What about Driving? Breakthrough Hepatic Encephalopathy

There must be a reason why the medical team suggested not driving expect local. What treatment you may have had and any medication you may be on are two factors. I see lactulous and zinc but not what level you are at with the mild HE.
For how long are they suggesting you stay local? I call this reasoning things out.

Thanks for the input - I find that getting feedback from others and their experiences helps with “reasoning” - a reality check, as it were. I also very much value the input from the community as I learn so very much about how others handle what may be very stressful with such grace and lack of judgement.

Good morning from Canada 🇨🇦
I remember suffering and I still suffer with hepatic ensopholopy. Sorry if I've misspelled it but you know what I mean. I was told I couldn't drive and the reason is is the confusion and the brain doesn't talk to the body so you suffer from low responses. Your reactions are slowed down. It doesn't have anything to do with your medication. It's to do with the buildup of gases in your brain because your body is not clearing poisons and it builds up in your bloodstream and goes to your brain. I'm not sure that my descriptions are what exactly the right word because I still suffer from some permanent brain damage from my pre-transplant issues. If your doctors tell you not to drive, do not drive. There's taxis. There's Ubers. I'm sure you have friends or family that could drive you places. Don't take a chance. But it is a buildup of toxins in your bloodstream that go to your brain and start doing some damages. I was told that you recover once you have your surgery once you have your transplant. But I never really came back but that's just me. I waited a long time for my transplant so if you don't wait too long and you stew the medications as they tell you to then I think you would be okay post. But don't drive if they're telling you don't drive don't drive

I couldn’t drive I was in ICU and after the transplant I couldn’t drive for 3 months so I wouldn’t recommend it, I had ammonia on the brain and wasn’t really with it

I haven't been able to drive because of the HE for the last 12 years. I can't even drive locally. I have my HE as under control as it can be but it's still there. I can't decide what action to take when driving as it is all instant. My brain can't keep up with whether the light being red is go or stop or where I'm suppose to turn or what that a stop sign I just drove through? Since I'm still pre-TRX it's going to be a while before I can be allowed to drive. I do dumb things at home as well like putting the dirty clothes on the floor in the laundry room into the dryer instead of the wet clothes in the washer, I try to flush the toilet by flipping the light switch, I put food in the microwave that should be in the fridge, it's a long list. I call myself the goofy HE type because I don't do harmful things, just dumb stuff. Driving is just too complicated for my brain to keep up with and it's a pain constantly need a ride to go anywhere.

HE is just about the most frightening part of this for me, and mine seems relatively mild. Have you been thinking about getting actively listed again, so there’s hope for improvement? While mild, I, like you, do goofy things around the house, but haven’t had confusion while driving that I’m aware of. The first Dr I saw at Mayo is the one who said to keep my driving to a limited radius, but none of the other hepatologists have mentioned other than in notes. I’ll be back in Phoenix on 9/16, and will dig a bit further into what I should or should not be doing with HE.

I'm being monitored but my MELD is at 10 so for the moment there is no listing for me but that's fine, I'd rather skip the tranplant altogether.

The last time I drove I got confused as I was driving the 10 miles from grocery store to home. I felt something was off but didn't know what but wanted to just get home. I didn't know it until later that I couldn't remember which was the gas and which was the brake. I drove through two stops signs and one stop light. I got home safetly but later I was terrified I could have hurt someone. I never drove again. So it can happen at any time, you don't get a warning when the wires get crossed in the brain.

Dang that you're going to be there on the 16th because I'm going to be there on the 26th. I'm going to ENT for this trip but would have been nice to meet up.