I have just started back into driving, and took a driving test to be OK’d to drive. I have driven randomly over the past few weeks and have found it hard at times to focus and concentrate just on my driving at times, especially when I am fatigued-has anyone else had this problem?
Lisa,
I also just started back to driving...but I use caution in doing so. If I am feeling even the littlest bit off, I won't drive, I feel that I 'm endangering the welfare of everyone else out there & it is not worth the risk. Just my opinion!
Six years after my wife’s clipping surgery, she and I went to car dealership to take delivery of our new VW Van. On the way home about 60 miles, I watched in horror as my wife started to drift from the driving lane to the passing lane and began leaving the road. Fortunately she caught herself just in time. Another second or two and she would have kissed a concrete median. We safely pulled over so she could compose herself. We drove a couple more miles and had her take a twenty minute rest. Although we new she suffered from a afternoon fatigue, she felt she could handle the drive. Nowadays, she knows to pull over ASAP and rest. Now being 2011, she still has the fatigue but knows how to handle it. So no matter how long after SAH surgery, it would be wise to know your limits and plan accordingly. Safe driving to all!!
It has been a year since I have drove, too, but continue to suffer from fatigue-mine is random not at certain times, Thanks for giving me a suggestion as to how to deal with this, unsure as to how to deal with this when returning to work any suggestions would be helpful,
I might add that when we drive somewhere my wife usually drifts off to sleep (always in the afternoon) while on the passenger side. She’s fairly consistent with about 20 minutes and she does go deep sleep. When she awakens it takes about three minutes for her to get reacclimated to her surroundings but then she’s wideawake for the rest of the day. I wouldn’t feel comfortable with her driving by herself somewhere in the afternoon. I not sure how this can be resolved. It’s seventeen years now and it’s been consistent all this time. She’d love to return to her career but employers aren’t to accomodating for quite rest periods. The American with Disabilities Act is fairly useless as well.
Lisa, it has been 7+ years; and, I am still extremely careful...what I call public safety...
HI Lisa
Thank ~you for this post...here is my story...I was a driver...loved it...about 7 yrs ago...I had what Doctors called (out of the blue) anxiety attack (1st one ever) in the car...while driving, but Doc said often something sets it off (physical) and then it goes into anxiety...thought maybe asthma attack, etc., ok...it took me months, but eventually went back to driving...not like I use to...more intown driving...continued ... and no more anxiety attacks...fast forward...for almost one year...I haven't felt right...dizzy, headaches (I never had like this...etc.,), shakey feeling, etc., "out of the blue"...driving home from lunch and had an anxiety attack (or so I thought) August 31st...2 weeks later...had the worse Headache...ER...admitted in the Hospital...found to have high Blood pressure and thought a migraine...2 weeks later...collapsed...found 9mm annie on Basilar tip with small leak...no longer driving at this point...had coiling November 30th...3 1/2 months later...I have only drove about 2 miles...and I donot feel right...now I ask myself...is it the coiling ... the complications ... or am I still suffering from anxiety...ok I didn't answer any of your questions, but had to tell my story...I feel so crippled because of this problem and wonder if I will ever go back to driving...what do u think? Hugs Colleen
This is why I have an issue with this-I love to drive, it is part of my current employment when I obtain enough clients. Every job I have had for the past 20 years has had a driving requirement.
But I also had a vehicle accident last March, and was sent back to work and upon returning felt dizzy, shaky, and pulled off and shook it off, so to speak, and then continued on my way to work. It happened again not even a mile down the road with kind of a black out-and it scared me,I pulled off and i called my son and he took me to the ER-and they said I had a concussion. I continued going down hill (health wise)and this is when they found my annie. Maybe this is why I am having problems driving-I don't think it is anxiety because I have drove around town (still have not drove out of town) just seems be a concentration/attention issue . I looked so forward to beginning to drive again-this has been really disappointing for me and I am unsure what to do.
Colleen it sounds as if you are kind of in the same boat as me-I am unsure too.
