Drugs That Affect Driving

Do you know which drugs are frequently used that affect driving and make it dangerous to use machines?

Many known drugs have many side effects that people do not know can be dangerous. Some of these effects are nausea, vomiting or abdominal pain. Also, these drugs may induce sleep, a condition that seriously affects driving or operating heavy machinery.

All commercially available drugs can trigger side effects. However, side effects vary in severity and frequency. Side effects are unwanted events that a patient may expect when starting treatment with a particular drug. In this article, we will talk about drugs that affect driving due to their side effects.

Medications that affect driving

Benzodiazepines are drugs that act on the central nervous system. They are able to produce sedative, anticonvulsant and hypnotic effects. For this reason, they are widely used to treat anxiety, insomnia and other diseases, such as epilepsy or alcohol withdrawal.

These are the most prescribed psychotropic drugs, especially by family doctors. 15% of patients taking anxiolytics and 1.6% of all adults aged 18 to 79 years who have been prescribed benzodiazepines for several days or weeks gradually progress to constant and virtually indeterminate use of the drug.

Patients who have exceeded the indicated dose may experience sedative effects, loss of coordination of movement and respiratory depression, especially if they are taking medication with alcohol. Benzodiazepines can also cause decreased attention, concentration and motor function, even at therapeutic doses. These side effects severely affect your ability to drive.

Moreover, benzodiazepines can induce depression, which is much more common in patients who have already suffered from this affective disorder.

After a patient takes these medications for a long time, he may have a withdrawal syndrome if he abruptly stops them. In turn, this can lead to anxiety, irritability, tremors and hallucinations, among other symptoms. Some patients who have been prescribed long-term benzodiazepine treatment in lower doses may suffer from anxiety and insomnia when they stop taking the medicine. This may be due to a lack of medication or a recurrence of the symptoms initially treated.

3. Antidepressants

Doctors are increasingly prescribing antidepressants with low-dose sleep-inducing effects to treat insomnia, even if the patient is not suffering from depression. Medical professionals should warn patients about the possible side effects and precautions regarding the use of any medicine.

• Sleepiness
• Loss of memory or loss of concentration