Driving can be the most freeing, daily convenience we can enjoy as we travel between work or the shops. It beats waiting for a bus or travelling to your nearest train station! But after surviving a brain injury, that luxury can become a mental burden. Journeys you’ve so often done now drag, losing your concentration and coordination to fatigue.
Is this the end of driving? So long as you’ve been given the all-clear by your medical professionals, and you feel confident enough to get back behind the wheel, not necessarily! As with our previous discussions on day-to-day life, some things require a bit of adjustment.
“In those early days, I do journeys like this, and I just remember being so so tired, but it wasn’t a tiredness that I could just go to sleep and solve. And, of course, later on, I discovered this was fatigue.” - Mark
Concentration
A potential symptom of a brain injury can be fatigue, which long-distance journeys by car can trigger. How much driving triggers however much fatigue is dependent on the individual, but you can adjust similarly. If you have a 2-hour trek across the motorway, take a 5-10 minute pause halfway at a station. Or more, if necessary! Break the journey into sizeable chunks that you feel comfortable with, learning your mental boundaries and listening to the fatigue.
How do you typically time yourself when travelling to an appointment? Do you try to get there right on time? Instead, consider going a little earlier to relax between the drive and whatever your destination is. If you can, perhaps a day earlier! Allowing time to rest before whatever it is you need to do can help you remain energised, and not sluggish after a long drive.
“If we were having to go to places that were more than a 2 hour drive, we would go the night before. So, we would split that drive, so I would only have to drive the 2 hours the one day and we get there the night before… But it is tiring, and there is a fact out there that between 40-60% of people with brain injuries return to driving after their injury.” - Jules
Coordination
You have the steering wheel, the gear stick, the pedals, the indicator, and the radio when a bad song starts and you desperately want to change over, there is so much to control in a car! Again, your experience will vary from one person to the next on how your coordination, special awareness, and reaction time change, but it is still worth noting. Whereas before surviving a brain injury you can swerve around dangers with ease, effortlessly controlling the car, now it can feel like a game of Bop-It and the instructions are delayed.
Changes like switching to Automatic might help when controlling a car, however, this transition can take some learning and is financially not an option for many people. In this case, you can instead change your driving attitude. If you are in a situation that you are unsure about or feeling fatigued while driving, take a slower approach. Give things on the road a wider space to avoid any risks. Taking precautions and playing safe is the best solution when dealing with slower reaction time and difficulty in special awareness.
Work, Life, Convenience
Symptoms of surviving a brain injury like fatigue and memory loss can affect your work life, even without having to drive on your commute. For those with the option, flexibility in your daily work routine can help greatly when planning and considering times to relax. Especially as your own boss, you have greater power in changing your work week and allowing your mind to function to its best potential with a new routine. Discussing flexibility with your boss, however, can be scary and difficult. Our jobs may require full concentration, 9am to 5pm, 5 days a week, driving daily to your workplace. In the future, we will discuss ways to speak to your boss about brain injuries and request adjustments to help you work to your best!
If driving is taking the wind right out of you, whether for work or casual tasks like shopping, consider the alternatives. Remember, our 3-step rule is if you can’t do the task despite breaking it down to 3s, ask for help! Either through public transport, online services, or asking a friend or relative to drive you that day. As much as a car can be freeing and convenient, it doesn’t have to be for every occasion.
“When you have a brain injury, and you have the fatigue and not the energy levels that you previously had. That could be really daunting thinking that you have all these jobs. So, prioritising what actually needs to be done. And the reality is if your house has a bit of dust in it, it doesn’t really matter!” - Jules
Day-To-Day Living
Every day can bring a whole new, daunting challenge, or even the same challenge all over again! A never-ending cycle of chores and responsibilities that can pile up on us. Whether that requires driving, travelling, at work or at home, sometimes you need to step back and prioritise. Look at that long list and ask, ‘What REALLY needs doing today?’
Fatigue can hit hard, especially with certain triggers that can slow us down no matter how much we try to relax. But with our free Fatigue Diary resource available for download, you can learn what causes fatigue and adapt your daily life to avoid or cope with that trigger.