conditions that can affect driving

I was just watching our news here just now and they reported on a man who was killed as a result of a man who had an epileptic seizure behind the wheel. At the time of the accident he was apparently taking his medication even though his licence had been suspended previously (I'm not sure if it was still suspended). The view was then if there is a licence ban then they should perhaps physically hand in their licence which I'm not sure happens.

Now I have a friend with this condition too and she has had her licence suspended and has gone back to driving when she was allowed to do so and taking her medication.

It just occurred to me where on earth do they draw the line with medical conditions which includes diabetes where it can be unpredictable? We can't always guarantee we will never have a hypo whilst driving for example. Does this mean we should have licences removed? I just find that it sounds to me like they're questioning people who are driving with medical conditions here. I for one would not want to lose my licence just because they have one or two cases of fatalities (there was another car crash here recently as a result of a hypo apparently).

It's just a shame. It made me nervous hearing the news on it. In my mind I thought of my friend who is on meds for that condition and she can't guarantee either that she will never have a seizure on meds. Meds in my view do not always 100% control medical conditions. Frustrating really.

yeh the one time I actually did hypo whilst driving I had in fact tested before I drove. I was over 5 but had some fast acting carb anyhow to bump up the sugar just a bit more for the journey home which was only half an hour. I wasn't to know I would hypo. But that was a one off. That's why I say there's no guarantee on it really that we won't even when we take precautions. The same goes for my friend with epilepsy. She will not drive if she has had seizures, yet there was one time I was with her in the car when a dog ran out in from of her as she was driving and she hit it. The shock of hitting the dog triggered a seizure. Oh boy was I concerned. But she managed to drive ok with me hanging on to her wheel at some points. Again, that was something she couldn't predict happening. She was fine prior to that.

What I'm hoping though is that they stop reporting the negative of what happens and tell people that most with medical conditions are fine to drive. The way they worded the news story I saw tonight painted a negative light on anyone with a medical condition really when that shouldn't happen. It should just be that they state people need to be under the care of their physician and doing their drivers medical assessments (that's the requirement to have a licence where I live).

Shar67 said:

I had a boy friend years ago, one of his friends had epilepsy, when it was diagnosed, he was told to surrender licence to DVLA which he did, with medication his seizures were controlled, so he got licence back (3 year medical licence) after a year seizure free,
after a couple of years he decided to stop taking the meds as the made him not "feel himself".
Guess what happened, he crashed his car into a local chippy, he and the customers in chippy were very lucky that no one was injured
His licence was suspended and he was arrested for dangerous driving, he served 3 months in prison, which everyone agreed was getting off lightly.
He made the decision to not drive again, so he didn't need to take the meds, but after several grand mal he went back on meds but never applied for licence again.

Click to expand...

Yeh I think that is what this guy on the news did.... he went off his meds previously and his licence was suspended, but then apparently he went back on his meds and that is when he crashed into and killed the other person. Technically he should've been controlled if on meds. And here to get your licence renewed you have to have a medical assessment annually which means they will only let you renew your licence annually rather than the option of every 5 years like I used to do before this change in driving laws here (I'm not in UK).

Brunneria said:

Someone I know through work is in her year of suspension after a siezure.
In her 40s, the epilepsy came on 18 months ago. Total disarrangement of her life. Can't drive to pick the kids up, now works from home... Lives in a rural village with a dreadful bus service. They keep tweaking her meds, and every time they do, she has more seizures, and the 12 month count down starts again.

- but she is horrified at the thought of driving now. The thought of the harm she could do means she doesn't want to.

Click to expand...

that's so hard.

My friend she gets 3 or 6 months suspensions depending on the type of seizure she has. The last one she got 6 months because an ambulance was called as she wasn't breathing for a bit during the seizure. They took her to ER and the doc reported her seizure to police and licensing here. She has had epilepsy for a while but it's only in the last few years really the type of seizures she's having has changed where she is passing out with them (usually she doesn't) and it is worrying her but also the docs think it may be because they found she is pre-menapausal as well... apparently hormone changes can impact on this condition she said. It is frustrating that's for sure as I've seen her go through so many different meds over the years. Docs just keep trying to control it really.

Shar67 said:

Hugely different thing my little rescue dog had a couple of seizures (he has a lesion on his brain, which vet thought was due to a kick to head In previous home) He was so depressed and down we thought he might die, vet didn't think meds would help and the kindest thing would be to put him down. After lots of research we changed his diet to raw food and home made (I make them so I know what's in them) treats. What a different dog, his whole personality changed, from being mean and grumpy to the happiest dog alive. Vet thought lesion would shorten his life span as it would probably get bigger, well he's 17 now so don't know how long is lifespan is supposed to be.
Anyway I wonder if a processed diet in humans aggravates epilepsy, not that you could eat raw meat but you could eat food with nothing done to it.

Click to expand...

your dog is doing well... 17 is a good age.

My friend has changed her diet numerous times over the years. She is currently doing gluten free at the moment and she thinks it helps her with her energy levels. But in reality it hasn't improved her condition as she has had some of her worst seizures since being gluten free.... poor thing.