What is a Migraine?

 

Migraine Causes 

Migraine is a neurological condition that causes severe headaches as well as nausea, vomiting, and sensitivity to lights, sounds, and smells.

Migraine-related headaches can be incapacitating. It can keep people from going to work or school or engaging in their usual activities.

In an ideal world, you would not get behind the wheel of a car and drive while suffering from a migraine. Driving can be dangerous due to physical limitations and impaired thinking ability.

However, many migraine sufferers find themselves needing to get home from work, pick up a child from school, or visit the doctor.

So, how dangerous is driving with a migraine, and are there any ways to mitigate the risks? Here's what the research says about driving while suffering from a migraine.

What is migraine?

While migraine affects more than 10% of people worldwide, it is frequently misunderstood as simply a "bad headache." Migraine can be episodic or chronic, occurring multiple times per week or month. Episodes can last several hours or several days.

Many people experience pulsing, throbbing pain on one or both sides of their head during a migraine attack, which worsens with movement. This frequently forces them to withdraw from their daily lives until the pain subsides.

There may also be stages of migraine before and after the episode that cause:

• brain fog
• irritability
• dizziness
• extreme fatigue
• visual disturbance

Let's NowThe Symptoms Of A Migraine

Is It Safe To Drive If You Have A Migraine Headache?

Although it may be difficult to avoid driving during a migraine attack, especially if your migraine is chronic and you have numerous attacks, driving is not a safe activity.

Although research into the effects of migraine on driving is limited, there are two possible issues: the neurological symptoms that occur during an episode and any drugs you may be taking to avoid or treat attacks.

When prescription migraine medication, your doctor or pharmacist will inform you whether any of the medications will impair your ability to drive.

Common drugs, such as sumatriptan, can make you dizzy or tired. Anti-nausea drugs can also cause drowsiness.

Doctors frequently advise against driving or using heavy machinery after taking these drugs. Indeed, one newer medicine, lasmiditan, comes with a warning that you should not drive or handle heavy machinery for at least 8 hours after taking it.

It can be difficult to weigh your own symptoms against your ability to drive. You may be confident in your abilities to travel safely.

However, the American Migraine Foundation encourages migraine sufferers to avoid driving during any stage of a migraine attack because symptoms might worsen quickly.

How does migraine affect your ability to drive?

There are various migraine symptoms that might make driving dangerous. Here are some of the most frequent, as well as how they affect driving.

Nausea and vomiting

Driving with nausea is difficult enough. While vomiting, it's practically impossible to keep your eyes on the road.

Dizziness

Dizziness is a typical migraine symptom that might worsen with repeated head movements.
Driving might be problematic with this form of vestibular disturbance.
Many persons with vestibular problems report their symptoms make it difficult for them to drive.

Visual disturbances

If you have a migraine with aura, you may suffer visual problems such as:

• flashing lights
• seeing spots or stars
• temporary partial loss of vision

These distractions might impair your ability to judge your surroundings while driving.

Brain fog

Migraine attacks frequently cause a variety of cognitive deficits, including:

• memory loss
• slowed or confused speech
• difficulty concentrating

This cognitive fog might make it difficult to drive safely from one location to another.

Sensitivity to light and sound

The interior of an automobile has greater sensitivity to light and sound. This might make it difficult to keep your eyes open, fixated on the road, and focused on your surroundings.

Drowsiness

Sleepiness and road accidents go hand in hand. Because migraine can produce significant weariness and sleepiness, it may be physically hard to be attentive and awake enough while driving to keep yourself and others safe.

Weakness

This is less frequent, but hemiplegic migraine is a kind of migraine that creates an aura with weakness on one side of the body. Its symptoms are frequently identical to those of a stroke.

You cannot drive a car safely if you are unable to regulate your bodily motions at any stage of a migraine attack.

Is it legal to drive during a migraine symptoms?

