A good friend of mine has just been notified by the DVLA that he cannot drive to to his recent diagnosis of type one diabetes, he was in a bad way for a while but is on the mend. The problem is he works 20 miles from his front door and is a lorry driver. Where does he stand with regards to his job.? Can he claim disability or whatever it is these Days.?

I suspect the official argument will be he can work, just not as what he’s doing now.

I’d tend to agree with that view, too.

Thats harsh news Neil, is there no appeal process with the DVLA?

I never new type one diabetes had that implication with driving?

I agree too but how the hell does he get to work if his current employer offered him another position. Public transport is not an option.

@ski. You hypo, you collapse, you crash, people die. Esp if you are driving a lorry. You can still drive a car though.

I suggest he goes down the CAB.

resist any pressure to resign would be my advice, though, as it will affect benefits.

I’d imagine he should be ok to get his license back once he’s got the diabetes under control but the dvla would want to see evidence of this. his best bet would be to approach the British Diabetic Association for advice.

Tom’s correct. Only affects HGV status. He can still drive a car and will have to re-apply for his license every 3 years. This is just to keep DVLA updated it doesn’t involve a re-test or anything. He can apply to be assessed individually re: his HGV status if he meets certain criteria re: control of his diabetes.

tomhoward – Member

@ski. You hypo, you collapse, you crash, people die. Esp if you are driving a lorry. You can still drive a car though.

I can see your point Tom 😉

Does the condition vary severity and is there no medical treatment to help with some of the effects?

My daughter is Type One. She’s ony 3 so driving isn’t an issue yet. From what I can gather she will have to check her blood sugars everytime she gets behind the wheel. I’m not sure how it will resrict her career wise, but we know she can’t join the forces, the police or become a pilot.

Also, she/we qualify for Disability Living Allowance as a result of her condition.

Most diabetics recognise the symptoms of a hypo and can “treat” it way before it’s an issue. Undiagnosed diabetes is more likely to result in catastrophic hypos. Constant monitoring is key. (My wife is type 1 btw).

Police is an option. Just can’t drive emergency vehicles.

To drive a car….

Must have awareness of hypoglycaemia.
• Must not have had more than one episode of hypoglycaemia requiring the assistance of another person in the preceding twelve months.
• There must be appropriate blood glucose monitoring.
• Must not be regarded as a likely source of danger to the public while driving.
• The visual standards for acuity and visual field must be met
Impaired awareness of hypoglycaemia has been defined by the Secretary of State’s Honorary Medical Advisory Panel on Driving and Diabetes as, ‘an inability to detect the onset of hypoglycaemia because of a total absence of warning symptoms’.
If meets the medical standard a 1, 2 or 3 year licence will be issued.

To drive for his job:

May apply for any Group 2 licence. Must satisfy the following criteria :
• No episode of hypoglycaemia requiring the assistance of another person has occurred in the preceding 12 months.
• Has full awareness of hypoglycaemia.
• Regularly monitors blood glucose at least twice daily and at times relevant to driving using a glucose meter with a memory function to measure and record blood glucose levels. At the annual examination by an independent Consultant Diabetologist, 3 months of blood glucose readings must be available.
• Must demonstrate an understanding of the risks of hypoglycaemia.
There are no other debarring complications of diabetes such as a visual field defect.
If meets the medical standards a 1 year licence will be issued.
As above

DrP

Undiagnosed diabetes is more likely to result in catastrophic hypos[b]hyperglycaemia, i.e. high blood sugar[/b]

FTFY.

DrP

I caught part of the Radio 4 Inside Health programme last night, where insulin pumps (for T1 diabetes) were discussed. It seems that many GPs don’t understand their potential usefulness, but that they can be much better for people to manage their blood sugar/insulin levels.

Maybe get him back to the medics to see if he can have one at some point, if nothing else to try to speed up the driving process.

Meantime, hope it otherwise works out for him on the work front.

It seems that many GPs don’t understand their potential usefulness, or do but know the PCT won’t fund them, and that people need to have TWO of them, so can’t afford them……

DrP

It seems that many GPs don’t understand their potential usefulness, or do but know the PCT won’t fund them, and that people need to have TWO of them, so can’t afford them……

Why do you need two? Me and my son are both on pumps, never had an issue with them and have normal insulin pens as backup if required, also, medtronic can provide a loan pump if required.

