in a low blood sugar coma and it was actually peaceful. Much more peaceful then battling diabetes everyday. Probably the most severve low I’d had since being diabetic. I don’t remember much of anything but feeling enormous pain in the vain in my arm from the paramedics injecting life saving glucose into my blood. When I came to I was crying and screaming from the pain of the needle in my arm. As I was comming out of it they said my level was too low for a reading. Had my mom not heard me knock over a vase downstairs I would likely not be here typing this. Today a different story as I woke up feeling beyond irritable thinking my sugar most be really high and it was only 122 which confirms again how awful I feel slightly elevated. I want to accept that I have diabetes because I have no choice but a can’t accept the distress it causes from the sugar swings. Its destroying my life and there is nothing anyone can do. I have to believe I am a rare case but having a 122 sugar shouldn’t make me feel like I am over 300 but it does. I wish there were answers but there aren’t. I am so tired of feeling F****G sick all the time and living just to worry about my health. Though they say diabetes isn’t a death sentence after my near death experience I say its worse.
I’m sorry to hear that you went through that experience especially the pain. Diabetes can be a Real Devil sometimes.
I am glad to read your lines and to know you are here with us today, Gary. I read in your profile that you have had type 1 diabetes since 1975, which is nearly as long as I have been alive, so I have a LOT of respect for you and for what you have lived through.
Hang in there, man… diabetes sucks royally (with as little or as much as I know it can suck)… but you are not alone and because of that you can come here and share this experience with us and we can send a BIG HUG your way!!
hugs…
it is so frustrating. having diabetes really does suck.
i’m glad your mom heard you and was able to call for help.
i know you aren’t looking for anything…but meditation really helps me get through this…and makes life kind of great in general.
i’m so sorry…
Thank goodness for your Mother and the fact that she heard you in distress. I’m sorry for the pain you had, but I’m glad you’re here to share your story. Don’t give up…stay strong.
Glad you are still with us. Yes, Meditation is good at helping us accept, as we must
sorry that happened! i know how you feel though. i had an experiance kind of like that. i was at school on the first day of my freshman year of highschool and no one knew i had diabetes and i was so low i couldnt form words. or say my name or say i have diabetes. i didnt pass out thank god, i just ate everything in sight, which was difficult because i couldnt see very well and i would reach out for something and i would miss it, i guess my hand eye corrdination was off? i know how u feel when u say its destroying your life, but theres millions of us out there living the same way. knowing that helps me sometimes(:
I am so sorry you had to go through this… It must have been a very scary experience, I am sure. I don’t mean to raise an issue, or seem insensitive, but this is one of the reasons why many of us showed concern a while back when you shared you wouldn’t test your blood sugar before dosing insulin. Has this experience made you rethink or reconsider that, in any way? (Not saying that this was caused by not testing… but it probably sheds some light on how important it is to test…)
Gary, at the risk of coming off as glib, stories like yours help motivate me to be all the more vigilant of monitoring my own status. As Manny mentioned, lots of us can’t imagine living with the D as long as you have (it’s been just over one year for me), and as angry as I occasionally get, neither am I ready to throw in the towel because there’s so much more damage left for me to wreak.
That you’re still among us must mean your work isn’t finished, either.
Dear Gary
Sorry to hear that you are living this hell. There are no words I can find to express my sympathy. There were two occasions in my life were I was sure I would die and I also experienced an extreme peace. I hope his will be so when the real time comes. It is part of the psyche of any living creature to avoid death as long as possible since it is irreversible. We should find a way to enjoy this peace while we are still struggling.
Glad you’re still here with us Gary, I sometimes wonder who I would have become if I wasn’t always a PWD (D’xed at 10 months old). I would, for one day, like to know what it feets like to be “normal”. . .
Im sorry to hear about your terrible experience. I have had my share of rough roads since dealing with hypoglycemia unawareness and the sticky situations i have ended up in. I almost lost my license and my freedom. The stress of dealing with crazy swings in blood sugars for many years can make you so tired of dealing with it. I have also had a similar experience of feeling bad with a normal blood sugar. I found that after a drastic low i felt bad when in normal range for several days after my drastic low. It did go back to normal where 120 felt like 120. I know things can be so hard hang in there. Take it one day at a time.
FWIW I don’t have hypo unawareness. I drank too much and it happened while I was sleeping. This board has a bunch of great people but I’ve had enough. I am becoming crippled from this. Its hard for me to even go out to the store and pick something up without feeling distress. My mom is sick herself and its just a household of depression from the second we wake up. Nothing good… Its all bad. Unfortunately its either live in misery until I fold or die. The only thing that keeps me going is the possibility of a cure but realistically just based on how slow everything in science moves we are likely looking at a good 7-10 years from even the most advanced therapies. I spoke to Dr Levetan of curedm last week before this incident and she promised me Pancreate will cure diabetes. Without the reality of some form of real treatment I feel doomed. Its not so much the near death experience that startled me but the 122 sugar that had me jumping out of my skin that I have to face everyday. God Bless.
