators?! but a 20 minute drive on a highway literally terrifies me

[Booboojenny]

Hi so sorry to read your post must be awful for you, there is alot of support on this site you have come to the right place
Have you chatted to your GP about how you are feeling?
Also, there is alot of information on coping strategies on this site.

[lior]

Yes sometimes my anxiety seems to randomly flare up again and I sometimes develop temporary phobias.

But when I look at the situation, then I work out why I am stressed. For me it is often because someone (usually a manager) is expecting me to do something that I don't understand (because they didn't communicate it). If you're in a new job and you've had all these lifestyle changes, it might take time to adjust to the change. Maybe there's something you did before that you enjoyed, and you don't do it any more because of all these changes. A new kind of life means a new kind of thinking and organisation too - you have to do things differently to fit with your new circumstances.

How you feel about driving, is, I would guess, a symptom of anxiety... once you have sorted out a new way of approaching things, or changed something, I would guess that the driving fears would go away.

But this is only based on my experience (I'm 24 too!) - check out other stuff on this site too.