Hypoglycemia, Diabetes & Blood-Alcohol Tests

The reason this is all very pertinent is because the symptoms caused by diabetes or hypoglycemia can all too easily be confused with an intoxicated individual. While these symptoms are typically seen in a diabetic or hypoglycemic, they can also be seen in a non-diabetic individual. If a person is on a low-carbohydrate diet or has not eaten in the past 24 hours, they can experience the same traits.

Unfortunately, the symptoms of a hypoglycemic attack can be more severe than the individual experiencing the attack realizes. They can be driving and unaware that they are putting both themselves and others in danger. Bodily symptoms might be hunger, nausea, tremors, anxiety, rapid heartbeat, and sweating. The symptoms that affect the central nervous system and are often more apparent from an outside perspective can include slurred speech, confusion, seizures, delayed reflexes, loss of consciousness, and light-headedness.

Diabetic symptoms can deceive police officers to make them believe the driver is, in fact, intoxicated. If the blood glucose of a diabetic rises above 250 mg/dl, the body becomes incapable of making use of any carbohydrates for energy. In response, the body will start burning ketones (stored fat) to produce energy. Diabetic ketoacidosis will then occur, where symptoms are rapid heartbeat, labored breathing, loss of appetite, thirst, drowsiness, and a flushed face. Another unfortunate reaction during this state: ketones and acetones in the breath will create a distinct bad breath that can easily be mistaken for alcohol on the breath.

A breath alcohol test will be given in most drunk driving cases. Whether this test be administered using a preliminary alcohol screening test in the field or a breathalyzer at the police station, the equipment is incapable of detecting ketones. Instead, the machines will often mistake them for ethyl alcohol, which in turn registers as an increased blood alcohol level.

The machine is programmed to assume that the compound is "probably" alcohol. Unfortunately, thousands of compounds containing the methyl group can register as alcohol. One of these is "acetone". And a well-documented by-product of hypoglycemia is a state called "ketoacidosis", which causes the production of acetones in the breath. In other words, the Breathalyzer will read significant blood alcohol levels on a diabetic’s breath where there may be little or none. See, for example, Brick, "Diabetes, Breath Acetone and Breathalyzer Accuracy: A Case Study", 9(1) Alcohol, Drugs and Driving (1993).

A study done in 1988 (by Mormann, Olsen, Sakshaug, and Morland; Measurement of Ethanol by Alkomat Breath Analyzer; Chemical Specificity and the Influence of Lung Function, Breath Technique and Environmental Temperature, 25 Blutalkohol 153) discovered acetone levels that are high enough can create a reading of .06% on a breath test. That is just .02% under the legal limit of .08%. Per this discovery, increased acetone levels on the breath have been found as a popular cause of inaccurate breath test readings of blood alcohol level.

Lastly, insulin will speed up the rate at which alcohol burns off (or oxidizes) in the body. Because of this fact, any evidence in a DUI case of blood alcohol level projections from the time of arrest is open to doubt.