Do you drive?
 

I had to drive my son to a hearing today. The first time I've driven in the 2.5 years since my TBI. I was okay except trying to park at the courthouse.

How long did it take you to feel safe driving again? It's going to be a lot longer for me - wouldn't have tried to drive today but it was important.

I guess it was about eighteen months.

I still drive with voluntary restrictions. I don't drive in heavy urban traffic, unfamiliar areas or long distances. If I tire while driving, I pull over and rest. If I'm tired before I start - I just don't start.

Having been almost killed in a horrendous MVA, the car is never going to be my happy place. Still, I have done a few things that have made me feel more comfortable behind the wheel.

I went out with a professional driving instructor a few times. He assured me that I was ready to be back on the road. (Noway do I want to hurt someone with my car, the way somebody hurt me.)

I also use a GPS, all the time. Knowing where I going, and what's coming up (turns, lane changes, etc...) has helped reduce my TBI driving anxiety.

I've been driving since 2 days after my injury (my injury was from falling off a horse, not a car accident). The ER doc only told me not to drive myself home from the ER but that it was fine to drive the next day.

In hindsight, I probably shouldn't have been driving right away, as even short drives in our rural area exhausted me. I am the only driver in our household though, so if I didn't drive, everyone would be stranded at home.

I generally don't drive in the city in heavy traffic and if I have to, usually for a doctors appointment, I make sure that I sleep before I go and that anyone else in the truck is silent while I'm driving.

I also can't listen to the radio or music or anything like that while I drive any more. (I can't listen to music at all anymore, it increases my head pain and in the case of classical music, makes me angry for some reason!)

I have done some longer drives (6 hours total) to visit family a few times, but I often stop once or twice during and will sleep in the truck for at least 30 mins, sometimes an hour and then continue. I find those trips exhausting and difficult, where they used to be fun and I liked going... now they are a chore and I dread them.

I always enjoyed driving before my injury... I still enjoy it now, but I find it tiring... but its one activity that let's me feel a bit like my old self. It also lets me get around easier. The rest of the time I walk with a cane, slowly. When I drive, no one knows I'm injured.

Starr

I have driving days and no-driving days. It is usually based on how I feel in the morning. Sometimes, my day improves. As a rule, I do not drive except local back country roads.

Exactly this. Ive been told my multiple Drs I should not be driving riight now. But like Mark says you know in the morning. If I do go anywhere its not long after I wake up, usually when i feel the best.

I cannot drive in the rain snow construction areas or on highways. Even being a passenger in those situations usually throws me into a seizure.

Six months. In Arizona if you are hospitalized with a diagnosis of TBI you need a doctor's release, then take a behind the wheel driving test to have your driving privileges restored.

I couldn't drive at all, except in an empty parking lot, for well over a year. But now I'm able to, on occasion, drive for upwards of 30 minutes. I live about 3 miles away from where I work.

The variation in rules from province to province and state to state is amazing.

Before I could return to driving, I had to be seizure free for a year and agree to stay on the seizure meds.

17 months after accident and I hate driving, I shake, grip the wheel and can't turn my neck properly, it's not good, constantly think I'm going to be hit again.

Don't drive at all right now as having "spells", not knowing where I am.

It sounds like you've got PTSD. Understandably, it's very common in MVA survivors. Are you being treated for it?

When I started back to driving, I could hear myself breathing and my tummy flipped every time a car approached in the other direction. Passing the accident site, which I pretty much have to do anytime I drive, brought on a case of the shakes.

The car still isn't - and I doubt ever will be - my happy place, but, thanks to my psychologist and a driving instructor, I am coping a lot better.

The driving instructor took me on a closed course, where I could test my skills, and rebuild my confidence, without worrying about other vehicles. He passed on a few more defensive driving tips, but assured me that I was actually a very good driver.

My psychologist tackled the PTSD. We worked on driving small distances, in different scenarios. We demystified the crash site by having me picnic there, multiple times. She also had me tell the story of the accident over and over again, orally, and in writing. The more I told it, the more I started to feel removed from it.

I think I was lucky that my PTSD was not as severe as some peoples'. That's probably because the accident was so sudden, I didn't have a chance to get really scared.

In more difficult cases, my psychologist said that they can have the patient retell the story, under the influence of a drug that seems to reboot the brain's memory function. I can't remember the name of the medication, but I think its discussed in the program "The brain that changes itself." If I remember (lol), I'll check.