Who has not driven after taking ibuprofen for cold or allergy antihistamines? In fact, how many diabetics with lifelong treatment do they drive daily? Well, taking medications commonly used to treat diabetes, cough suppressants, muscle relaxants, antiepileptics, antiparkinsonians, antidepressants and antihistamines can affect your ability to drive and their effects can be confused with those of cocaine, cannabis, barbiturates or amphetamines

According to the Spanish Medicines Agency there are about 5,000 medications and drugs that can reduce the ability to drive and give false positives in alcohol and drug controls, which can lead to fines of up to 1,000 euros and the loss of six points of the driving license.

According to Dr. José María Domínguez Roldán , a member of the General Assembly of the Collegiate Medical Organization (WTO), in statements to Antena 3 Noticias, "we are talking about drugs of very common use, from those used for sleep disorder to sedatives, antipsychotics and even drugs that are not intended to sedate the patient but do have it as a side effect, such as some antihistamines or some drugs used to treat allergies or even a common cold. That is, we are talking about medications of habitual use and not of drugs of abuse ".

The effects of these medications can be multiple. "There is a great variability between one person and another in the sensitivity to these medications, but the most frequent effects are drowsiness, lack of ability to concentrate and alert, in general, decreased reflexes and, therefore, all those effects can limit driving ability. Some medications also have a euphoric effect , which makes the driver unaware of the danger, "Dominguez explains.

Most drivers are unaware that they can be fined for driving under the influence of these medications and also do not know that there is a warning symbol or pictogram on medication boxes that are incompatible with driving.

These are some medications whose presence can be detected in urine tests and produce false positives in alcohol and drug controls if you have no medical prescription :

-Brompheniramine (Ilvico)

-Bupropion (Zyntabac, Elontril)

-Clorpromazine (Largactil)

-Clomipramine (Anafranil)

-Dextromethorphan (Romilar)

-Diphenhydramine (Bisolvon antitussive compositum and others)

-Doxylamine (Cariban, Dormidine and others)

-Ibuprofen

-Naproxen

-Prometazine (Actithiol antihistamine, Fenergan expectorant)

-Quetiapine (Seroquel)

-Ofloxacin (Surnox)

-Ranitidine

-Sertraline

-Tioridazine

-Trazodone (Deprax)

-Venlafaxine

-Verapamil

According to the criteria of The Trust Project

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