Deja Vu and Driving

LegalNim

Not sure if this is the right category to post on but couldn't think where it would fit, so sorry.
When I was a student (almost five years ago), I had a seizure. I was advised by my GP to stop driving until they figured out what was going on. I had two seizures in the few weeks after that, they did some tests and said nothing was abnormal so they were diagnosing me with epilepsy. I haven't had any seizures since, saw the neurologist a few times afterwards before I was discharged. I never took any medication or anything like that. It's now been over four and a half years since my last seizure but the DVLA are still refusing to allow me to have a driving license because I get deja vu. As far as I'm aware, everyone gets deja vu, right? Everyone I ask says that they get it so I'm not sure why I'm being told I can't have a license. Even if I got deja vu whilst driving, I would still be able to drive so this seems ridiculous. 
I essentially have two questions:
1. Am I incorrect in thinking that everyone gets deja vu and that it's not dangerous to give a driving license to someone who has deja vu?
2. Has anyone else had this issue and managed to resolve it?

Savvy_Sue

Can you get a medical professional to confirm that the deja vu does not make you unsafe to drive? It still won't be a rapid process, but it may help. 

I'm not sure what you mean by deja vu in medical terms to be fair. 

And I don't know if this is relevant, but when my FIL had a stroke, I had a long chat with one of the nurses on the ward about whether he should be driving, because he also had mild - at the time - dementia. We knew he wouldn't be able to drive for a certain time anyway, but I was angling for SOMEONE to say he shouldn't be driving ...

She said that it's not necessarily the mechanics of driving which are problematic, it's dealing with other 'stuff' - so for example if FIL met road works which he hadn't been expecting, he might ignore any diversion signs and just drive the route he knew, and get terribly confused if he couldn't - and that's how people end up driving the wrong way along a motorway. 

And that was our experience: his driving remained perfectly competent, BUT he'd get lost, and then get upset and flustered. 

And when he was required to re-take his driving test, it was the bit where they said "follow signs to London" where it all fell apart. 

[Deleted User]

Deja vu is often a sign for people with epilepsy that a seizure is about to happen (not for everybody I have epilepsy and have never had an episode of deja vu), so I can only assume that this is why they won't allow you to drive, normally if you have only had seizures during the day you can drive 12 months after your last seizure. I'm not sure that "everybody" gets deja vu, did you tell the DVLA that you do? I'm not sure they would have asked.?

poppy12345

LegalNim said:

 As far as I'm aware, everyone gets deja vu, right?

No they don't. I lost my driving licence for 9 years because of epilepsy and i never had deja vu.

[Deleted User]

LegalNim said:

Not sure if this is the right category to post on but couldn't think where it would fit, so sorry.
When I was a student (almost five years ago), I had a seizure. I was advised by my GP to stop driving until they figured out what was going on. I had two seizures in the few weeks after that, they did some tests and said nothing was abnormal so they were diagnosing me with epilepsy. I haven't had any seizures since, saw the neurologist a few times afterwards before I was discharged. I never took any medication or anything like that. It's now been over four and a half years since my last seizure but the DVLA are still refusing to allow me to have a driving license because I get deja vu. As far as I'm aware, everyone gets deja vu, right? Everyone I ask says that they get it so I'm not sure why I'm being told I can't have a license. Even if I got deja vu whilst driving, I would still be able to drive so this seems ridiculous. 
I essentially have two questions:
1. Am I incorrect in thinking that everyone gets deja vu and that it's not dangerous to give a driving license to someone who has deja vu?
2. Has anyone else had this issue and managed to resolve it?

 I get dejavu as part of my epilepsy. it's actually a seizure what was previously called an aura but as you can get them without the following larger seizures they were defined seizures in their own right. 
Read the DVLA manual. It talks of seizure activity. This is that activity. 
 You obviously can't drive while having seizures 

LegalNim

So, now I'm a bit confused. I've asked dozens of friends, my sister and two brothers, my husband, in my in laws and my parents. All of them have experienced deja vu and none of them are epileptic. Since when is deja vu a seizure?! From googling it, between 80% and 96% of the population experience deja vu - if this is considered to be epilepsy then how can anyone drive?

[Deleted User]

Read what has been said please. BTW no one is epileptic we are people with epilepsy...thank you.

Savvy_Sue

It sounds to me as if there are two different meanings for 'deja vu'. One is a technical medical term for what used to be called an aura - a warning of an impending epileptic episode. And the other is quite common, but quite different. 

Obviously not the most authoritative source, but ... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/D%C3%A9j%C3%A0_vu

Torry_Quine

Savvy_Sue said:

It sounds to me as if there are two different meanings for 'deja vu'. One is a technical medical term for what used to be called an aura - a warning of an impending epileptic episode. And the other is quite common, but quite different. 

Obviously not the most authoritative source, but ... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/D%C3%A9j%C3%A0_vu

This is what happens when a term is known and widely used but is then given a completely different meaning. 
I wasn't even aware that what I've always called an aura before a seizure was now called deja vu
If the OP is having the feeling that preceded an epilepsy seizure even if not aware of a seizure then they definitely shouldn't be driving.

[Deleted User]

LegalNim said:

So, now I'm a bit confused. I've asked dozens of friends, my sister and two brothers, my husband, in my in laws and my parents. All of them have experienced deja vu and none of them are epileptic. Since when is deja vu a seizure?! From googling it, between 80% and 96% of the population experience deja vu - if this is considered to be epilepsy then how can anyone drive?

 It's an aura that presents as what can be explained as a deja vu experience.  
Regular deja vu is something anyone can experience and doesn't alter your awareness and understanding like an aura. It's also quite a spooky but fun experience which an aura is most definitely not. 
Maybe speak to a neurologist and not your mates who I assume have no medical degree? Dr google is not the best either, seems I have cancer every time I google symptoms. 

[Deleted User]

 Just spotted this on epilepsy actions page on Facebook 
https://www.facebook.com/37725868224/posts/10157665827548225/

 Just like me, was diagnosed with anxiety despite already having epilepsy Although having clonic seizures. My GP didnt connect the auras to that. Wasnt till i saw the neurologist i was told i had temporal lobe epilepsy too.