Testing before driving

[Emmakeets]

Hi,

I've been trying to get tighter control of my BG levels for the last month or so which has meant lower readings. I am on insulin and am aware that the DVLA advise not to drive if you BGs are below 5.

Problem is that my BGs in the afternoon are quite often 4-7-4.9. I would rather not correct this as to me it is a reasonable level but I do have to drive home from work.

Does anyone else have this issue and if so what do you do? I have been treating it but that often means that my BGs go quite a bit higher as I over-correct which of course is not helping with getting my HBA1C down.

 

[SB2015]

I stick to the ‘5 to drive’.
If I am below 5, I will eat a bit of a jelly baby to get up to five.

 

[Ljc]

Just a thought, apologies as I don’t know what you prefer but would something like half or one Jelly baby budge you up just enough to get you to 5

 

[Ljc]

I stick to the ‘5 to drive’.
If I am below 5, I will eat a bit of a jelly baby to get up to five.

You beat me to it, I must learn to type faster

 

[Emmakeets]

I find if I have anything like jelly babies in my drawer then they seem to disappear 🙄. I have started going to the resident sweet holder and just taking one each time I am a little low sometimes it's not enough sometimes it's a little much! Suppose its just a matter of trial and error!

 

[HOBIE]

Well done for keeping an eye on BG. Trial is the trick. Test on a weekend when low ish & see what raises your BG up. Good luck

 

[Radders]

Would something low GI do the job? The rules say you have to eat but they don’t say what you have to eat. So a piece of cheese or a few nuts might do the job!

 

[Northerner]

I find that a Belvita biscuit works well for me as a 'top up' that doesn't appear to spike me too much 🙂

 

[khskel]

I have a nature valley protein bar or an oatcake for the drive home as my BG tends to drop at that time if the day.

 

[Emmakeets]

Thank you all for the ideas, I woke up to a 4.6 this morning so looks like I need to adjust slightly and definitely start experimenting with what snacks I can get away with!

 

[Alister]

DVLA say states 2 hrs or less before driving & then every 2 hrs, so can you test a little earlier (say 1 hr before going home) to stay within regs.
( I deny ever having made a short journey without testing first).

 

[Vicsetter]

The last thing you want, while driving is to have a hypo, so it makes sense to me, (irrespective of the DVLA guidelines) is to test immediately before driving and judge how you will be after your drive and act accordingly. You of course have to test every 2 hrs during a long drive, or a day out. Don't forget that sitting in the driving seat with the car keys counts as being in charge of the vehicle.

 

[Alister]

The last thing you want, while driving is to have a hypo, so it makes sense to me, (irrespective of the DVLA guidelines) is to test immediately before driving and judge how you will be after your drive and act accordingly. You of course have to test every 2 hrs during a long drive, or a day out. Don't forget that sitting in the driving seat with the car keys counts as being in charge of the vehicle.

Absolutely you have to be Certain that you are not going to go hypo - that applies even if you have tested immediate before driving.
but assuming this is a regular occurrence I am sure most of us have a pretty good idea of how or BG levels are likely to progress & can tell when a Hypo is coming on so a 15 min or less journey 1 hr after testing is unlikely be a problem (otherwise a 1hr 15 journey would be unachievable even after an intimidate test).

regardless of everything else road safety is paramount & I did not intend to imply otherwise.

 

[C&E Guy]

I am fully aware of this regulation and the total need for road safety but I find it a nuisance.

My drive to work takes 20-23 minutes at 7am when the roads are quiet. No motorways, a bit of dual carriageway, mostly 30mph maximum.

I test when I get up about 30 mins before driving, and I eat all my breakfast. I am constantly watching the clock and really don't have time to test again. I really don't see the point. I've been Type 1 for over 54 years and have been driving since 1979. I think I can tell if I'm not safe to drive!

Before the EU banned us, I regularly drove vans, trucks and minibuses, as well as many large cars. I'm sure there are a lot of drivers out there who are too old, who can't see, who are uninsured, whose mind is elsewhere etc - and they don't have to test like we do.

