While I was pregnant with Mariam was when I first started feeling this anxiety about driving over bridges and overpasses--especially on roads I'm not familiar with. The first time I felt it was driving over the Colorado river coming back from San Antonio. I thought it was really just pregnancy hormones. I started to feel anxious about it and then I got lightheaded and felt like I was leaving my body. I was whispering to DH to get his attention. Well I made it over and shortly after pulled over and let him drive. I felt that feeling again about 4 months later driving over a small overpass in Houston.
I stay/work at home and this week marks 2 yrs at home so yeah I don't drive as much as when I worked full time so it definitely has to do with that, but this feeling sucks. Last night I told DH I could drive us all back home from his nephews house and I ended up crying and pulling over. It was dark and not lit up very well and once again an area I'm not familiar with. The drive was going to be over an hour long and there were a few bridges already. I'm so glad I let him drive because towards the end there was a huge freeway overpass. I'm so scared I'm going to pass out on one of these bridges or overpasses one day with my kids in the car and then my fear will come true.
I hate this. I used to drive dark foggy winding country roads when I was younger and up to a few years ago driving over a high one lane freeway overpass was part of my daily commute. Maybe it's a combination of things. Getting older? Driving an SUV now as opposed to always driving a car? Hormones?
Not in general, but there is one near us that I really do not like, especially at night. It is really high and at night kind of dark. Also, when it was first open they did not have any blinder deals on the top.
Post by schitzengiggles on Jan 2, 2014 11:39:44 GMT -5
DH has a fear of rail road tracks when they bridge over the road and there is a train currently on them. He hates having to drive under and will step on the gas to speed up and get through as fast as possible.
It's fear of losing control and crashing through the barrier. I'm also not as fond as heights as I used to be. I feel like a weenie. I know I'm tougher than this.
There's a bridge that collapsed a few years ago, such a devastating accident. And while it got completely rebuilt, and it presumably is the safest of all the bridges in this city (there are tons), every time I drive over it, I pause and cringe. But it's only that one bridge. Which, again, irrational since that's probably the safest bridge to cross.
Post by kellsbelles on Jan 2, 2014 11:41:41 GMT -5
The older I get the more I hate driving in general. I never had a bad experience I think I'm hyper aware of how dangerous it really is. It doesn't help when the news shows all these brutal accidents all the time too.
If it's something that really bothers you though look for a therapist who does CBT. That modality is superior in helping overcome fears.
Post by thebreakfastclub on Jan 2, 2014 11:44:59 GMT -5
After I had my baby, I started to feel weird about crossing bridges over rivers. If I crash over the side, how am I going to get the baby out of the car seat and swim out?
I also live in a city with 3 rivers and hundreds of bridges, so I am screwed. LOL.
I've really developed a fear of them over the past few years....even one of the flyovers I go through daily will get to me if I think about it.
I also just get really anxious driving in general - I'm always worried that something horrible is going to happen. I've been in a couple of accidents that resulted in totaled cars. None were my fault, but I really think that it triggered some kind of bizarre fear. I've found that if I'm the driver, I feel a little better, but if M or someone else is driving us, especially on windy mountain roads, I'm a nervous wreck.
Bridges. I loathe bridges. I get panicy anytime I get stuck in traffic on the American Legion Bridge on the beltway and the one time I had to drive over the Bay bridge was hell on earth. Hate them!
Bridges make me anxious, but overpasses make me really anxious. I don't get light headed or anything, but my muscles definitely clench and my heart beats faster. I figure that started when I saw that certain freeway overpasses collapsed during the Northridge (I think it was that one) earthquake in CA.
Saucyc. Yes! That definitely has to do with it. Since having my 3rd baby, I'm a lot more anxious and not as fearless. I have more to live for more and more people depending on me.
You know I might find I'm not as scared driving over them by myself. I get very worried about getting 3 girls out if a car if it were to crash into water, or just losing them crashing over into concrete.
I mentioned the SUV as a contributor because its higher off the ground and more powerful. I've always driven a small or mid size car.
I don't know what kind of barrier is on the edges of the bridges you're driving over, but i have hit a concrete median going about 40 in an suv(not on a bridge, just on a normal interstate, b/c of black ice) and there is no way in hell that my SUV was going through that thing, no matter how big or powerful it is. It stopped me in my tracks, thats for sure.
I panic every time I go over a bridge over water when I have the kids with me. What happens if I go over? How will I get the kids out? Which kid do I try to get out first? How will I hold on to both kids?
My heart is racing just thinking about it right now.
do you have one of the tools in your car that cuts seat belts really easily and can break your car window? I got one of those, and it made me feel better, that i could probably cut my seatbelt, jump in the back seat and cut G's then break the window to get us out really quickly.
This fear came out of nowhere for me this summer, it was so weird because my body was FREAKING out but my mind was like, wtf, it's just a bridge! Overpasses make me a little nervous, but it's like this article states - I'm not afraid of the bridge/overpass, I'm afraid of my body freaking out and having a panic attack that is out of my control.
There's only one bridge that makes me nervous (San Mateo Bridge) because it makes me feel like you really could end up in the water in a bad crash.
While I don't have a fear of overpasses, I have other irrational driving fears, such as driving next to K-rails. I can't really avoid them with all the constant road construction in SoCal, so I just try to muster through.
My mom has huge fears about highway driving, overpasses, and bridges which steamed from an accident she had when my sister was younger and she was pregnant with me.
There are two freeway entrance ramps I absolutely will not take because they're super high, wind around at a pretty steep angle, and just freak me the fuck out the few times I've driven on them. I've definitely become a more cautious/anxious driver since having kids, but I don't need to have them with me to feel anxious about those particular overpasses.
I don't like heights either, and I HATE deep water. Strangely enough, most bridges don't bother me. I will sometimes freak out over a local bridge that has a pretty steep hill, but then we walked/biked across the GGB and I had not a care in the world. It's really strange.
Could it have been that the first time you felt like you were going to pass out on the bridge, you were truly just not feeling well/sick for some unrelated reason, but ever since then, you have associated that feeling with driving over bridges?
I will say that one bad experience can make you fear something for a long time. I was badly rear-ended two summers ago, and now I am so paranoid whenever I am driving and have to stop. I have to watch in my rear view mirror to make sure the car behind me is stopping and will not run into me. I was never like that before.
Yes I get severe anxiety. I do not drive overtime myself but someone else needs to. I don't drive anywhere new unless I have been there with someone else first and I'll Google Earth the travel route prior. I'm better with bridges that low and are flat (I love the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel). I'm also better in a car than SUV. I fear that the SUV will crash over the side or somehow we'll drive up over the side and fall.
I fly just fine - but I do take Xanax, drink and usually fly 1st so I'm not so close to everyone.
I have really bad anxiety on highways on overpasses. Like, to the point that I avoid them at all costs. I never used to be like this until we lived in a tiny ass town in NM and had to drive three hours of desolate road to get to Albuquerque. It was pitch dark and this Dallas/Fort Worth girl is not used to anything like that.
I've tried therapy and drugs and so far nothing has helped. I'm thinking about trying hypnosis next.
Its snowing here and I just got stuck up there. I was doing ok until I got to the very top. An emergency car was coming so I pulled onto the shoulder onto the fresh snow/ice and out of the tracks where everyone was driving. I couldn't get traction when I tried to keep going after the emergency vehicle passed and I was lightly fishtailing around up there. It took a few minutes but I got going again. Now I'm scared of overpasses. That was scary.