Delayed shock

LegacyUser

Hi all,

Just something that's on my mind at the moment, thanks in advance to anyone who reads.

My girlfriend was driving, with me as a passenger, last night as I was going back to college for the week and she was dropping me down. In a nutshell, we unfortunately hit a small patch of black ice on a main road, the car swerved out of control and we ended up in a ditch on the opposite side of the road. We were lucky as the car didn't topple and we missed an oncoming car by a couple of seconds. Blessed really. There was no speeding or anything and she's a careful driver. A ditch/hedges sort of cushioned the crash and so the car didn't get wrote off, just a bit of damage.

Anyways, at the time she was in hysterics, understandably too. For some reason I was calm as can be and was comforting her. A very friendly fella who lived nearby and was on his way home took care of us and she eventually composed herself and we drove on and got home safely.

Last night I started to think about it a little more and didn't sleep much, but didn't think much about it as it was only about 2-3 hours after the incident.

However today I've just been having constant flashbacks of it. I can't really remember it well, I just remember the car initially going out of control, and then a few seconds later the impact when we hit the ditch. It felt like it went in slow motion at the time. It's freaking me out now, heart starts racing every now and again, and, out of character really I bought and drank a naggin of whiskey this evening (hot whiskeys) to try relax myself. I don't really feel like going into college tomorrow, tried to go in and get work done today but I can't focus or think straight. The main reason I think I'm freaking I think is because I keep thinking of how, if it happened a couple of seconds earlier, we'd have definitely been involved in a head-on collision, and well the rest really doesn't bear thinking about.

Just wondering is this normal to have a sort of delayed reaction, and if anyone here has experienced it? Anything that can be done for it?

Thanks all for reading..

Taltos

Pre-emptive to all.
Please no medical diagnosis here - offer advice but do not offer any medical/psychological cause...

Thanks for the catch poster.

Taltos

Squiggler

Yep. Delayed reaction is perfectly normal. After the accident you needed to be strong for your girlfriend so your own feelings were pushed to the side, but the reaction has to happen some time.

silly

Your first "near miss" is scary. It will stay with you for a long time, after reading this I began to recall a near miss I had yrs ago with a guy I worked with. He was driving I was passenger in a promotional 4x4. Almost the exact same thing happened, except there was no ice. ( we reckon there was mud/oil on the road) we laughed and laughed after it happened, but it was pure hysterical laughing, and it didn't actually hit me until I went home that eve.

You get better at dealing with these things. Only this morning in my way to work, some idiot pulled out a bit too far on a junction without even looking. If I was a few meters ahead I would have hit her. Or if there was something coming the other way I would have hit them head on as I swerved to avoid her. I gave her the hands up " what the hell?" gesture, all I got was the finger from her.

You will have near misses, but you must try not to dwell on them. You'll drive yourself crazy!

ElleEm

I agree with Silly. The first time you have a 'near miss' is so scary. It's natural to replay the incident over and over but everytime you think what could have happened a few seconds later, change your mind set to think about how you DIDN'T hit that other car. Just replace the negative thought with 'but it didn't happen'.

Pigeon Reaper

Talk to friends about it. It's a natural reaction to have but don't try to ignore it. Different people react to stressful/unusal situations in their own way which is why you didn't panic at the time. If the flashbacks continue you should seek further help.