What has your scariest diabetes experience been for you? Mine was when i almost passed out on the playground in school because i was WAY too low. If you have one put it here!
LOVE YA!
Anna
I don't remember the exact happening of this situation, but I remember vividly feeling really scared, and from their getting panicky and completley stressed out. Something about I had not eaten a part of my lunch (dropped it, expired, forgot it, etc. or something) and still taken full insulin, figuring I'd get a snack a couple hours later when I got home. My family completley freaked out, in a good way, over this, and it wasn't until then that I realized what could have happened. It wasn't so much what I went through that scared me, but what could have happened, I suppose.
But that's runner up to this: I was helping with a large, fair-like even. There were 1,000 kids in attendance and I was on the commitee to help with it. But afterwards, typical on the team, everyone but me, my friend, and the advisor went home. Guess who had to put away all the blow-up slides, go-carts, etc? Us three. After a billion trips up and down the hill with traffic cones (I swear there must have been a hundred) from the go-carts, they called a bunch of guys down to help. But I'd gone low earlier that day near the end; no sugar on me. Went to my emergancy pack: only a lemon glucose tube that made me want to throw up. It was disgusting, I thought. So I asked one of my friends if they had money; luckily they did, let me borrow it, I went to buy a lemonade, and drained it before getting back out to my station with the person that had gone with me (being low and all). Didn't get a chance to re-test even though my family kept calling me and asking what my numbers were. Just kept working away. Finally, I got done. Everything was picked up (although I was sunburned by the time I got home!). Got in the car to drive home, tested: low. Really low, like in the 40's or something. My family was not too pleased; in fact they were very mad and cranky with me. Although I can see perfectly well why! That was not good judgement on my part; and a very scary experience for me.
Anna,
My most frightening moment was when I was a teenager in 8th grade. It was late May, early June and the weather was warm and I had decided to walk home from school. It was a straight shot from the middle school to my house about ¾ of a mile up the same street, right on my street and a ¼ mile to my house. Whatever the reasons, I hadn’t packed any food or sugar items to carry with me during the day. I was about 10 houses from my street when I realized how much I was sweating and how weak I felt. I was having trouble remembering our address and my legs were so heavy I didn’t think I could make it. We’d only lived there a little over a year and a half and I was feeling disoriented. I didn’t think I could make it home. I saw a car in the driveway of the first house at the corner of our street. It felt like forever but I walked up the driveway, rang the bell, introduced myself and asked the lady who answered if they had any juice or other sugar that I could have, that I was a diabetic and I was having trouble. I was so grateful someone answered and I was terrified whoever was there might turn me down – I wasn’t sure I could make it back to the street, never mind home… The homeowner turned out to be very kind and gave me some juice and offered a light snack which I turned down… I couldn’t stop thanking her and I don’t think she ever really understood how grateful that 14 year old little boy was for that little bit of assistance!
Great question, Anna!
Cheers!
A-D
i have so many lows that i remember but one that comes to mind is last year around february or march, i was in my english class and i remember that i had taken a shot to correct a high blood sugar i think it was. anyway i was sitting there listening intently to his lecture when i just felt really tired all of a sudden and i literally couldn't keep my eyes open so i'd go in and out of consciousness then about ten minutes before class was ending i was more awake and was really clammy the only thought in my head was go downstairs and grab a snoball (the marshmellow desert thing) from the vending machine.
i don't remember going downstairs, but after getting the snoball i remember stumbling my way out of the building toward the student center which was two buildings away to get a meal, cause all i kept thinking was i need to get my sugar up before i drive home. i must have looked like a drunk to the professors and other students. luckily i had money and got a meal then i tested before i ate. my blood sugar was like 45. i am so glad i didn't pass out completely. i'm glad i still had the notion to go get something to eat. thank heaven for vending machines.
I have had two hyglycemic episodes since being diagnosed.... Both were when I was on Lente and I could not tell when I was going, low, as I clearly remember sitting at the kitchen table with my mother, ready to eat dinner and finding out my BG was 30!
(since being off of Lente, I am able to sense that I'm low around 65-70)
I had a gran mal sueizure in 1997, the first night of school... I woke up the next morning with a hugh gash across my face (it looked at thought I was cut up by a blade) and my tonigue was black and blue......
The next episode was again that same year, I remember waking up in the emergency room, without my pj's on, having jeans and a hospital gown on.... I didnt remember what had happened and still dont to this day! My mother found me in a seizure, gave me glucagon and called the emt's, who took me to the ER....
That last episode left me so scared that it was not until I got married ( 12/2007) and began sleeping in a bed with my husband that I finally realized what a good night's sleep felt like.... I also think that becuase of these incidences, I tend to run higher and do not like to go low......
