Running high so I could drive...

Hi Jelaca, what sort of levels are you running at for driving ? How many hours a day are you driving ?

I rely heavily on my car as I live in a rural area so it's vital for me to keep good control with driving, I prefer to be above 5.5 when I drive so I have some leeway with BG levels, if i'm driving for longer, say 2 hours I would aim to be above 6 mmol/l and of course any longer than 2 hours then I stop at test at 2 hours. I wouldn't deliberately run any higher if I can help it though. I know it's a fine balance but is there anything else stopping you from keeping good blood glucose levels in regards to driving, eg. fear of hypos ?

Jelaca said:

Thank you so much for listening!

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I did and last Christmas was my favourite.

Jelaca said:

Hi guys,

I haven't posted on here in a while and I think it's mainly because I haven't been taking my diabetes seriously for a long time but have had a bit of a reality check when I got my latest eye screening results back - They said I have background retinopathy and so I really need to control my levels better.

I have one thing that I find very difficult in the fact I have to drive a lot for my job - So in the past I have been letting my levels run slightly higher so that I knew I would be able to drive when I needed to (I know that is awful but as I said, I hadn't been taking things as seriously as I should have been).
I obviously don't want to do this any more as it isn't good! But does anyone have any advice for me with driving? Or does anyone else have a similar situation?

I wouldn't drive if I was low because I know all of the guidelines, but I also don't want to be high anymore.. I'd really appreciate any tips or help - Thank you so much for listening!

Jessica

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Hi Jelaca, this is a difficult one when you drive for your job, I have to drive for mine but my job entails jumping into a car at any random, given moment and speeding off to emergencies! I had an Occ health assessment where the Dr said (as a reasonable adjustment) to 'run your sugars higher' so that you're 'always in a state of readiness' but never said to what level and I wondered why it is necessary to risk my health in that way. Anyway, when I am driving for long periods of time, I do the usual checking before and during etc but also eat a low carb snack at least every hour whilst I am driving. I don't know if your levels are very high or very low or are up and down quickly etc, but it is all about monitoring your body's responses to your diet/insulin/exercise etc and then it seems easier to predict what it will be doing when you are driving. Good luck.

I can understand why, I used to drive for a living too and lived in a state of anxiety of having a hypo whilst driving. If you can stabilise your bg levels so eat low carb during the daytime which means less insulin and therefore less margin for error then it will help you become more confident about running lower levels for driving, alarm Bret getting a libre so you can see the direction your bg levels are travelling in too will help boost confidence and start within range, even if you just get a sensor to get you going it will help hugely.

i'm hopping to learn to drive saving up for driving lessons as parennts are always out and trying to find driving instructors as with provisional you have to have someone supervising you over 21 and has full uk license for at least 3 years.
So in diabeties they don't let you drive when your low but still let you drive when your high? as there's nothing saying you can't drive when your high but equally both of them could put you in danger as like when i'm low (and we might have different symptomps) i find it hard to keep concentration and control (like when i'm cycling) but when i get high, i can get moody and angry so when that happens (i don't drive but i cycle) if your in a veichle if someone get's on the wrong side of you like another driver. If your not thinking right it could lead into road rage and both these things could cause a accident?. Like whenever i cycle i always get away from the road (if it's safe) and do my stuff if i feel my BS isn't right for the safety of yourself and other road users.

Also i suppose if your found high BS and caused and accident couldn't the law use this as evidence against yourself (That's if you know your symptoms of when your low and high) if you actually were at fault.