Morning all
Just done a D4 medical (not for DVLA, company records only) and the examiner (not my usual GP) nearly sh*t biscuits when he discovered I was on Naproxen for a spinal condition. He was perfectly happy with the fact I’ve taken painkillers for the past several years, had slightly elevated BP (owing to white coat syndrome and a ~3hr drive for said medical exam) and my previous GP who prescribed it being absolutely fine with it. He’s gone as far as writing in my notes that he’s “shown warning signs and given a lifeline” as long as I have the Naproxen changed, but it’s basically the only anti-inflammatory that works for me and is taken in a low enough dose that it’s never given me any issues with my driving but he’s adamant that it WILL make me fall asleep and that it’s not a case of if, it’s a case of when.
Anybody else had a similar experience? Any idea if this has legal standing or could affect my driving in any way?
Cheers
the quack is talking out of his backside.
I was on naproxen for about 12 months as like you it was the only pain killer i could take with out being on opiates. It never made me drowsy and i dont think that is even a side affect. (you could look on the sheet). I just had to have a blood test every few months because of my stomach issues.
I was taking 500mg twice a day btw
edit to add i was given naproxen because im a driver and anything else that may of worked was on the banned list
I’ve just been prescribed a course of those for a rotory cuff injury. Feel totally fine. One of our driver trainers had a course for the same injury recently, drove with zero issues.
It’s says if you get dizziness or blurred vision to not drive.
The side effects list is massive but tiredness effects 1 in 10 as does insomnia 
I’ve been on Naproxen for years with no ill effects, I have arthritis in both knees and it’s the only thing that works. 
Cheers everybody, I had assumed as much. I’ve been on naproxen for a good couple of years now and can’t say I’ve ever found myself feeling drowsy on them, and I did argue that with the examiner, but for some reason he wouldn’t even accept that. As I say, odd he marked naproxen as the root of all evil immediately but completely shrugged off the cocodamol I take when necessary and said that doesn’t matter as it’s only a painkiller. Annoying he’s put as much on my medical form, and it did get a raised eyebrow or two from the depot supervisor when handed in who immediately laughed it off but it was a worry nevertheless.
I also use codeine as well, it’s on my medical record in case I ever get dip sampled for random drug tests at work. One of my colleagues got stood down when it was discovered she had opiates in her system. It had come from Poppy seed bread. She was panicking as she was leaving to join the police a week later. 
cocodamol is morphine or it breaks down into that… i read somewhere its stronger than tramadol.
When i had my stomach/intestine issues i was given 2 30mg tablets of cocodamol every 4 hours i couldnt handle it it made me very dizzy and i could hardly stand. i used to take just 1 tablet and a paracetamol. i did that for about 6 weeks i guess. when i didnt need them any more i had the worst nightmares and slight panic attacks because i was going through withdrawal. But according to the quack naprozen is worse… yeah right.
Dont answer if you dont want to but how long have you had the spine injury are they simply covering their back incase it gets worse or is it a way of pushing you out the door.
edit to add. if i were you i would go back to your own gp and speak to him get him to look it all up and if it is reportable etc etc. If it isnt i would insist your company remove it from their records
It gets a bit sticky there, I’ve always found cocodamol to be much more gentle than tramadol, which DID make me gibber pish on a daily basis and gave me hellish withdrawals which I was told would not happen. I only take cocodamol as and when needed, that could be nothing for days to 6-8 a few days later but it’s never affected my ability to drive either. I put it down to a high tolerance and being about 20 stone of ■■■■■■ off hammer-throwing Highlander.
