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Migraine Community MyMigraineConnection New Info on MyMigraineConnection Can Migraines Affect Our Driver's License?Page 1 2
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Grand Wizard |
A few site members found their driving privileges under investigation by their state Motor Vehicle Commissions (MVCs), due to information getting to the MVCs that they had frequent Migraines. What a nightmare! I did a little research and wrote this article to share with you all about what your MVC can do, and how to protect your license privileges.
Migraines and Our Driver's Licenses - Megan |
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MMC Lead Expert Supreme Guru  |
Thanks for writing this, Megan! None of us likes to read it or admit it, but we ARE impaired when we have a Migraine, and we have no business driving.
 Teri Robert Lead Expert, MyMigraineConnection terimmc@helpforheadaches.com visit me on
 The generally long periods of time between my Migraines are the result of working with a Migraine specialist to refine my preventive regimen. You can see my current regimen HERE. |
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Master |
I agree we should not drive when having a migraine. However, as I get migraines all the time, it would be hard not to when I have to get to work. I also consider myself impaired at work, but I still go.
The fact is that if I am considered impaired by a migraine or migraine treatment, which I am, and therefore should not drive, then it only seems logical that if I have chonic migraines I am impaired most of the time. Yet, it is difficult to get leave from work, or get full disibility for migraines, when it seems people do not consider it to be all that serious. If it is not considered a serious disability, with serious impairments, then I myself will try to 'get through' things when the migriane is not killer, or I am taking a treatment for it. If it becomes habit for me to try and function through the pain, the senory problems and the migraine mental fog, then it would not be any different for me to drive under such conditions. I have had doctors in the past say I could not do certain jobs, but no doctor has said I cannot work, which implies that I should be able to work. If they considering me capable of functioning at a job, any job, then they cannot rightly say I am incapble of driving. I would disagree, but since my vote does not always count, and I need some sort of income, I do work and therefore I also drive. I likely would not do so if there was alternative transportion where I live, because driving is not pleasant even with the mildest of migraines. There is some faulty reasoning if the law says you cannot drive with a migraine or a migraine treatment, but are somehow capable of working a full time job. It seems since driving could potentially effect other people that people make a point of it, not when things effect the person actually suffering from migraines. Still, I do agree that I should not drive most of the time and I know very well it affects my driving. The fact is, no one has ever made a point of it except me. Ironically, when I have taken a triptan and am driving I am way less impaired than if I am driving with even the mildest of migraines. Again, no doctor has said any of my medications would prevent me from driving. A further irony is that my mother is taking pain killers while awaiting for a surgery, and he doctor said she could not drive nor work while taking those pain killers... and I take stronger painkillers, triptans, preventatives on a regular basis but am essentially expected to carry on as normal. So that is exactly what I try to do. Edited by moderator: Please break your posts into smaller paragraphs to make them easier to read. Thanks! |
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Grasshopper |
Oh, boy. I'm afraid my answer is going to make people angry, but I also feel that I need to say this. So, please, no attacks?
OK. Here goes. I came from a long line of migraines on both sides of the family. Long line. I have them myself. So do both my siblings. For a long time, nobody could tell us anything about driving with migraines. We were so ###### sure that we knew best. After all -- OUR bodies. Right? Doctors never specifically said not to drive, but the doctor my sibs and I go to DID tell us some of what megan said in her writing -- that reflexes are slowed and all that. Did any of us listen? Hell, no! Again, OUR bodies. Our rights. All of that. UNTIL, UNTIL, UNTIL one day when my sister had a very serious car wreck and almost DIED. Lucky it was a one car wreck and nobody else was hurt, but she almost died hitting an electric pole trying not to hit a dog. There were lots of witnesses. All said she had plenty of time to slow down or stop. All said she could have gone around the dog without hitting the pole. But she had a migraine. I have migraines every week. Still have to get to work. If I have a migraine I get a ride, catch a bus or walk. I got a cheap crappy apartment closer to work because I can catch a bus or even walk if I have to. I WILL NOT DRIVE NOW IF I HAVE A MIGRAINE. Know that I'm not judging or preaching. Just sharing. Now, if you don't like this next part, please don't blast me. Just don't reply. I have to say that if I was ever in a wreck with or hurt by someone with a migraine and I knew they'd been warned like we were warned I'd want to see them arrested for it. I know there's a difference between CHOOSING to drink and having a migraine. We can't help having a migraine. But if we know it could make us like we'd been drinking and CHOOSE to drive then we should go to jail if we hurt someone. Please think about this? Jon Edited by moderator: Please break your posts into smaller paragraphs to make them easier to read. Thanks! Edited by moderator: Oops! Please remember to use family friendly language. See our “START HERE” folder for forum guidelines and policies. Thanks! Jon |
