I need to ask a question about diabetes. If a person is driving a vehicle and goes into a diabetic coma, would they still be able to accelerate the vehicle, are they limp or do they stiffened up, like in a seizure? The reason I need to know this is because a guy hit my daughter and me yesterday in my car. He was headed straight for us, witnesses say doing around 80 mph, in the middle turn lane, :nono: he hit me on the drivers side more to the rear because when i saw him coming straight for us, I swerved to the right, thank God no one was in the right outside lane!! I was in the inside lane and another van was in the turn lane right beside us, we were both doing around 40mph and the speed limit was 45, and the truck that was headed right for us was headed toward her at first and he swerved over and was headed for us into oncoming traffic! So I had no choice, it was either swerve or hit head on! So he hit us both, the van and me. Cops say if I hadn't swerved, my daughter & I probably wouldn't be here! :angel: Thank God we are!!!! I thought we were victims in one of those episodes you see on America's Wildest Police Chases!!! :eek: After he hit us and the van, he kept on going into oncoming traffic, hitting another vehicle before jumping over an embankment and hitting a light pole. So, if anyone knows the symptoms of this disease, when the person goes into a diabetic coma, please shed some light on this for me. Thanks so much!! Cause, we all thought he was either drunk or on drugs or something like that, never did it enter my mind that he could have had a heart attack or be in a diabetic coma!!!

I very much doubt that you are speaking of a "diabetic coma" at all. A diabetic coma is very HIGH blood sugar readings, usually only readings over 750 will put one in a coma. This comes on over a period of several days or weeks, and does not usually come on really suddenly, although it can. Most often, a person who is about to actually go into what is medically called "Ketoacidosis", or diabetic coma, will be very weak, dehydrated, and in and out of consciousness for hours beforehand, often unable to walk or even stand.

I'm assuming you are probably talking about another diabetes-related condition called "Hypoglycemia", or low blood sugar. This is the exact opposite of a ketoacidotic coma, in which the blood sugar, for any number of reasons, is very low, instead of high. Low blood sugar, or Hypoglycemia, is sometimes mistakenly called a diabetic seizure. It is caused by either too much insulin, insufficient food, too much exercise, or any combination of those 3 factors. It can come on fairly suddenly, with little warning, and can, in severe cases, cause the person to black out. I believe that a person who blacked out due to hypoglycemia, while driving a car, would probably keep driving, but not be aware of what they were doing. It does not start out as total unconsciousness, but a blacking out--unconsciousness will however sometimes occur if the blood sugar level gets critically low. In fact, eventually, a person can die from this, and pretty quickly too.

I'm sorry this happened to you. Most diabetics are not dangerous drivers, and this only happens due to medical mis-management, other underlying medical conditions, bad insulin or injection problems, or other medical causes. Most diabetics don't just black out at the wheel!

Michael,
Type 1 diabetic since 1965,
Driving (without mishap) since 1968...

Thank you so much for the info on this condition!! You have helped me see that this can very well be the cause of the accident. I feel sorry for the guy that hit us, because I know that he couldn't help it, but like I said before, thank God :angel: we all are still alive!!! It could have been much worse.... :eek:

I can tell you from experiance that you can drive a car, and not even remember it later. I had 5 severe BS crashes in a 2 week period a few years ago when trying to get my diabetes in check. You have to understand that you are not thinking logically at all. I had a few very serious situations, none of which would have even close to happened had my BS been alright. One in particular, I was restrained by 3 police officers and 2 EMT's while I was trying to fight with them, and I'm all of 5'8' 140lbs. They would not believe my girlfreind telling them that I was not on drugs. Without my girlfreinds insight into what happened, the only thing I would have remembered was waking up in an ambulance strapped down tight to a board. It's weird to see to how almost instantly you come out of it and are fine(except tired). Luckily things are doing much better and I havent had any problems. Sorry to hear about the accident...