signs of lows /hypos

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bob wells

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Relationship to Diabetes
Type 1
i had conflict with what the diabetic nurse and consultant at hospital said with what my gp said about my 12 week results last year results were 6.2 average which i was really pleased with as was my GP ,however as the diabetic nurse thought my signs were poor she wanted to stop me driving.i test very often as the nature of my work varies day to day and can be very physical also i always test before driving and if on longer trips stop and test as needed i also keep Lucozade sport on hand plus snacks ,i used to have fizzy Lucozade but found this gave me severe headaches.
i drive hi performance bikes as a hobby and have never had a problem because i take care.i only get an appointment every 18 months at the diabetic clinic but see the GP and Nurse at my local surgery much more often they have now discharged me from their care as i missed my 18 month check as i was in hospital for 8 days with an undiabetc related condition and one of the senior nurses came to see me while iwas in there. but no one seemed to tell anyone at the diabetic clinic .has anyone else had similar issues between gp and hospital🙂 bob 🙂
 
Hi Bob, welcome to the forum 🙂 I don't drive, so haven't had such an experience, but I have had discussions with the nurse and consultant about whether my control is too tight. I think they don't realise sometimes (if they are not also diabetic) just what lengths we go to in order to keep out figures good, whilst at the same time remaining safe. It sounds to me as though you manage things very well, being very strict about regular testing. Can I ask if you do experience unexpected lows sometimes with little warning? Your meter and diary should provide evidence that you are being responsible, especially with regard to driving. My HbA1c has ranged from 5.2 to 5.6 over the past 18 months. I have gradually improved my control at either side of the hypo-barrier so that the latest number represents increasingly good control with far fewer hypos, so it's not unreasonable to think that you aren't achieving the same.

Hopefully, someone with more direct experience will be able to tell you what happened to them in this situation 🙂
 
Hi Bob,

Really sorry I can't help with your question, but just wanted to say Welcome to the forum.
I am sure others will be along with some useful advice soon.
 
dear northerner,yes i do get unexpected lows but when driving i always er on the side of caution with levels around 9/10 .also i find that diabetic consultants and nurses tend not to live in a realistic world and no matter how hard i try it,s still not good enough for them.they say they are concerned about my health but if that was true i would like an appointment more than 18 monthly.my gp and nurses at local surgery seem more interested,realistic and can see them any day .i do not like the fact that the consultants seem to have the power over me driving even when i have excellent control. cheers bob
 
Northerner said:
Hi Bob, welcome to the forum 🙂 I don't drive, so haven't had such an experience, but I have had discussions with the nurse and consultant about whether my control is too tight. I think they don't realise sometimes (if they are not also diabetic) just what lengths we go to in order to keep out figures good, whilst at the same time remaining safe. It sounds to me as though you manage things very well, being very strict about regular testing. Can I ask if you do experience unexpected lows sometimes with little warning? Your meter and diary should provide evidence that you are being responsible, especially with regard to driving. My HbA1c has ranged from 5.2 to 5.6 over the past 18 months. I have gradually improved my control at either side of the hypo-barrier so that the latest number represents increasingly good control with far fewer hypos, so it's not unreasonable to think that you aren't achieving the same.

Hopefully, someone with more direct experience will be able to tell you what happened to them in this situation 🙂
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dear northerner thanks for your comments ,yes i do get unexpected lows but when driving i always er on the side of caution and keep levels up to 9/10 and this has always been ok.
bob
 
Welcome Bob. Two isses here I think.

(1) As a driver, I'd been very concerned if my ability to keep a licence was put in jeopardy by "failing" to attend an appointment due to being an inpatient and that information not being passed to relevent clinic.
I would suggest that you consult PALS (Patient Advice Liaison Service) in the hopsital / trust to highlight this problem.


(2) Lack of hypo awareness is a concern for safety when driving, but I would consider that playing safe by starting with levels of 9 to 10mmol/l is a very wise move. Not sure how long are your typical drives, but the DVLA advice is also to test at least every 2 hours when driving. As always, best advice is to document everything, including blood glucose records, driving hours, HbA1c etc. Consultants do have to tread a very narrow line between protecting their patients (promoting them keeping their driving licences) and protecting the general road using public - if they get wrong, people can die and other licence-holding people with diabetes may be unfaily targetted.
 
thanks ,ref your 1st point it was a senior male nurse that came to see in hospital so i thought the fact i was an inpatient would have got through and second i found trying to highlight any issues about my care seems to fall deaf.eg as an inpatient i had no hot water for my 7 days stay and was only fixed as i left.if they cant even get that sorted i dont have much confidence in the levels of care.
ref your 2nd point i only drive for 1 hour or so max and break journeys up and realise it is a fine line as not all drivers are so careful .but my point is if my GP says my control is very good and a diabetic nurse says not who do DVLA believe
 
DVLA will listen to whoever they ask, then decide which version to believe if there is a difference in opinion. When form arrives for considering reissue of 1, 2 or 3 year licence, they ask driver to state contact details for GP and hospital (if you attend one). If they need further information, they may ask you to attend a medical examination carried out by a doctor determined by them.

Good luck with sorting this out - but do remember that there are 2 separate issues.
 
Actual DVLA Hypo experience

Copepod said:
DVLA will listen to whoever they ask, then decide which version to believe if there is a difference in opinion. When form arrives for considering reissue of 1, 2 or 3 year licence, they ask driver to state contact details for GP and hospital (if you attend one). If they need further information, they may ask you to attend a medical examination carried out by a doctor determined by them.

Good luck with sorting this out - but do remember that there are 2 separate issues.
Click to expand...

I have actually had an incident of being hypo aware whilst driving, and pulled myself over and stopped and was giving myself sweets. Another driver pulled over and interfered calling police and ambulance. I did not cause an accident or anything, but I did start to veer towards the centre of the road, when I decided to pull over, stop and treat.
Outcome was obviously to tell the DVLA.
The DVLA do NOT make the final decision on who is able to drive in instances like mine......my Consultant wrote a letter supporting me to keep my licence......because the Consultant supported me the DVLA could not revoke my licence. Officially I had 3rd party help, because of the 3rd party person that stopped and called police and ambulance, but I had done everything the DVLA state in their leeaflets.
If the Consultant believes that you are safe or if you are not safe to drive, then that is what the DVLA will go by. They will only go by written medical letters from your healthcare professionals, the DVLA will NOT be swayed by the patients at all.
I had 3 months of hell waiting for the DVlA to confirm to me that I would not have my licence revoked, due to them having large backlogs of medicals to get through.
Normally COnsultants do not write a letter, it is just a standard tickbox of 8 questions for them to say yes or no to. If they have any doubts or anything about your driving they have to write a separate letter, as there is no place on the form to write anything. The same applies if they think you should keep your licence in situations like mine.
 
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