[berbes]

hello-

i've only been on the site a few times, and always found great answers as well as kindred spirits sharing the same ups & downs of this insidious disease. i want to tell you what happened to me a couple of years ago.

i was working at a radio station doing an appearance at a county fair. due to technical equipment problems (cheap company never fixed a darn thing) we had to relocate from our usual station, a nice long trailer with a great backstop where we could go and get away from throngs of listeners/drunks, to set up with our van and a 6' table in the middle of the secondary entrance to the fair. it was a friday late afternoon (i worked 4p-7p), and we felt like we were salmon in midstream with people on all sides of us asking for autographs, free stuff, plain 'ol saying hello, etc. we were shorthanded that day, and the only other guy there, my producer, took off to who knows where.

with all the stress of the situation i began to feel my sugar plummet. i was less than a minute away from my last broadcast, so i figured no problem, do the show close then head for my car which was parked vip 100 yards away where the glucose tabs were (i FORGOT them!). i started to feel lightheaded, and instead of going to my traffic gal, i just said, 'we'll see you at the fair', and tossed the mic into the van and made a beeline to my car. it was at that exact moment my producer comes running after me, thinking i was mad because he split. i was falling so fast i couldn't even talk to him...i just kept going to the car. i hit the 'open' button on my keyring which opened up all the doors. i got in the drivers side, he got in the passenger side still asking me what was wrong. i couldn't form a coherent sentence at that point. all i could do was reach in front of him and open the glovebox where the tabs were. unfortunately, that's also where i kept my used syringes...do you see where this is going?

he figured i was having something diabetic happen to me, and figured i need MORE insulin. he grabbed a syringe, stuck it in the humilog (!) withdrew an unknown amount, and began to inject me in the main vein right at the elbow (where addicts shoot up in the movies)! i remember pinching the injection sight while he forced the insulin in. that's all i really remember. according to this co-worker, i became violent and began elbowing him in the face until he left the car to call our boss for help. don't ask me why, but for some reason i turned the key in the ignition and drove off the grounds. i made thru two stop sign intersections, pulled the car partially off the road, put it in park (car still running) and went to sleep for a good 4-5 hours.

i kinda remember waking up, even though it was very dreamlike. my do remember my hands were like claws (they were all cramped into my forearms and i couldn't use my fingers), i was dripping with sweat (you could wring my clothes out like they were standing in water), and all the windows were fogged up. as i mentioned, i couldn't open my hands so i saw the glucose tab package (a 3 pack in plastic) took the whole thing between my 'claws', and stuck it in my mouth and chewed until i broke the seal. it took a good 1/2 hour-hour to begin to think again...i'm really not too sure of the time it took. i remember getting out of my car and trying to walk but my knees buckled so i got back in and just waited to get sugared up. when i felt half right i looked for my cell and saw 23 missed calls in the time i was out from my co-worker and boss. i made it home, took a 1 hour shower, threw up, and went to bed.

i took a week off, saw my endo, and went back to work for a few days. i then got a call from a listener asking why i was slurring. i listened to a spec tape from that day, and sure enough; slurring. i told my boss i needed more time off, and a week later they took me off my on-air shift entirely. 7 years with the company, never missed a day due to my diabetes, then POOF. out of a job.

since this incident i have had 3-5 gran mal seisures due to severely fluctuating blood sugar levels...twice i almost bit my tongue off, but the workman's comp doctor told me i was in GREAT shape!

i knew it would be next to impossible to prove i was fired because of my diabetes, but i found a lawyer to help me with the workmans comp, as my company fought every step of my attempts to recover. the case hopefully will be heard this year. while i trained myself to get over the slurring in 6 months, my symptoms since then have been fatigue, hard to control blood sugars; high & low, and while my long term memory is still like a steel trap, my short term memory has taken a real beating. i now live with a writing tablet to get thru my day to day activities. my handwriting is also much messier. i can't do my radio job anymore, since the mental 'tools' needed have really taken a beating as well. i'm getting better, but according to my neuro doc, there's generally a two year healing plateau and after that not too much more. this all happened in 8/2002...

