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Driving again after a Sah.


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Hi everyone. Can anyone tell me there. Thoughts/experiences/opions on driving again after a Sah. Doctors didn't take licence of me and said I didn't have to report to dvla as I hadn't been operated on . I am now 8 weeks into recovery and am wondering what timescale I should give myself to get back in my car. I feel ok some days and feel as though I could drive but don't want to push myself as I do still have bad days And i feel as though I couldn't because of my symptoms. Regards Gary

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HI Gary!

Well, I guess it all depends where you live and what you had done, damage etc. I am in the United States, I was clear after 3 months but only drove in our small town. I think when they say "3 months to heal" is how long a surgery takes to heal. I had to really build up and get comfortable with it. I had some vision lost and it took awhile to get use to that and I knew it would be dumb to get on the highway. I found driving much more exhausting than you would imagine. We took an 8 hour drive last year that I use to do on my own and after 2 hours behind the wheel I had to take a 3 hour nap in back seat. I am just now able to kind of look out the windows a bit while driving and somedays add the radio. Next week will be my first try in the big city (Chicago) and I am a bit worried as my appointment is mid afternoon and I will be leaving in rush hour. Never bother me before i use to do it all the time, I am taking a back up driver :-D

Good Luck. mary

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Hi Gary,

I had my SAH September1 2010. I was coiled. I advised DVLA of my condition and I did not drive again for about six months. DVLA did not take my licence off me but advised me not to drive until my doctor said it was ok to do so. I got a letter from my doctor confirming I was ok to drive and DVLA said it was ok. The thing is - keep in touch with them and advise them of what is happening. I think they are much more willing to work with you if you do that. When I started again, I did short journeys on quieter routes and built up slowly. I did not drive if I felt the least bit unwell. Do it in moderation, in stages, remember driving takes up a lot of brain power, it will tire you, and you are in charge of a ton of fast moving metal - one slip by overdoing it may have wretched consequences, so don't risk it. If you are going any distance take regular breaks and/or a second driver with you - or get the train!

Good luck Gary.

Macca

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Hi Gary,

A few months after my SAH I confess that I said to my husband, " I'm just going to drive down the road" . Now before anyone gets cross I live in an unadopted road and just I wanted to see how I was doing, at that point I was planning to reapply for my license at six months. Thing is , I drove a few hundred yards and stopped and said to my chap, " wow, I can't do that at all, it hurts too much" .

Thing was for me the hydrocephalus was creeping back and that was a first sign that not all was well. Anyhow roll the clock onto now and I've got my license back and driving again, but I'm not driving every day as I know that wouldn't be a good plan. My first drive out I was followed by a friend and thereafter I have gone short distances, I haven't driven at night yet, I will build up to that.

So take it slowly Gary. If they say you can then build it up in little stages, like Mary did. A little each Dayton get the brain used to it and see how you are doing.

Good luck.

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Hey there

The procedure for this has been a bone of contention for many on here. I was told I had to surrender my licence to the DVLA, I did so and they said they would get back to me when my GP and consultant had contacted them to say I was fit to drive. Luckily for me the whole process only took 3 months - I also informed my insurers who assured me that it would not change my policy and now that it's over five years ago and I have changed insurers, I don't have to declare it going by the questions asked by my new insurer.

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After informing the DVLA, my license was not revoked but I was told not to drive until they said I could. For the first 6 months I was perfectly happy with this, there was no way I'd manage that level of concentration. One day I felt like maybe I could drive. Eventually, I was given an appointment with a doctor who took me no-where near a car and asked me the usual pointless questions - who is the prime minister etc. When I was given the all-clear, I'd been off the road for 8 months and then suddenly I was allowed to drive for as long and as far as I liked. I do think this is all a bit wonky!

Driving exhausted me in a way that I didn't expect at all. I didn't travel far to begin with, just the 5 mile trip to Headway which is over back lanes with very little traffic. Even now, the furthest I've driven was to Nuneaton last week which was a 100 mile round trip. I managed it fine, but driving with the sat-nav on was too much like multi-tasking for me and I found it very tiring. I still cannot listen to the radio while driving and if I have to have passengers, I prefer people who understand that too much conversation is not allowed :lol:

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Hi Gazzer

I've had two 6 month periods of not being allowed to drive.

How is you spacial awareness and how hard and tiring do you find processing the changing scene as you drive along?

When I wasn't allowed I used to sit in the passenger seat and pretend to drive to see if I could keep up with other cars, road junctions, pedestrians, cyclists etc. I sometimes pretended to do the pedals, even did the engine noises sometimes! :-P

Early on it was hard and made me not want to drive.

I kept doing it and it gave me a good idea when I was ready to start on short trips...

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Hi Gazzer

I was never told I had to inform DVLA, only told by someone in the hospital that I couldn't drive for 3 months. My GP told me after 6 weeks that there was no reason that I shouldn't drive. It is incredibly hard to know or follow the rules when we aren't told what they actually are!! I don't know what to suggest as I lost my licence about 3 years later due to suspected epilepsy & had an unbelievable fight on my hands to get it back months after I'd been cleared of having post stroke epilepsy. According to DVLA it would have been returned sooner had I surrendered it voluntarily??? It was already with them as I had applied for a renewal photo licence as mine had expired at the same time as the epilepsy issue arose. Hard to surrender a licence that is already with them :lol:

Incidentally I kept my car on the road during that time & the insurance company were not concerned that I was 'banned' from driving, they were aware that I, personally, was not driving the car but a named driver on the policy was. When I got my licence back, the insurers were again unconcerned that my licence had been revoked as long as I had a letter from DVLA confirming that I was now able to drive. The rules are really quite hard to make sense of :roll:

I'm interested to read Sami's post about the 5 years on rule as I am 5 years on in July & it would be good to be told by the insurers that the SAH is no longer applicable. Although my insurance premium has never gone up & I have told them since I got back on the road, I always take the name of the person I spoke to & the date we spoke as I get a bit panicky at the thought of the insurance company trying to declare ignorance should I ever need to make a claim.

