Gastroparesis and Diabetes just dont mix sometimes. I was out with my friend running errands and i felt a low sugar come on. I had a bag of Jelly Beans (i know, not the best first choice but all I had)i couldnt test my sugar in the beginning to see how low it had been but finally after being so confused and having to sit down in a restaruant i finally was able to test it after the bag of jelly beans. It was 39. Wow, i thought, what was it before the jelly beans!
At this point Im still hopeful that they will do their job but I got even worse. I had to instruct my friend to go buy me a lemonade. 70 carbs. I drank that down... nothing happened.And then a 1/2 bottle of regular coke. and some icecream! this went of for a bit longer and I kept getting more confused. Then I couldnt see and then I was litterally chewing, like eating the insides of my cheek.
My friend was getting panicky as was i and all i could say was HOSPITAL. The owner of the restaurant called 911 and after they arrived and put dextrose in my iv my blood sugar was 24!!!!! i couldnt believe it. All the food in my belly had just been sitting there not working.
hindsite is 20/20 of course. i now have pixie sticks and honey sticks that people get for coffee so that i can keep it under my tongue for better absorbtion. and of course my glucose tabs
i also went and got an emergency glucagon kit.
I am going to be so prepared if this every happens again but it was the scariest thing in the world. When I was coming to, I felt like Dorothy coming back to Kansas after the tornado! phew!
i always carry my meter. what im talking about is the emergecy glacagon injection kit. The reason mine fell low was because with gastroparesis your stomach doesnt digest. so whatever i put in my belly was not helping, it was just makeing me feel more uncomfortable. with an overextended stomach. later on after eating jelly beans, drinking lemonade, coke and icecream when it all caught up with me, my sugar was 589/ gastroparesis makes diabetes extra hard to take care of but if anyone takes anything from this post it is to please keep a emergency glucagon kit with you. never know, it couldve saved me from losing consciousness. The owners of the restaurant were very nice BTW. The kept my freind calm and took 3 chairs and layed me down over them till EMS got there. Thank God for strangers!
I believe you need a prescription. They can be expensive if your insurance won’t cover. Mine did. I have Medicare and bc/bs and my copy was $44. I would definatley discuss it with your doctor. It’s come in handy a few time over the 29 years I’ve has diabetes.
Wow Renka...that is scary and been there before. I recently got my first CGM through Dexcom and absolutely love it. One punch of a button and I can see how I am doing while in a long meeting in a conference room and not having to wonder can I make it through it. Best of all it has the auditable settings to warn me in ample time before my lows. I you have not read up on them check it out.
I'm glad you're ok!!! What a horrible and scary experience.. it's a good thing you weren't alone and had people to help you. I do also carry a glucagon kit with me just in case and I have one at home too. I keep juice, glucose drinks, glucose tabs, glucose gel packs- these might be good for you, candy in my car. For me when I'm crashing, juice and glucose drinks are the only thing that lift me up. For my last bad low which came out of the blue with no apparent explanation, I had not taken any insulin except my basal, for 4 hours, I drank 1 juice pack and 1 glucose drink and ended up at 239 40 minutes later. But that 589, OMG, is well worth you surviving this :)
soaring freak… i was able to use one through my doc office for 7 days. it was great but my insurance wont cover it. im on medicare. im glad you have one!
you're welcome! the past 2 bad ones I had scared me alot and they were not as bad as yours... we really need to be careful and be prepared.. that last low I where I was scared I did test, then realized it was really bad all of a sudden, I called someone to tell them where I was... out shopping by myself, but I was only 47 which isn't that low for me.. I have been in the 20's and felt ok. Now if I feel I'm going to pass out I just over treat with juice and you can always lower the hight later... if I start exercising and or correct once I come up sometimes I can even avoid the big spike. a nurse told me always treat a low, most of the time I just treat the bad ones right away and test later.
