A Good Morning Britain presenter feared she would have to quit her job due to a debilitating health condition. Ranvir Singh opened up on the show on Friday, May 1, about suffering from driving anxiety.
The presenter joined Kate Garraway in the studio to host the programme, during which they welcomed Dr Amir Khan and a guest to discuss the mental health condition. It came after Dr Amir shared his sister’s experience, after she suffered from driving anxiety in menopause.
After sharing her story, Dr Amir was inundated with women experiencing the same thing, including Ranvir. The presenter spoke to Clare Gray, who quit her job when she began to feel “panicked” behind the wheel, as her work involved lots of driving.
“She is not alone, I have experienced this. You didn’t know this, Kate, I haven’t told you, I experienced driving anxiety,” Ranvir said. “It was absolutely a totally bizarre experience.”
She continued: “I am also one of the many women who has absolutely experienced driving anxiety. It totally takes you by surprise, well surprise doesn’t quite cover it. You don’t know yourself, one day you’re absolutely fine, the next day you’re pulling out of the exact same driveway as you’ve done for the last two years, you can’t do it.”
Speaking to Clare, Ranvir added, about her own experience: “You think you’re breaking down as a person!” She went on: “For a period of time, I just thought, I’m going to have to quit… like you, you quit your job!”
Dr Amir, meanwhile, told viewers: “If you’re really struggling with anxiety around menopause, whether driving or otherwise, HRT is a really good thing.”
Ranvir has previously spoken about her anxiety on Good Morning Britain, recently saying that she faced symptoms without knowing what they were at the time. She said: “I think anxiety, I always thought that anxiety was in the brain, that it’s a thought process, that you’re thinking things that are making you feel a bit worried. But I experienced one bout of it, I’m not someone who has experienced anxiety, so I didn’t know that it was physical, I had no idea. I was feeling numb in my fingertips, tightness of the chest, I couldn’t breathe properly, I was sweating. I was at an event, and I just thought, ‘What’s wrong with me?’ And it wasn’t for a long time afterwards that I realised it was anxiety, I just had no idea it was physical.”
She added: “The symptoms are real.” Good Morning Britain airs weekdays from 6am on ITV1 and ITVX.