This one's easy for me - Kathy had a hypoglycemic seizure in the middle of the night 3 months after her diagnosis. Let me tell you, you do NOT want to see your child go through this. Although she really doesn't remember any of it.
7 hours in the ER and we were finally able to go home at 8 am the next morning. We learned a lot that night - keep the Glucagon handy, don't forget to use it (like I did), don't be afraid to call 911, make sure her sugars are in the low 100's at bedtime, don't be afraid to check her sugar in the middle of the night, and mostly, this disease is SERIOUS. The only reason we knew what was going on is because she was sleeping with us...had she not been, the unthinkable could have happened. Mostly that is was scares me the most when I think about that night.
Well my scariest experience was a while ago. I remember I was at an over-night summer camp that lasted a week. I had recently been to the doctor's where they switch my insulin to something new. So now I was taking Novolog and Lantus, and both looked exactly the same, one bottle was just a little taller. So at this camp one night, I had gone in to the nurse's station to take my night meds. I pulled up my insulin like I always did and injected it. A few seconds later I relized that I had taken about 24 units of Novolog, which is fast acting, instead of 24 units of Lantus, which is long acting so my bloodsugar isnt all over the place at night. I was freaking out and crying because I had no idea what to do. So the nurse tried to feed me lots of sugar, but I was too scared to death to eat anything. She called 911 and I was taken to the hospital where they could monitor my levels. It was absolutely terrifying...I had no idea what was going to happen to me. Thankfully I didn't drop too low thanks to the sugar water the nurses at the hospital gave me through a tube in my arm! So I went back to camp where I was greeted with a big group hug from the girls in my cabin and all was well! That was the only real scary moment of my life, but I once took twice the amount of Lantus that I should have! And once I went way too low in school. I haven't passed out yet, but I sure came close that one time - my sugar dropped to 32 in the middle of school!
Probably having a low on the way out to dinner with my parents when I was about 12 or 13. I was 1.6mmol/L (about 28mg/dL), but still eeriely functional. Just really tired and weak. But still, seeing that number was pretty scary. But also made me wonder how low I'd have to go to actually pass out. Not that I want to find out, of course.
[quote user="Kristy"]I have had two hyglycemic episodes since being diagnosed.... [/quote]
Did you mean to write that you've had two hypoglycemic episodes that were "scary" or "serious" or some other adjective? I'd be amazed if you had only two hypoglycemic episodes since being diagnosed.
??
I've passed out twice, Once when I was 10? and another time when I was 12? Both times were in the morning after waking up, I guess I confused lows with fatigue. Luckily my family was around both times and responded immediately
[quote user="BrianC"]
[quote user="Kristy"]I have had two hyglycemic episodes since being diagnosed.... [/quote]
Did you mean to write that you've had two hypoglycemic episodes that were "scary" or "serious" or some other adjective? I'd be amazed if you had only two hypoglycemic episodes since being diagnosed.
??
[/quote]
I've had two serious episodes........ sorry about not clarifying better
Some hectic experiences in here...
Mine was probably just that when I was diagnosed I had the symptoms for 3 months, so probably having extremely high sugar levels for 3 months without knowing it is my scariest experience.
one time, i was walking our dogs on a long walk around our neighborhood, with no glucose at all, and suddenly i started tripping and i couldn't stop, and i knew i was really low. fortunately, i made it to the house just in time, got to the kitchen, grabbed glasses of ice tea, and somehow ended up at the table with bread and hummus.
the other time, my mom and i were walking and the same thing happened, except that i knew i was going low and we were maybe a .5 mile from our house. i started tripping again and my mom realized what was happening, chose a house, and ran in to get juice, but i was so angry and frightened that i ran as fast as i could away from her, and during this anguish, my liver kicked in and i was suddenly better. i got home okay, after my mom realized i wasn't about to pass out, was about 45, and realized somewhere when i was running away, i had tripped and cut my knee, with no memory of it.
the time i had the most serious episode was when my family was down in north carolina and my brother couldn't wake me up. my dad and aunt tried to feed me frosting and juice (really dangerous they learned), and thankfully i woke up after maybe 45 min. when i came home, everyone got a lesson on glucagon and when to use it...
I've been lucky, and have only had two sezess since I was diagonised.
The first one was at a friends birthday party, and me and like 3 other girls (nohomo) were all sleeping and the last thing I remembered was talking about this wall I was facing. The next thing I knew, I was sitting in on ethe bed and I was surrounded by EMTs. None of which were good looking. Sad Day. I apparently started asking for a chewy bar and a peanut butter sangwich. Weird. I had just a minor one, but it freaked my friends mom out, but luckily she had been a nurse. She called the EMTs and I was okay.
