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[Goldie70]

Yes, this is me also!

Woke up one day in January 2019, panic stricken at the thought of having to drive my 10 year old son to school. This is a fast bendy country road, with no white lines. A road I had driven for years, twice a day! Couldn’t do it.

Then it escalated to dual carriage ways, driving in total darkness
( no street lights and doing the full beam/ dip thing) Motorways, forget it! I would get hot, shake and generally end up driving slowly.

A high oestrogen dose fixed it. Now I’m off HRT for health reasons and the anxiety is worse. Today I’ve requested sertraline because it’s not sustainable to be this anxious in the world we live in.

I’ve tried CBD, sucking sweets, singing, deep breathing; nothing works.

Solidarity and empathy coming your way.

Anxiety is so debilitating … I experience all the symptoms you have mentioned  when driving too … it’s terrifying.

[Goldie70]

It's somewhat reassuring to know a lot of us are struggling with our driving. Before peri I was a confident driver, loved going on road trips. Now I'm scared to drive, it started with my irritation with other drivers, then it became a loss of confidence with my own driving. I think the brain fog makes it scary to drive. I had a minor accident with a curb last year and I can't remember how it could have happened. Getting overwhelmed on the road is a huge problem too, I hate travelling in peak traffic, I've had many panic attacks while driving alone and get so scared I'll have an accident, sometimes it feels like everyone is swerving in to your lane.

All my doctors are about an hours drive from where I live so I have no choice but to keep driving. To help me cope I plan my journey and try and give myself extra time so I'm not panicking about being late. I also put together playlists of calming music or something I can sing along to so I'm not stressing. I often tell myself "serenity Now" if I sense myself stressing, it doesn't always work but I'll give anything a go.

Keen to hear if anyone else has some non-medical techniques, I'm on HRT but am unable to take anti-depressants (had a bad reaction to sertraline).

Yes I get that too that it feels like other cars are swerving into me … I also dislike driving over bridges.  It seems like a balance and spatial awareness thing.  Wish there was a magic solution  but it seems it’s just something that has to pass… I’ve had it for almost 16 years since peri started I think … I can’t see me ever being a confident driver again.

[Goldie70]

Unless you can get the anxiety under control by hrt or ads the next best solution might be some refresher driving lessons  :(with a sympathetic instructor, or else  :(do an advanced driving course.

I almost signed up with an instructor who specialised in driving anxiety but it was expensive and about 200 miles away. My husband has offered to be the passenger while I try my scary roads but I think that would actually make me worse

[ElkWarning]

I love this board for confirming to me that I'm not alone.

Everything that everyone's said is how I feel, but I thought it was me and I somehow had to fight it / beat it. I live in a town where the only way out is along fast (national speed limit) roads.

I ended up doing a mad thing starting about 6 years ago. I upped the challenge. I went back to riding a motorbike. Insane. But oddly not. Most bikes have much faster acceleration and a lot more visibility. I don't know how, but it's less scary. It's like I can feel the world, it's really there, a concrete reality I understand how to respond to. And the responses are very direct.

Anyway, it hasn't helped massively (although I can do a steady 60 whereas before I was kind of struck at 40). Have to say, it's also pretty cool that I ride a red cruiser. It's a confidence bump.

[CLKD]

Most driving instructors will be up2date with anxiety around driving so do look closer to home.