Driving ability in Parkinson’s disease: Current status of research

[Farooqji]

I was thinking about driving with PD with respect to two factors, cognition impairment and fatigue (especially when driving on the long route). Came across following study which is worth reading

drive.google.com/file/d/1Sy...

[ion_ion]

I drove Thursday from Michigan to Indiana through heavy rain and low visibility for over 7 hours. When I got to the destination I realized all my symptoms were gone. They came back after a while but at lower intensity. Also last week I started thiamine HCL. I do not know yet if that helped or just the fact my focus was on driving. Contrary to other people my symptoms go away when my focus goes away. My doctor could not explain why. Actually other doctor said that proves I have no PD which I doubt.

[Farooqji in reply to ion_ion]

This reminds me of an old time therapy used for PD , as mentioned in his book "Brain Storm" by Jon Palfreman. According to which

"Charcot developed other intriguing therapies. Having observed that the symptoms of Parkinson’s patients appeared to improve after long rides in carriages, in trains, and even on horseback, he speculated that the vibrations might be therapeutic. So Charcot developed an electrically powered “shaking chair,” or fauteuil trépidant. One of his students, Gilles de la Tourette, refined this concept into a portable shaking helmet that vibrated the brain. His therapeutic vibration concept was recently tested in a controlled trial using commercially available massage chairs. Patients were assigned to one of two groups: one cohort had daily sessions in a vibrating chair for one month; the other had the same number of sessions in the same chair but with the vibration switched off. Both groups were exposed to relaxing natural sounds, such as ocean waves. The researchers concluded that what Charcot observed was largely a placebo effect, in which perceived benefit had more to do with the patient’s and the clinician’s wishful expectations of improvement than the vibrational therapy. "

[KERRINGTON]

When ever we drive 6-7 hours to visit relatives I feel much better...I always wonder if it's the intense sunlight. We always drive into it.. I loose that boost the next day.

[memegl]

K

[Kevin51]

Many thanks. They point out the main limitation - lack of an age matched control groups in the surveyed research. Interesting that accurate cornering was picked up in one study as a problem. In the UK you must notify the authorities (DVLA) and your insurer or else you are not covered to drive; I am on a 3yr licence now, signed off at the DVLA by my neuro. Happy with that.

[Myke1976 in reply to Kevin51]

I find I get tired driving, but when I do pull over to a layby or motorway service station, have a 10/15 min nap wake up feel refreshed and drive on

[M-o-ggy in reply to Kevin51]

Was it a difficult process?

[Kevin51 in reply to M-o-ggy]

No just followed (carefully!) the instructions on the dvla website. It took some weeks. I presume part of that time was needed to contact and get a response from my neuro - with whom I discussed in advance. You have to return your licence after you fill in the form and my insurer was happy to take note that I had done that. There is a general presumption that you should be allowed to continue driving - unless there are clear reasons against that.