No WONDER!

[Rhino]

"I've seen you eating sugar packets a bunch of times... No wonder you're diabetic!"

Sigh.

Discuss.

[Erin]

Sigh.

Every-time man makes something idiot proof, God designs a better breed of idiot.

Sigh again.

When you're NOT hypo, explain that diabetics sometimes end up with too little sugar in their blood because of the medications we take, and we have to consume sugar very quickly. Also explain that pre-diagnosis you would have found eating sugar packets quite disgusting. ;)

[rzrbks]

Rhino

"I've seen you eating sugar packets a bunch of times... No wonder you're diabetic!"

Sigh.

Discuss.


Here's the Dummerest, my father-in-law, who is T1, said something like that to me.

[Tatermom]

Every-time man makes something idiot proof, God designs a better breed of idiot.

Can I get that on a bumper sticker or plaque for my desk?:ridinghor

[Shotokan]

Bob's blood sugar is low!! Get him some nuts, quick!!

[duck]

"So, if you're 'low', I give you diet Coke, right?"

*From the same person who the day before asked why they never see me drink regular Coke.

[sydneya]

Day 1: "My blood sugars are high."

Hubby: "I'll get you some Orange juice"

I explain exactly why I don't need Orange juice. A good walk would be good.


Day 2: "My blood sugars are high."

Hubby: "I'll get you some Orange juice"

I explain exactly why I don't need Orange juice. A good walk would be good.



Day 3: "My sugars are .......


I want him to understand. He's a brilliant architect and engineer. What is so hard? I know, I'm not being nice.

[scara]

my sister on planning a small birthday party for me.....

"sounds great, I'll make a cake with all the fixings!"
- great, I'll enjoy watching you eat it.

or someone at work when they found out about me being diagnosed...

"my cat had that, I had to give her a shot every morning"
- thank you for putting my stress into perspective.


:banghead:

[Penny]

Day 1: "My blood sugars are high."

Hubby: "I'll get you some Orange juice"

I explain exactly why I don't need Orange juice. A good walk would be good.


Day 2: "My blood sugars are high."

Hubby: "I'll get you some Orange juice"

I explain exactly why I don't need Orange juice. A good walk would be good.





Day 3: "My sugars are .......


I want him to understand. He's a brilliant architect and engineer. What is so hard? I know, I'm not being nice.
OH Syd, do I ever understand that! I have begged my husband to read some things about diabetes so he understands. I tell him the same thing over and over and he will still, try to get me to eat, for example, spaghetti, because he read someplace that Pasta is good for you. Or I am low and he will want to go get my pen so I can "take a shot". He also is an intelligent man, just won't try to understand!

[stella117]

my sister on planning a small birthday party for me.....

"sounds great, I'll make a cake with all the fixings!"
- great, I'll enjoy watching you eat it.

or someone at work when they found out about me being diagnosed...

"my cat had that, I had to give her a shot every morning"
- thank you for putting my stress into perspective.


:banghead:
Actually I think it worse when they say oh--no cake for you! You can't eat that!

Um, yes I can. I just have to cover with insulin.

My dumbest came from a friend who went to the trouble of researching food that were low/no sugar. She brought a bag of some chee-tos like food to my party.

It's not sugar people--it's CARBS of which sugar is just one type. And I'm not allergic to it, I just need to count and cover it.

Second dumbest--from my well-meaning boss who after hearing my latest hbA1c said, "So you were able to lower it with diet and exercise?" No, through FIVE insulin injections every day.

Third dumbest but actually sweet--my good friend who after hearing about me getting my glucose under control--"So you just have to do this for another six months and you'll be fine, right?" Um, no--this is my life now.

It's very hard for people to deal with what we have to on a daily basis. They don't mean to be idiots.

[stella117]

"I've seen you eating sugar packets a bunch of times... No wonder you're diabetic!"

Sigh.

Discuss.
Hey--I'm in L.A., too!

Actually I get--how can you have diabetes? You're so HEALTHY!!!

I workout 6 days a week and eat fairly healthy as opposed to my boss who is at least 100 lbs. overweight and has a fasting BG level of 89.

So I get to explain how my immune system attacked and destroyed my pancreas. :P

[Erin]

Most of the people in my life get a crash course on diabetes the first time we go out to dinner. they see me test, inject, order whatever i feel like that day, drink wine, get coffee, get desert, inject again. If they hang around long enough, they get to see me go all pale and get confuseled, and then eat a whole bunch of sweet stuff without taking an injection. (hopefully not all in the same day)

So mostly I get appropriate comments like "you manage it really well" or "did you take a shot for that?" or "you must know SO MUCH about food!" or "you look funky, sugars all right?"

