Hypos--ever have to call for help?

[quote=“Terry4, post:11, topic:56105, full:true”]
(How do you seek permission from a grocery store clerk that you’re experiencing a medical emergency and you need to eat something on the shelf and you’ll pay for it later?)[/quote]
Me? I’m an ask forgiveness rather than permission kind of guy in this kind of situation. Let them make a stink if they want to. I’m absolutely certain it won’t be good for their business to be seen harassing a diabetic rather than helping them in a time of need.

Because of this, and the basic good nature of most people, I just don’t have any concerns about being treated well if, in desperate need, I grab a chocolate milk from the dairy case and start downing it right there, planning to pay for it on the way out.

In fact, I’ve done this more than once over the years. Always treated well.

The particular one I have is quite accurate when compared to other thermometers. Can’t speak for all of them though.

I agree with this sentiment, Dave. And I’ve also brought empty candy wrappers and opened bags of sweets to the checkout. But sometimes the hypo scrambles my common sense and I stand there, needing sugar now, and debate whether I should do it or not. I’ve even stood in front of my open fridge for 10 minutes deciding which treat I should choose.

I also know that some people with D do not approve of eating first and paying later when confronted with a hypo in the store. This surprised me when I read it.

To make certain my insulin isn’t likely to freeze, I use this thermometer. In addition to current temperature, it shows minimum and maximum over the time period since last re-set. I checked it for several days on the same refrigerator shelf that I planned to place my insulin before putting the insulin in it. I see that the price shown here is almost twice what I paid for it from a different vendor in January, but the vender I used is currently out of stock on the item.

I continue to marvel at the resourcefulness of this community. You can ask just about any imaginable question of a practical nature and several people will already have worked out good answers. Attaboys/girls all around! :sunglasses:

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Or in this case a question not of a particularly practical nature at all, or at least not one obviously related to refrigerator thermometers. But that’s comment drift for ya–you never know where it’s going to go!

ROFL, I dunno about anyone else, but I consider the problem of keeping insulin from freezing to be very practical, indeed. :laughing:

Back in graduate school (pre-D days), my housemates bought a mini-fridge for beer 'cos they said my vegetables and fruits took up too much room in the main fridge!! :smile_cat:

Lol. I now have two full sized fridges… A large upright freezer (slightly larger than a full sized fridge). And a large chest freezer. My electric bill is outrageous but nobody questions my legitimacy as an Alaskan so it’s worth it. Of course I store frozen food outside in coolers all winter too.

I read somewhere, long ago, that the old joke about selling refrigerators to Eskimos is actually not a joke—that they are used, unpowered, to keep things from freezing. But that might be just one more apocryphal urban legend.

I’m getting one of these thermometers post-haste. Thanks for the link! :grinning:

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Dont think that’d work for very long. I keep frozen fish outside in coolers in the winter. The cooler just slows down any temperature fluctuations so it won’t start thawing as fast if the outside temp rises above freezing intermittently.

Bottom line: you need to remain alive and safe. You can (literally and figuratively) replace that baby’s candy, but you need to remember that you aren’t a cat (who still has a few back-up lives in their bag-o’-kitty-tricks.)

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Well, as for me–and bearing all these refrigeration tips firmly in mind!–I’m just heading out for a long bike ride, having checked my glucose tab supply and added a handful to the tube that lives in my bike bag. Good to go!

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I’m hoping that this separate fridge of yours resembles a ginormous butter compartment. Because everyone knows that insulin has to be stored in the butter compartment in order to remain fresh. :wink:

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Is that a qualified medical opinion?

David, I know your comment was offered with humorous intent, it does bring to mind another topic.

Sometimes I wish that we could communicate in an environment where disclosures were all assumed upon entering that environment. This constant writing, “I am not a doctor,” seems like needless tribute we’re required to say over and over and over again. It’s as if we have to discount hard-earned and lengthy experience every time we’re forced to do it. It’s even more complicated if you are a doctor participating here.

I’d like to make a one-time global disclosure and be done with it. Has anyone ever heard from a doctor, “While I do not have diabetes …”

Your point is well taken. I see logistical hurdles, though, the chief one being that if one makes that statement once, most people who read one’s posts will never see it. They won’t know to go looking for the place where it appears, or won’t care enough to make the effort.

As far as comments from doctors, I do seem to recall seeing posts that say that, from time to time. I didn’t bookmark any of them, unfortunately. When I first interviewed the doctor who ended up as my PCP, he said (unprompted) during the conversation, “I don’t know everything.” That’s one of the reasons he became my GP.

I love it when a professional I’m considering hiring acknowledges the limits of his/her expertise. Over my long years as a diabetes patient, I learned that I assumed endocrinologists knew more than they do. My experience with them is much better now that I assume that they don’t have a depth of knowledge about insulin dosing. It’s understandable and eminently forgivable. It’s a patient hazard that we attribute to doctors all kinds of things they don’t or can’t know. And then we make important assessments with that erroneous judgment. Everybody wins with a clearer understanding of the boundaries of our interaction.

Yup. And has been said often (by me :laughing:), doctors are primarily trained to attack and defeat acute illness, not so much in how to manage a condition 24x7 day in and day out. We have to become our own experts. IK, IK . . . broken record. :sunglasses:

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