Blacked out and got lost while driving - very weird experience

This happened earlier in the week. I was driving on a 4 lane highway that I'm on a few times a week - I know every bump and curve. Late afternoon, but still light out, no bad weather, etc. I wasn't tired or stressed or mad, just toodling on home.

Then I had this moment where I was dizzy, and for about 2 miles I had NO idea where I was. I had the sense that I should know, that it was familiar, but I couldn't figure out where I was or why I was there. Or where I was coming from. I just kept driving and knew I had to "shake it off" which I did.

It only last about 20 seconds, but felt like ages. I continued on home and thought that was weird, but went on with my day.

Its now been 4 days and I can't stop thinking about it. Has anyone had an experience like this? Any ideas??

PS - I'm healthy, eyes checked, blah blah blah. In fact, had my annual physical the day before.

reply to post by ns9504


you know, I had a very similar experience. Almost EXACTLY as you described it, and it was also in my car. On the way home from work around 5:30, getting dark, I pull into my neighborhood and feel like I am pulling into someone else's home. Got all light headed and felt very strongly that I wasn't in the right place, but I consciously knew it was. It was almost like dreaming while awake...

i dreamed of turtles last night.
i think they're after me,

reply to post by ns9504


Yes, but can't it have been a mini-stroke or something brain-related? I think you should visit a neurologist just in case... Other than that, I can't really say what it was, I mean other than health-related.

Or perhaps, at that moment when the experience took place, driving became so automatic (since you said that you knew this road perfectly well) that your mind was in alpha state like when you are about to fall asleep or wake up...

My experience might not quite be the exact same thing, but it happened a couple years ago.

I was driving my family home one afternoon and passing through the downtown area when I got the sensation that the van was sort of "floating" along, as if everything outside the van was as if I were watching a television screen, and we were merely imagining the sensation of movement. I managed to keep the vehicle steering right so we stayed in our lane until the feeling passed about 5-10 seconds later. Nobody else in the car experienced the same sensation. It seemed like I was playing a video game where I had to keep the car on the road, and fortunately I did, because we were passing through a narrowing part of the freeway passing under another road while going through a curve at the same time.

It has not re-occurred, but I always check myself each time when driving through the same section of freeway.

reply to post by ns9504


Happens to me all the time, its like I get really tired and can barley stay awake on my drive home while in a car. It does not happen to me when I'm on my motorcycle however.

This happened to a friend once when I was in the car with her. It only lasted about 30 seconds and was scary as hell because I didn't know what was wrong with her. She's healthy - no medical issues and it hasn't happened since. She was so shaken by it (when she "came to") she had to pull over and started crying. She said she popped her neck, then her vision somehow "went sideways." She started shouting "where are we?! I don't know where I am!" even though were on the main drag through town that we drove on daily. ???

It could be Jamais Vu....which is the opposite of Deja Vu.

en.wikipedia.org...

Often described as the opposite of déjà vu, jamais vu involves a sense of eeriness and the observer's impression of seeing the situation for the first time, despite rationally knowing that he or she has been in the situation before.

Jamais vu is more commonly explained as when a person momentarily does not recognise a word, person, or place that he or she already knows.

I have only experienced this one time...and it was the oddest feeling. It was about 8-9 years ago...pulled up to a stop light that was near my apartment...looked to my left...and had no clue where I was. I knew that I knew where I was...but nothing looked familiar at all. Looked to my right, things looked a little more familiar but not much...then looked to my left again and everything was familiar again. Hasn't happened since...I'm kind of glad because it was freaky as hell.

I've had a few similar experiences over the past few mouths most recently on new years eve I was out at a party in a club in town I can remember being there and drinking and dancing with friends. The next thing i can remember is being sat on my sofa at home the strange thing was my bike that was locked up outside the club was in my hallway.
I have no memory of leaving the club or cycling home.
As i say this has happened several times it's beginning to worry me.

There was one incident when i was in a club the next thing i know I'm in an Indian restaurant ordering a curry ????

Kinda sounds like you might have had a light seizure. I'd be going to the doctor and getting myself checked out if I were you.

Stop it it was Aliens and he was abducted move on

hello, i go through this all time. when i drive , somtimes i start to think of things , and actually forget that i am driving, but my eyes are still focused on the road. I seemed to figure out why i still drive perfect , while i am not even paying attention. I think my eyes are still looking at the road so its actually feeding your brain the signal, but at the same time some other part of my brain is thinking about something. LIke when i go for long drives, i dont even remember how i drove 5 miles, like its amazing, but at the same time going to work last month, it happened and i think my brain or something responded in a wrong way and i crashed into a pole, cost me about 1000 dollar in repair. So be careful, dont let mind play games on you. One thing I learned is dont listen to music and keep your mind clear, bec if you start thinking about stuff, you will loose concentration and your more likely to make mistakes. so drive safe take care

It's not entirely uncommon for me to not recognize my surroundings for 5 - 10 seconds when I wake up. Especially if it happens suddenly in the middle of the night,

Come to think of it, I have had other experiences where I didn't recognize my surroundings...I've always assumed that I was just exhausted.

reply to post by ns9504


Had something very similar happen to me about around this time last year. Was driving home on the backroads from a game I umpired. These are roads that i drive on a regular basis. I remember going over a call I made in the game during the drive. I think I hit a pothole and boom. I didnt know who i was where I was going or coming from for about 30 seconds. Reality finally came back to me, but this was one of the scariest moments ive experienced.

I have had a brain injury before and thought that may have caused it. However, the more i analysed the situation, the more I believe i was in another level of thought. Really though IDK, just hope it never happens again. To you as well.

reply to post by ns9504

it sounds like you was on autopilot .
i have had this many times when i was driving home from work .
i think that it is when you are so familiar with the route that you are taking your brains subconcious takes over.
it is not as rare as you would think.

Originally posted by shushu
Kinda sounds like you might have had a light seizure. I'd be going to the doctor and getting myself checked out if I were you.

Yeah, that's what I was thinking as well. Seizures can do some crazy things to the mind and that sounds like a symptom of a light stage of a seizure. Even the impression that you don't recognize something at all but then a few seconds later know what's going on. I think you might want to get an appointment if it happens again... Possibly even if it doesn't.

I had a similar experience....I was on my way to Atlantic City with my mother and sister. My sister was driving, my mom was in the passenger seat and I was in the back. We were about 5 miles from the exit ramp that leads into Atlantic City and for some reason, I blacked out or fell asleep. A few minutes later, I awoke thinking we should be there by now...but we were actually about 15 miles past the exit, I'm looking out the window, asking my sister, "Where are we?". She had no idea and neither did my mom. They couldn't figure out how we missed the exit..It was daylight and we had driven this route numerous times.

P.S. It seems like my sister didn't know she missed the exit until I woke up.

reply to post by ns9504


It sounds as though you experienced transient global amnesia. My grandfather had diabetes and he experienced this once while driving to my home. He missed the turn into my neighborhood and his girlfriend asked him where he was going, he was so confused he couldn't even answer her. Once he came around, he said one minute he was fine and then he had no idea where he was. Some of the other responses sound more like self hypnosis, and I do that all the time. I'll be driving along deep in thought and suddenly think "wow, how did I get here." It's like your brain goes on autopilot while you are lost in thought. From what I understand both experiences are completely different. Either way I think a check up is in order, just for good measure

This ''could'' be an instance of accidental ''moving meditation''. Some people can meditate in stillness while it's triggered by others by running or in this case driving. Snapping out of it would be startling. Fighting it as is's happening could account for some of what's been re-told here.
Hope that makes sense.