Im was just relating my issues with my hypoglycemia unawareness to my personal struggle trying to say i have been through some bad times too. Didn’t mean to imply you had hypoglycmia unawareness.
Oh dear…so sorry to hear this. I can only imagine… I’m so glad you are still with us today. Stay strong Gary.
Listen to this Dude
Diabetes Show # 53
http://diabetespowershow.com/DiabetesPowerShow_53.html
"From Discouraged to Encouraged"
Running Time: 1:07:00
Dr. Susan Guzman, PhD, is a licensed clinical psychologist specializing in Diabetes, both as a researcher as well as a clinician. As the Director of the Behavioral Diabetes Institute Clinical Services, she developed and leads the multi-week depression series, “Breaking the Depression/Diabetes Connection”. Her clinical and research interests include overcoming barriers to good management, family issues with Diabetes, and the art of living well with chronic illness. She also has a private practice in San Diego.
Dr. Susan Guzman, PhD
www.behavioraldiabetes.org
Diabetes Show # 53
http://diabetespowershow.com/DiabetesPowerShow_53.html
Then listen to this man
The video below is very encouraging !!!
http://www.deo.ucsf.edu/learning-library/videos/2009-video-guzman.html
get back to me when ur done
cool
And if your really game try this
http://diabetespowershow.com/DiabetesPowerShow_75.html
DiabetesPowerShow Show # 75
LOW Blood Sugar…HIGH Anxiety
“Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome”
Click on player to listen…
Running Time: 0:58:10
Richard Wilson
A Letter from Scotland
Hi guys,
First of all, I want to say how much I love the show. It’s great that you are taking the time to try and educate and inspire the diabetic community. Keep up the good work.
My name is Richard. I’m 30, from Scotland & I’ve been type 1 for about 15 years. I’m currently on Lantus Long acting insulin and Novarapid short acting insulin.
Over the years, I’ve kept my diabetes in pretty good check, having an average hb1c of around 6 or 7 most times, & have always felt pretty confident in managing my diabetes.
Then in March this year, things went a bit wrong. After getting a really big scare with having a pretty bad hypo, the worst I’ve ever had, I began to suffer from panic attacks. I was really scared, as I kept thinking that I would hypo that bad again. I began checking my blood sugar a lot more, up to 20-30 times a day, maybe more. Then I lost all of my hypo warning signs, which made my mental state even worse, as how would I know when my sugars were becoming low? So in response to this, I began running my sugars high just to be safe. Bad idea! I had a terrible few months, panicking constantly, thinking of nothing else but my sugar levels, 24/7.
I don’t know if panic attacks or fear of hypos is a big issue with diabetics, but it ruined my life for about 3-4 months. I found it weird that for years, I was a great diabetic, had no worries, and had hypos that didn’t bother me. Then I had a big one and ‘boom’, it messed me up pretty bad for a while.
I’m fine now, and my signs have came back & my bloods are back on track and I’m testing a lot less.
I think that if this affected me, it may have affected others, and may be a good topic to cover.
If you decide to cover this topic and would like any more information from my experience, I’d be happy to help.
Thank you.
Richard
Richard Wilson has been a Type 1 Diabetic for 15 years and is on the Basal Bolus regime (Lantus Solostar and NovaRapid Insulin).
Richard is 30 years old, and lives in Ayrshire, Scotland. He shares his life with a very special Type 3, Leigh, his long term girlfriend of 10 years.
Richard works for the Local Health Board in a clerical capacity, and has done so for the last 10 years. He was diagnosed Type 1 at about age 15.
Richard is a guitar tutor in his spare time.
He enjoys being active. He does a lot of walking and cycling, and fancies himself a bit of an amateur photographer for fun.
http://diabetespowershow.com/DiabetesPowerShow_75.html
DiabetesPowerShow Show # 75
Wow Gary! Feeling your agony here. I’ve never been out of it with a hypo … yet … only thing I’ve experienced is DKA back in '73 as a teenager - in those days - we didn’t have all the bells 'n whistles diabetics now have to be on top of things. Even with all the technology we have, diabetes can still be a pain in the butt as I’m sure many of you are nodding your head in agreement with me here. Hang in there - you’re not alone and just so glad your Mum was there!!! Mum’s are a blessing at times - even when they yell at us to “clean up your room” 