Driving - panic attacks on motorway

[CooEeeEldridge]

Has anyone overcome driving anxiety before?

for context I’ve been driving since I was 17, now 43. Been driving all over the country since then, would happily drive 4 hours to a meeting and 4 hours back again in the same day. No issues previously, would happily bomb along constructing pub quizzes, work emails (dictating obvs) saw the driving part of a trip as ‘me time’ where I would play music, form my own concert etc.

from nowhere I’ve developed driving anxiety. I say nowhere maybe the past 4 years it’s crept in to the point where in Dec I had to be picked up by police as I couldn’t leave a lay-by and now I’m in an uber paying £100 each way having to dump my car in a little village as I couldn’t get on a dual carriage way.

I already take propranolol but it’s the brain side now that needs fixing.

it could be a post covid thing? The fear is simply not being able to get off / out. It’s like I feel not tethered to the road and all I want to do is stop. Generally ok on single carriage ways but dual (new thing)and motorways I just want to stop.

has anyone overcome this? As I say if you told my friends this had happened they wouldn’t belive you as I was always the one that would drive, super confident etc. I have aging parents that live 2 hours away so need to overcome this.

Yes, have experienced this - after being super confident motorway driver for 30 years. Had woozy feeling of disorientation on motorway late last year and ended up having full blown panic attack as it was smart motorway and couldn't stop. Related to menopause i think and was going through very stressful time with separation. I drive a lot for work so i've had to push through it but avoided motorways for a while. Bridges, tunnels, being undertaken by lorries, would give me a vertigo type feeling and leave me panicking and hyperventilating for a period - was horrid. But I do seem to have come through the other side these past months so i'm pleased I forced myself to to not become completely motorway avoidant. I'm more careful about what i eat to stop blood sugar dips, take frequent rests, and therapist friend gave me some coping mechanisms too. My sleep has improved too for various reasons - think bad sleep was a contributing factor.

Perhaps that's an element but it's primarily a chemical reaction. Fluctuating estrogen & progesterone + lower testosterone directly impacts on your dopamine levels, pregnanolone levels etc.

It's so frustrating because blood tests won't pick it up. These hormones are constantly fluctuating all of the time, it's like trying to herd cats. So bloods taken on 3 separate days will show completely different results.

This is me too. I get really sweaty palms, which makes things even worse as it feels like I can't control the steering wheel. I especially hate passing a slip road and having to move into the middle lane, I just can't speed up enough and then end up getting undertaken and can't get back into the left hand lane. I've got to do a short motorway journey tomorrow and am dreading it.

Hi OP not me oersonally but two fronds have had this one was early 40s and HRT sorted it completely. The other was on and off HRT due to needing some other investigations and has let herself now become reliant on her husband driving.

Whatever it is. A good driving instructor will show how it works.
To be honest< I think every new driver should spend time on a motorway with a driver.

I’ve had it OP. I’m over it now. I had some sessions with the agency that @OfCourseIStillLoveYou recommended. There’s also some videos etc you can access if you search Google or YouTube. Good luck.

Helpful 🙄

If this were to happen to me I think I'd put my hazards on as well so other drivers know something is wrong even if they can't see what.

I think this is quite common, though really unpleasant and there's some good advice above. It'd probably be best to see your GP especially if you haven't been for a while. Obvious things to check apart from your general state of health are thyroid and sex hormones (you could be perimenopausal). Then there are some other approaches: CBT, drugs for anxiety of which there's a big choice or natural medicine (not usually available on the NHS) such as hypnotherapy, homoeopathy etc.
Best of luck with this. If you take a systematic approach to the problem and just decide it's not going to stop you, you'll get past it.

This happened to me about 18 months ago when I was 42. Had been driving for years on the motorway, taking the kids by myself see my parents 40 mins away on the motorway, would take the kids on the motorway to get to farm parks etc.
Then I was driving along m4 towards Swindon due to a family member suddenly being in hospital and I felt like I was about to faint - like a disconnect from my body feeling. Had to suddenly pull over and felt sick. Traffic officer was sent out my emergency services to sit with me whilst I waited for my husband to arrive with his dad to drive me home.
After that it briefly happened a couple more times on the motorway when I was with my husband then I just couldn't drive on the motorway again. Then it crept into certain main roads. Now I can't drive out of our town because the main way in / out is a very fast, open long road. I can only now really drive to the next small town in the opposite direction of this busy main road and luckily we have a farm park nearby that I manage to drive the kids to myself.
But for the last 18 months I've not been able to visit my parents without my husband driving us and can't even drive into Bristol on the main road from our town.
I've tried EMDR, CBT, self hypnosis / audio books, a mindfulness driving instructor and more recently a hypnotherapist. I make a bit of progress then suddenly get another "funny feeling" when driving which sets me back.
It makes me feel like such a useless mum, like I'm failing my kids because I can't easily take them places and I feel like I've lost all my independence.
I've completely stopped "practicing" the last couple of months and have started taking sertraline for my hormone related mood swings (am also on hrt for last two years) so I've completely taken the pressure off myself for now to "practice" and Um going to start trying again in a few more weeks once I've been taking the ssri's for a bit longer.
So in short completely get what you're going through OP - hope you can find something that helps you but I think it's a case of regularly keeping trying.

It’s more than likely peri menopause. Have you tried HRT?