Scariest Diabetes Moment...

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Permalink Reply by Tom Goffe on July 14, 2009 at 8:39pm

My wife and I were in the process of moving from CT to NC, and I was up north clearing out the last of our things while my wife was working in NC. One morning after breakfast I decided to lie down when I felt a low coming on. My BG was 24, and all I had was 6 glucose tabs - and no food in the house. I took them and rechecked my BG and it was down to 20. I was able to call 911 (the 1st time I'd done that in 14 years with Type I). My previous record low was a 40, and by the time the meat wagon arrived I was sweating so bad it soaked the money in my wallet. I recovered, but there was just one problem - I'm unemployed and have no health insurance. All my health care comes from the Department of Veterans Affairs - such as it is. I've spent the last 2 months trying to get the VA to cover all the bills that have been pouring in. Being hospitalized with no income or health insurance is a frightening nightmare that I've not yet really recovered from.

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Permalink Reply by Alison Jane Hann on July 22, 2009 at 6:16pm

My first loss of consciousness hit me hard. The cold, painful pounding of my heart as I went down and then waking up with EMTs beside me and hooked up to an IV. But more than that, the fear factor hit me when I was first diagnosed. I kept imagining myself without my limbs and blind. I knew zip about the disease actually.

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Permalink Reply by roisin o'brien on July 22, 2009 at 7:08pm

Mine was coming round from a horrendus hypo and realizing i'd slept with sum1 in the hypo sum1 i hated and really wouldnt have wanted to even if i wasnt hypo. I have never felt so vulnerable or scared in my life :(

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Permalink Reply by Stuart on August 3, 2009 at 8:17pm

An ICU unit, pulse O2 (Oxygen) levels in the mid 70's... doctors & nurses ignoring 400-500 BG readings "...because it was not time for any more insulin until 5 hours from now... they would ONLY take care of it then..."

8 O

Stuart

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Permalink Reply by Brenda on August 4, 2009 at 7:11am

I've been T1 since '74 so I've had a d's fair share of hypos. One of my scariest took place on a train ride to the top of Pike's Peak. Luckily I was with my husband and I had what I thought to be ample gluco tabs (or juice......not sure what my emergency carb of the month was at the time.) The low hit hard and fast and the 15X15 rule went out the window. We couldn't get the BG out of the gutter.

I was in la-la land but with it enough to be scared. We were running out of carb stash in a hurry and still had a long way to get to the top where there was a snack shack. I think my husband was already looking around the train to spot someone who was drinking a real soda who might be willing to share. Luckily the BG started to rebound a little and we didn't have to have a Helen Keller moment.

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Permalink Reply by MelissaM on August 6, 2009 at 12:17pm

I have one that's scarier than the one I posted that I completely forgot about.

A few years ago I was Living with some roommates, my roommates were all out of town so the night before I decided I was going to make myself a big breakfast. The next day when I woke up instead of doing my usual test and take shot before eating, I went directly into the kitchen and made myself that big breakfast and I ate it. I looked at the clock and realized I had missed half of my classes. That's when I realized something was wrong, I went into my room grabbed my meter and tested, It read 44 or something like that. It scared the crap out of me. I waited for an hour for it to come up even more so that I could make sure I was ok. the scary thing was that I felt normal when I woke up and got my food I remember looking at the clock thinking I had plenty of time to eat before my first class. boy was I wrong. the worst thing was that none of my neighbors knew I was diabetic, my boyfriend did who I had just broken up with and wanted nothing to do with, but I don't think he knew exactly how to treat my lows.

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