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Are You Prepared?
Whether you are diabetic or just a fitness-forward person, you are without a doubt the type of person who is used to being prepared. People with diabetes have to constantly monitor their food, blood sugar, and insulin, ready at a moment’s notice to jump into action.
If you are dieting, and you have chosen a low-carb diet, often referred to as a “keto diet,” then you also know how to be prepared. You know the menu of your favorite restaurants inside and out. You know which foods to avoid, and you have a high-fat, low-carb snack ready to go when the cravings hit.
Diabetics and low-carb dieters will avoid grabbing a beer for the same reason: they are just loaded with carbs!
So, you now find yourself at a DUI checkpoint. You are confident this slight annoyance will be a quick ordeal because you haven’t had a drop to drink all night. Yet the officer is asking you to step out of your car after taking a breathalyzer test. To the shock of you and your passengers, they are saying you failed the test, and it’s starting to look like this ordeal may not be so quick.
What is Ketosis and Ketoacidosis?
Ketosis and ketoacidosis are processes your body enters into when turning fat into energy.
Ketosis is a process regulated by insulin in the bodies of people eating low-carb diets, while ketoacidosis is a process diabetics may enter naturally with the lack of insulin. In an effort to streamline this conversation, we will refer to both processes as ketosis.
Some people eat so few carbs or have such low insulin, which results in the body using fat as its fuel source instead of carbs. Most people rarely enter ketosis as they eat plenty of carbs or have their insulin properly regulated.
If someone who is in the process of ketosis is subjected to a breathalyzer test, they will likely get a false positive.
How Does Ketosis Affect Breathalyzer Tests?
When you are in a state of ketosis, your liver produces a compound known as ketones. Ketones enter your bloodstream and cycle throughout your body. Unfortunately, ketones are exhaled through breath vapor, much like alcohol in the blood. When someone who is undergoing the process of ketosis does a DUI breath test, they will likely blow a false positive because the breathalyzer test can pick up ketones in much the same way as alcohol particles.
Because you may not even know you are in ketosis, you will likely be blindsided by any kind of positive breathalyzer test.
Is Ketosis a Valid Defense?
Because DUI charges are intended to punish reckless drivers and discourage people from drinking and driving, someone who gets a false positive with a DUI breath test will certainly be able to use their ketosis as a defense in an effort to have the charges dropped and removed from their record.
An experienced DUI defense attorney will be able to use the evidence of your ketosis to prove that your DUI breath test was erroneous and that you did not drive while under the influence of alcohol.
Working with the DUI defense team at Patrick Silva, Attorneys at Law, you will know exactly what you need in order to ensure a fair outcome.
Gathering evidence to build a strong case is crucial. This can include character witnesses who have experience with your diet, diabetes, and/ or your ketosis. Your medical records and even a new medical exam could help ensure the right outcome regarding your DUI case.
What If You Have Been Drinking?
Some people with diabetes and low-carb dieters may still choose to have a drink or two while they are out with their friends, which is absolutely their right! Let’s say you get pulled over after having a few, and you blow over the legal limit on a breathalyzer test when you know there’s no way you have exceeded your limit.
Because a DUI breath test uses intricate technologies to measure alcohol particles on your breath, someone who is in ketosis may get a higher blood alcohol content reading from a breathalyzer test. The ketones on your breath may exacerbate the reading, nudging into a level that is over the legal limit.
Remember, it is not illegal for you to drink. It is not unlawful for you to be in a state of ketosis, and it is not illegal for you to drive with a blood alcohol content of less than .08%. This means that if you blow more than a .08% because you were in ketosis, and you are being charged with a DUI, then that is not just!
Do You Need a Lawyer if You’ve Done Nothing Wrong?
It may feel like a punishment for something you can’t control. Everyone knows hiring a defense attorney can be expensive. But imagine how much worse things will be if you are convicted of a DUI that you do not deserve.
A DUI conviction will have long-lasting consequences. Court costs, penalty fines, and even jail time are some of the immediate impacts you will discover. But the effects can reach further than you imagined, resulting in more expensive insurance premiums, the loss of special driver’s licenses, such as a commercial license, and the social impact of having a DUI on your record.
All because of a medical condition or a diet and a false positive on a test.
You can’t afford that.
So call Patrick Silva, Attorneys at Law, at 909-500-4819 to schedule your free consultation. This is the first step towards ensuring your innocence!
