Pregnancy and diabetes - is it standard to be told to stop driving at 26 weeks?

[EtonsMessCat]

On behalf of my friend, not sure if this should be in health of pregnancy.

She is 26 weeks pg, had a car accident yesterday, a 17 yo crashed into her car on the motorway, luckily she is fine, shaken, but fine.

However, she has not gone to see her anti-natal nurse for a check-up, as she is worried they might stop her being able to drive, as she has been told by another person with diabetes that when she was pg she was not allowed to drive after 26wks.

She needs to drive for her job as a teacher and only has 3-4 weeks to go until she is on summer holiday, but also travels to visit family across country. She relies heavily on her car.

There is no medical reason currently that would mean stopping, her health is fine.

However she should really get checked after this accident, and I said I would ask our trusted MN friends for some advice to try to give her info when she goes, in case they advise her to stop driving.

Worth re-iterating the accident was absolutely not anything to do with her driving, the other driver did not check his blind spot before changing lanes.

Thanks in advance

Its pavlovthecat with a new name by the way.

would not have thought so, would have thought the lady in question wasn't allowed to drive due to risk of black outs etc, rather than an arbitrary stage of PG limit.

Total - thats what I am thinking, an individual decision based on her circumstances/health situation.

I am wondering if there might be other diabetic mothers/pregnant people on here who might have been in this position...

I had been told there was a thread for diabetes, but alas I can't find it...

Thanks totalchaos

does she have pre-existing diabetes, or gestational? you shouldn't drive if you're hypo (have low blood sugar). this is more likely to happen during pg, & can happen in women with gestational diabetes if they're treated with insulin. she should check her blood sugar before driving & make sure she has plenty of fast & slow acting sugar easily accessible during her journey. she should also stop at once if she has any hypo warning signs (shaky, sweating, panicky, dizziness). i have diabetes & drove throughout both my pregnancies. she should ask her diabetes/ante-natal team for advice.

The crucial thing is whether she is being treated with insulin.

If she is, then it depends how well controlled she is. If she is well controlled ie no sudden lows etc there is no reason why she shouldn't drive, although she should be extra careful.

If she is treated with insulin she should report this to DVLA and doctor will be asked to confirm that in his opinion control is good.

As a type 1 diabetic obviously treated with insulin, I have happily driven through 2 entire pregnancies. I am however incredibly mindful of my blood sugar levels whenever I drive.

. the bit about informing dvla if she is on insulin is very important - she will invalidate her insurance otherwise.

Hoxton - oh thanks for this. She has pre-existing diabetes, and checks her sugars regularly, she has to adjust her insulin quite regularly at the moment.

She is afraid of her ante-natal team telling her not to drive, which is why she is concerned about going to check she is fine after the accident yesterday.

dilberta thanks for that, the usual diabetes stuff like DVLA being informed, she has already done as she has had diabetes for a long time.

its the pregnancy bit she is not used to!! Driving two hours a day to work and back, and fear of being told she cant drive, and having to start maternity leave earlier than she wants that she is worried about.

To be honest if she is having a really hard time with her sugars and suffering frequent hypos it may be best not to be driving.

But, if she is not suffering from this then there is no reason for her diabetes team to tell her not to drive because someone else drove into her.

The most important thing is that she and baby are fine, tell her to go get checked! No-one is going to stop her driving UNLESS it's best thing for her and baby.

Hoxton, less paragraphs, more just hitting "enter" at randon intervals!

I would think it's quite unusual for a Type 1 diabetic to be forced to stop driving during pregnancy, it's not something that ever crossed my mind to be honest.

dilbertina thank you! She was told by some-one else, and I thought that this person;s circumstances would have been taken into account, and this person may just have presumed it was standard.

She is sitting next to me, and I am reading this to her, so hopefully she will get herself checked. She got sent home from work this afternoon by her H&H nurse when she heard about the accident. She should not even have gone in. It was like a second difference between it being much more serious accident than it was

does she have any questions we can help with? is this her 1st pg? does she still get hypo warning signs (you can lose them if you have lots of hypos. which are more likely with the tight control you need to maintain during pregnancy)?

First pg, she has lots of questions, I am trying to get her to go on MN herself...she is just too busy .

She is managing ok with it all at the moment, she is waiting for the 3 weeks then she wont be driving very much anyway.

I think she is still getting warning signs, I know she checks her sugar levels very often.

get her on here .

she cant start maternity til 29 weeks any way so would be sick leave until the summer.......

Popsycal - she is a workaholic - she is a teacher and does not want to let her students down by leaving before end of term

teacher here too......and 26 weeks pregnant
her own child is more important than other people's children.....

popsycal - yes, i agree. so does she but she has never been good at slowing down . congratulations btw [griin].

She has promised she will go for checkup.