My mother-in-law, who has had type 1 diabetes for about six years, drinks two to three beers and one or two margaritas at least times a week and has had two insulin reactions while driving! One was five years ago and the second was last week with my six year old daughter. Everybody was okay. Does her drinking plays a part in having an insulin reaction? Does it have any effect on why her doctor has to keep adjusting her insulin? I don’t think she’s completely honest with her doctor regarding her drinking, and I’m very concerned!

Alcohol can lower glucose. It can impair judgement, and combined with a low, it can cause severe problems, especially at night with the binge drinking. I would expect the State to have a say with her driving privileges. Here in Florida, they would suspend the license until she could prove she was safe to drive.

LD

[Editor’s comment: It sounds like your mother-in-law has a drinking problem and the diabetes is really incidental! I suggest you contact the nearest Alcoholics Anonymous chapter for some help with how to handle this situation. In the meantime, if I were you, I would not allow my children to be in a car she was driving.

SS]