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Hi Carol - Just wondering if you could give us some of the suspected side effects from the medicatiosn that woudl inhibit driving - both the antipsychotic and the antidpressants.
Thanks much and all the best, sue
Many of them cause drowsiness, especially when a patient first starts taking them. Also, of course, psychotropics are supposed to help your brain process information normally, which means that if you are given a prescription, by definition, the drug likely would be changing the way you process information. This may be for the better, but it could also be worse, if your individual body doesn't react as expected. Also, the patient may have to get used to the new "feeling."
Any drug - even drugs for allergies - actually should be tried out slowly and the person watched to see if side effects could affect driving or operation of machinery. That's why nearly all prescription and over-the-counter drugs give a warning to watch for this. But how many people take this seriously? Very few.
It would seem to me that anyone using a new psychotropic drug, or anything that makes them sleepy or changes reaction time, should be cautious and likely be observed to see how they are reacting. If the person is having trouble coordinating hand movements while shaving, should that person be driving? If the person is slurring words or falling asleep sitting up, should that person be driving?
A doctor would have to take this to a more specific level, but since each individual is so different, even a trained physician couldn't name all of the effects. I had a sedative once that made me so wired I couldn't sleep for two days. My son has had "reverse" effects of drugs, too.
What I take from this study - for now, until more is known - is that each individual should be watched, evaluated and move forward carefully, when drugs are added, dosages increased, or other changes made. This is not only for people with dementia, but all of us.
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I have been living and fighting this driving issue for over two years and it is still a source of agravation in my house. when Ray was diagnosised with alzheimers the doctor told him no more driving, he said NO he was perfectly capable of driving and he would not stop. I begged and plead and the more I talked the angrier he got. Our country is not helping any of us. Their may be some people that can still drive with alzheimers but he is not one. He would scare me to death, driving to close gettting lost and pulling in front of other people without looking. I finally said enough. After a very huge and very ugly arguement and another trip to the doctor he quit. I just sold his pick up and am transferring the title today. we took the hand controls off so he couldn't drive. He is very angry with me and says I treat him like a child but I try to explain that he would get upset if someone with a problem hit me or one of the kids and he says well thats not him, he is perfectly normal or so he says. Before alzheimers even after he lost both legs He did everything. He drove a specially outfit truck, he paid the bills he was head of the house hold, now i am again trying to play catch, not only am I learning how to deal with alzheimers but I have to take over all of his jobs too. I am 56 and I would vote for a issue where when you turn 60 you have to take a driving test every year because I know your mental status really starts changing then, I know I am soon facing that age and I hope I will have the good sense to know when I need to quit driving but not all people have that. I have been in three major wrecks that have torn my body up. Not one was my fault. The first was when I was 20 and a dump trck reended me because he didn't have brakes and knew it, the second I was stopped and a drunk hit me doing 70 miles an hour. Really tore up my back. The third a man ran us off the road because he was takin medication for a snake bite. The truck I was in rolled three times and I suffered a closed head injury. I had amnesia for two years and still have some short term memory loss. That wreck had the most profound affect on me, I lost my business because I couldn't remember how to run it. I don't attended family renunions because I can't even remember my cousins and other relatives names. everyone should stop before they get in a vechile and ask themselves some simple questions, drinking, taking meds, confused, diaganosised with a mental disorder that would hinder drivering. Most people won't do this because they think nothing will touch them well they are wrong everything you do on the road not only affects you but God forbid you wreck you are taking other people innocent peoples lives at risk. To this day when driving is mentioned my husband gets mad at me all over again because I won't let him drive. I can't, I have to be the bad guy and as hard as that is for me if it saves just one life all his anger at me will be worth it. Oh and to answer everyone's quetion they are wondering did I sue no, I stupidly just had my medical bills paid and my vechile replace. To late for regrets now. Connie
You're talking from experience Connie - from both sides. Third party help is not going to make it easy, but it does help if the doctor will back you up. My dad, before his dementia, voluntarily quit driving because of his site. After the dementia, he fought to drive. It was very upsetting for me, just like it is for you. But we have to stick to our guns, and sometimes that means getting backed up by people the person with dementia will view as having authority. Even that doesn't make it easy, as the caregiver is the one who takes on the anger.
Thanks for your input.
Carol