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Mum's colleague had a hypo and she panicked...

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Pigeon

Well-Known Member
Relationship to Diabetes
Type 1
My mum works in a tiny office with one other person, who is T1. She's said before that he doesn't look after himself very well.

Today he came in and was acting like he was drunk, dancing round the office and being really loud and laughing too much. She kept telling him he wasn't well and suggested he test his BG, but he doesn't carry a meter. She then suggested he take some insulin! Thank fully he declined and started to eat, but was stuffing his face with sandwiches and crisps so quick that he couldn't swallow it and it was all coming back up again. She asked for his wife's number but he refused to give it to her, and said he was going to drive home! Thankfully my mum stopped him, saying she would confiscate his keys, and she sent him out to Boots to aske them to test him and sort him out. Mum didn't know if his sugar levels were high or low, just knew he was odd. While he was out she rang me for advice, but I was out running so didn't answer - this was lunchtime so I think it had gone on all morning.

He came back after an hour (!) saying his sugar levels had been at 2 at Boots and he'd had some lucozade. He thought he'd mixed up his morning long-acting and quick-acting insulins.

So I've told my mum what to watch out for, and to keep some Lucozade in the office and insist he drinks it next time. But it got me thinking:

1. This guy needs educating about driving and diabetes - if he hasn't got his meter with him he shouldn't be driving. What if my mum hadn't stopped him? So I've told her everything he needs to know about the DVLA and she's going to nag him about it.

2. Maybe I shouldn't just always tell my parents I'm fine and hide hypos from them! I got diabetes when I was 26 and had left home and don't like them to worry or fuss, but maybe this isn't the best thing... what if I acted weird and my mum gave me insulin!

3. Again, I don't like to make a fuss, but maybe I should check my office buddy knows what to do if I act like that... she knows I have diabetes and she's quite sensible, but then so's my mum.

Gave me food for thought really, I'm always a "diabetes hasn't changed anything" kind of person, but maybe we all need to think about "what-if" situations.
 
Goodness Pigeon, thank heaven your mum had some idea of what to do (apart from the insulin!). I suspect this person has been T1 for a long time and has become blas? about it all, but as you say, potentially very dangerous. We should all make sure that people recognise the signs and know what to do - it might never happen, but if it does then at least they will have some idea of what to do 🙂
 
Well done your mum for not letting him drive. At least she got him to get help.

And well done for number 1 and totally agree on 2 and 3. :D

Diabetes does change your life. It's potentially life-threatening and we keep ourselves alive by injecting and making sure we know what we're eating and the effects of exercise, stress, illness, etc on our metabolism. Other's haven't got a clue, even for themselves, so tell those around you who care or spend time with you exactly what they need to do in case of emergency and reassure them that you can handle it fine for 99% of the time but you may need them to do the right thing for that 1%. 🙂

Big pat on the back for you and your mum.🙂

Rob
 
Well done to your mum for getting the chap in her office sorted. I do think it is a difficult call. When someone in our office was acting strangely a first aider was called who had seen a hypo. The first aider treated the hypo and made sure the person was OK. A few weeks later the same thing happened withthe same person, who on this occaison decided they had been assaulted and reported the first aider. Now first aiders have been told if the person has a hypo call an ambulance and the person involved has been told if they refuse treatment they will be sacked for putting others at risk...
 
Wow... well done your mum!! Its must be scary... what if she didn't notice.... what ifs??? He is so lucky!!
 
The first time you deal with somebodies else's hypo it's quite a frighten experices because you aren't quite what is going on.. And you just don't know the sign's or symptoms etc..

If your mum is in the office alone while she's trying to help sort out one of his hypo's, if he's not being complient with her requests to eat/drink is struggling or his behaviour is really over zealous etc.. If his behaviour is over zealous apart from him harming himself, it might turn into aggression, she needs to call the paramedics out for a safety backup...

I've had to do this a couple of times with my husband when I've been on my own trying to sort out his hypo, his behaviour has been extremely difficult so purely for safety reasons I've called in the paramedics.. They actually don't mind as often or not their intervention calms things down, if it doesn't then they can call for police back up, this has happened a couple of times now that we've had the backup of 2 police officers.. It is a commotion I know, but safety is paramount in these situations.

I think she needs to remind him the new rules concerning our licence, now if we suffer 2 or more major hypo's (that need medical assistance) then our licence's are revolked for good! So he needs to really think about his control, as she is likely if this recurres again to call out the paramedics which will show on his medical records.. And when the doctor or consultant signs the renewal for your driving licence they will be looking at this information!
 
Well done your mum for not letting him drive, and as others have said she did everything right except the insulin.

Unfortunately it's a common mis-conception that when us Diabetics behave strangely due to hypo that people often think we need insulin. Two major soaps did story lines on this and both got it wrong (both showed administering insulin for hypo)

I think a lot more education/publicity should be given to this as the consequences of wrong treatment could be very serious.

NiVZ
 
Thanks guys, yes, she did handle it well really - I imagine it is quite scary to see someone normally calm acting so strange. I remember being out for a walk with a T1 friend before I got diabetes and she had a hypo and no glucose and we had to walk about a mile to buy some and that was quite scary, I'd forgotten what it's like.

My initial reaction was "I've had diabetes for 4 years and she doesn't know what a hypo is like or how to treat it????" but then I realised that's because I've pushed her away and made her think it I never get hypos. I'm off to see her on Friday so maybe we'll talk more about it then.
 
Hes very lucky , your mum has knowledge of diabetes , he could have very easily ended up at the hospital .Well done your mum , even tho im diabetic myself its still pretty frightening to watch someone else who is hypo as i often used to see with my dad .
 
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