Source
r/diabetes_t1•
coderascal

One of my worst nightmares happened today

I'm absolutely devastated. I'm on vacation with my family (wife, 2 kids, 8 and 6). My wife left me and the kids at the pool to go take a nap. After a little while my blood sugar apparently plummeted to the point where I'm in an emergency. Still conscious but totally out of it. I know I was drinking sugar but I guess it wasn't working fast enough. We've taught our kids what to do when I'm low but I was in such a state that I wasn't telling them I'm low. Just telling them to follow me. Basically my only goal was to get them back to the room (about 20 minutes away) and out of danger. But looking back that was the worst thing I could've chosen to do. The right decision would have been to sit at the bar and drink straight juice until I felt better. I'm not convinced I realized myself what was happening until we were half way back to the room.

I wear a Dexcom and was watching it. I was drinking sugary drinks. And still this happened.

I’m devastated because I’ve finally put my kids in danger because of an out of control low.

Posted Aug 3, 2018, 12:35 AM UTC

2616
runningMomma7•

Forgive yourself. You're OK and, even more importantly, your kids are OK. You were aware enough that something was wrong and and your first instinct was to take care of your children. Tomorrow is a new day and a chance to try again. I like to be 120 if I'm taking my son to the pool. Also I keep my Dexcom low alarm set for 80 (in addition to keeping the fall rate alarm on) because I have more time that way to get it back up before I get low enough to feel bad. I am, by no means, an expert. I am still fairly new to the T1D family and have the benefit of honeymooning. I fully expect managment to get harder. Hang in there. I hope you are able to forgive yourself and enjoy the rest of your vacation!

11
Sauce-Dangler•

Had a similar situation trying to pick up one kid from school while walking with another in a stroller....sugar started plummeting while I was half way to the school, ran out of glucose tabs...panicked big time..decided to turn back toward nearest grocery story and gorge on OJ....I was scared as fuck that something was going to happen and I'd leave my kid helpless.... how did you so low? Physical activity prior to lying down? Were you bolusing for the sugary drinks?

3
coderascalOP•

I was swimming in the hot sun. No bolusing for the drinks because we were in the pool and I wasn’t wearing my pump. I was hovering around 100 for most of the afternoon but plummeted at some point.

1
Sauce-Dangler•

Perhaps you overheated and as a result burned through that glucose and resulted in a low? Either way...lesson learned...you're ok, your kids are OK and now you'll have quick acting carbs (glucose tabs/glucose gel/ OJ in addition to lowering temp basal before going into the sun....dont be so hard on yourself

5
coderascalOP•

Thanks. I had easy access to sugar. This was more a situation of not even realizing until far too late that I needed it.

It just didn’t connect that I was low, if that at all makes sense.

3
Sauce-Dangler•

It absolitely makes sense because cognitive impairment is a symptom of hypoglycemia... the bigger question you should be asking yourself is WHY you went low as a way to prevent it in the future...there are some freak ways to become low spontaneously (such as having a site infiltrate a vein or trauma to area around a site which which cause insulin to be introduced into blood stream vs adipose tissue) but these are rare. Most of the time we can back track and figure out WHY the low occured...

1
motherofmalinois•

I’m sorry that happened friend. I posted my situation on another thread but a few nights ago I gave just a bit too much bolus for dinner. Long story short, if it weren’t for my dexcom, I would definitely have gone to sleep and probably not woken up. My bf is out of town and one of my worst fears is putting him in the situation of finding me comatose or dead.

I hope you figured out some new coping skills, that’s all we can do when we make these mistakes! Best of luck to you, I hope you can enjoy the rest of your vacay!

2
Gargle-Blaster•

Don't be so hard on yourself. This disease is a pain in the butt. And one of the most challenging things is that when we go low, we don't think as clearly. My brain turns to complete mush when I drop that low. And that's the time when we most need to be able to think and make the correct decisions.

2
Stuart--Little•

Relax mate, learn from it, no one died. The way that you describe i though one of your kids died because you had a oow and they were in a swimming pool.

2
tenrub20•

Your mind plays tricks on you when you go low.

You were in a panic situation and trying to protect your kids and your low BG just exaggerates this.

I wouldn't be surprised the next time it happens if you stay put even if someone is trying to get you somewhere for something surgery!

It really does mess up your thinking but you will learn to recognise earlier warning, setting your dexcom to a higher alarm is a good idea, always better to have more time to get something before the crazy thinking starts.

I know I know high BG is bad, just in the short term, your always better slightly high that too low.

I went snorkelling yesterday and my BG was 19mmol before, I nearly gave myself a correction dose! But after snorkelling for an hour my BG was 6.5!

Learn, adapt and overcome!

2
PHAssociate•

Relax it happens! One thing to point out is the glucose levels can go funky while on vacation due to less stress, possibly different foods, being in a foreign country, jet lag and/or all of the above. As a frequent traveler, I tend to eat more and take less insulin on vacation due to these reasons. Take it in stride and learn, it’s all we can do. Hope you’re feeling better!

1
pinkmilkgorl•

This happens. When I was a younger diabetic I was so low..but still walking/cognitive. Luckily the first two years I was diagnosed I was in a tiny school with a whole 32 kids grades k-6th so it wasn’t hard to communicate about my diabetes. They would tell the teacher I was “saying weird things” but waking up with juice I wouldn’t remember a thing even though I was awake and talking. I guess I’d compare it to waking up from anesthesia. You have that weird out there couple of minutes and then you fully wake up. I’m sorry this happened it sounds very scary and I sympathize.

1
readeym•

Been there, done that. Glad everyone is okay. In general, I find vacations terrifying. After three days or so, I'm completely off the rails due to the different schedule and diet.

1
gunpowderandPb•

I wouldn't be too hard on yourself- this disease is sporadic and nonsensical. I think we're trained to feel guilty when things go wrong when in reality it's mostly out of our hands. Sounds like you did your best for the situation.

1