Failed dvla medical for hro

[chip00001uk]

Hi everyone, my first post.

I have failed the dvla medical because of 3.30% CDT test on my blood sample, I dont fully understand how.

Over the last 12 months I have cut my drinking right down, I only mainly drink on saturday dinnertime for a couple hrs. I cant remember the last time i was drunk. The couple of weeks prior to medical, I drank next to nothing, yet still failed.

My drinking is under control, Im not an alcoholic and I work hard 5-6 days a week.

5 years ago I had a relationship breakdown of 13yrs, I stupidly lost my job within a very short period of time and had major financial troubles. The stress was just to much at the time. Then one day (running late) I met up with friends and ended up getting drunk. I decided to sleep in car rather than drive. I still got arrested, blew a ridiculously high breathe test, got banned for 6mths for drunk in charge, had to attend the DID course, take counsilling & 12mths probation.
Since then Ive been rebuilding life & all I needed was my licence back, get transport, find a better paid job & get my own flat or something.

This is a major blow to my plans. I have to wait another 6mths now to reapply.

DVLA have been a pain since my original application last october. I sent in all the forms including a £90 postal order, they sent it back for a couple corrections minus the postal order, i rectified, sent it back, they said they hadnt recieved payment and it took from then until end of december to find my postal order & send me details on how to book medical etc. That took another 5weeks before an appointment was available. So its took almost 5mths to get this sorted.

I cant see how I failed medical and dont see how DVLA have taken 5mths to before I get a result.

Any suggestions?

Best Regards

 

[Begbie]

How long before you drank did you do the test? What is the cut off point for the CDT?

 

[chip00001uk]

I had 2 pints 4 days before medical. 3% and over is still apparently showing alcohol depency.
Up to 1.70% is green
Up to 2.90% is amber
3% & over is red

I was 3.30%, so i was only over by 0.3% & i dont really drink that much. I dont understand?

 

[Clarkey]

I had to google CDT, but seemingly it shows heavy alcohol use over the course of weeks.

Are you lying about how much you have been drinking? That would hardly be unusual for an alcoholic in fairness.

It could be a test result mixup though, but they won't admit to that so you'll just have to wait and do it again.

 

[Dogbreath]

I seems the only way to have a high CDT level without heavy drinking is if you have serious liver disease or a specific genetic defect. If you really haven't been drinking heavily, then maybe a visit to the doc for a check up would be a good idea.

 

[BinnsY]

I'm afraid I'm going to just come out and say what I imagine most people are probably thinking.

Are you entirely sure you aren't drinking more than you think?

A quick google suggests that this test is accurate in 19/20 cases http://www.behavioral.net/article/useful-test-monitoring-alcohol-use For the 1/20 it's not accurate for it's usually indicative of something underlying.

Rather than asking on a forum I would suggest you visit a GP for advice as to why this might be the case. It may also be worth keeping a "drink diary" where you record exactly what you drink and when to make sure you are being as moderate as you think?

 

[chip00001uk]

I used to be a very heavy drinker due to the reasons before & after what i said in my original post. 18mths to 2 years ago i would admit that i was the verge of being an alcoholic but i snapped out of it & decided to cut down, i did a lot of thinking & decided to sort myself out.

Maybe the abuse I gave my body during that time is taking some time to repair itself and maybe I should have waited longer before reapplying for my driving licence.

Like I said, I only go out now on saturday afternoons or for special occassions, then only for a couple hrs = 4-5 pints a week. That is far from being high risk to re-offend. Im certain that most that read this probably drink a lot more than that each week? Most of the people I know personally drink more in one sat/sun than i do in a month.

I will just have to keep my drinking to a minimum and reapply in 6 months.

 

[iaind]

I wonder if you can get a GP to carry out the same test? If it shows wildly different results, a statement from an independent GP has to carry some weight with the DVLA, surely. If this is possible and the rest shows dependency over a couple of weeks then getting it done ASAP would be critical. Otherwise like others have mentioned, seeing the doctor and asking the question would be a good starting point anyway - if they identity something underlying that could cause an incorrect result then again it should be a good starting point to dispute it

 

[BinnsY]

The fact that you identify that you used to be "being on the verge" of being an alcoholic probably means that at one point you actually were. Factor in most people underestimate just how much they drink, especially if they are pouring spirits etc at home where singles naturally end up being more like triples.

5 pints in a couple of hours isn't loads if you were to spread it over a week, but if your knocking that back inside a couple of hours that's well and truly a binge drinking session. Your putting away something like triple the daily recommendation inside 2 hours.

As a perspective for you I'll normally have 3 or 4 cans on either a Friday or a Saturday night but that will take me about 5 hours to get through. Essentially your cramming your entire weekly allowance of alcohol into a single 2 hour binge session which certainly isn't going to be doing you any favours. I'd imagine anything your gaining by not drinking every day your essentially undoing inside those 2 hours.

The fact that you know people who drink more on a single day than you do in a month is largely irrelevant. They would have to be knocking back 20 pints inside two days to get through in a weekend what you do in a month, and that's hardly a good comparison to bench yourself against!

If this is so important to you get yourself a GP visit to first check your liver is functioning ok (if it isn't that could cause your high reading) then I would seriously suggest keeping some kind of food diary to check just how much you really are drinking.

At worst, try simply splitting your 5 pint drinking sessions into a couple of 2 pint sessions at different points in the week. Hell, have one on a Monday, one on a Wednesday, and 2 on a Saturday. It's a much better pattern that your body will easily be able to recover from.

If you cant manage this I would take it as a sign that you actually can't manage your drinking and you need more help than your willing to admit.

 

[Captain]

Do yourself a favour and stop drinking full stop.

 

[Jokester]

Personally, I think you should visit your GP and discuss it with him.

And since we have a no medical talk policy I'm going to lock the thread.

Good luck though.