The negative impact some prescribed medications can have on a person’s ability to drive can be lost in the debate about drug-driving, a leading doctor has warned.According to Dublin GP and Director of the Substance Misuse Programme at the ICGP Dr Ide Delargy, while most of the debate surrounding drug-driving tends to focus on illicit substances, it is important to note that certain prescribed medications can also impair a person’s ability to drive.
“There are a lot of prescription medications that also make people at risk in terms of driving, so any medication which can cause drowsiness, dizziness, or can impair the patient in any way needs to be treated with caution,” she stated.
Dr Delargy said that patients needed to be made aware that the medications they were prescribed may affect their ability to drive and this was particularly important when commencing a new drug or adjusting the dose of a medication.
She also said that the use of prescribed medications in a non-prescribed manner could also be dangerous and may impair a person’s ability to drive.
“The main ones of concern would be benzodiazepines, hypnotics, and opiate-based analgesics. We might be prescribing them in a particular way but the patient is taking them in an unprescribed way and that is when difficulties can arise. So somebody topping up, doubling up on a particular medication, not taking it for a day but taking double the dose the next day — that can all contribute to side-effects, which make them dangerous in terms of driving,” she explained.
Source: June Shannon, Irish Medical Times, 09/04/15
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