Interestingly, I had to pay a huge premium on travel insurance last year but this year the questions were 'was the SAH caused by an aneurysm? Was the aneurysm successfully treated by coiling/clipping'? And that's it.....no extra charges applied.

I'm starting to see a bright side to being a few years along the recovery road :biggrin:

Michelle x

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I was told I had to inform the DVLA of my operation (I didn't have a bleed just the anni) & sent them my licence voluntarily.

I filled in the necessary form & badgered the DVLA to see what progress was being made. I spoke to the registrar to see if the DVLA had written to them for a report, they hadn't & didn't. About 2 months in I was told I was ok to drive unless the DVLA revoked my licence once they recieved the necesaary info!! So I was ok to drive until they (possibly) told me I wasn't:crazy::crazy:

At my 3 month review in August my registar discharged me but wrote in her letter that I should not drive until the DVLA said I could!! Just going round in circles here!! In the end it transpired that I needed a letter from the eye clinic stating my vision in one eye met the required level & that if the other eye was coverd the double vision was resolved.

I also had to get the registrar to write to my GP stating there was no medical reason I couldn't drive & the eye clinic to write to her to say my vision was ok & then she wrote to the DVLA saying I was fit to drive!! In the end it was the gp's opinion that mattered most to them & to be honest she was the least qualified in neuro stuff out of all of them.

I got my licence back in Nov just in time for nath going full time at infant school. I did have 2 refresher lessons just tobe sure I was totally safe with one eye covered. I do find driving is much more tiring than it used to be & if I've hit the fatigue wall I don't drive.

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You have a legal duty to inform the DVLA if you have a SAH. You do this by completing and sending them their Form B1 - available from their web site. You do NOT have to surrender your licence. It is very important that you don't. In completing Form B1 you give an undertaking to follow all medical advice. Initially, that advice is, of course, don't drive. You then have to wait until your Consultant/Doctor says that in their opinion your are fit to drive. The DVLA's internal rule of thumb is don't drive for 6 months after your SAH but this is just that, a rule of thumb. If you telephone the Driver Medical Team at the DVLA and tell them that your Consultant/Doctor says that your are fit to drive they will give you the verbal OK to recommence no matter what time period has passed. When you submit your Form B1 the DVLA will write to your Consultant/Doctor asking for a report on your medical condition. When this is received by the DVLA they pass this to their Medical Panel who assess it and give a view on your fitness to drive. Note that in the meantime, if your Consultant/Doctor has told your you are fit to recommence driving, you have told the DVLA this and they have given you the verbal OK to drive then you are OK to drive. If their Medical Panel then decide your are NOT fit to drive when they get round to you then you are then told to stop!! Crackers yes but that's the system.

The problem is that their Medical Panel only meet on a schedule decided by them. There is quite a back log. Three weeks ago they were looking at Medical Reports submitted in the middle of December.

In my case, the timings were:

SAH - 19 October 2012.

Coiling - 20 October 2012.

Form B1 submitted 30 October 2012

Consultant said I was fit to drive again - 13 December 2012.

DVLA agreed, verbally, that I could drive again based on the above - 13 December 2013.

Re-commenced driving - 13 December 2013.

Consultant (finally) submitted Medical Report to DVLA - 27 January 2013.

Written confirmation that the DVLA Medical Panel agreed that I could drive again received - 2 May 2013.

Everybody's different and you should follow your medical advice. In my case, I felt fine by mid December, my Consultant agreed, the DVLA said OK and I've been driving ever since. Not everyone is that lucky.

Gwilym

Edited by Gwilym
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Hi Gwylim

That's good info for people to know. I was told in May last year that DVLA had a backlog of at least 2 months. It's disgraceful that they still have not cleared that backlog & people are still waiting for confirmation from DVLA after doctors declare them fit to drive. Especially so for those whose jobs depend on them getting their licence back. People end up losing their jobs as their sick leave has gone on for too long whilst DVLA take their own sweet time to even look at a report that clears that person to drive again. I agree with Bagpuss that the rules do not make sense. I was advised not to drive in January 2011 as I 'may' be epileptic, in May 2011 DVLA sent me a letter saying I could no longer drive from the 22 May 2011 - four months later!!! Luckily, I was not having seizures as I could have driven for all those months, risking others lives as well as my own......

There are two massive problems here:

The lack of correct information given to patients & their families at the time of SAH over the legal aspects of driving after a brain injury/operation

And the length of time it takes the DVLA to act on information they receive from health professionals. It is often the case that one Dr passes the buck to another at a different hospital/GP surgery as none of them want to be implicated in the 'fit to drive' decision in case something goes wrong.

This system needs a massive shake up to accurately keep everyone informed & ensure safety on the roads.

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The lack of correct information given to patients & their families at the time of SAH over the legal aspects of driving after a brain injury/operation

I was given a 30 page booklet by the Hospital a day or two after my admittance specifically aimed at patients who have had a SAH and their families. It gives all sorts of explanations and advice about your SAH, why, what, what happens next, treatments, aftercare etc. etc. etc. and a section in there specifically relates to driving and notifying the DVLA.

Gwilym

PS: Further to my previous post, if the DVLA give you verbal permission to re-commence driving, it's a good idea to get the name of the person telling you and for you to write to the DVLA confirming that conversation. I sent mine Recorded Delivery to be absolutely sure.

Edited by Gwilym
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