| Channel 4 did a documentary on diabetes a couple of years ago and they had a really poignant bit where they were interviewing an 18-year-old with diabetes.
He said, "People think that the hard part is the needles and doing your injections, but it's like brushing your teeth. The hard part is just the living from day-to-day part of it. Every day I run the risk of being 15 minutes from dying."
"If the needles are the easy part, just imagine how tricky the hard parts are."
I thought he was spot on with that.
In terms of the effect of insulin - on the one hand I think it's important to shock the **** out of people. Other people sit on their couches all day long and only respond to stuff when it upsets them.
On the other hand, I'm loathe to support anything that makes people with diabetes look weak or sickly.
I'd suggest maybe these things:
1. Your controlled hypo suggestion is a good idea. It's better for 'the cause' then showing people who've died from hypos or whatever. As for the mechanics....10u-20u sounds like you're trying too hard, even from our perspective. You want to get the lowest possible amount 'over' the normal safe limit. 3-4u should put you in a hypo and also be only a very small percentage of your requirements. I'm guessing your aim is to show how difficult the condition is to manage in real life. In real life, people don't overdose by 20u unless they've mixed up their basal with the bolus.
2. A controlled high is a good idea if it results in you needing to go to the toilet all the time and comes out in very visible effects. Unfortunately though, they probably won't be powerful enough to make an impact. Try filming at a diabetes clinic with the people who are poorly controlled. Find the blind ones and the amputees and the ones on oxygen. Show the ones that are poorly controlled over a long term period.
In my experience, people simply don't 'get' what poorly controlled diabetes results in, whether or not they have diabetes. They need to be shocked and frightened to the point they feel sick and fear for their lives until they 'get' it.
The 'waiting room' totally changed around my perspective.
As another idea too - it might be worth showing a person with really good diabetes control. I guarantee that they will be phenomenally anal about carb counting, blood testing, everything. They'll be thinking about their blood sugar every 4 seconds or so. Show people that. Show people that when you get insulin wrong, you really suffer. Show people the sheer amount of effort that it takes to get right, how this disease totally and utterly consumes your entire waking (and sleeping) life. I think I speak for everyone here when I say we ask ourselves at least 5 different questions and make about 10 different calculations every few seconds or so, just for the right to be able to breathe.
That's why insulin isn't a cure. There isn't another disease on the planet that needs such intensive thinking just to stay alive. Not even AIDS or cancer.  | 
