Re: pain meds and driving.

[Guest guest]

hi

i don't know what state you live in, but i live in NY and i take morphine and i

had the same ? so i called the state police. I was told that if the med is a

controlled substance and you get into an accident yes you can be charged with

driving while impaired, but its not really enforced because it is per scribed to

you. thay also said it depends on the accident if someone was hurt or killed you

will be charged.

so i would call your state police and find out the laws in your state.

Dave

[Guest guest]

reading the subject of your post, I was thinking exactly what you

wrote - the pain is more of an impairment than the meds.

I had a seizure recently, and I felt the same thing - the pain I drove

with often was more dangerous than the possibility of a seizure I

might have.

But, as with anything else with pain, probably nobody else is going to

think that way - police, judge, jury, victims.

[Guest guest]

I would say gauge it by how you feel; if you fel you are able to drive and not

too drowsy then go ahead but if you feel impaired at all or drowsy or a bit slow

then not. Go with your gut feeling as everyone will react differently to the

med especially depedning on when you took it last, if you ate anything etc.

Annette

-

[Guest guest]

Hi Weds,

I stopped driving a year ago. It was a hard decision but I felt I had

no choice at the time because I had just gone on much more powerful

pain meds that really made me feel drowsy.

A year later it's not so black and white because I've built up a

tolerance to the drowsiness of the meds. But I still don't drive

because I feel that my judgement is still impaired; if I was in a

potential accident situation I don't know that I would have the

reflexes and mental sharpness to react quickly and drive defensively.

I hate not being able to drive. I have to bum lifts from my in-laws

and my husband a lot (which makes scheduling a challenge sometimes).

Lately I have been trying to take the bus as much as possible, even

though it's slow and often late, because it gives me back some of the

independence that I used to be so proud of.

I think it's up to your own judgement but I would be very very

careful about driving while on narcotics. Even if you don't feel

drowsy, your reaction time could be impaired.

Take care,

Di

in Vancouver, B.C., Canada