What do you consider TOO LOW to operate an automobile?

It’s 5:30pm. I should be going home, but I just checked my BG (as I always do before operating my car) and I’m 56. TOO LOW.

What do you consider TOO LOW to operate your car?

Erin

Okay, 6 minutes and 14 Jelly Belly Jelly Beans later, I’m 88… going home now.

I am curious as to what numbers others consider safe!

Erin

I will not drive if I am below 90.

I figured at 88 and rising I was good. I’m home safe and sound now.
I know over the course of the 23 years that I’ve been driving that I’ve probably driven low and I count my lucky stars! Once I got married I made it a habit to never drive without checking my blood before I got behind the wheel. I think that driving LOW is as bad (if not worse) as driving drunk.

Normal traffic: not below 100 mg/dL
Autobahn: not below 150 mg/dL plus additional carbs

I was going to say 70, but, I guess 100 would be safer

Oh boy have I had this happen a lot. I now check myself every time I get in a car. If my sugars were 80 or lower I would take glucose, check (my pump) on how much insulin I still had active in my body and if I had little or no insulin on board, I would go ahead and drive after waiting around 10-15 mins for the glucose to kick in. The 88 and rising thing? Yes, I’ve done that before. I will drive if I’m 90 or above.

Kathy-
I think a lot of it has to do with how you became low. Did you drop fast? Did it come on gradually? Do you normally run low?
I know what you mean by 70. If you run “low” or close to 100, then 70 would not necessarily be unsafe.

Interesting to see what others do though, isn’t it?
Erin

my experience

hmmm

lower than 70 is bad…

not that I never break that rule 8^P

I drove Milwaukee to Chicago once with a blood sugar of about 21

Once on the way home from work I got stuck on the on ramp four about 90 minutes, felt my blood sugar dropping like a rock. Reached for the emergency spree, and discovered I had not replenished. So, I ended up finally driving to the next exit with one eye open ( because of the double vision ) and very freaked out.

Ivan!

I think you have to take your normal numbers into consisderation. It used to be that when I could keep me around 110 and under (meaning, when I wasn’t sick or high on prednisone) and hover nicely around 80 or so I felt so good about me. I would not have worried at all about driving with those kinds of numbers Now I cannot keep me that low even though I enjoy those numbers. But any time you FEEL like you are too low I think is the time to treat and not when it is a specific number. Maybe I go too much on how I feel, but I think it is safer for me at least to do that. Does anyone else go by feeling rather than just number?

100 is my prescribed target all the time, so I am frequently in the 80s (spent most of the day there today). I can’t imagine holding off on driving in the 80s and 90s. I drove home for lunch at 77 today and was fine, but last week felt really low at 74 and couldn’t drive, so it all depends. Generally, I don’t drive any time I’m below 70 or any time I’m feeling symptoms of a low. I base it more on whether or not I feel my focus is impaired.

I feel pretty comfortable in the 80s, unless it’s right after I ate and oughta be higher or something. I’ve never had any trouble driving, knock on wood.

Below 90-100 for me is too low to operate a car and that comes from lots of experience with it. This is definitely an individual matter: my own range of BG, the shopping I’ve just done. My BG will drop after I’ve shopped if I haven’t taken something before shopping - so every time I get in the car, I check what it is and I THINK “how long have I been walking, and did I take something to cover that walking?” Moreover, if my BG has been riding in the 70s- 80s that day, it could do one of those nasty dips. I don’t want to go there. … After finding myself low and taking care of it, I wait 15 minutes and test again, giving myself more, if needed, before resuming driving. I go up 12 mg on one gram CHO, but it won’t necessarily stay up, unless I follow up with a bite or two of a cereal bar or heavier carb than glucose tabs/grape juice, or gel, etc.

I was surprised to learn the last time I was at my Diabetes Education Centre that in the Province of Ontario if you drive with a BG of less than 5.0 you can be charged with impaired driving. Not sure if other provinces/states have the same laws but it’s worth checking into.

I think it depends on how you feel when your BG is in the 80s, 70s, and 60s I try not to drive and do not start a trip in my 60s and always treat the 70s but will drive all the time in the 80s my target is 100. I do go with how I feel though because sometines after coming off a high I feel low in the 80s and will not drive if I get that way anymore.

The 100 target seems crazy to me now that my favorite days are when I’m running steady in the 80s and 90s the whole day. But then, these days I also have CGM to let me know if I’m steady, rising, or falling.

I would say for me, if I’m in the lower 70s I have a snack or pop some yumtastic glucose tabs before driving. But 80s are my favorite numbers! So I wouldn’t consider that too low for me.

Does anyone have a “TOO HIGH” number to drive? LOL. I probably shouldn’t over 250, not because I’d be physically incapacitated, but rather because I’d be more prone to road rage! XD

Dear Readers. I would think a 100 because you cannot really trust the meters. I have mild felt low symptons at a reading of possibly 90. Again does anyone have their BG crash when under stress? My usually goes up but who knows if always.

I’m with Melissa on this one. My target bs is 100, so I am often in the 80’s and 90’s and have no trouble. I wouldn’t be doing much driving if that was the case. I treat under 70 and wouldn’t drive, but other than that it would be dependent on how quickly I’m coming down. Wearing the Dex helps me see how quickly my trend is going.

I tend to stop below 80. That gives me a ten point flex. I consider 70 as being two low. Also If I am dropping I do not trust myself.

Rick Phillips