Panic attacks usually always when driving ? And depersonalization

[Jmerrick22]

I'm trying to put two and two together . My first panic attack happened while driving I just dropped a friend off and was driving home and all of a sudden an intense fear of death and doom. Second time I was driving school kids about a half hour from home this time this one took the cake . All of a sudden I was thinking about my cousin who died suddenly of a heart attack, and boom 💥 I had this warm tingling pins and needle feeling through my whole body, couldn't breathe, shaking , headache , throats tightness etc . I got that bad I called an ambulance and went to the er . That day I felt as if I had such an extreme shock and trauma it scarred me for life . Since then I went into a depression and depersonalization. I have a highly stressful job and at the time this happened I was working two jobs and little sleep. First part of my question is does it seem weird I always get these when I'm driving and I'm always anticipating the next one ? 2nd part is so you think that my anxiety and panic is all from those episodes? I never felt this way until that whole ordeal. I'm always terrified of death dying you name it . I'm paranoid and things are just getting worse . Inside it feels like a switch needs to be hit or something to snap out of this state. What's best to keep my moods up? Zoloft I'm stopping it makes me depressed and bad dark thoughts

[gemfire]

Not my first panic attack, but my worst panic attack happened while I was driving many years ago. I was on a highway and in between 2 exits that were far apart giving me the "trapped" feeling that made the panic even worse. Ever since then I've had a driving phobia that still lingers. Some days are better than others but I keep on driving anyhow. I try to avoid situations where I don't have a way out...for example a busy 4 or more lane street...I'm always driving in the far right lane so I don't get stuck surrounded on all sides at a red light. To this day I still get panicky on a highway so I avoid them by driving the long way around...avoidance behavior I know but it's how I'm able to still keep driving. Better than avoiding it entirely. I went for quite a few years without any treatment at all though so with quick treatment you might not get as bad as I did. Look into CBT...that'll help you a lot.

[HopingCat]

I don't think it has to do with driving. I think it has to do with constantly thinking about how horrific we feel. Trust me, I have been struggling with depersonalization/ derealization for 5 months now and I can't stop thinking about this hell. All day. Even when I'm not thinking about it I'm thinking about it. Does that even make sense? Meaning that even when I'm distracted with my kids, cooking, cleaning, driving, I'm still thinking about it. I got like this 5 months ago when I started fighting off what I think were panic attacks for 2 days. It sent me into depression and I couldn't get out of bed for 2 weeks. Then everything seems unreal. And this intense weird dream vision makes things worse. But I can function better now because I force myself to do things even if the brain wants to mess with me. My advice is that forced yourself to do everything that you think might trigger this hell. And if you feel panic you stop and talk to yourself... say things like "calm down, you are fine, there's no danger here" breath... continue. Eventually it will get easier.