Can I drive if I'm taking medication?

[7aerith7]

I'm sorry if these are unintelligent questions but I just really don't know.

Im 18. If I go to a psychologist and get diagnosed with, say, depression, anxiety, and/or ADD and I choose to go on prescription medication for that, would I still legally be allowed to drive in the state of Arkansas? Would it depend on the type of medication? I mean, I don't know these things..

[TheAtomicBlade]

Hey,
So a quick google search told me that only banned drugs are a problem. I would say your best bet though, would be to talk to a driving school, or the licence place, or maybe even the cops if you can.

Hope this helps a bit

[obelus]

Usually with prescribed medications, there's no laws preventing you from driving while taking them. With any medication though, you should know how it affects you before you drive after taking it. Some psychiatric medications can cause drowsiness or dizziness (among other things) and it can be dangerous to drive after taking them.

I'm not sure if you could get a DUI if your medication made you drowsy enough to impair you and then you drove, but you shouldn't drive after taking it if it does anyway because that endangers you and other drivers.

If the medication does make you drowsy, just make sure you don't drive afterwards. For example, if it's a medication that you take before bed you should be fine to drive after you wake up until the next night when you take it. Not all medications have the same side effects, so I would highly recommend talking to the doctor prescribing the medication about any side effects that could occur and also ask about driving while taking it.

As a rule of thumb though - if it's a new medication I wouldn't drive after you take it for the first week or so. Then you can gauge the side effects (if any) and how much they affect you.

Most medicines are okay to take and drive with. If medicines make you drowsy or something like that they will usually put something on it that says 'Might make you drowsy so be careful driving'.

I have one medication that makes me drowsy sometimes so I usually just take it at night.

If you get prescribed a medication you can ask the doctor if it will be likely to cause drowsiness or anything like that. Usually, what I do when I have been prescribed a new medication is try and take it on a day I don't have anywhere to drive so I can make sure it doesn't make me drowsy.

[del677]

Yes you can still drive with just about any prescription medication and just about any diagnosis.

Heck I've been diagnosed with all sorts of things, and I've taken just about every medication there is over the years, and the only time I stopped driving was when I was so sick I knew I just wasn't well enough to drive. First I stopped driving on the freeway because things were just happening too fast for me. Then I stopped driving on city streets unless I had someone with me, because I was just too unsure of myself. But that had nothing to do with the medication, and everything to do with me not being well enough to drive.

I think the only diagnosis that would prevent one from driving is epilepsy, where one would be in danger of having a seisure while driving, which obviously you wouldn't want to risk, but even in that case I think you can get your license if you haven't had a seisure in over a year, or a sufficiently long period, and the doctor feels it's unlikely you'll ever have another seisure.