No need to apologize Doris, it's so true! The confusion and hyper-focus just take over. Like the time I was sure it was morning after going low during a nap and set ALL the clocks for AM, didn't understand why even my computer clock was wrong LOL
I had to laugh at your humor bikette with the post it notes comments!
LOL acid...
Hey, lots, can't wait to hear how today went and what new low-tech gadgetry (like post-its) you implemented!
lotsadots
lotsapocks
pokalots (I like that one!)
I'm on pins and needles... which color did you choose??
I am the queen of inconvenient lows, so I feel your pain! It is scary when your body betrays you and you are too dazed and low to help yourself.I try to have tabs &gel (with all the plastic and "sealed for your protection " crap taken off)stashed in areas I frequent. As for being in public and having a "diabetic moment" I highly recommend telling a coworker you trust and a few friends. Tell them how you start acting when you are low and what they should do. When I start moving slow and get really really blonde Megan or Brenna run and grab me a sprite. If people know about it upfront it things go smoother when you need help because you dont have to explain what you need and why you need it while you are freaking out cause your brain is starving...as for the other people...they can think what they want. You cannot change the fact that you are diabetic and you did not ask to be diabetic. Life happens and people who do not understand that do not have the right to judge and what they think anyway isnt all that valid in my opinion.
I wouldn't be able to use yellow as there is always a forest of them on my desk, the car, etc. There was one on the fridge this AM to remind me to eat the leftovers w/ my eggs.
ROFLMAO!
don't feel bad! Im a nurse and Ive had to leave in the middle of a consult with a patient knowing that Im crashing. Not good but you gotta put yourself first!
Oh, honey. I know just how you feel. I had a hypo once at the grocery store. I was looking at the same credit card reader that I'd used at my grocery check-out stand every week for two years and I couldn't follow the instructions. I kept reading the instructions and they were like Swahili translated into Ukrainian. Huh?!? I felt reeeeaaaalllllyyyyy stupid. I finally told the clerk, "I'm diabetic and I don't feel well. I need to drink this juice NOW. Do you have a chair?" The manager guided me to a chair and I drank my juice and ten minutes later I was fine. I apologized when I finally was able to pay for my groceries. They were very kind. Stuff happens.
While I think everyone around us is sympathetic to hypos. I also think we hold ourselves to a standard. It is a matter of pride and self worth. I want to go through life feeling like I can take care of myself. I am actually hard on myself, harder than those around me. A hypo that required assistance (which cross my fingers I have never had) would be mildly embarrasing to me. It wouldn't shock those around me, I am quite frank about my diabetes. But it would be a crushing blow to my pride and most of all make me feel like I can't take care of myself and give me a sense of loss to my independence.
I do stuff that is embarrasing all the time. I don't worry about how I look to other people (just look at my face). But I do care about feeling like I can take care of myself.
It was very embarrassing to wake up naked in a pool of cranberry juice, that's for sure!
Were you wearing the hat?
You know, I used to live in awful fear of a "bad hypo" one that I might need help from others on. It was as you point out partly fear of losing pride and independence but it was more than that too, it was about controlling the vertical and horizontal, it was about not letting anyone know that the whole deal could be difficult or hard.
Only after I had such a hypo (unconscious, glucagon, ambulance, ER trip, the works) did I realize that having gone through such an experience, I now know that I come out the other end with all the pride, respect, independence that I had to begin with. By no means was it a fun experience but really, if and when it does happen, it's not the sea change you might think it is. If anything it removed the awful fear that I had before and I felt better for not carrying the baggage of that fear around with me anymore.
Nope, that was pre-hat...
ROTFL
You're right, the ones that require assistance are the most embarrassing and most poorly-timed ones. I remember, back when I worked for a cell-phone company, I was training a new employee while driving around downtown Philadelphia while collecting and and analyzing wireless signals received from the mobile network. I was struggling so much, that it took all the effort I had just to go the right way on a one-way street, never mind trying to explain to this new-hire what all the numbers meant that he saw on the computer screen.
Eventually, I swallowed my pride and had the other guy drive me somewhere to get food, and then back to the office.