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Grand Wizard |
Myth -
I agree with you that it is not fair that we are expected to work and function, and yet can be penalized for doing what we must do to work and function. My mother always told me life is not fair, and I know it looks very much like the law is not fair either. I am not trivializing what you say, but trying to explain how these two things can exist at the same time. "The law" is huge, it is not one, rational scheme that was designed to make sense together. It is a collection of many different decisions, written laws, history and traditions, that evolved over more than a thousand years, and is still evolving and changing all the time. In writing about Migraines and driving, I'm not trying to say that I think the current state of the law is completely fair or right, but I want people to know what the law is, so we can know what risks we run, and I want people to know there are real dangers in driving with a Migraine. If I could design our society myself, there would be viable public transportation options for people everywhere, and we would all be able to have a decent living despite our disabling conditions. Some would call that socialism! But the legislatures write Motor Vehicle codes to address what is and is not a safe driving condition, and government decisions about public transportation and disability income are discussed separately. Lots of politics goes into it - look at our present health care debate! I don't mean to imply that the decisions will be easy - we will all be faced with deciding when it is or isn't safe to drive, and when, perhaps, we have no choice. Most of the time we can find some kind of alternative if we work at it in advance, perhaps sometimes we can't. I do want everyone to be aware that the risk they take if they drive with a Migraine is not a small one. Jon - I'm so sorry to hear what happened with your sister - I have to say from my own experience that the kind of slowed response you're describing sounds very familiar - I know I have it myself. I wish all of us choices, and viable alternatives, and safety. - Megan |
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MMC Lead Expert Supreme Guru |
There must be something we can think of...
Let's see... What's the approximate population of the ciy where you live? How long have you been seeing your current doctor?
Teri Robert Lead Expert, MyMigraineConnection terimmc@helpforheadaches.com visit me on
The generally long periods of time between my Migraines are the result of working with a Migraine specialist to refine my preventive regimen. You can see my current regimen HERE. |
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Forum Moderator Supreme Guru  |
It's nice to see you back, Jon.
I think you raise all kinds of valid points. With free will, we have the right to choose to do as we will, for good or for bad. As you eloquently stated, free will also comes with responsibilities, and one of the chief ones is to recognize that the choices we make come with consequences that we should be prepared to answer to. A lot of life is about learning. Sometimes we learn the easy way, and sometimes we end up learning the hard way. Driving is a privilege, not a right. And it's a big ticket privilege, fraught with responsibilities. I don't think it's out of line to want people to drive responsibly, with a mind toward others and the potential to be affect others' lives. That can only be a good thing.  Dragondrool Forum Moderator ~~8=:>>>> |
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Master |
The population where I live is 50,000 or less. I have been seeing my current doctor for four years maybe, my nuero for about five years I think. I don't quite remember. Anyway, it is not that I disagree, only that I do drive to work. I don't drive anywhere else, or long distances or at night. Only to where I need to go. It is only a ten minute drive. |
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MMC Lead Expert Supreme Guru |
OK, so you live in an area Larger than where I live, where the population is only about 35, 000. That's what I was trying to get a feel for. Is there public transportation, such as a bus? Here, if you don't live close enough to the bus route, there are churches, service organizations, etc., who will help you arrange transportation to and from work if you need it.
Have you made progress in these years? If not, what do your doctors have to say about that lack of progress. I did understand that you're only driving to work. But, did you know that most accidents happen within a few miles of home? What's the distance you cover in that ten minutes?
Teri Robert Lead Expert, MyMigraineConnection terimmc@helpforheadaches.com visit me on
The generally long periods of time between my Migraines are the result of working with a Migraine specialist to refine my preventive regimen. You can see my current regimen HERE. |
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Newbie |
I got here from your blog, which I found from a link on another blog. Just had to come join this discussion.
