Why is she suddenly afraid of driving?

  In this rapidly developing society, cars are a necessity of life, especially for Ms. Zhao. Ms. Zhao’s family runs a company and has two children, so she can’t live without her car for daily work and picking up and dropping off her children, but recently, she suddenly became extremely afraid of driving.  One day, five months ago, Ms. Zhao was driving to pick up her children from school as usual, when she suddenly felt her heart beating faster, her chest was tight, she had difficulty breathing, her arms and legs were weak, and she felt like she was going to die. She was so scared that she rushed to pull over and trembled as she took out her cell phone to dial 120 …… 10 minutes later, Ms. Zhao was taken to the hospital by ambulance, but all the discomfort in her body disappeared, routine blood, biochemistry, electrocardiogram, MRI …… examination showed All normal. The doctor who saw her was also confused and gave her a bottle of glucose and told her to go home. The next day Ms. Zhao’s health condition was as normal, she could drive, go to work, travel and pick up her children normally, so she was relieved.  But a month later, one day, Ms. Zhao driving on the highway, suddenly feel dizzy and nausea, panic, chest tightness, can not breathe, she was worried that she could not control the steering wheel, immediately drive to the parking area, rest a little better, then continue to drive, but see others overtaking, and feel not. She rushed off the highway and drove to the nearest county hospital, but the test results were the same as last time, normal.  The more Ms. Zhao thinks about it, the more scared she is, the attack is like dying, and the doctor can not check the problem, what to do in the future? As she feared, the attacks were recurring and becoming more frequent. Gradually, she became afraid to drive alone and had to be accompanied every time she drove. If there was someone in the passenger seat, she could drive a few dozen kilometers without fear, otherwise she was afraid to drive out. This situation seriously limited her life, she did not dare to drive alone to pick up the children, shopping, attending social functions, at night also because of the fear of sleep suddenly panic, chest tightness, sleep is not good, the daytime spirit is getting worse, the family is also infected, as long as Ms. Zhao went out to worry about nervous. The happy family in the past was a lot less happy laughter. Finally, under the persuasion of her family, Ms. Zhao came to Hangzhou Seventh People’s Hospital for medical treatment.  Ms. Zhao was diagnosed with anxiety disorder, panic disorder. After medication, together with psychotherapy, Ms. Zhao’s sleep returned to normal, and she was able to sleep peacefully within ten minutes of lying down at night, and was able to drive out by herself. Occasionally, when she is nervous, she can soon be relieved by using relaxation methods such as deep breathing taught by her doctor.  Panic disorder is a relatively common type of anxiety disorder in clinical practice, and its clinical manifestations include – sudden unexplained panic and fear, which quickly reaches a peak, with a strong sense of loss of control and near-death, feeling palpitations, chest tightness, dizziness, tingling of the hands and feet, sweating, fainting and other physical discomfort.  The patient is conscious during the seizure and can recall it afterwards.  During the interictal period, there are no obvious symptoms except the fear of having another attack.  The seizures usually resolve on their own in less than one hour.  The cause of panic disorder is currently unknown, and the earlier it is diagnosed and treated, the better the outcome. The vast majority of patients can recover clinically and resume their normal lives after undergoing specialist treatment. It is important to emphasize that patients still need to adhere to their medication for a period of time after their symptoms have subsided, and that they should consult a specialist to discontinue or reduce their medication, and should not adjust their medication regimen without permission.