Panic Attacks While Driving: Could it be My Eyes?

Panic attacks are a well-known form of anxiety disorder, although it should be noted that panic attacks and anxiety attacks aren’t the same thing despite sharing some similarities.  Panic attacks are usually a reaction to something within your immediate environment that triggers a negative emotional response. The effects of panic attacks are physical too, and they can be extremely debilitating. If you have ever had a panic attack while driving, you may think that it is something about actually getting behind the wheel that is responsible for the way that you feel. However, many people are surprised to learn that there is another common reason for panic attacks while driving to occur and it relates to their eyes.

 

Signs of a Panic Attack

A panic attack causes very real, physical symptoms that make it impossible for you to continue with what you were doing before the attack started. The way in which a panic attack manifests can vary significantly from person to person, and from event to event. One week you may have a panic attack that presents with symptoms that are completely different from a previous one. This can make it difficult to always realize that what you are feeling is actually a panic attack rather than something else entirely.
 

Some of the most common symptoms associated with a panic attack include:
 

• Suddenly feeling extreme fear

• A pounding heart

• Rapid heartbeat

• Feeling faint

• Dizziness

• Tingling across your body

• Difficulty breathing

• Nausea/vomiting

• Sweating and chills

• Head, chest, or stomach pains

• Feeling out of control

• Feeling as though you could actually die
  
   

Some people experience anxiety when driving, sometimes even before they actually set off. Like a panic attack, the symptoms can vary, but typically people may find that they:
 

• Feel unsafe while driving

• Feel nervous about the prospect of having to drive

• Make excuses not to have to drive

• Take longer routes in order to avoid busy or challenging roads

• Won’t drive at night or in trickier weather conditions  
  
         

What Do My Eyes Have to Do With Panic Attacks While Driving?

Visual processing is extremely important. All-day long, we are surrounded by visual stimulants and our eyes and brain work in perfect synchronization to interpret what we can see. This requires a great deal of skill, most of which we take for granted. One of these skills is the ability for our eyes to work together as a team to produce a single, clear image. When our eyes are slightly out of alignment it is impossible for them to do this. Instead, our bodies try to attempt the vision misalignment by overusing and straining the eye muscles. This is a condition that is known as Binocular Vision Dysfunction or BVD for short.

 

Exactly what causes BVD can vary between people. It may be that your visual skills are underdeveloped, you may have a problem with the muscles or nerves surrounding the eyes, or you have one eye slightly higher than the other. To look at you, it may be impossible to tell that you have a slight eye misalignment. Nevertheless, the effects are very real.

 

BVD causes many different symptoms, and many of these are similar to those experienced during a panic attack. Although you may be living with BVD, there are certain things that can trigger the effects of a panic attack, and driving is a common cause. The main reason for this is because driving is a highly visual activity. Not only are you surrounded by visual elements that you need to pay close attention to in order to be able to drive safely, but as you are moving, these will be too, placing even further pressure on your visual system. If you suffer from BVD, you may find that driving overstimulates your visual system, triggering the effects of a panic attack.

 

Fortunately, there are treatments that can help to counteract the effects of binocular vision dysfunction, including special prism lenses. Our team would be happy to talk to you about the effects of BVD and the treatments that are available. To get started, take our free BVD test.

 

To learn more about panic attacks while driving & how it relates to your eyes, contact The Dizziness and Headache Optometry Center at (805) 626-3400.
 

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