But occasionally I get a doozy.

My one aunt works at a vet's office and I get to hear stories about her diabetic cat patients, every time I see her. And then she tells some insane story and asks if "that ever happens to you" my response is always, "well, no... I'm not a cat."

"You can't eat that... you're diabetic" (it's a stinking hot-dog, not exactly gourmet but it isn't going to kill me)

"So, does that mean you can't have sugar, or you have to have it?" (umm both)

"Are you still on insulin?" (do i look dead to you?)

"But you're too young / thin / old / short / active / insert adjective here to be diabetic" (hrm... you looked smarter than you are)

"Oh you're on insulin, you have to have the BAD kind of diabetes" (that's debatable...)

"Can i give you your insulin if you pass out?" <--- this person got an education

My one friend thought it was so cool that I took injections, he made me come get him every time I was going to take a shot, so he could watch.

[Gangrel]

"So, you're allergic to sugar then, right?"

That's probably my favourite of all time.

[marked]

In my office there are two type 1's, myself and another guy.
A fellow worker, after watching me give myself in injection,
offered this:
"Why don't you go on the pump like Wayne did, he is cured now."

[sbuff28@charter]

Yeah Erin...same deal! right after my mom and I went in for diabetic training when i was newly diagnosed was like

"teach me how to give you the insulin shots in case you pass out."


Now thats a little scary when right after going over it asks that sort of question!

[Erin]

Yeah Erin...same deal! right after my mom and I went in for diabetic training when i was newly diagnosed was like

"teach me how to give you the insulin shots in case you pass out."

Now thats a little scary when right after going over it asks that sort of question!

Yeah, I teach my friends this little mantra "I must never touch erin's shots or insulin.... if she passes out I'm supposed to call 9-1-1. I must NEVER touch erin's shots or insulin... is she passes out I'm supposed to call 9-1-1"

There's like 2 people not in my immediate family I've taught how to give glucagon, because I trust them not to freak out, grab the wrong vial, and kill me. I taught those two "Red box... Red box... only the one in the Red box" Of course I think my glucagon kit went off in 2004... *checks* nope... expiration date: Dec 1, 2001

[sbuff28@charter]

I have never passed out before for any reason whatsoever and it actually scares the **** outta me. I get worried that if i pass out people wont know what to do or if i pass out when im by myself somehwhere, like in a car. I simply don't trust pretty much anyone even my parents to give me shots or try and take care of me if i pass out without professional help....


So until that changes someday... like what you said...Just call the ambulance!

[DeusXM]

To be honest, I've always taken the approach that there's not a lot that people can do for you once you get to the point you can't do anything for yourself. If you're having a hypo and you pass out, it's not as if they can put sugar inside you unless you've got a glucagon kit with you. Hands up who has a gluco kit with them 24/7?

Yeah, exactly.

To be honest, I think most people are switched on enough that if they find you passed out, they'd get a doctor. I've had diabetes for 8 years and haven't passed out yet, and frankly I think I'm over the high-risk patch now I'm no longer a boozy student.

[Erin]

To be honest, I think most people are switched on enough that if they find you passed out, they'd get a doctor. I've had diabetes for 8 years and haven't passed out yet, and frankly I think I'm over the high-risk patch now I'm no longer a boozy student.

Deus, it happens. I'd had D for just around 7 years before the first, and only, time I had to use the big red box. Isn't a lot you can do if you muck up your insulin dose, and it happens to the best of us. (of course the fact that I messed up on NPH and R had a lot to do with the disastrous result...)

And if you were a boozy student gone low, glucagon wouldn't help you anyway.

But I agree, if somebody found you passed out they wouldn't go searching for a glucagon kit, they'd call a doctor.

[sbuff28@charter]

what if you pass out from being low on your bed, or the couch. How would someone know you are having a hypo and not just sleeping. by the next day i could be dead.

[Erin]

what if you pass out from being low on your bed, or the couch. How would someone know you are having a hypo and not just sleeping. by the next day i could be dead.

you probably wouldn't be dead. The human body is an amazing thing. It is exceedingly rare to die of uncomplicated hypoglycemia (uncomplicated by other medical issues / problems you're having at the time that make your counter-regulatory system out of whack) You'd just wake up some hours later after a liver dump, probably with a high blood sugar, and something that felt like a really bad hangover (without having drank the night before).

It is, however, a good idea to let the people you live with know what your sleep patterns are, so if they notice you sleeping at an odd time or in an odd place they would know to check to make sure you are ok.