Funding for adults can be quite difficult to obtain but much easier for children. Been pumping for nearly 4 years now and it is life changing for the better.

As mentioned by others, DVLA issues a 3yr license for cars, HGV, buses etc I have never needed so am not sure of the rules.

Good luck for the future to the OP’s friend.

Votchy, postcode lottery innit.

I dont have one, and to be honest, dont want one. Not for any rational reason, just petrified something will go wrong (i.e I’ll cock up setting it up or something) and I’ll give myself enough insulin to give an elephant a hypo.

Op sorry to hear that, I didn’t have any issues with driving when first diagnosed and nearly 3 yrs into the whole Type 1 experience have yet to need any assistance with a hypo, your mate will soon get to recognise the signs he’s going low and treat accordingly (start packing jelly babies)

regarding pumps my consultant reckons he’s targetted to get 10% of his patients on them, don’t fancy one myself as it’ll just give the mrs another excuse for not getting frisky 😉

I dont have one, and to be honest, dont want one. Not for any rational reason, just petrified something will go wrong (i.e I’ll cock up setting it up or something) and I’ll give myself enough insulin to give an elephant a hypo.

Can you operate a mobile phone? Set up is done with your DSN so shouldn’t be an issue, if you can carb count it’s pretty difficult to give too much insulin

don’t fancy one myself as it’ll just give the mrs another excuse for not getting frisky

they can be removed for up to an hour with no ill effects so unless you are a pron star shouldn’t be an issue 😉

Dr P. i was thinking in terms of a diagnosed diabetic not being likely to have a catastrophic hypo as they should know the symptoms. I take your point that overall if undiagnosed someone is far more likely to go high though. Anyone would think you were a doctor 😆

Diabetes is a problem of high blood sugar though.
For an undiagnosed diabetic, it’s impossible to go hypo.

Plus (mother in law – I’m talking to you), a type 2 diabetic taking only metformin doesn’t need regular Mars Bars to prevent ‘hypos’, regardless what ‘your fat friends at your club’ say……

DrP

So undiagnosed can’t go hypo from not eating as opposed to using too much insulin? Well you learn something every day! 🙂

Technically, no.
Diabetes is a problem due to lack of (type 1) or not enough (type 2) insulin.
As such, the blood sugar rises, and type 1’s become unwell because they can’t use the abundant amount of sugar (so they burn fats and other things instead, which isn’t good for them. The phrase “starving in the land of plenty” is a good one for this problem).

If you didn’t eat for a while, you’d feel crummy but your blood sugar wouldn’t really get low enough for a hypo, as you’ve got other systems that ‘release’ sugar back into the blood (even diabetics have this working too).
However, if you have liver disease (as the liver takes a big part in this process) or I suppose if you didn’t eat for a loooooong time, so used up all your proteins too (as protein/fat can be converted into sugars), or if you have a tumour secreting insulin, or if you’re taking insulin or some oral medicines for diabetes, then you could become hypo.

Essentially, a normal healthy person won’t become truly hypo by simply not eating (i’ve tried – after nearly a whole day on a busy on call, feeling starving and weak, my blood sugar was dissapointingly normal!)

DrP

OP: your friend may be able to get his HGV back once he has gotten used to his Type 1 demonstrating he is in control and sensitive to low blood sugars. How old is he? One way adults are diagnosed is through eye trouble; high blood sugars affect thin veins in eye, and elsewhere, leading to degradation of sight.
Ms TPT lost her licence through peripheral sight loss. A life as designated driver for me 🙁

Plus (mother in law – I’m talking to you), a type 2 diabetic taking only metformin doesn’t need regular Mars Bars to prevent ‘hypos’, regardless what ‘your fat friends at your club’ say……

😯

Brilliant!!!

DVLA process is pretty sensible really and not too onerous, yes it’s a bit of a pain having to renew license every three years, but you get use to it.

I have a seperate tester that I keep in the car and there’s always some Lucozade glucose tablets in the car. It’s mostly about being prepared.

type 2 diabetic taking only metformin doesn’t need regular Mars Bars to prevent ‘hypos’

Hmm… I shall mention this to my wife – a type 2 (MODY) on metformin, who also happens to be a Senior Registrar in Diabetes and Endocrinology 😉

Good info Dr P. Cheers

I’m on a 3 year license after being diagnosed type 1 nearly 3 years ago – funnily enough after seeing a thread on here which described all the symptoms i’d been suffering from.