my question is, has anyone heard of this happening to a diabetic before, and if so, was there any help available to him/her? as it stands, i know i have to re-educate to a new career, but there is no $$$ for this. i am fighting social security for some type of disability help, but of course they turned me down and we're in the appeal process that should only take another 3-5 years (sarcasm). are there any diabetic lawyers out there with any tips for my non-diabetic lawyer?

the real victim in all this is my perfect wife of 15 years. while i was having these numerous seisures, SHE was the one suffering through them by trying to help me...i really wasn't 'there', so to speak. i really don't expect any help from you folks, but i do feel a bit better getting this all of my chest. a good cathartic excise i guess.

i guess the lesson learned if you've read this far is, make sure non-diabetics know a passed out diabetic 99.6% of the time needs sugar in some form, NOT more insulin. just when you think it can't possibly happen to you...

[Shotokan]

My guess is that a good lawyer could bring suit against your producer for essentially practicing medicine without a license. He should have called an ambulance rather than try to treat you medically. What an idiot!

[Georgia]

Geez, I am sorry to hear what happened to you & I really hope you get a good outcome from your appeal. Keep us posted won't you.

[seacomp]

I can't help yu directly (what a Ghastly story!). But what you went through brings to mind the "insulin shock treatment" that used to be very popular(!) in treating severe depression some years back. There may be hints in the case studies of that procedure that would apply to you and be helpful.
My best to you.

[Carwy]

berbes,
Do you live in the USA?? Is so find a great lawyer you may need two. One to sue the raido station and one for SSI. You have to fight for SSI. Also I know colorado has a program called Vocational Rehabilitation. I was fired for having cancer. I'm now enrolled in Vocational Rehabilitation and they are going to send me to school for retrainning. Also once you get SSI ask them to give you a right to work ticket. This will keep SSi and everone else off your back until you are done with school and back to work full time.

Good luck Carwy

[berbes]

bless you for the tips, carwy...unfortunately i didn't find a lawyer willing to go after the radio station for 'free' (actually 1/3 of any settlement), but i did find one for the workman's comp, and going on FOUR years later it just might make it to trial.

i also found a seemingly good company to help me get the ssi. i was recently denied by ssi, but this company already anticipated that and the wheel's are still turning...

funny, the best legal angle i have is one i wouldn't use, as i would never sue the co-worker for shooting me up. he is really a nice guy who just did the wrong thing for the right reasons...i talked with him recently, and he told me the radio station warned him not to ever talk with me again or he'd be out of a job.

niiiiiiiiice people at that radio station. i'm hoping for either karma or a vengeful god to catch up to them eventually .

again, thanks for your thoughts, and have a great THREE days off!

berbes

[duck]

Berbes, you need to ask an endo, but it is my understanding that a real "bad" low, especially if sustained long enough, can cause "brain damage". I put quotes around that because "brain damage" can mean a number of things. The only fuel our brain uses is glucose, and if deprived bad things can happen.

Geez your story freaks me out.

[Cyborg]

**** dude... That's a horror story. Sorry you're having to go through it. I'm not going anywhere without my glucose. Best wishes and prayers.

[TAutry]

Berbes,

Thanks for sharing the story. Isn't the broadcast industry grand? They work you like a dog, pay you peanuts, often have few or no benefits, fire you for no reason at all and then don't stand behind you.(Yeah, I know the drill well.)

Good luck with the workman's comp and SSI.

[gettingby]

WOW !!!! This story literally scared me.
I have always told my co-workers that if I ever pass out at work, call 911 IMMEDIATELY. The good thing is that my asst. is also a type 1 and she would never let anyone but an EMT near me with a syringe. She and I watch each other's backs.

