The media/ world in general can't get their facts straight about living with diabetes so perhaps it's not suprising that they can't get them straight about diabetes and death either. Any passed out PWD = "seizure" and they aren't able to report what happened with the pump because there's no understanding about what exactly a pump does. I guess the way to find out what happened would be to find out if there's any type of lawsuit coming out of the family's tragedy. Which is not very satisfying to me.
He had a trained dog too!! Link to story mentioning dog, with pic! "it is believed his dog Lola who was with him and was trained at sniffing out blood sugar level might have alerted him."
Many are saying it could not happen this way or that way but something happened to this young man and he died.
Here is my take on it...JMHO
1). He called in sick...new job only there a week or so...must have been really sick "BAD"....what a cool job....
2). Fighting high BG and dosing massive amounts of insulin to try and keep BG down and get back to work.
3). He over doses and rips his infusion set out just as he starts having a seizure.
4). Cardiac arrest sets in and that's it!
I have told myself many times (and I'm sure there are others) if my BG gets toooo low and I feel like I'm going to pass out I will just rip out my infusion set there is no way I can "SUSPEND" my pump using the buttons I could lay there for hours before my wife finds me.....I always believe some how I'm going to survive....
Insulin is just like carbon monoxide, too much warns you if your awake and a just little more kills you!
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Or taking the wrong insulin and going into insulin shock (been there done that). I took 20 units of Humalog instead of Lantus, went to sleep and ended up in the ER and almost died, per the nurse.
I thank God for insulin, but also for my pump. There's no chance I'll take the wrong insulin again as long as I'm on the pump.
Wonder if the dog pulled out the inset?
I use the most important skill I've had to sharpen over the last 27 years, vigilance. Testing my BG regularly is the catch-all. I don't know how to guard, specifically, against everything that can go wrong with my pump but a change in BG will probably be the first indicator.
The scariest part, for me, is sleeping overnight and relying on my pump, at that point, to both control my BG and tell me if something has gone wrong with the pump itself. I generally wake up at some point in the middle of the night. I can't remember the last time, in the last 10 years or som where I've slept through the night. I just use that time to do a quick BG check and take a quick look a my pump.
Not sure what else I can do.
Wonder why a dog and not a CGM ....
Dog's make better friends. He might of had a CGM and was bolusing off of it instead of a meter. There have been times my CGM was reading in the 260's and when I checked found out I was in the low 100's.
Believe it or not John, I also agree with that attitude. If I had a pump and had read this article, it would not stop me from continuing to use my pump. What it would do is it would remind me of the dangers of insulin, of our disease, of the precariousness of our lives. I won't give up, but I also don't want to live in a Pollyanna world where I think everything will work out perfectly with little or no work!
I'm old enough to remember them. Shoot, I remember when Jerry Garcia was hospitalized in what was described as a "diabetic coma". It leads to a lot of confusion over what's going on. But that's the media for you. :(
I know seizures aren't listed on the possibilities of things that can happen when you develop DKA, but it wouldn't surprise me if that was within the realm of possibilities.
Interesting, AR. Perhaps there was more going on, perhaps not. I'm quite interested in learning more about this case.
Thanks! Some new info in that, though nothing that helps shed light on specifically how he died.
Whether one uses a pump, pen, or needle to inject insulin to control diabetes, most of the hazard is the same. If you inject/infuse too little or too much insulin, trouble will ensue.
To protect myself, I fingerstick test a lot, about 15 times per day, everyday. I use a CGM to alert me to out of range BGs to remind me about my BG status when I'm not paying attention or sleeping. These two things alone have virtually eliminated "close calls." Awareness of my BG status allows me to troubleshoot any pump mechanical malfunctions while I still have my wits about me.
If I'm having unexplained BG problems, I've been quicker in recent years to change sites/sets/vial of insulin to move my BG to a safer range.
Another major protection that I've adopted is to take less insulin. Adopting a lowered carb diet (50-75 grams/day) means less insulin and smaller mistakes. Dr. Bernstein's law of small numbers is powerful!
Finally, for the last two and half years, I've lived with a hypoglycemia alert dog. He has saved my bacon more than once.
Anytime one depends on a man-made device to live, you have to remain vigilant. I know it's human nature to let your guard down, but redundant systems greatly reduce the chance of a killer situation.
Neither a dog nor a CGM are fail-safe. Better to have multiple redundant systems. Frequent fingerstick BG testing, CGM, hypoglycemia alert dog, and a strong present social network (family and/or friends) can combine to provide better ultimate protection. Sometimes, however, fate conspires and you lose. Safety is merely relative, not absolute.
It doesn't seem like it's clear that his pump actually malfunctioned. The article mentions he was sick, so perhaps he had something else going on. Maybe, because he was sick, he went into DKA really fast and suffered some kind of complications from that. Maybe he overcorrected, went low, and had a seizure (thus pulling his infusion set out in the process). Maybe something completely unrelated to diabetes occurred (like he had a seizure because of abnormal brain activity).
I really hope an investigation is done to see if the cause was the pump.
That said, pumps are mechanical devices. They can (and will) fail at times.
Hmmm, did the pump kill him or did he "screw the pooch"
uugh! ACID ROCK!! ( i don't think that would ummm kill him though)IT may explain why the dog did not try to help him though.
the information simply contradicts itself. Generally if he was in DKA he would not have a seizure, and if he had a seizure his sugar was not high.
either way it does not seem like a pump malfunction as the article says.
I would never bolus based on a CGM or a DOG. I will always check it with a finger stick, because it is too risky otherwise.
There is still a missing part of this story
(it's from test pilots, cf the Right Stuff... "Wow, how do I get my picture on the wall" *chews Beamon's* "ya screw the pooch! You don't wanna be on the wall"