It’s a condition I’ve got not an injury. So the pain meds aren’t a cover or panning me off, they’re actually counted as part of my treatment by the GP which does directly go against what the examiner was saying. He just seemed totally terrified of naproxen for some reason despite my best efforts to get him to keep his worries to himself as they don’t apply to everybody, went as far as telling me to “do not argue with me sir, I study medicine for 20 years”. He really didn’t like it when I asked him if he’d be willing to consult with my GP regarding how my medication affects me and that they have vastly differing opinions.
company doctors are not gp’s i learnt that one the hard way. They think they are above it. They go into private medicine and discover there not good enough so they pedal their knowledge to companies that are paying their salary. Hence why i said i suggest you go back to your doc and find the exact reporting recommendations (they have a book) and insist its taken off your records if it doesn’t need to be disclosed.
your company might be one that uses common sense and treats the drivers fairly but if you ever go for another job the new boss might not be.
It’s a shambles. I had done my original medical for my license with my GP and passed with absolutely zero issues, he knows exactly what I’m on, how long I’ve been on it and why it was prescribed in the first place and had put as much in the notes so any issues any employer might have could be addressed and that the treatment was reasonable for the condition, and even that we were both conscious that I wasn’t taking anywhere near my full dose just incase it DID ever affect my driving.
The company I’ve just started with have medicals done every 2 years as company policy (which I find reasonable, given it’s fuel tankers) but weren’t happy with what my GP is charging (which I also found reasonable, he has skyrocketed recently) so had me do mine at the company they usually use for medicals which resulted in this mess. Fair play it isn’t a medical that will ever be submitted to the DVLA and will only ever be kept on record by the company, but it’s still shaken my confidence in the common sense of those who, at the end of the day, decide if we’re safe and fit to drive or not. Should we really be happy to accept the possibility of having our licence taken off us because one examiner has an unnatural fear of a certain type of medication that any GP would prescribe in a heartbeat with absolutely no way of arguing against it?
It all sounds a bit suss to me. but then im paranoid (maybe i should lay off the naproxen 
) However i think it was you that said one of the company trainers is on it so there is company precedent that they accept it. Where this would leave you if god forbid there was an accident even if it wasn’t your fault only you can be the judge on company policy.
I have been on naproxen for many years without any problems, as long as you take with food.
Only thing the doctor doesnt like is i got ckd at a medium level and doctor said it can make it worse.
As for medical i never had any problems for that
So, a wee update.
I’m now in my new job and relocated to the area I’m due to be working in. I’ve been to appointments with my new GP for prescriptions, health checks and the rest of the standard procedures. Other than a slightly elevated BP (to be expected, has been a relatively stressful period and I do tend to get white coat syndrome) I was given a full, clean bill of health.
I mentioned about the naproxen use and the medical examiner’s concerns and notes and she gave me what can only be described as a completely bewildered look. She explained that he had no basis to suggest this and to demand I changed medication, as the dosage alone is less than half of the recommended daily dose and naproxen apparently doesn’t even cross the blood-brain barrier so would NOT affect any part of my driving, and if it had I’ve been prescribed it for long enough to know of any nasties it may have done to me.
So, all in all, I’m now entirely happy with the situation I’m in, my bosses, managers and trainers have my prescriptions and have no concerns about any of it either. I am debating contacting the medical examiner’s company to let them know of this obvious blunder so it doesn’t happen again, as I don’t want another trucker being put in that position because of one examiner’s prejudice against something that acts in a completely different way than he has claimed.
As i said before if i were you i would want all comments made by the company examiner to be erased from my file.
i dont think making a complaint will get you anywhere the quack will continue to abide by the underlying rules regardless of being correct or not.
That’s the way I’m thinking of going. Fair play it’s only for a company file and won’t be anything to do with DVLA, but it’s still there if anything were to happen and would be an easy cop-out for any insurance claims.
Your comment reminds me of being told by my doctor “I won’t waste your money as you won’t pass with that eyesight” regarding going for my medical. Many years followed with me thinking I could never get an hgv licence when by weird fortune I got something in my eye giving me blurred vision. One eye wash at the opticians later and a curiosity about the eye test and going I passed with flying colours. I 500% should have had a second opinion UNLESS at some point between 2004 and 2013 the eyesight requirement changed??
thats why i get my opthalmist to fill in the bit about eye sight.