- Joined
- Jun 5, 2002
- Messages
- 2,329
Let me start off by saying I used to have very bad panic attacks, which my psychiatrist said was due to some extreme trauma that happened to me for several years as a child... I also had very bad anger issues that I've been working on for years to control, which I've been doing. I haven't had a panic/anxiety attack in several years now. I was going to therapy every week, I cut it off a few weeks ago, as I just felt like, I'm feeling good and don't need it anymore. For the most part, I have control over my temper and no longer have panic/anxiety issues at all.
Anyway, several days ago, we, my family and I, were in a bad car accident, was rear ended full speed by an idiot that was too busy not paying attention. My truck was totaled, and some how, I don't know how, but all of us managed to walk away with only scrapes and some bruises. From the damage to both of our trucks as I took a lot of pictures for the insurance companies, I've had friends say we're all very lucky to have walked away from it.
I'm driving a rental now, but here is my problem, over the last few days, I've had small anxiety attacks when I've been driving. Nothing big, so I figured, it's normal, after a couple of days, I'll be fine and back to normal.
Tonight, I had my daughter and her friend in the truck, and on my way to pick up my girlfriend, We're at a redlight and we heard tires screeching and looked into the next line to see a truck almost slam into a small toyota.
In my head, all I heard was the sound of metal crunching and saw images of my truck smashed up. I just froze. I know it's not logical, and my daughter kept calling me and telling me the light turned green but I had to pull over into a parking lot for a bit. Long story short, getting my g/f, going home, then taking my daughter's friend home and dropping my girl at her house... it wasn't a very fun night for me when I was behind the wheel.
By the time we got back to my place, my Dr's office was closed so I won't be able to contact her until Monday, but even then, her office books up very fast and it's sometimes hard to get in unless I've made appointments far enough in advance. I've always had problems with "flashbacks" and seeing images of things when I'm highly stressed and this, just threw me off, I felt my heart racing in my chest, started sweating very badly even with the a/c blowing in my face.
I've had it controlled for so long... I guess right now, I just don't know how to handle things as this is feeling new to me again.
Has anyone here been in a bad accident and had issues getting behind the wheel again? or having panic attacks when thinking about driving? I have a lot of driving around to do all day on saturday as I'll be helping a friend move, and I'm going to be driving the uhaul for her. Her new house is roughly an hour from where she's at now. I don't know...maybe since the uhaul is so big, I won't have any issues with being in it.
Guess for now, I'll just do my relaxation exercises and try to look at things from a logical standpoint and keep reminding myself that accidents happen, and we walked away from it. We're fine.
Anyway, several days ago, we, my family and I, were in a bad car accident, was rear ended full speed by an idiot that was too busy not paying attention. My truck was totaled, and some how, I don't know how, but all of us managed to walk away with only scrapes and some bruises. From the damage to both of our trucks as I took a lot of pictures for the insurance companies, I've had friends say we're all very lucky to have walked away from it.
I'm driving a rental now, but here is my problem, over the last few days, I've had small anxiety attacks when I've been driving. Nothing big, so I figured, it's normal, after a couple of days, I'll be fine and back to normal.
Tonight, I had my daughter and her friend in the truck, and on my way to pick up my girlfriend, We're at a redlight and we heard tires screeching and looked into the next line to see a truck almost slam into a small toyota.
In my head, all I heard was the sound of metal crunching and saw images of my truck smashed up. I just froze. I know it's not logical, and my daughter kept calling me and telling me the light turned green but I had to pull over into a parking lot for a bit. Long story short, getting my g/f, going home, then taking my daughter's friend home and dropping my girl at her house... it wasn't a very fun night for me when I was behind the wheel.
By the time we got back to my place, my Dr's office was closed so I won't be able to contact her until Monday, but even then, her office books up very fast and it's sometimes hard to get in unless I've made appointments far enough in advance. I've always had problems with "flashbacks" and seeing images of things when I'm highly stressed and this, just threw me off, I felt my heart racing in my chest, started sweating very badly even with the a/c blowing in my face.
I've had it controlled for so long... I guess right now, I just don't know how to handle things as this is feeling new to me again.
Has anyone here been in a bad accident and had issues getting behind the wheel again? or having panic attacks when thinking about driving? I have a lot of driving around to do all day on saturday as I'll be helping a friend move, and I'm going to be driving the uhaul for her. Her new house is roughly an hour from where she's at now. I don't know...maybe since the uhaul is so big, I won't have any issues with being in it.
Guess for now, I'll just do my relaxation exercises and try to look at things from a logical standpoint and keep reminding myself that accidents happen, and we walked away from it. We're fine.