[Shotokan]

Originally Posted by berbes

funny, the best legal angle i have is one i wouldn't use, as i would never sue the co-worker for shooting me up. he is really a nice guy who just did the wrong thing for the right reasons...i talked with him recently, and he told me the radio station warned him not to ever talk with me again or he'd be out of a job.

Hi Berbes,
I'm sorry I slighted your producer friend when I suggest suing him. I thought he was siding with the company in all this. What a mess. I hope you get some relief both financial-wise and health-wise.
-Bob

[berbes]

sho-

no offense taken, bud...it's the common sense thing to do. i'm sure he is taking sides with the company just because of his love (and fear of losing) for his job. no matter we were friends, or at least i thought we were.

my 'moral/good conscience' thinking puts any legal action against him in the same boat as the guy who has a heart attack and sues a good samaritan for breaking his ribs performing CPR...the real antagonists in all this is the evil radio station who let me go for no other reason than almost dying on the air. they really thought it was no big deal...i just got a bit low on sugar, and it was my fault it happened. the true hypocrisy is the station GM is a hard-core religious-type/alcoholic/adulterer. there just wasn't any good legal footing to prove they did what they did. sometimes life gets so funny you could cry.

all i want out of all of this is to finish a BA, and hopefully the ssi or workman's comp will give me the ability to do it. meanwhile i'm in the proverbial catch-22; having the time to finish a degree, but not the $$$.

thanks so much for the support...it gets kinda lonely out here in the world of the 'insulin-producing'.

i guess i just wasn't lucky enough to spill hot coffee in my lap at a macdonalds ...

[Ritehsedad]

Originally Posted by Shotokan

My guess is that a good lawyer could bring suit against your producer for essentially practicing medicine without a license. He should have called an ambulance rather than try to treat you medically. What an idiot!

The producer is protected by the Good Samaritin Laws. He did what he thought was best based on his training (apparently no training).

[BriOnH]

Originally Posted by Ritehsedad

The producer is protected by the Good Samaritin Laws. He did what he thought was best based on his training (apparently no training).

I don't think this is what the legislators of the law had in mind. Pleading ignorance for such an act is atrocious. If they were in the middle of no where, with no cell phone range, and no help for a 50 mile radius I would agree this falls into the good samaritan laws, but an untrained idiot draws up insulin, of an unknown amount, obvioulsy not knowing anything other then diabetics need shots, WITH (I am willing to bet, at a state fair) medics on site, is unexcusable, and he must be held accountable. His actions are a crime, and would personally go for manslaughter, with civil action. If his intentions were truely good, he would have followed through with what he perceived as, was the proper immidiate medical response, with THE proper medical response, from a medical professional. If someone did this to me, I would beat them senseless then dose them with an unknown amount of insulin, but would at least make sure they lived, which is more then what the producer did for him.

[Ritehsedad]

Originally Posted by BriOnH

I don't think this is what the legislators of the law had in mind. Pleading ignorance for such an act is atrocious. If they were in the middle of no where, with no cell phone range, and no help for a 50 mile radius I would agree this falls into the good samaritan laws, but an untrained idiot draws up insulin, of an unknown amount, obvioulsy not knowing anything other then diabetics need shots, WITH (I am willing to bet, at a state fair) medics on site, is unexcusable, and he must be held accountable. His actions are a crime, and would personally go for manslaughter, with civil action. If his intentions were truely good, he would have followed through with what he perceived as, was the proper immidiate medical response, with THE proper medical response, from a medical professional. If someone did this to me, I would beat them senseless then dose them with an unknown amount of insulin, but would at least make sure they lived, which is more then what the producer did for him.

Sorry Brian, but this situation most definitely falls under the good samaritin laws. I have had some bit of training in them when I was an EMT. The point of the good samaritin law or laws is to protect those who try to help others. I agree that what the producer did was wrong, but he is protected under the law.