I want to ask you one question. Just how would you feel if somebody else who was JUST DRIVING TO WORK while impaired hit someone you loved and killed them? It's happened. A couple of years ago, there was an article about a man in the UK who decided he could drive home even though he had a migraine. He was driving a truck. Something walked in front of him and he hit it. He thought it was a dog and drove on home. It turned out that he hit and killed a woman. How would you have felt if that woman had been someone you loved? Barb
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Master |
Hey Barb, While I know this is a topic that riles people up, I really was not commenting about myself specifically, but more at the irony of the law, which I do not disagree with. Nonetheless, I have asked this very question to my doctors before, and even my eye doctors before. The answer has always been that if it is a mild to moderate migraine, or a treated migraine that it should not interfere with my ability to drive. Under their opinion it is subjective to what I consider to be mild or moderate, but implies there is a line there on which I make the ultimate choice... not unable to drive with any migraine, but choose when I think I am capable of driving. If they thought otherwise then they would take away my ability to drive, as that would only be logical. Who am I supposed to trust with whether I can drive or not other than my doctors? If there was some defined law that restricted driving with migraines that would be different. You had mentioned to me that people should not drive sleep deprived, but what about if they are just a little nappy? They are the ones that decide where they are at. As I had mentioned in the beginning I am expected to do plenty of things regardless of how I feel, as are most people, but those of us with chronic pain get used to a certain amount of base line pain, that we simply function with, that becomes our norm. Under such conditions, I would not be the one to say I am impaired, when I am able to do more things than most people would be able to do with a migraine (at that point where you start making lines between 'mild' migraines where you can function, 'moderate' migraines that do adversely effect some things, and 'severe' where you have trouble function and 'acute' where you cannot function at all). I mean, it ain't fun and it ain't fair, but that is survival. So personally I judge where I am on the 'functioning' with a migraine line to decide what I can and cannot do. |
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Master |
Hey Terri, I am rather thinking I should have been more hypothetical in my response, since I am the only one admiting they drive under the influence of pain. I was gripping about the system that makes it seem like we are ready, able and willing in most situations but then not in others. Either way, we have no public transportation. We do have a service for disabled, one or two mini buses, but I am not legally disabled and do not qualify... which is rather precisely my point... if your disabled by law in one situation, you are disabled period and should not be situational. I have made off and on progress over the years. Taken a few short term leaves of absenses from this most recent job. My neuro says, lets try this preventative. Which I do. Normally I have more migraines than not, but with preventatives I have been able to get down to ten a month, but not consitently through the year... right now I am an the more migraines than not end of things and have a neuro appointment in Dec. to discuss alterations to my meds. I am not sure the distance I travel, but I know it is a little less than ten minutes. I have never been in an accident and would like to keep it that way, and have in the past asked about just this topic to my doctors, eye doctors, neuro and have been told it is not a problem. By that they mean not a problem if it is sucessfully treated (which means there would be certain meds in my system) or not a problem if it is mild to moderate, or the aura is not obscuring. A problem when the migraine is severe or acute of ineffectively treated. And if then the choice is left to me and I am 'used' to a certain level of pain, then I do drive. If it goes beyond my tolerance, then I don't. If, on the other hand, my doctors said I could not, then by all means I would not, and I would explore any alternative they suggested. |
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Forum Moderator Grand Wizard  |
Hello Barb and welcome to our forum family! Our goal is to provide everyone with the information and support that we all need to manage our Migraines and/or headaches. To that end, we consider this a “safe harbor,” where nobody tries to sell us anything, and we all use “family-friendly” language so parents are comfortable letting their children read the forum with them.
Please take a few minutes to review our policies and guidelines along with the other information in the START HERE folder. For information about Migraines, a good article to begin with is Learning About Migraines - Where to Start. Glad you followed the links over here! Once again, welcome to our little corner of the web!  Jamie Forum Moderator |
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Grasshopper |
My sister was driving home from work. Just six miles. She nearly died.
Jon |
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Forum Moderator Grand Wizard |
Jon,
Hugs to you and your family! You've been through a lot. You're right- "just 'cause we're 6 miles from home" doesn't make it any safer than if it were 60 miles away. I too have been affected (as you'll see below in this thread) by events occurring within a short distance from home! Best, Jamie Forum Moderator |
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Migraine Community MyMigraineConnection New Info on MyMigraineConnection Can Migraines Affect Our Driver's License?
