living alone- how do you cope?

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CarolK

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I was wondering how diabetics who live alone cope, say for example if they had a hypo and needed help, or if they had a night hypo. I am becoming an obssesive pain about leaving my son alone, especially at night. Sometimes me and my O/H would love to have a weekend away, but am so scared of leaving him. (He has had a few bad night hypos)
 
Depends how old is your son?
But whether my partner is away or at home, I always have sweets within reach of bed - hypoglycaemia, darknees, tiredness are not a good combination or time to be climbing out of bed or even worse, downstairs. I've never had to call our lodger, but sometimes someone else in the house can help.
 
Hi Carol, I'm 21 and only being diagnosed with Type 1 just over 6 weeks ago I'm not sure if I'm really qualified to answer this question at such an early stage. However for what its worth I've been living on my own since diagnosis and so far I think I've hit both ends of the spectrum, numerous Hypos and Hypers (especially since I started carb counting). I've dealt with them just as I have been taught. I keep a bottle of lucozade by my bedside along with the testing kit so that if in the event of a nightime hypo I can deal with it quickly.

Maybe someone else who has been diagnosed for longer could give some further insight? ...Because to be honest the more I think about it the more I'm thinking what if now 😱
 
Like Copepod said, his age is a factor. Has he treated his night-time hypos alone?

A few months after I was diagnosed I started uni and lived in a uni share house with people who I didn't tell I had Diabetes. I have always been able to treat myself though, so I wouldn't be worried about living alone at the moment.
 
Thanks for replies everyone, I know Im going to sound stupid, and probably an obssesive mother, but hes 21, and under normal circumstances, hes fine,. He is completely able to look after himself, but he has had 2 hypos, one where he had a seizure and another where, he was more or less fitting, and we just caught him in time. Both times these were in the night, this has made me neurotic about leaving him alone for say a weekend. I hope everyone doesnt think I'm stupid. Really appreciate your thoughts
 
You don't sound stupid at all. He has had a seizure before so i'm not surprised you are worried. I've never had a seizure and no one I know with Diabetes has had one so i'm not scared that i'l have one.

I wonder why some people have seizures and others dont:confused:

Just out of interest, how did you find him having a seizure, did you hear him or something?
 
You certainly don't sound stupid - my 'baby' is 22 and I still don't like leaving him on his own - he can't wait for us to go out.

He isn't diabetic by the way!!!!!
 
I have been living by myself for quite a few years now. My mother still worries about me, I guess that is what mothers do, particularly when it comes to their sons. 🙄

I guess it did not help that when I was living at home and also at university I too had a few bad hypos, some at night. In addition to the good advice in the previous posts about keeping a hypo remedy handy in the bedroom etc I would recommend the following: -
  • Encourage your son to test regularly, especially last thing at night when he should make sure he is at least above 6.0. Also test first thing in the morning to get the best idea as to what has happened whilst he was asleep.
  • Maybe as a pre-caution he should have a small night time snack if he does not already.
  • For at least the first few days or whenever he is alone but his control is a bit unstable arrange for some means of contact to confirm he is ok, a text message or quick phone call in the morning might suffice and should reassure you without being too much of a burden on him. Just don't expect him to be awake at the crack of dawn! 😉
  • Do you have a neighbour who you could rely upon to knock on the door to check things are ok if for some reason you cannot contact him? Just give your son a reasonable time to respond before you start fearing the worst.
  • In the worst case scenario you can always call the local police. But use this as a very last resort.
One other thing to remember is that except in the very extreme cases or where a lot of alcohol has been consumed the liver will respond to generate glucose in blood stream to eventually counteract a hypo. This liver induced reaction can cause problems when you have already treated the hypo yourself but it can also be a true lifesaver when a hypo goes untreated.

katie said:
... I've never had a seizure and no one I know with Diabetes has had one so i'm not scared that i'l have one.

I wonder why some people have seizures and others dont:confused: ...
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I used to get the shakes more readily and minor fits years ago when I was on the Actrapid pig insulin rather than the current synthetic human insulin. I think the loss of these symptoms was one the reasons many people were upset about switching to the synthetic insulin but personally I was quite pleased that my symptoms became less extreme whilst still maintaining at least some awareness.

Even so on Humalog I have had a couple of cases where I have suffered from muscle spasms in my legs when having a hypo whilst standing up. Still I was able to treat this myself once I had lied down for a short while and the spasms had stopped.

Also on at least one occasion I have lashed out at people when they were trying to help me - it can sometimes be good when you are left to sort a hypo by yourself! 😎
 
HI Katie, I just heard strange noises coming from his bedroom, and I ran in to find him fitting. It was the scariest thing I have ever witnessed, he actually stopped breathing, but at the time I didnt associate it with hypo(I know this sounds stupid now, so didnt use glucagon, but hadnt experienced it before) I just dialled 999, and fortunately my husband was there aswell. I did wonder whether some people were more prone to fitting than others, as my son had febrile convulsions as a child, and obviously when sugars go extremely low, now. I have read other people saying sugars are 1.7 etc, my son would fit before then I;m sure.
Rosserinis advice, I try to do all those things, but he isnt very good at testing I'm afraid, I do nag him to test before bed and snack. I dont know whether I will ever be able to go away and relax if hes on his own. I know I would be imagining the worst. I think I need to get him a nice girlfriend, preferably a diabetic nurse!
 
