Driving with diabetes (risk of hypoglycaemia)

[UnaCorda]

I've been reading about a server at a fast-food restaurant who helped a customer who was suffering from low blood sugar and was in danger of losing consciousness. Obviously that's great that this woman was observant and knew just what to do in that situation.

However what bothers me is that this customer was in her car in the first place, potentially putting people at risk. Surely if you have a condition that means you could lose consciousness - whether it be diabetes, epilepsy, a heart condition, etc. - and you can't reliably control this with medication or by some other means, you don't get behind the wheel? Someone shared a story of a colleague who was killed by ending up under a truck having left work already knowing she was hypoglycaemic. Obviously a terrible thing to have happened, but this colleague could so easily have killed multiple other people not just herself.

Am I not understanding something about this situation, or AIBU?

Amazingly the rules on driving with a medical condition are written by professionals with expert knowledge of the conditions involved.

I am diabetic. There are rules to follow as outlined above. Hypos happen for a reason, and are not random events.if someone doesn't have the ability to prevent hypos they shouldn't be driving.

Thank you. This - from a diabetic whom I have listened to - encapsulates what I was trying to say.

Being diabetic does not give you carte blanche to potentially kill someone. Is that really a disablist position?

To be fair, chuck, the OP described a situation where someone was in danger of losing consciousness. Low blood sugar IS hypoglycaemia, even if your partner used the term to mean "normal but at risk of getting low" (I do this too!).

Another facet of hypoglycemia is confusion and irritability, certainly family members I know have a tendency to act irrationally during a hypo and it's sometimes the first outward sign that they're in need of assistance. It wouldn't be outside the realm of possibility that this led to her driving when, if clear headed, she knew she shouldn't.

And that's not me excusing her decision, I'm just saying that it's more complicated than "don't do that if you know you're having a hypo".

That's a good point hoik. When I'm hypo I definitely lose judgement and make irrational decisions.

You have no idea what the person concerned desired. You clearly have no understanding whatsoever of the condition. You haven’t listened to what diabetes sufferers have told you. Clearly.

Why else does one get into a car and begin to drive, other than to make a journey to a given destination?

I understand that there are legal rules to follow, that your blood sugar needs to be monitored every few hours, and that steps should be taken to ensure it does not drop too low. You need equipment in order to do this which you obviously have to have with you - so, if you are driving, this means in your car.

Is any of the above a misconception on my part?

If you want to target dangerous drivers I think diabetics are near the bottom of the list...

I'm sure you're right, and I'm sure 99% of diabetics are very responsible. And I don't have an axe to grind with diabetics in any way - I would feel just the same about someone suffering with epilepsy, narcolepsy or any other condition potentially leading to loss of control behind the wheel. Equally someone driving while tired or under the influence of drink or drugs (including prescription).

Yes, losing the right to drive sucks, but so does losing your life or being injured in an RTA caused by someone losing control of their vehicle.

Amazingly the rules on driving with a medical condition are written by professionals with expert knowledge of the conditions involved.

Quite. And it looked like the people being described had not followed them. That's what concerns me.

I found (who i later found to be) a type 1 diabetic woman hanging out of her badly parked/abandoned car in the middle of a car park barely conscious.

Turned out she was going through menopause and that’s what triggered the attack for the first time in a decade despite her meds being taken correctly.

Paramedics I rang sorted her out and I heard the full story later once she had recovered.

You apparently never know when it’s going to happen but she pulled over when she realised she was unwell, had her ICE phone number on her phone so paramedics phoned her husband, and it all ended ok.

I voted YABU because you've waltzed in here banging on about something of which you literally know nothing. Why don't you go on the DVLA website if you're actually interested in knowing about driving with diabetes instead of coming on here and spouting disablist nonsense.

To be honest I also read your post as diabetics shouldn’t drive. I’m type 1, and I have a 13 year, well over 150,000 mile unblemished driving history from age 17. Yes long journeys do take a little more planning and I always have a few bags of Haribo in the car, but honestly I feel like I am guilty until proven innnocent when it comes to driving, despite many years evidence to the contrary. I can tell when my sugars drop into the 4’s (still a normal BS reading in non diabetics remember, you have to meet more stringent levels as a diabetic) and can deal with it appropriately. That is not to say that one day something else might happen to me, but then anyone can have a heart attack at the wheel.

People crash almost daily on the M1, and I bet the majority of them are just crap at driving but that doesn’t seem to be a notifiable condition either...

Why don't you go on the DVLA website if you're actually interested in knowing about driving with diabetes instead of coming on here and spouting disablist nonsense.

That's exactly what I did, as I said above. And at least one of the people I read about clearly had not followed the DVLA advice.

To be honest I also read your post as diabetics shouldn’t drive.

But that isn't what I said.

What is your point then?

Ok, for clarity:

1. I do not think diabetics should be banned from driving.
2. I do think diabetics have a duty to follow the rules and advice laid out by the Government/DVLA.

AIBU?

3. All road users should follow the rules of the road and conditions of their driving licence - YANBU

Singling out one group of people living with a long term illness (which you don't know much about) on the basis of a story you read about 1 person in a newspaper - YABU

I think what people are trying to convey is that you don’t know this woman wasn’t following the rules and advice.

I am not diabetic but have a legally reportable condition and I have a licence that is renewed every 3 years. People make all sorts of judgements about my ability to drive when they have no idea.

Surely if you have a condition that means you could lose consciousness - whether it be diabetes, epilepsy, a heart condition, etc. - and you can't reliably control this with medication or by some other means, you don't get behind the wheel?

You fail to grasp that the nature of the beast is such that even when well managed and controlled, hypos happen. Hypos may be preventable for the most part, but not all the time, every time.

Clearly you believe that diabetics shouldn’t drive!

Yes. You are. It's a person with diabetes, not 'a diabetic' just like it's not 'an epileptic' but a person with epilepsy.

I think what people are trying to convey is that you don’t know this woman wasn’t following the rules and advice.

I maybe didn't give enough info, but in one case the woman asked to leave work early as she was suffering from low blood sugar. She then got into her car and drove home.

YABVU to made a judgement about this women based off what you read in a newspaper article. (Because they aren’t known for stretching the truth at all ).

As a PP said, for all we know the woman drove while her bloods were fine, started feeling woozy, so pulled over at the fast food place to check her bloods and grab something carb-y to eat; and had no intention of driving anywhere until she felt better.

Or, as another PP said, perhaps she wasn’t intending on driving anywhere but in her confused state did so anyway.

You had a good point about hiding medical conditions etc; but it’s been massively lost in your froth about targeting one specific person based on what you read in a newspaper...