candletea19
Bronze Member
Hello! I am new to this site, and I hope it serves as some relief while I wait. Bit of a long message, too, I hope you don't mind!
I was in a car accident over a year ago, the car I was in (I wasn't driving) was basically T-boned, car wrote off, I was wrote off from work physically.. a whole fiasco. Now, the accident wasn't as bad as some, and for that I am thankful that myself and the other two people involved (the driver of the car I was in, and the driver of the other car involved) were not seriously injured.
I had to take pain medication, went to the ER for a concussion, physiotherapy, massage therapy, pain management medication, etc. One thing I had noticed, I was quite nervous to bring up to my doctor.
Ever since the accident I have experienced severe anxiety-like symptoms related to cars and car accidents. I couldn't be in a car without panicking, feeling sick, getting a headache, throwing up, etc. What happened depended on the day, how I felt anyway, and how long I was in the car for. I have had panic attacks just thinking about being in the car, or thinking about a car involved in an accident. I remember one day someone (not meaning any harm) sent me a video to watch and basically captioned it "wow, amazing!" so, thinking it might have been positive, I watched it. Only for it to be a dash cam video showing another car get into an accident. I nearly peed myself, had one of, if not the, worst panic attack I had, threw up.. the works. Even seeing a car as I passed by that was either bit damaged screws with me. Even to the point of having nightmares of me or family in car accidents, or even just car accidents in general. I had been trying to ignore it, never really looked into it, but it got to a point where family had told me to bring it up my doctor, see if it's anything worth investigating medically. Anyway, so I brought it up to my doctor and she kind of brushed it off as potential anxiety, gave me a few tips to try to help it, and sent me on my way. Now it's been about 8 or 9 months since that talk, and NOTHING she told me has worked, even a little bit, and it seems like my symptoms have gotten worse. Not only do I experience what I did before, but now my dreams/nightmares have gotten more frequent. While in the car I get so .. distracted, I think is the word. Like sometimes I go into a ..daze, I guess you call it. Like my head gets all fuzzy and I'm not thinking clearly. My whole body physically tenses, severely. Like my body often hurts when I get out of the car because of it. I had an appointment a couple weeks ago, and brought this up, and described in vivid detail what was going on. She basically said she suspects I have PTSD as a result of my accident, but can't go much into detail, and referred me to a psychologist. Now, while I wait for that, I'm just stuck with whatever's going on, and trying to deal with it myself.
My issue is I never associated car accidents causing PTSD. I just never really thought about it. But I told a few close family members what the doctor said, and some seemed skeptical. One even basically said a car accident can't cause PTSD, and the doctor doesn't know what she's saying.
Whatever I'm feeling is so screwed up, and so hard to handle, and I know I can't handle it on my own. Hearing that it may actually be something diagnose-able has helped my feelings on it a little bit. At least if it can be diagnosed, I can get proper help, right?
Has anyone been in this or a similar situation before? Any advise is appreciated! Even just a message to say Hi is nice!
Thanks, and I hope to be involved, and maybe help some other members around if I can!
I was in a car accident over a year ago, the car I was in (I wasn't driving) was basically T-boned, car wrote off, I was wrote off from work physically.. a whole fiasco. Now, the accident wasn't as bad as some, and for that I am thankful that myself and the other two people involved (the driver of the car I was in, and the driver of the other car involved) were not seriously injured.
I had to take pain medication, went to the ER for a concussion, physiotherapy, massage therapy, pain management medication, etc. One thing I had noticed, I was quite nervous to bring up to my doctor.
Ever since the accident I have experienced severe anxiety-like symptoms related to cars and car accidents. I couldn't be in a car without panicking, feeling sick, getting a headache, throwing up, etc. What happened depended on the day, how I felt anyway, and how long I was in the car for. I have had panic attacks just thinking about being in the car, or thinking about a car involved in an accident. I remember one day someone (not meaning any harm) sent me a video to watch and basically captioned it "wow, amazing!" so, thinking it might have been positive, I watched it. Only for it to be a dash cam video showing another car get into an accident. I nearly peed myself, had one of, if not the, worst panic attack I had, threw up.. the works. Even seeing a car as I passed by that was either bit damaged screws with me. Even to the point of having nightmares of me or family in car accidents, or even just car accidents in general. I had been trying to ignore it, never really looked into it, but it got to a point where family had told me to bring it up my doctor, see if it's anything worth investigating medically. Anyway, so I brought it up to my doctor and she kind of brushed it off as potential anxiety, gave me a few tips to try to help it, and sent me on my way. Now it's been about 8 or 9 months since that talk, and NOTHING she told me has worked, even a little bit, and it seems like my symptoms have gotten worse. Not only do I experience what I did before, but now my dreams/nightmares have gotten more frequent. While in the car I get so .. distracted, I think is the word. Like sometimes I go into a ..daze, I guess you call it. Like my head gets all fuzzy and I'm not thinking clearly. My whole body physically tenses, severely. Like my body often hurts when I get out of the car because of it. I had an appointment a couple weeks ago, and brought this up, and described in vivid detail what was going on. She basically said she suspects I have PTSD as a result of my accident, but can't go much into detail, and referred me to a psychologist. Now, while I wait for that, I'm just stuck with whatever's going on, and trying to deal with it myself.
My issue is I never associated car accidents causing PTSD. I just never really thought about it. But I told a few close family members what the doctor said, and some seemed skeptical. One even basically said a car accident can't cause PTSD, and the doctor doesn't know what she's saying.
Whatever I'm feeling is so screwed up, and so hard to handle, and I know I can't handle it on my own. Hearing that it may actually be something diagnose-able has helped my feelings on it a little bit. At least if it can be diagnosed, I can get proper help, right?
Has anyone been in this or a similar situation before? Any advise is appreciated! Even just a message to say Hi is nice!
Thanks, and I hope to be involved, and maybe help some other members around if I can!
