Diabetic SC?

[telecom_goddess]

my boyfriend plans to have a medic alert tattooed on him at some point as well. I just wear the bracelet.

[Mytical]

Heh, I don't have it anymore (I would loose my head if it wasn't attached) but a medical professional gave me a card to carry in my pocket. It read...

"This person is suffering from diabetes, and may act irrational or confused. They are not drunk, deranged, or high." Followed by instructions on who to contact, what to do to help if I am in that state, etc. I liked that card.

[teh_blumchenkinder]

Yep! Can't ever lose it (unless... well... y'know), isn't uncomfy, doesn't rust (just discolors after a long-ass time), won't get snagged on something, won't forget it, won't set off detectors or magnets...
Deeeefinitly smart. You just have to pony up for the pain and (slight) expense. Oooh, I wonder if it's covered under insurance? Discount for responsibility?? I hope so! I want that insurance company.
Also: tattoo policy. awesome

[Tama]

I saw something once on a customer I met, a diabetic man, who did something brilliant.

He got a diabetic medical bracelet tattooed on his wrist.

[teh_blumchenkinder]

When I feel like shit (I need to get a diagnosis in my paws that I'm hypoglycemic), I need to eat something with fiber (complex carb, basically-- fruit makes me wonky when I'm down) and I need protein. Thankfully, an egg and some oatmeal fits the bill! Aka 'breakfast,' which is super-important for me nowadays. Sleep is a strange thing...
Sugar, like fruit juice or soda, or sometimes even cow or soy milk (which does have significant/important protein and fats in them), makes me feel nauseous when I need food. I also have to keep calories in my stomach, in any amount, because if I go long enough without eating, my stomach gets super-upset, like I'm going to puke (for a long time!). If I need something that processes fast, crackers. Crackers and cheese. I've had to stay away from sugar in my (beloved and ubiquitous) tea, because that's how I got in trouble last July/August-- I had no idea why my brain felt like it was melting/super-depressed /freaking out over everything that I could normally deal with! The sugar was keeping me up, but there was nothing else there for my body to process.

[Andara Bledin]

I don't get it. I've had funny low blood sugar issues and I have grabbed the first sugary bit I could get.

You weren't as low as that person.

Your body has to have the sugar or your brain can't get what it needs to function and starts starving. Some people can function with less sugar in their bloodstream and some need more, but we all have a lower threshold where we go from being generally cranky to lacking the ability to be rational at all.

I have minor dips every so often, and I usually just have a soda, which I'll take hours to drink all of, but that initial sugar from the first couple of gulps is always enough to pull me out of being snarly and out of sorts.

^-.-^

[Lots42]

I don't get it. I've had funny low blood sugar issues and I have grabbed the first sugary bit I could get.

[Sapphire Silk]

I'm going to politely disagree and please don't take offense to this but this is where I get frustrated dealing with medical professionals trying to tell me how to deal with a chronic disease I manage daily.

My daughter is a type 1 and she wears an insulin pump. Her endocrinologist will tell you to NEVER give her milk chocolate when she is low, more so when she's dangerously low and behaving/feeling like she's going lower. There is so much more at play here with hormones and a pancreas that has completely shut down with that whole insulin production bit it was supposed to be doing. Your suggested treatment in the ER is more geared for type 2's and that's fine but if you try to give my daughter a balanced mix of protein and slow acting carbs, when she's near passing out from a low, you'll kill her.

Also, this disease is different for EVERY type 1. YMMV and what sends one high will crash another but there are general guidelines and yes my goal when correcting a low is to head off a rebound in either direction that is all done by carefully monitoring her basal (essentially her insulin drip rate via the pump) combined with temporary settings to offset what is currently going on with her body. Did she run track today? Is she stressed? Does she have her period? Is she getting sick...the list goes on and on and on. Again, everyone is different, everyone responds differently and the patient that charts, graphs and is very in tune to their body is quite capable of telling you what they need and when.

You're quite right in there are substantial differences between Type 1 and Type 2 diabetics. I meant no offense, and I agree: milk, even chocolate milk, is not the best choice for a quick sugar fix because it metabolizes too slowly.

However, I would point out in the ER we give IV Dextrose FIRST, before the meal tray, to get her sugar back up quickly, and THEN the carbs to keep the blood sugar up to a safe level. She still needs complex carbs that take a while to metabolize, especially if she is on an insulin pump. The blood sugar will be checked regularly to make sure things are OK. This is what I've had doctors order for both types of diabetics in hypoglycemic crises. The lowest blood sugar I have ever seen in my professional career was a 12 (normal is 70-100), and that's the treatment we gave . . . though we had to give follow up D50 while the carbs metabolized. We admitted the guy because he had pneumonia.