The second one was luckily at home. I woke up to my mom over me, and my mouth tasting like bad ice cream. My dog had started throwing his doggy self at the door. My mom had come in to see me lying on the floor, looking like I was asleep with the lights on.
The worst one was a few weeks ago. I was walking to a bus stop with my friend and I knew I was low. We planned on stopping on the way downtown to get some sugar, because I was a loser and forgot any low stuff. I remember getting to the bus stop and making fun of the people there. I apparently feel on my friend, and threw up on her. I had a full sized sez right on the street and it was a busy street. I woke up on the sidewalk and was surrounded by EMTs, but luckily these guy were hot. I even had a firetruck. Kick ass. I even got to skip school. But it was just really scary. Yeah.
Ok.
I was watching a play at my school and i'm in the sixth grade.
I felt bad the whole day and this was around 2:00.
I was at the very top of the bleachers and i couldn't breathe.
My friends are always so concerned about me and my Diabetes.
Close to the end of the play i was getting worse and they kept trying to
get me to tell a teacher.
Of course, I'm so stubborn- I wouldn't do it.
When my eyes rolled in the back of my head, Alexis screamed
for one of my teachers and i had to be escorted to the office.
I think the scareist experience I ran into when I was in college. I had gone out with my friends and had com back late. I later cralwed up into my bed and had a major low. My roommate for some reason was in the room and had looked over at the bed and I guess I had been drenched in sweat and thrashing around. So he called 911. I just remember waking up in my tiny clautrophobic dorm room with four emt's, security, my Boss ( I was an RA), and assorted residents in the hallway.
I can't even remember what happened or how long I was out. They took me to the hospital as my blood pressure had dropped and apparently my pusle was barely going, when the EMT's had first arrived.
oh i have another one, sorry im a story teller here.
this was about three years ago, so forgive me if i forget info.
i went out of town with a few friends to go see a couple of plays at an outdoor theater for a weekend. we decided to stay in the neighboring city which was about an hour or so away from where the plays were being held. one of the nights we were there, we decided to go out to eat at a restaurant which was a couple of buildings down from the hotel we were staying at. this was when i was still on injections. any who i took a dosage about the time we "were" going to go, but then we decided to play a game instead which involved candy. about a half hour later we stopped the game and walked to the restaurant. by the time we got there i was so out of it. i remember teasing one of my friends little brother about something then the next thing i know another friend is practically forcing me to drink some milk. about five minutes later the paramedics showed up this was about the time i started to come out of my low. the paramedics gave me that gross tube of glucose and had me down that whole thing. then they asked me if i wanted to go to the hospital, i told them no so they waited for my levels to come back up. i think my BG was in the low 40's.
I am away at Grad school on the East Coast...I talk to my mom everyday, well one day she called me and I didnt answer. Thinking I slept in she called later. Well, apparently my count dropped to like 30. She couldn't get ahold of me, called at least 15 times, and paniked. So she called the Police and they came with the paramedics. I didn't come to until about 5pm and I woke up to all these people in my room...I scared the crap outta her and me cause I thought she was going to make me drop out of my program.
I have a story that ended up being pretty funny. When I was in college, I travelled from Maine to Arizona for the Fiesta Bowl. I can't remember if I was on NPH or Lantus at the time, but in either case, I had to account for the time zone change when doing my long lasting insulin. Somehow I managed to do it wrong (I gave myself more Lantus when I should have given myself less) so I got really really low while I was on the plane on my way home. I ate all the sugar tablets I had and asked for some juice (back when beverages were free on flights). We landed shortly thereafter and I stumbled off the flight and checked my blood sugar right away. It was still 29 even though I had taken a ton of sugar. I immediately looked around for a restaurant or store where I could buy candy and what did I see? A Ben & Jerrys -- so I bought the biggest most delicious ice cream cone I think I've ever had! I sat and enjoyed it very much. My blood sugars came back to normal and I didn't have any other problems for the rest of that flight. When I got off the plane, I was starting to get confused and I thought that the Ben & Jerry's was a mirage. I remember distinctly believing that it wasn't real!! But I was lucky it was right there when I got off the plane!
This happened right after I was diagnosed. My family and I had gone to the mall and were in the Christmas Tree Shop, I felt really funny but I didn't want to test because I didn't want to ruin my 14 day average, looking back that was stupid. Anyhow my Mom was telling me to test but I didn't want to and when I finally did my blood sugar was 28. My Dad and I had to go to the food court and get food because we couldn't find any in the store. Now I always carry food or glucose tabs with me where ever I go.