 

[Sally71]

My mum (T1) was unable to get her licence renewed last time because her eyesight is no longer good enough. She knew it was coming, and never drove very far anyway, but still annoying for her to have to rely on my dad to take her for every little trip shopping or to get her hair cut etc. She had a licence for 40+ years, never had an accident or any points on her licence at all, and now is no longer allowed to drive. There must be many people out there as you say who are similarly unfit to drive, or who have caused accidents or broken every rule in the book, who are allowed to continue purely because they are lucky enough not to have a long term medical condition which requires regular check ups. My mum is trying very hard not to be bitter about it, but you can tell it rankles, and I can't say I blame her

 

[trophywench]

I test when I get up about 30 mins before driving, and I eat all my breakfast. I am constantly watching the clock and really don't have time to test again. I really don't see the point. I've been Type 1 for over 54 years and have been driving since 1979. I think I can tell if I'm not safe to drive!

I used to do exactly what you do, equally successfully.

However I had two terrible hypos when driving home in the evening after work. I used to test just before I sorted my desk out - odd bits of filing and the like ready to leave. The first time I left the carpark, turned left and drove 100yds into the petrol station to fill up and very strangely for me felt a bit odd and thought I better test again, cos I could have sworn my BG was 6.5 not 10 minutes ago. Tested again - yep - it's now 6.8 though, so off I set down the M42 as per normal. Hit a jam a couple of miles before my turn off and still stop-start and crawling in the outside lane suddenly there was this really awful noise, what the hell is that? It was the noise a car apparently makes scraping along an Armco barrier. Lady behind me sorted me out and rang 999, stayed behind me with her hazards on until the police arrived. Car was still fully functional and the Crunchie I kept in the glovebox just in case (who knew then that chocolate isn't the best cure?) had kicked in and the police were great, one said he had a T1 sister so told his colleague that he'd drive me in my car to the nearest hospital A&E and to just follow us and he'd sort the paperwork out when they got back. I remain grateful to all those people.

After that it happened again, and I voluntarily stopped driving for 12 months (cos it wasn't as automatically applied then) but the mad hypos out of the blue still kept happening though more randomly and never again when driving and were only prevented by a total change in insulin. Humalin I and S both still have very unpredictable peaks for some people and no amount of BG testing will prevent that fact. Scares me that some T1s are still using it - just because it's never done that to you in the last 10 years does not mean it won't, tomorrow.

 

[Alister]

I test when I get up about 30 mins before driving,

This would be perfectly within the DVLA Regulations.
DVLA say you must test NO MORE THAN 2hrs before driving & then test every 2 hrs so provided you arive at work within 2 hrs of your test you are meting the regulations for testing.
you still need to drive safely which means pulling over & treating accordingly if you feel a hypo coming on, so hypo awareness is essential (as it would be even if you tested immediately before driving).

 

[trophywench]

I was aware alright about 20 seconds before being too hypo and I'd been 100% fine for years previously, so until it started happening I was never worried. The diabetes clinic at the hospital were utterly useless including a doctor who was either German or Austrian who spoke to me like I was aged 7 and told me 'when you go hypo you must stop immediately and eat a little piece of bread' and a nurse who obviously found it exceedingly tedious to be told to change me over to Lantus and Novorapid and when I enquired what amount of insulin she thought I ought to try first for each 10g carb, went into an instant diatribe about carb counting being something out of the ark, that I must wipe all previous knowledge of carb values from my brain this very instant and told me very threateningly that if she ever found out I was still counting them - then I could be certain she'd find out and I'd soon have to answer to her!

I was so gobsmacked I must have agreed but never intended to do as she said and never did. Silly mare I thought then and continue to think!

 

[C&E Guy]

After discussing this yesterday, my morning test was 3.0. It gave me an excuse to have 2 glasses of fruit juice, some Frosties and a handful of Jelly Babies before I could even think of going to work. Ended up leaving the house 10 minutes late but still got to work on time.

 

[Emmakeets]

My drive to work literally takes 10 minutes. I'm afraid I am most definitely not a morning person and getting to work for 8 is a struggle for me - I am on of those roll out of bed into clothes and out the door types. I test as soon as I wake up and am probably out the door within about 15 mins, next test is when I get to work before I have my breakfast! If I wake up low I am guaranteed to be late for work but luckily my boss is very understanding