In the community, I would try oral glucose or orange juice while dialing 911 (paramedics can give D50).

As with any patient, if a family member tells me what works best, then I listen to what they say because 9 times out of 10 they're right on the money.

[Tama]

Edit: Misread previous post.

[Sliceanddice]

I'm heading back when I'm asked to go get a Coke, specifically, for a diabetic customer. I look through a TON of register aisles with fridges and find none. So I go to her and ask if I can bring her either a Mountain Dew (I figure, more sugar) or a Snickers (simple sugar chocolate, relieves the 'woozy' condition now; and the peanuts help keep it away).

actually snickers have peanuts which would be better cause they have protien in them and there will allow your blood sugar to remain normal longer. Cause you body absorbs sugar better with protien. Thats why most diabetics eat stuff like peanut butter crackers to combat low blood sugar and more doctor suggest it.
Hell its what i did when i was high school my doctor tried metformin for my PCOS and i had the fun of having a daily 1 o clock to 2:30 blood sugar drop to the 50s 40s or 30s.

[Kristev]

Yes. The correct counter for diabetic low is orange juice first, followed very quickly by protein. As some of you know, I am diabetic myself. Hyper/hypo states can really sneak up on you.

[DeltaSierra]

For me, I have the problem of producing waaaay too much insulin all at once. If I have to resort to slamming sugar, I know that once I do, the clock is ticking. I have a very limited amount of time to get some fat and protein before I crash again. That happens, I'm going down.

I try very hard to not let myself reach that state.

Sounds like me to a "T." I find the best thing for me is juice. I don't like anything carbonated when I'm crashing - but like others have said , the fuzzy headedness/mind fog that comes with a crash could have had this woman focused on the one thing she KNOWS works, even if there might be other options that would work as well/better. I had a BAD crash in my microbiology lab last Thursday, and almost passed out. One of my friends ran and got me OJ from the drink machine in the lobby. I had that, and once I was well enough to walk, went directly to the cafeteria to have a piece of chicken, as RecoveringKinkoid said - while sugar helps the initial low, if I don't follow it with protein, I'll crash again and harder. Everybody's different though - you have to find what works for you. 99% of the time I carry a juice box with me, but I'd just bought a new backpack and stupidly forgot to switch my "emergency stash" to the new one.

[RecoveringKinkoid]

For me, I have the problem of producing waaaay too much insulin all at once. If I have to resort to slamming sugar, I know that once I do, the clock is ticking. I have a very limited amount of time to get some fat and protein before I crash again. That happens, I'm going down.

I try very hard to not let myself reach that state.

[PentUpRage]

I'm going to politely disagree and please don't take offense to this but this is where I get frustrated dealing with medical professionals trying to tell me how to deal with a chronic disease I manage daily.

My daughter is a type 1 and she wears an insulin pump. Her endocrinologist will tell you to NEVER give her milk chocolate when she is low, more so when she's dangerously low and behaving/feeling like she's going lower. There is so much more at play here with hormones and a pancreas that has completely shut down with that whole insulin production bit it was supposed to be doing. Your suggested treatment in the ER is more geared for type 2's and that's fine but if you try to give my daughter a balanced mix of protein and slow acting carbs, when she's near passing out from a low, you'll kill her.

Also, this disease is different for EVERY type 1. YMMV and what sends one high will crash another but there are general guidelines and yes my goal when correcting a low is to head off a rebound in either direction that is all done by carefully monitoring her basal (essentially her insulin drip rate via the pump) combined with temporary settings to offset what is currently going on with her body. Did she run track today? Is she stressed? Does she have her period? Is she getting sick...the list goes on and on and on. Again, everyone is different, everyone responds differently and the patient that charts, graphs and is very in tune to their body is quite capable of telling you what they need and when.

[Sapphire Silk]

Heads up on the candy bar thing, when a diabetic is experiencing a low the primary focus is to get them back up and to do so quickly.

Not quite. We want to get them up, and keep them up.

Candy or other sweet things will get them up. But it's short lived; it metabolizes quickly and then they crash and burn.

You have to mix the sweet with long acting carbs or proteins. That's why Snickers is such a good choice: the peanuts last longer than the caramel or chocolate.

In the ER, we'd treat this with 50% Dextrose IV (IV sugar basically), and follow up with a turkey, ham, or chicken salad sandwich, a bag of chips, and milk. Then we could send them home and not be back where we started an hour later