Breathalizer showing alcohol in ketosis

(Dana Dawkins) #1

Hi there… I have never posted here before so I hope this is OK. I live in a sober living environment because I have had problems with addiction in the past. I have been clean over a year but like living here. I have finally gotten my diet under control and am in ketosis… I tested positive on the nightly breathalyzer test last night and will have to move if it happens again. I don’t want to be out of ketosis. My weight was 190 and now it’s 182 and I feel really good. Does anyone have any suggestions? Will this go away? Are there blood tests that are easy for home use to show I’m not drinking alcohol just trying to be healthy?

(John) #2

Any chance you can take them some science and show them? Most places use those little portable breath analyzers which trigger on all sorts of things, even gum, so they are not admissible in court (was a cop many years ago so laws may have changed or be different in your area) we always had to confirm with a real breathalyzer or blood test. You can force the police to take your blood, but likely not your residence.

Not sure how really to help except to confirm that you can get a positive reading on a breathalyzer when in ketosis.
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More links at bottom, one of which i will post

  1. Low-Carb Diets Can Cause Falsely High DUI Breath Test Readings
    A DUI suspect on a low-carb diet may generate an erroneously high blood alcohol reading from the DUI breath testing machines. On a high-protein diet, the body produces ketosis as it burns stored body fat for energy (a process that has produced dramatic weight loss for many adherers to Adkins-style diets ).

Consumption of carbohydrates (such as alcoholic beverages) during ketosis can cause the body itself to produce a substance called “isopropyl alcohol.” Most DUI breath testing machines cannot distinguish “isopropyl alcohol” from ethanol (the alcohol that we drink and that causes impairment).

The larger, more expensive machines can distinguish the type of alcohol as well as a blood test, but those cheap boxes can’t.

I hope you’ll follow up, I am curious to how they will handle it.

(Jules Swart) #3

Perhaps along with providing the science, you could offer to purchase ketone testing strips for a monitored urine test so they can reassure themselves that you haven’t found a workaround. If you are relatively new to keto, you should spill enough ketones for the strips to read, and they are fairly cheap and readily available. Long term, you may want to invest in a blood ketone monitor (though due to price, perhaps you can work out a random testing schedule which doesn’t require a nightly blood test).

(No I'm not mad - that's just my face) #4

I’d ask them to take me to a clinic for a blood test while showing them the science.