Hi Lisa...this is what my husband and I think too...and I will tell you why...I think too often when Doc's can't explain something (and sorry to say...esp women)...they throw it off to anxiety...hey ... I know I am a high strung person, but ... and big but here...like you...how did I go from even driving to relax...to the exact same feelings you are talking about it...when you said you tried to shake it off...me too...I have done breathing exercises, meditation, etc.,
If I figure it out...I will let you know...fortunately, I donot work...so no pressure...but pressure because I have lost my "day to day" independence...too be honest...I cried when I read your post...because for once I didn't feel alone...God speed to us both...that we will overcome...Cyber hugs Colleen
Colleen...thank you for sharing your input on anxiety...I am highly critical of how we are diagnosed... i.e for a(ny) woman...must be anxiety... A quick, easy diagnosis for medical management... here, take a pill... will write more later on...my anxiety attacks began after two MVAs in four months...too detailed for now...all suggests those accidents triggered the growth of an aneurysm...by the location... headaches began, etc etc...I did not even own an aspirin...let alone a pharmafia pill...prior to those MVAs... and NO, I did not contribute 1 % in either accident... blessed w/witnesses... I have far too much to add here...
except that my personal opinion...non-degreed / non-licensed...is that these MVAs triggered growth of an aneurysm... which ruptured multiples times 5 years after the MVAs...during all these 5 years,
medical managemed diagnosed my situation as anxiety and more...too much to type for now... here, take a pill!!!
Thanks Colleen and Pat-I agree. Pat I understand the MVA part-please PM me.
I am shocked reading the comments on this post…I have had three operations in the since Nov. 17,2010 and am posting from my hospital bed now. I assumed that after a month that I would be able to get in a car and drive just like I alway had before…I wonder now…
I hope so Kim-glad to hear from you I wondered how it went there. Yeah I am, and others, are having difficulties. I believe it may be with the concentration/attention (if I drive a short distance it seems to take everything out of me and I need to sleep).
Kimberley....you can write / think, and likely talk better than I could at 3 years...blessings of your mds...
I was given the form to get re-tested for my license...and, I did pass it. I did not have the sense to know I may not be able to see vehicles when turning my head / eyes quickly; I thought a black tarp had been thrown over my face...at 60 mph... I had driven before that, but all on the 25-35 mph roads... and, in limited traffic. Where my driving portion of test was done, was a quiet, non-traffic area...
For your, and public safety, please be sure to discuss w/md, and if given a "yes / fine" to drive, test drive w/someone w/you...before you leave your driveway...rotate your eyes quickly in a lot of various directions...My niece took me driving...same practice she did w/her 16 year old son... before I took the driving test...but also in the quiet, non-traffic areas...
The laws are basackward; when I picked up the form for the md to sign; they stamped my existing license w/30 day expiration...so I could have legally been driving...for those 30 days...I must have thought my niece was like mom and I listened / heard / did what she told me ...i.e. do not drive until I am with you to practice for your test... Kimberley, you can probably even practice the quick eye movements when you are walking in the hospital for both change in vision and balance...And, if your neuros missed all the cranial nerves...you are more than blessed... Gosh, remember, this is only my personal opinion based on my personal experiences...
More blessings to you, for yours and the public's safety... please check out your eyes...and, ask your neuro...
Yes, I have problems turning my neck to the right yet-so I have to position myself to shift my body to the right to look back to the right. I suggest to anyone to take someone with them when they begin driving.
Lisa,
I and friends were so ignorant...I would say to them..."you're my eyes on the right"... pretty sad, shockingly ignorant, that none of us realized the extent of it...
Now, my question to you...what is the timing it takes for you to shift to the right?
I am not being critical....I just know ...my neuro-oph told me initially to not roll my eyes quickly when I turned my head...I never could figure out how to do that...
After all the benefits of my vision therapy...it cannot control the other parts of my brain... i.e. fatigue, body temperature, memory and more. I do not go out when knowingly fatigued...but I have the narcoleptic-type reaction to sleep which I cannot get three neuro-level mds to address...
When it hits, I may close my eyes 5-10 minutes and they are so rested; the next, w/no change in symptoms, I sleep 2-3 hours and cannot even hear the phone ring... however, I do have sensorineural hearing loss...
There is so much confusion to all of this for us...and, so little data avalable for us...and, for public safety...
It depends on how heavy of a jacket I have on, how much pain my neck is in for that day (had bad whiplash and some days are better than others), and how much pain my back is in.
Wow, when did you have the whiplash? Where was your aneurysm? What was the timeframe between?
My aneurysm is left internal carotid artery, region of PCom. Apx 5.5 years before leaks/ruptures I had the bad whiplash, then hit broadside on my driver door...left side. At that time I did not even own aspirin; when headaches/pressure began, I got Tylenol...
Last year-following MVA, my annie is the right carotid artery, 8mm. I was hit from behind and shoved into a snow drift on my side (drivers side)-so was kind of hit twice. Time frame was a month between MVA and finding the annie.
You were blessed on the one hand; my personal opinion is that helped diagnose yours...before it grew larger...my memory blanks so cannot remember if you had a rupture or if diagnosed before ...
Mine was only 6mm when ruptured...seems logical to me it would have been a small weaknessike/any growth...likely would have developed over decades if no mva...
What happened to the Resource Group?