Actually my "glucagon hypo" happened when I was sleeping in the middle of the night. My mom either heard me move (seize) or had one of those mothers intuition moments, because she got out of bed to check my blood sugar. That NEVER happened, if i wanted to know what my Bg was during the night, I had to wake myself up and test it. She did, and I was super-duper low, and she couldn't wake me up... hence the glucagon.

[sbuff28@charter]

So pretty much no-one has ever died from taking way to much short acting insulin or the wrong insulin accidently then falling alseep?

[duck]

what if you pass out from being low on your bed, or the couch. How would someone know you are having a hypo and not just sleeping. by the next day i could be dead.

That's happened to me, but it was the NPH that hosed me. Waking up, being incoherent, not being able to move, walk, talk. Kinda scary. This story fits kinda into this thread...

(If you continue to read, you'll come away thinking my mom is not smart--I don't agree with that, but this will be an example of how someone you know is close to you, has enough sense to run their own business, may not necessarily grasp the immensity of this disease).

I was living with my parents after school, saving up money, yadda yadda. I take my R+NPH, eat...fall asleep early, miss my nightime snack. Wake up as described above, unable to do anything. I barely know where I am, but somehow, I grab the phone beside my bed and I call upstairs (it's about 3AM). My mother answers, all I can say is "sugar..."

She comes downstairs with a &^*%ing bowl with about a tablespoon's worth of sugar, literally cusses at me for waking her up, hands it to me with a spoon, and walks back off. I eat it as well as I can, try and wait for it to help me. I guess it helped because eventually I was able to get out of bed, but nothing really "worked", my legs were useless, my arms were no good, my dang tongue didn't even work. I somehow managed to crawl up the steps to the fridge, though, and literally sucked down an entire bottle of chocolate syrup. And then just about everything else I could find (jelly, snacks, etc).

I left a mess, so when my dad got up the next day, he looks over the scene and then comes running downstairs. Asks me if I'm okay, and I said yeah. he asked why I didn't ask for help. I tell him what I did do, and that mom gave me a couple teaspoons of sugar.

I've seen my dad mad before, but this look was...mad. He marches back upstairs, mom is just now getting ready for her day. He asks her what happened. She called me a name (dumb or stupid, I can't remember) and dad exploded. After his yelling, I heard her say "I gave him his sugar..."

To be fair, mom has come around a lot since that incident. Being Korean, "defects" are abhorred by that culture. Heaven forbid if your kid is born without a hand or something. A friend of hers found a booklet in Korean about diabetes, and what to do in an emergency, and her and dad agreed that if I ever need help, that SHE is to wake HIM, or call 911 (which sorta was the plan before this, but). My sister and I laugh about it now, if I say I am low she'll say "let me get you a bowl and a spoon..." and mom has apologized (she said she never thought this could ever kill me, and that night she thought I was being "lazy"). She also didn't want me to get sick from eating sugar, she explained. Ugh.

Anyway, we're all straight now, LOL. And if you can't learn to laugh at these things, they'll eat you up.

Anyway, where's my bowl? LOL

[Lynne1]

Well, Duck's story beats all of mine combined, but here they are anyway:

1. SIL says that her cat has diabetes and since he takes more than me that mine must not be that bad.

2. Mom's friend and hubby (he has diabetes) found out that I'm going on the pump and said "What's the prognosis for getting off the pump once you go on?"
???and this man is a retired pharmacist. Oh yeah, he still thinks A1C is the diagnostic criterion for diabetes. Hey, were in 2006 here!

3. A volunteer paramedic I know once said before we had dinner that if I forget my insulin I can just eat more at dinner. OMG!

[duck]

There certainly seem to be a lot of cats with diabetes!

:hmmmm2:

[sbuff28@charter]

Must be the sugary diet those dang cats are on these days!:burnout:

[DeusXM]

So pretty much no-one has ever died from taking way to much short acting insulin or the wrong insulin accidently then falling alseep?

False question. We're not talking about 'way too much' here - we're talking about your average 'I didn't quite eat enough' or 'I took slightly too insulin'.

Yes, if you take something like 10x your usual insulin dose then you might have a problem. But for most people that simply doesn't happen in the first place. Obviously if alcohol is involved, all bets are off. But people who are generally well-controlled and then have a one-off hypo in the night don't die. Hypos in themselves are hardly ever fatal. They're fatal if they cause you to do something in a situation that could kill you if you weren't in full control - driving, for example. Or they're fatal when your body's ability to release glucose from the liver is impaired - for instance, you've drunk a lot or you've used up all your glyco stores.

[sbuff28@charter]

thats exactly what im scared about.... Doing something stupid!!!