Unfortunately (or not depending on your perspective) i’m what all the diabetic ‘experts’ to date call an ‘interesting case’.

I was on insulin 4 times a day for about 3 months but got constant hypos so was weaned off bit by bit down to zero to enjoy the ‘honeymoon period’ which i was told could be up to 6-18 months (if i was lucky). I’ve now been totally medication free for over 30 months and my blood sugar levels are largely normal (the odd blip sometimes but then back to normal?).

Any ideas anybody??? I’m tired of having diabetic specialists, consultants, nurses and GP’s scratch their heads and shrug at me. I’m seeing them again on Friday and it’s getting annoying. I know i should be grateful it’s stayed away but i live in a limbo of ‘maybe tomorrow is the day’ and it’s getting dull……. Genetic tests came back negative but my results showed antibodies consistent with type 1 ‘albeit developing very slowly’? To date though i’ve found no evidence of anybody else having a honeymoon period of 3 years and neither have any of the medical professions i’ve encountered.

Dr P – have you seen anything along these lines before in any of your patients??

Live the dream MrTall! Looks like you are cured.
Or maybe you have a good exercise routine that keeps things in balance.
And food input control.

Mr Tall my wife’s honeymoon period was a good few years but she wasn’t completely off insulin but much lower dose than you would expect. Having children soon sorted that out (i.e. screwed it all up). She now uses in a day the amount of insulin she used in a week before!

As others say car license shouldn’t be too hard for the OP’s friend to get back but an HGV license is somewhere between impossible and very unlikely. However even the car license relies on the driver being consistently well / having good hypo warning signs etc; not having a history of hypos behind the wheel. His diabetes specialists will write to DVLA supporting him IF they believe he is in control etc. If not then it is only appropriate for everyone’s safety that they say not yet.

As for benefits he can work just not in some jobs so I doubt he will get much.

Dr P. i was thinking in terms of a diagnosed diabetic not being likely to have a catastrophic hypo as they should know the symptoms.

Not really no, many of them can control it well but a cold, infection, change of meds and many other factors can throw it. Then they get a little confused of what they have done and haven’t. They go hypo and we come along to help them out, with correct referral and follow up the symptom or changing meds again will get them being Ok again.

It varies massively from patient to patient though.

MrTall, were you pregnant?

OP, as above, he’ll get his licence back to drive a car, if he has hypo awareness. As for the HGV licence, I’ve never had/needed one, but have always been told it’s a no-no for type 1 diabetics.
I was diagnosed type 1 in 1990, at the tender age of 30 years, I’ve been using a pump for the last 2 years.
Tell your mate to try to get on a DAFNE course, if he can, he’ll start to understand his condition after that.

MrTall, enjoy it while it lasts.

What does it do to your insurance premiums? Had we better start (extra) saving now for when my daughter will start driving lessons in 14 years?

What does it do to your insurance premiums?

Shouldn’t do anything should it, disability discrimination and all that?

For the first few years after I was diagnosed, there was a loading on diabetics car insurance.
Thankfully, there isn’t anymore.
Carry on saving, though, I’d imagine it’ll be an arm & a leg for any 17 year old.

Having met a hypoglycaemic trucker unconscious at the wheel of his hgv I do think that there should be concerns around driving any vehicle with diabetes. “An awareness” of hypo’s is all well and good but most hypo’s seem to creep up from behind before pouncing.

My father in law is type one and has crashed at least two cars in the last few years after hypo’s and yet his insurance went down??

The last time the police threw him in a cell as they thought he was drunk because he was slurring and incoherent! His wife was not best pleased with them.

He also passed out in the garden last month and broke his jaw in the fall. My wife has been in the car with him when he’s gone hypo and was terrified as there’s no reasoning with him and she won’t get in a car alone with him anymore.

I’m amazed that he still has a license to be honest. When i informed my insurers it made no difference to my premiums at all. I can totally understand that professional drivers may not be allowed to continue with their line of work, just as Epileptics aren’t allowed to drive buses etc. Bit gutting though if you have to lose your job through no fault of your own.

I’m amazed he’s still got a licence too.
Does he check his blood before he gets behind the wheel?