Got my renewed license in the post today. It came with "a guide to insulin treated diabetes and driving". This guide reads "The risk of hypoglycaemia is the main danger to safe driving and this risk increases the longer you are on insulin treatment."
This made me so angry. The risk of having a hypo does NOT increase the longer you have been on insulin. I'm not sure how the DVLA have come to this conclusion. I have fewer hypos now than I did when first diagnosed. For a start, I'm better at recognising the symptoms and will usually notice when my sugars are in the low fours. In other words, before crossing over into 'hypo' territory. Secondly, the longer I have been diabetic the better I have become at managing me sugar levels and this avoiding hypos.
Ok, so I guess you could argue that somebody who has been on insulin for a long time and has had lots of hypos will eventually become hypo unaware. This could, in turn, mean that somebody has more hypos.
It just really annoys me as it seems that the DVLA have a really poor understanding of diabetes. It worries me that they decide who can drive and who cannot. I totally understand the need to assess fitness to drive and I agree that somebody who cannot recognise the symptoms of a hypo could be a danger behind the wheel. I just wish they were a bit more clued up on the condition before issuing 'guides'.
I will stop ranting now. Thanks for listening/reading!
Em
Sent from the Diabetes Forum App
This made me so angry. The risk of having a hypo does NOT increase the longer you have been on insulin. I'm not sure how the DVLA have come to this conclusion. I have fewer hypos now than I did when first diagnosed. For a start, I'm better at recognising the symptoms and will usually notice when my sugars are in the low fours. In other words, before crossing over into 'hypo' territory. Secondly, the longer I have been diabetic the better I have become at managing me sugar levels and this avoiding hypos.
Ok, so I guess you could argue that somebody who has been on insulin for a long time and has had lots of hypos will eventually become hypo unaware. This could, in turn, mean that somebody has more hypos.
It just really annoys me as it seems that the DVLA have a really poor understanding of diabetes. It worries me that they decide who can drive and who cannot. I totally understand the need to assess fitness to drive and I agree that somebody who cannot recognise the symptoms of a hypo could be a danger behind the wheel. I just wish they were a bit more clued up on the condition before issuing 'guides'.
I will stop ranting now. Thanks for listening/reading!
Em
Sent from the Diabetes Forum App