I don't trust myself to not make those mistakes for the rest of my life. I also don't trust myself or anyone else to do the right thing when i ever have a severe hypo.Especially when my life and health depends on it. i have no idea how i would react if my BS went below 50, never happened before.

[DeusXM]

How about this to reassure you?

There are basically two ways you can 'do something stupid' to induce a hypo.

#1. Take far too much insulin

It's pretty hard to intentionally do this. You simply won't take 10x the amount of insulin in the same way you wouldn't decide to tightrope walk over a huge vat of acid. The problem comes when you mix up your basals and boluses and take something like Novorapid for your basal by accident. You'll notice this pretty quickly, before it starts to work. In which case you'll know to start chugging down regular soft drinks straight away, and you'll also be coherant enough to call the emergency services and explain what happened. So option 1 is now dealt with.

#2. Drinking too much and crippling your liver.

This is easier to do. However, as someone with diabetes, you already know that booze is going to give you problems. So you'll plan ahead.

To be honest, you'll probably find that you have more problems with your sugars going too high than too low with booze. You will probably get hungry at some point in the evening, and you'll find that you'll always eat far too much. But here's the thing - as long as you don't take any insulin whilst you're drinking heavily, you'll be eliminating one factor. If you can't trust yourself to not take insulin, then leave it at home when you're boozing.

Also, you'll find that you won't forget about your diabetes. In much the same way you spend all day remembering to breathe, you also spend all day remembering to take care of your diabetes. When you're drunk, you don't forget to breathe. Similarly, you don't forget you have diabetes. So you'll be aware of it. There will always be a lucid part of your brain that will literally be screaming at you like a drill sergeant to think about your BG. So that's #2 dealt with too.

[sbuff28@charter]

hahaha... excellent points dues...

[Tatermom]

To be fair, mom has come around a lot since that incident. Being Korean, "defects" are abhorred by that culture. Heaven forbid if your kid is born without a hand or something. A friend of hers found a booklet in Korean about diabetes, and what to do in an emergency, and her and dad agreed that if I ever need help, that SHE is to wake HIM, or call 911 (which sorta was the plan before this, but). My sister and I laugh about it now, if I say I am low she'll say "let me get you a bowl and a spoon..." and mom has apologized (she said she never thought this could ever kill me, and that night she thought I was being "lazy"). She also didn't want me to get sick from eating sugar, she explained. Ugh.

So glad you cleared that up Duck. I was thinking evil thoughts about your mom!

[duck]

So glad you cleared that up Duck. I was thinking evil thoughts about your mom!

LOL, the way it reverberated in my immediate family, it became quite the impetus for me to get on the pump! At that point in her life, she never really appreciated the gravity of what could happen to someone with diabetes. Later (long story short) she actually had a conversation with a Korean-born doctor, and she asked about diabetes. He explained to her that in the USA, it still KILLS more Americans than AIDS, and for whatever reason, that got her attention about how serious the disease could be. She of course went off that deep end, basically voiding the house of sugar, LOL. The booklet helped her understand things a lot better.

So, because of my (terrible) experience, I laugh/roll my eyes at people who say the dumbest things about this disease, but all-in-all, it's a hard disease to grasp when you live with it 24/7, and it has to be harder for those who don't have to.

I have other stories of stupid things said to me...like my friend who took my candy away from me when I was having a low because she insisted I didn't need to eat it...

[Starlight]

There will always be a lucid part of your brain that will literally be screaming at you like a drill sergeant to think about your BG.
Gosh..if i could only ever get a break from this. :ahhhhh:

[Dobson]

duck, that story has me rolling.

I guess I am somewhat lucky, because my parents understand what I go through very well. My mom more than my dad, but they are both educated enough to know what to do if they find me passed out, or if I ask for "sugar", etc.

I've already told most of my stories on here, simply because I've only had diabetes for about 2 and a half years, but one small thing happened a couple of months ago. I was at a basketball game with my then girlfriend, and had one of those fast-hitting lows. She was drinking Mountain Dew, and since I was afraid to try and walk down to the concession stand, I just asked if I could have the rest of it, that I needed it. She basically freaked out on me, saying "you can't have it" and blah blah blah. I FINALLY got it through her head that I had to have it, and she finally gave it up. I do have to say though, she was understanding on the whole thing. I guess it was where we hadn't been dating very long.

[stella117]

duck, that story has me rolling.

I guess I am somewhat lucky, because my parents understand what I go through very well. My mom more than my dad, but they are both educated enough to know what to do if they find me passed out, or if I ask for "sugar", etc.

