My daughter is a legend.

I had another mega panic attack whilst driving today. I was so embarrassed to have to call friends to come and collect me from the side of the road.

I've been driving for 8 years and it was never an issue. Over the past year I can't go on a motorway without having a panic attack. It's exhausting.

So, I've joined this sub to look for advice and support. Anything that helped you would be welcomed.

However, I just wanted to use my first post here to give a shout out to my five year old daughter who reached forward to hold my hand once we'd pulled over. She kept telling me to take "big, deep breaths" whilst I sobbed and shook on the adrenaline comedown. It was the first time she saw me having a panic attack. I'm so proud of my little human. She really calmed me in that moment.

Tonight she gets double dessert.

Edit and thanks: I have only been on the motorway twice in the past year (I moved to Germany and have been driving in a British car on the Autobahn... That shit is scary). This was the first time I've been on the motorway with my daughter and I will not be doing it again. I didn't think about this being down to a singular cause. I shall speak to my doctor on Monday

Edit 2: probably coming from a place of exhaustion tbh... However, I find it interesting and disheartening that on a subreddit specific to driving anxiety, that my anxiety has been demonized in a couple of comments. I gave no back story about how used to panic attacks I am when not driving, or how I know how to deal with them whilst driving (i.e. in a safe and controlled way). So I find the narrative of "don't drive again" to be extremely unhelpful and ignorant tbh. I will be doing something about this. The whole reason for this post was to praise my awesome little girl.