While driving during a migraine attack is not the safest option, it is permitted in all 50 states.

A migraine diagnosis, unlike other neurological illnesses (such as epilepsy, narcolepsy, and seizure disorders), does not come with any additional steps or constraints, such as:

• automated constraints
• physician reporting requirements 
• A physical exam or a doctor's exemption is required to acquire a driver's license.

However, state laws differ in terms of which pharmaceuticals and medical conditions necessitate licensing limitations — and just because something is legal doesn't always mean it's safe.

If you have any questions, contact your state's Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV). You can also ask your doctor if they have any worries about your ability to drive while taking any medications.

What should you do if you experience a migraine while driving?

There are techniques to reduce the dangers if a migraine episode starts or intensifies while you're driving.

You may:

• Pull over somewhere safe and close your eyes and rest or doze to attempt to wait out the worst of your symptoms.

• Park your car somewhere secure and contact a friend or family member, ride-share, or taxi for a trip.

• Take it gently. Set your warning lights on or drive in the far right lane.

• Take whatever medication you have on hand, or stop at a drugstore for over-the-counter pain treatments. Check to see if any of these medicines damage your driving ability. If possible, consult a pharmacist.

• Control your sensory input while driving. Turn on the air conditioning or open the windows, turn off the radio, put on sunglasses, or lower your sun visors.

• Take regular pauses. Allow yourself some downtime.

• Finally, if you have migraine and are aware that an episode is probable before or while driving, consider your alternatives and make a strategy for how you will manage your symptoms or avoid driving completely.

Keep prescriptions in the car, know where you can safely pull over along the way, and have a few people in mind to contact if you need a ride.

Can you avoid migraine attacks while driving?

Driving itself can be a migraine trigger for some people. You may have felt OK when you left the home, but now that you're on the highway, with the sun shining off the glass and the stench of exhaust fumes permeating your automobile, you're suffering.

If this describes you, the best way to avoid migraine attacks while driving is to identify your migraine triggers.

Because migraine can cause sensitivity to lights, noises, and odors, assess whether any of these sensory inputs are more likely to set off an episode and focus on resolving them:

• If bright light is a trigger, consider using glare-reducing window coverings and wearing sunglasses intended to block as much light as possible. There are even certain spectacles and sunglasses sold specifically to migraine sufferers. (Research on whether they treatments work is scarce, however there have been anecdotal accounts that they can assist.)

• If odors are a trigger for you, keeping aromatherapy instruments in your car, such as essential oil diffusers, can help balance some of the aromas from outside.

• If sound is a trigger, soundproofing your automobile using foam mats or panels and weather seals can help minimize noise within the cabin. You might also use your car's music system to listen to relaxing tunes or even white noise.

If you know you're prone to migraines before driving, you should consider migraine preventive techniques.

If you are an infrequent driver or know that the driving or weather circumstances on a specific day would be a migraine trigger, you may be able to avoid an episode by taking preventative drugs before getting in the car. Just make sure they aren't drowsy medicines.

Before using migraine preventative drugs, see your doctor. These medicines may have precise limits on how much can be taken before driving.

When to See a Doctor?

If migraine is interfering with your everyday functioning, it's time to consult with a doctor.

It's one thing to be inconvenienced by a migraine attack every now and again. However, if you notice that migraine attacks are interfering with your ability to drive on a regular basis, don't dismiss it.

If you are currently receiving migraine therapy but your incapacity to drive is a new symptom, consult a doctor. You might be transitioning from episodic migraine to chronic migraine Symptoms, which necessitates a new treatment strategy.

Takeaway

People with migraine are legally permitted to drive without limits, but this does not imply it is a safe option when experiencing a migraine attack.

A migraine episode's physical symptoms and cognitive side effects can make driving dangerous for both you and others on the road.

Avoid driving as much as possible during a migraine attack. Make a plan for what to do if an episode begins while you're driving or if you need to go somewhere.