I've already told most of my stories on here, simply because I've only had diabetes for about 2 and a half years, but one small thing happened a couple of months ago. I was at a basketball game with my then girlfriend, and had one of those fast-hitting lows. She was drinking Mountain Dew, and since I was afraid to try and walk down to the concession stand, I just asked if I could have the rest of it, that I needed it. She basically freaked out on me, saying "you can't have it" and blah blah blah. I FINALLY got it through her head that I had to have it, and she finally gave it up. I do have to say though, she was understanding on the whole thing. I guess it was where we hadn't been dating very long.
I'm guessing when you refer to her as "then" girlfriend, she no longer is? Diabetes or no, she certainly wasn't much for sharing was she?

I had a case where I bolused and ate lunch before work and because my mind was somewhere else, I forgot to finish my lunch. It was only an extra unit of insulin, but since I usually go low before dinner anyway, I really didn't need to do that. So I asked a co-worker if he had any fruit with him. He had a pear or an orange--my choice. Didn't even ask why.

[Erin]

I think I may have already told this story on here, but it goes with Dobson's Dew story, so here I go again...

I was newly dating this guy, 'bout a year ago. I went hypo at his apartment. I had some candy with me, but I kind of wanted to gage his reaction so I asked if he had anything with sugar in it, like juice or something, because my blood sugar was low. He, very chivalrously, went to the kitchen to get it for me. He returned with a quite tiny glass of apple juice, which he had mixed with water, because he didn't want to give me too much sugar and make me sick.

I thanked him graciously, and explained that I'd get sick much quicker if I didn't get enough sugar in my system, and quickly. He got some full strength juice. I think I pulled off gratitude, but inside I was going :hahaha:

[Mister Q]

My Dad was diagnosed Type 2 several years before me so was quite a good source of inspiration/information when the finger of fate poked me with it. My mother in law was quite a different matter, not wishing to be cruel she never has been the brightest star in the sky, but I think we had got the message through to her what it was all about and what I needed to do to manage the problem.

Her classic came 2 years ago in the run up to Christmas, my Wife said to her -
"Don't buy a lot of cakes/chocolate etc in for Christmas this year"
M-I-L
"Why not?" (It was a favourite pastime of hers)
My Wife
"Because Q and his Dad cant eat a lot of it"
M-I-L
"Well the rest of us can" (Thanks for the empathy!!)

Scary thing is she now lives with a Type 2, and was giggling the other month he had been told off by the doc cause his HbA1C was up and he was putting on weight.

Not sure if thats killing with kindnes or helping pave the road to **** with another good intention!

[Starlight]

The other thing i hate is peoples reactions to things that you do. You lay your head down for a rest and suddenly everyone thinks your about to die. You are given a choc bar..and get asked that stupid question over and over.."can you eat it?"
Its nice to have your health appreciated and to be cared about, but seriously...i think living with diabetes for 5 yrs has allowed me to handle situations myself. People dont understand that their proding and poking into your business makes you feel less of a normal person, and more of a diseased abnormality and a trouble to deal with. :argh:

[sbuff28@charter]

Starlight i completly agree, annoys the **** outta me

[Eri's mom]

I know what bothers Eri(and I) most is when her cousin was saying negative things about her being a diabetic...Eri does NOT use diabetes as an excuse(obviously, she doesn't want any acknowledgement of it by others)...
I think one of the worst things for her was when she was on a field trip in 4th grade w/ one of the other 4th grade classes(one of those big tour buses) and they stopped for something to eat at a McDonalds and her teacher had her test on the bus in front of everyone and told her she couldn't eat b/c her sugar was too high. That's when Eri REALLY started getting more upset if anyone knew...or commented...on her being diabetic.
(it was pure **** driving home w/ her when I picked her up, she was completely upset and wouldn't speak to anyone, except snip at me telling me about how wrong it was for her teacher to do that, etc, etc...)

[Diana]

School sucks with diabetes. I remember when I was 13 and newly diagnosed that year, I was low but my class was being kept in for detention at lunch time. So I started to eat my lunch, but the teacher noticed me and told me to put it away, that we were not allowed to eat in detenetion. Of course, being the sweet non argumentative child that I was at that age, I put it away, and went pretty low.

After we were let out I made my way to the nurses office in tears. Ha ha, when my mum heard about that, I can tell you that teacher got a lesson about diabetes that she will never forget! She actually almost lost her job. Of course, all the teachers at my school knew that I had diabetes as we had had nurses come in and tell them all about it, but this one must have just been extra dumb. I pretty quickly learnt to stick up for myself at school.

[Starlight]

Diana..you dont wanna know the stuff i've been through at school.:argh: People may say..why not just tell them your a diabetic and handle the situation..? Well..its not my job to do that. Its their job to know.