A few points to consider if you have to undergo a breathalyzer

A few points to consider if you have to undergo a breathalyzer

• Thursday, March 3, 2011

Let's imagine you previously had a drink or two but do not believe you're under the influence of alcohol consumption. While driving a car, though, you get pulled over and are busted for driving intoxicated of alchohol. Most DWI suspects select the breath test -- a choice which could doom your chances to demonstrate your innocence. Try to keep these at heart if you ever have to prove your current sobriety to a cop: (Ideally, such measures will stop you from requiring a Houston DWI Attorneys)

1. If you have been smoking cigarettes, it would be prudent to pass on the breath test. Studies have showed that this leads to false positives in which it inaccurately indicates that your blood-alchohol-level is greater than it is actually, which may lead to undesirable repercussions. This happens mainly because a chemical substance called acetaldehyde (that enters the body via using tobacco) is often misinterpreted as aclchohol by the device. It's true that this specific chemical substance can also be made by your liver in small amounts while processing the alchohol that you drink. What is interesting, though, is the fact that people who smoke have got more substantial numbers of this inside their lungs which can result in an incorrect positive. ("Origin of Breath Acetaldehyde During Ethanol Oxidation: Effect of Long-Term Cigarette Smoking", 100 Journal of Laboratory Clinical Medicine 908). Converted: because breathalyzers can't differentiate between alcohol and acetaldehyde, smokers will have a greater blood-alcohol reading.

2. If your glucose levels are lower (or you're a diabetic) it is furthermore wise to not partake in a breathalyzer test. A well-documented by-product of hypoglycemia (reduced blood sugar levels) is a condition called ketoacidosis, which causes the manufacture of acetone -- and acetone, like acetaldehyde, will be reported by the Brethalyzer as alcohol. In other words, the Breathalyzer may show significant amounts of alcohol on a diabetic's breath where there can be very little or maybe none. What's even worse is that people in this state of low blood sugar often feel effects similar to being intoxicated, such as inability to speak properly, clumsiness, and impaired vision. An office who sees this after a failed test will certainly mistake you for being over the limit when all you may actually need is some food to get your blood sugar levels again up to normal.

3. Are you on a food plan which eliminates carbs? In this scenario it would be a good idea to avoid a breath test for the aformentioned reasons. Perfectly typical, healthful individuals may encounter temporary problems of low glucose levels after eating and enjoying small quantities of alcohol consumption, leading to overstated and false signs of intoxication. Fasting glycemia can exist where a person has not eaten in 24 hours or has been on a low-carbohydrate diet. Your system stops digesting simple carbs while it tries to metabolize alchohol. This ultimately leads to a period of low bloodsugar, and again, can lead to a false reading by the test.

4. If you have heartburn acid reflux or even have burped or belched just before getting the Breath analyzer test, offer to provide a blood sample instead. This really is undesirable because you are most likely getting alchohol from your stomach (a place in which it is not impacting you yet because it has not been soaked up by your body) to your mouth and throat where it'll pass directly to the machine, making the reading a lot higher than it actually is. This just isn't the best thing. These overcalculations occur because the machine isn't that smart - all it does is multiply the amount of alchohol it detects in your mouth by a certain factor to estimate your blood-alchohol-level. This is because it assumes the sample came from the lungs, not the stomach, and the average person has 2100 units of alcohol in his blood for every unit of alcohol in his breath (called the partition ratio). The Breath analyzer test does not "know" that your breath test is not from your lungs and that it shouldn't multiply the alcohol level by anything. Result: false high readings -- and a Dwi conviction.

5. When you see that officer in the rear-view mirror, don't reach for the mouthwash or breath spray to disguise the drink or two you've had. Most of them contain significant levels of alcohol (Listerine, for example is 27% alcohol) and create a mouth alcohol effect: they remain in the oral cavity for 20 minutes or so -- just long enough to be breathed into the Breathalyzer, with the same results mentioned in number 4. Some breath machines have a mouth alcohol detector, but these are highly unreliable.

If you are or get arrested for Driving under the influence it is essential to hire the assistance of a Houston Criminal Defense Lawyer as quickly as possible.