[1oxbowgirl]

Do those of you who suffer from dissociative moments have any trouble driving a car? I want to start driving again, since I am not dissociating as much as I used to. But I am wondering if (DID) poses any threat to me or others by me doing this?
Any comments will be most welcome. 1Girl

[kasva]

hi 1girl..............i've never had trouble with driving a car. but i never ever drive when i am emotionally upset. sometimes ill notice a little part is out too much when im driving so i make sure she or he stays back and my adult part is in control. seems if you have coconsiousness and are able to make sure only adult drivers drive and you feel safe doing so..it should be okay.but if something about it makes you feel unsafe i would look into before i drove.............good luck................................kasva

[Hunny]

2oxbowgirl,

Not sure why you stopped driving but perhaps you could take short visits first where you know the road. It is really good to keep doing a body check, as I have found. We don't allow anyone under sixteen to drive, besides, is is the law here.

The only hitch we have had is that sometime we have become over whelmingly exhausted. I have been known to pull over at a safe mall or something, lock my doors and just take a little nap. It usually is a small person inside that really needs a little sleep. Sometimes it's not for very long so I don't miss my appointment. It's uncanny how fast I can fall asleep at that time when some nights it takes forever. Fortunately this need for a rest happens rarely.

Here is hoping you can find your level of comfort but know that somewhere in the recesses of my mind I have heard of Dissociatives falling asleep at the wheel and being in major accidents.

Take care,

[AtreyuFreak]

I do actually have problems with this, either that an alter is out and I don't realize it before I get behind the wheel or if I'm in a particularly zoned-out mood I have some problems with dissociating. It affects my driving a little bit so I make sure to have someone else take over. Good thing I still have my temps... :/

[WePow]

Well I did not want to answer this as it requires truth telling. Yes, I do at times have a big problem with this. So far I have been blessed with nothing bad happening. In the past - about 15 yrs ago, I would actually get upset about something and get in the car to just leave the situation and an alter would take over an I would find myself in some other state. That was frightening for me. But I could not stop driving as I had no other way to get to college or to work. So I had to take my chances. It was at that time I was getting into counselling - so that helped a lot.

This year I have been working with trauma issues and my angry alter holds most of the pain. When she gets angry, that is hard because she will come forward in force and take over. If we are driving, it can be a battle to make her stop acting out. I have pulled over before at my T's office just to sit in the driveway and cry or let Mick get angry and yell. T knows I use his parkinglot as my safe zone durring the week this way - it is about 1/2 way home from work - so that is perfect for us. But like yesterday when going into work, we were covering the late shift for someone and could not find a parking space. And a semi truck was blocking the one open space. Of course Mick wanted to ram the back of the semi parked there - yeah like that would accomplish anything! But I am in charge enough to take over the body and stop those things. We did get into the space and managed to come less than a hair away from hitting the wall where we parked with the front of the car. And it is our first new car! So I was not happy with Mick about that. Ended up walking into the office and she did kick the heck out of the metle locker downstairs. Thankfully it already had tons of dents - but that was wild.

It is not easy being us :-)

[1oxbowgirl]

Thanks for your input. I stopped driving due to a mild seizure disorder, that I have taken meds for for years and now is completely under control. But even if I start driving again, it will only be for short distances, not in bad weather, not at night, and not on freeways. Just limited driving, to privide help for my mother, get to the bank, grocery store, and doctor. I would not drive if I was upset about something.
Just trying to figure out if it is worth trying to get license again. You know all the paperwork that's involved in getting it back. 1Girl

[1oxbowgirl]

I forgot to mention that the "seizures", may be Pschogenic (non-epileptic) seizures. And if that's the case do I even have a chance to get it back at all? My doctor's are not sure either way. Meaning the real deal or not. If it is the above it would fall in pattern with the dissociation and other medical conditions I have that come from too much stress and tramma and child abuse.
Any thoughts on this?

[multipixie9]

We have had some interference with driving. If we felt angry our teen, leah would come out and drive like a bat out of hell. I found that out after some friends saw me and told me that I was driving like a bat...! This teen is the one who got us several speeding tickets. I have had a couple of fender benders and one accident where I rear-ended a car and there are gaps in my memory as to why I did not stop. Also we lost time in the wreck due to the stress involved.

The time I have to watch out for now is usually just after my T time. This week we were working deep inside with littles on some really bad stuff. We had to stay at her office for about 15 minutes and calm down and be sure we were back into the adult host. Now we all recognize when that is happening and we can exercise proper self-care so we won't endanger anyone with our issues or harm ourselves either.

[Rhapsody]

Every once in a while I am filled with some concerned, but over all its all good and my alters know that while they may come out to view the scenery I am always in charge of driving the vehicle.

[wanttoheal]

I rarely remember driving, but I seem to always get to where I need to be. My children have expressed concern at times when my driving was pretty bad but overall I seem to do okay. I have discussed this at length with my T and we finally came to the conclusion that it's always been like this and I seem to get to where I need to be more often than not so I don't worry about it much anymore. It's probably not the most ideal situation, but most of my life isn't an ideal situation so we just deal with it as it comes. I don't like to drive really. I feel guilty sometimes, but I kind of like just showing up when I'm there.

(((((((1oxbowgirl))))))) I hope it all works out for you. Be safe.

[anderson]

Life is different for all of us. Since we have learned to trust each other we no longer worry about who is driving. So far our final destinations have been a group choice. As to the seizures WE had those with certain alters. When the trauma was dealt with we no longer had them. so good luck driving if you should chose to do so.

[1oxbowgirl]

Well, I thought long and hard about it and decided the best thing to do was to go through the proper channels and be honest about it. So I went to the driver's license office and told them I wanted my license back, and they checked my record and it was clean and so they were going to just give it back to me. But I said, "what if they find out about the seizure disorder and think i lied about it, wouldn't they take it away again,"? So we talked about it some more and decided it was best to do the paperwork here where my doctor's know me, instead of up north where I need to find new doctor's and then they need to get to know me. So I am waiting on the paperwork now, (get after Christmas), and hope I do not have too take the tests again. But if I do it is easier in FL then in PA. 1Girl

[anderson]

The question to drive is how do you feel with your alters. Like those that have responded they have an alter that drives and other alters that take solo time going places that the whole has not agreed to. At this time we all feel comfortable to drive cause we have not ended up at the agreed destination. As to the Seizures we had those with certain alters once the trauma was dealt with the seizures stopped. This one we can tell you are not alone good luck in the choices that you make.

[1oxbowgirl]

Thank you for your reply "Anderson." Hopefully it won't take long to find out one way or the other. 1Girl

[splitimage]

I normally don't have any problems driving, and I have to drive every day to get to work. But twice, I've had a suicidal alter take over and do really dangerous things like deliberately drive into a red light or the path of an oncoming car. Fortunately I wasn't hurt. But this was years ago, and since I've been working on integrating and dealing with the trauma, it hasn't happened since.

--splitimage

[whimsical]

I used to have trouble when driving. My therapist and I worked out several solutions to the problem, and I do much better now! I have a teenager (17) who does most of the driving. She is very responsibile, and does a good job. I use post-it notes on my dashboard to remind her where we are going, and I have a GPS to help her out when she needs it. I am mostly co-consious with her but not always, so I end up getting from point A to point B without remembering it sometimes. Also, sometimes I get lost b/c I dissociate and think I'm in another city. I'm trying to find familiar landmarks, and they're not there! When this happens, I know someone else is driving, and I pull over to get grounded. Yep, never a dull moment!