DVLA Blackout Syncope

J63320

Please check if his doctors have considered reflex anoxic seizures. My husband had a these over the course of a few weeks, then they stopped, and getting a diagnosis was a nightmare. All the heart tests came back normal because his heart was fine - it was the nervous system forgetting to tell it to keep beating. It was something called a “tilt table test” that proved it - he researched it and had to demand that this test was carried out. Within two weeks he had had a pacemaker fitted and was then allowed to drive again.

LightFlare

Ganga said:

When i blacked out in Majorca our local doctor here in England sent me to hospital for tests ,they THINK i had a mini stroke called a TIA ,they could not prove or disprove it but the specialist just advised me not to drive for a month or so ,have been ok since and as this was 2016 we got on with life ,he never notified the DVLA but when taking out travel insurance i always say i have had a TIA for safety.
I am sure your husband will know when he is right to get behind the wheel again.

Pretty irrelevant as he’s been told not to drive for 6 months.

For right or wrong it seems that undiagnosed blackouts etc attract a longer no drive period than diagnosed conditions.

I believe it can be as short as 3 weeks for a TIA or heart attack but 6 months for just a “random” occurrence 

Ganga

LightFlare said:

Ganga said:

When i blacked out in Majorca our local doctor here in England sent me to hospital for tests ,they THINK i had a mini stroke called a TIA ,they could not prove or disprove it but the specialist just advised me not to drive for a month or so ,have been ok since and as this was 2016 we got on with life ,he never notified the DVLA but when taking out travel insurance i always say i have had a TIA for safety.
I am sure your husband will know when he is right to get behind the wheel again.

Pretty irrelevant as he’s been told not to drive for 6 months.

For right or wrong it seems that undiagnosed blackouts etc attract a longer no drive period than diagnosed conditions.

I believe it can be as short as 3 weeks for a TIA or heart attack but 6 months for just a “random” occurrence 

What i was saying was that he would know himself if he was 100% ,might be 6 months might be longer.

elsien

Ganga said:

LightFlare said:

Ganga said:

When i blacked out in Majorca our local doctor here in England sent me to hospital for tests ,they THINK i had a mini stroke called a TIA ,they could not prove or disprove it but the specialist just advised me not to drive for a month or so ,have been ok since and as this was 2016 we got on with life ,he never notified the DVLA but when taking out travel insurance i always say i have had a TIA for safety.
I am sure your husband will know when he is right to get behind the wheel again.

Pretty irrelevant as he’s been told not to drive for 6 months.

For right or wrong it seems that undiagnosed blackouts etc attract a longer no drive period than diagnosed conditions.

I believe it can be as short as 3 weeks for a TIA or heart attack but 6 months for just a “random” occurrence 

What i was saying was that he would know himself if he was 100% ,might be 6 months might be longer.

People don’t though. You can feel perfectly okay but still not be fine. 

Silvertabby

This happened to Mr S, although when he went down he struck his head - blood everywhere.  A thorough battery of every test the NHS can throw at you plus an overnight stay in hospital later,  he was given a completely clean bill of health ( bar the butterfly sutures on his poor bonce).

The final decision was that his blood pressure medication was too strong, and that he fainted due to a combination of low blood pressure and dehydration.  But as there is no test that can determine what your blood pressure was yesterday, the final verdict was 'syncope, cause unknown' and the 'advice' to surrender his licence for 6 months.

This he did, and subsequently applied for it to be re-issued a couple of weeks before the 6 months were up.  His licence was duly re-issued, on his own medical self declaration,  without any problems.

Note that your husband will have to inform his insurers, even though he won't be driving.  In our case, our insurers (RIAS) were great.  Assume that as they only insure the over 55s, they must have come across this more than once in the past.  Their advice was that we changed me to main driver and him to named/secondary driver (obviously on the understanding that he wouldn't drive!)  as this would be the cheapest option.  

Luckily, we were both retired when this happened so he didn't need to fret about getting to work.  

dullbue

Silvertabby said:

This happened to Mr S, although when he went down he struck his head - blood everywhere.  A thorough battery of every test the NHS can throw at you plus an overnight stay in hospital later,  he was given a completely clean bill of health ( bar the butterfly sutures on his poor bonce).

The final decision was that his blood pressure medication was too strong, and that he fainted due to a combination of low blood pressure and dehydration.  But as there is no test that can determine what your blood pressure was yesterday, the final verdict was 'syncope, cause unknown' and the 'advice' to surrender his licence for 6 months.

This he did, and subsequently applied for it to be re-issued a couple of weeks before the 6 months were up.  His licence was duly re-issued, on his own medical self declaration,  without any problems.

Note that your husband will have to inform his insurers, even though he won't be driving.  In our case, our insurers (RIAS) were great.  Assume that as they only insure the over 55s, they must have come across this more than once in the past.  Their advice was that we changed me to main driver and him to named/secondary driver (obviously on the understanding that he wouldn't drive!)  as this would be the cheapest option.  

Luckily, we were both retired when this happened so he didn't need to fret about getting to work.  

This is really helpful, thank you. 

I think my husband is similar - dehydration etc. He's only 35, but thank you re: insurance. 

Very reassuring he got it back at 6mo with no issues 🤞🤞🤞 

Bigwheels1111

Suspected TIA here, 15 odd years ago.
Told not to drive until I had a CT scan.
30 miles each way to the hospital and no transport available, Train, Bus or patient transfers.
I lived in the sticks.
There was no way in hell I was telling the dvla I could not drive.
Nothing found in the end.
I lived on my own and no supermarkets delivered food where I lived.

I learned my lesson when I applied for my license at 17, I was honest and said I had had small seizures
until I was 6. None for 40 plus years now.
They limited my license to 3 years.
Got it overturned eventually, but took 3 years.

chrisw

I had a similar episode about 15 years ago and the doctor told me to stop driving and put my licence away in a drawer for a couple of months. Eventually he just advised I could start driving again. Nothing was found wrong with me and it was put down to infection/ dehydration. I've never had it since.

Silvertabby

Bigwheels and Chris - glad that you are both ok.   But, particularly Bigwheels,  did you realise that continuing to drive after being told/advised not to invalidates your insurance?

EnPointe

Mildly_Miffed said:

We can all agree, I'm sure, that we don't really want to be around drivers who are at risk of blacking out unexpectedly?

The simple answer is that it'll depend on whether they think he's at risk of another unexplained blackout.

If he's fine for the six months, then he'll probably get his licence back quickly.
If he has another blackout, then forget it until the cause has been identified and treated...

exactly this