Medicine Man
Well Known Member
Hello everyone!
My DVLA medical was yesterday, 10/10, and all went well (hopefully!).
Going back a few weeks, I received the letter informing me that I was an HRO and that I would require a medical to deem my fitness to drive approximately 6 weeks ago (my 6 week window ends on the 16th so I was cutting it a bit fine). I was working away from home for most of this period so 10/10 was the only available appointment they had at my designated medical practice - not ideal for getting my license back ASAP but oh well!
On the day, I turned up for my appointment about 30 minutes early and made myself known to the receptionist. At this point, I was sent over to get my blood sample taken which was relatively swift and painless. I asked the nurse what would happen to this sample, and she said that it would be sent off to a hospital nearby for analysis, however she didn’t know much more than this and advised me to ask the doctor more when I went in for my appointment.
I then sat around for another 15-20 minutes as the doctor was running late (when are they ever not running late?). At this point, the doctor and I had a brief chat about what the questionnaire was about and what the blood results meant - there’s plenty of information on this forum about expected values! For reference, my period of abstinence was from just after I attended my court appearance for my license to be reinstated early which was early August, so a good 2 or so months. I ate full meals everyday and drank at least 3-4 pints of water, and didn’t bother taking Milk Thistle or any other supplements. Just before the medical however, I had taken prescription painkillers for an injury sustained about a week prior, but the doctor said the dosage wouldn’t affect the CDT levels in any way (co-codamol).
Answered the usual questions truthfully on the questionnaire at which point she had a quick check of my breathing, heart rate, blood pressure etc. (I have a naturally low heart rate anyway which surprised her somewhat!) but all was well within healthy limits.
All in all I was in there for about 40-50 minutes, but most of this was waiting around.
In terms of results from the blood test, I will give it another week (17/10) before I start calling for progress updates from Swansea.
Hope this helps!
MM
My DVLA medical was yesterday, 10/10, and all went well (hopefully!).
Going back a few weeks, I received the letter informing me that I was an HRO and that I would require a medical to deem my fitness to drive approximately 6 weeks ago (my 6 week window ends on the 16th so I was cutting it a bit fine). I was working away from home for most of this period so 10/10 was the only available appointment they had at my designated medical practice - not ideal for getting my license back ASAP but oh well!
On the day, I turned up for my appointment about 30 minutes early and made myself known to the receptionist. At this point, I was sent over to get my blood sample taken which was relatively swift and painless. I asked the nurse what would happen to this sample, and she said that it would be sent off to a hospital nearby for analysis, however she didn’t know much more than this and advised me to ask the doctor more when I went in for my appointment.
I then sat around for another 15-20 minutes as the doctor was running late (when are they ever not running late?). At this point, the doctor and I had a brief chat about what the questionnaire was about and what the blood results meant - there’s plenty of information on this forum about expected values! For reference, my period of abstinence was from just after I attended my court appearance for my license to be reinstated early which was early August, so a good 2 or so months. I ate full meals everyday and drank at least 3-4 pints of water, and didn’t bother taking Milk Thistle or any other supplements. Just before the medical however, I had taken prescription painkillers for an injury sustained about a week prior, but the doctor said the dosage wouldn’t affect the CDT levels in any way (co-codamol).
Answered the usual questions truthfully on the questionnaire at which point she had a quick check of my breathing, heart rate, blood pressure etc. (I have a naturally low heart rate anyway which surprised her somewhat!) but all was well within healthy limits.
All in all I was in there for about 40-50 minutes, but most of this was waiting around.
In terms of results from the blood test, I will give it another week (17/10) before I start calling for progress updates from Swansea.
Hope this helps!
MM