I think people must be more prone to fitting. Ive woken up to bad hypos in the night but have managed to grap something to eat until I felt better.

I used to be rubbish at testing too, but the thing that's made me do it more often is coming on here and realising that the only way i'm going to achieve a good hba1c is if I test alot.

You could try to get him to hang around hospitals alot and hope for the best :D
Or maybe you could ask him to wake himself up at 3am whenever you go away so he can check his bloods and act accordingly.

Not sure what to suggest really!
 
I live alone and for that reason as much as anything I have always tested before going to bed and acted if I'm too low to sleep on - I can't imagine not doing this simple thing in order to stay safe and also to give me a record of my levels. Since diagnosis in May 2008 I've had one hypo when I felt it necessary to ask if I could sit with my neigbour, although that wasn't during the night. I've had quite a few night hypos which I have generally woken up from, to my knowledge - I always test if I wake up in the middle of the night.

Part of the problem, of course, is trying to stay safe and also achieve good control. Given that I spend a third of each day sleeping, it's important to try and keep those hours as steady and within range as possible, but it is a very difficult thing to achieve. Given that your son seems more prone to fitting at low levels, perhaps he needs to ensure his bedtime levels are higher than normal if alone. Having said that, if he's not testing before bed he won't know what he 'usually' goes to bed on!
 
Northerner said:
Given that I spend a third of each day sleeping, it's important to try and keep those hours as steady and within range as possible, but it is a very difficult thing to achieve. QUOTE]

Actually, few adults spend a third of their life in bed (8/24), let alone asleep - I'd venture to suggest that those who live alone spend the same amount of time sleeping as those who share beds with others, but spend less time in bed. So, not so many unconconscious hours to worry about as you first think.

It's a very difficult balance for others, between allowing people with diabetes to sleep as long as they want and checking that they haven't gone hypoglycaemia, which is probably most likely to happen approaching dawm - if you're not hypo, then the last thing you want is an alarm or text waking you up.

Personally, I check my blood glucose levels before bed, eat if they're lower than I want. If I wake in the night for any reason, I consciously think "Am I hypo?" and if I think I am, have a handful of jelly sweets, rather than trying to test in the dark (so as not to disturb partner) or sometimes, if I need a wee, take test kit with me to loo, so I can put on light.
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Copepod said:
... I'd venture to suggest that those who live alone spend the same amount of time sleeping as those who share beds with others, but spend less time in bed. ...
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Thanks Copepod, rub it in why don't you 🙄

😉
 
CarolK said:
I was wondering how diabetics who live alone cope, say for example if they had a hypo and needed help, or if they had a night hypo. I am becoming an obssesive pain about leaving my son alone, especially at night. Sometimes me and my O/H would love to have a weekend away, but am so scared of leaving him. (He has had a few bad night hypos)
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In my case, in some ways it is easier if my OH is not there. when he is around, I spend time tryihg not to test in case it disturbs him and when I do brave it and test and happen to wake him up, I get the "well I said you hadn't eaten enough" bit which just annoys me. In some ways it would be easier to be on my own. I sometimes think if I wa on my own, I could test/eat when I want/need without the recriminations. 🙄🙄🙄
 
Copepod said:
Northerner said:
Given that I spend a third of each day sleeping, it's important to try and keep those hours as steady and within range as possible, but it is a very difficult thing to achieve.
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Actually, few adults spend a third of their life in bed (8/24), let alone asleep - I'd venture to suggest that those who live alone spend the same amount of time sleeping as those who share beds with others, but spend less time in bed. ...
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Speak for yourself. In fact I thought Northerners estimate was a gross underestimate, I find one of the real joys of the bachelor life is that having no woman nagging me to get up and do things means that, if I want to, I can enjoy far more than eight hours lounging in bed. Of course I do realise that this attitude may be a contributing factor to me living said bachelor life but still, I am happy. 😛
Copepod said:
... if you're not hypo, then the last thing you want is an alarm or text waking you up. ...
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Who has their text signal loud enough to wake them up? 🙄 You should not expect an immediate response to the text.
Andy HB said:
I feel a poll coming on! Do I dare?

Andy
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Sorry, probably won't be able to respond due to being asleep ... 😎
 
OK, perhaps we really do need a poll about amount of time spent in bed / asleep. My hours depend so much on time of year (until this year when partner designed a solar powered duck door opening device), whether partner is around or not (he spends several months each northern winter working in Antartica, when the cat decided she needs to sleep on our bed), whether he's sleeping next door (fed up with my early mornings for work shifts, not that I ever get him up, just leave him a cup of tea beside bed). If I did wake up hypo, he would have every right to say "why didn't you eat more / inject less?", although he has the sense to leave that sort of comment until daylight.

I have been woken by text sound, particularly if I'm expecting a text, usually if I'm either marshalling on an adventure race or expecting to be warned of departure from an overseas airport and need to drive to local airport to collect partner, race team mates, tons of kit etc. But I would wanr against any parents, for example, getting a coherent response from their offspring, whether or not offsprings have diabetes. Fortunately, mine never phone between 2230 and 0700, when they know I might be in bath or bed, but partner's father often phones later.
 
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