I just need someone to talk to at the moment because I do honestly feel like crying everything happening at one time.Let me explain and you can all give me a slap through the computer and tell me to grow
up, ok last night I had my dinner took my insulin as usual all was good then an hour later someone came to visit say hello (period) I was feeling low checked bingo! at exact time I was low sorted my self out made me some tea and had a
muffin to go along with it.
Then decided to check again I was 11 point something or other I thought no problem as I will be taking me levemir soon so took it and it went up 15.4mmol/L
(277.2mg/dl) still thought no worries as I will be going to sleep soon and rather be a bit
on the higher side then go hypo went upstairs and started feeling really dizzy
got my pillow and lied down on the floor my head was rushing around like crazy as
well as tooth ache took painkiller then when I felt like I could move decided
to get in bed got all comfortable but my head was like it had water open to it
everything was spinning I had never felt anything like it, checked my level again
now I was even higher then I started with 17.4 mmol/L (313.2mg/dl).
What should I do? Take more insulin and go hypo or just go to sleep. Was feeling hot and cold dizzy as hell so decided to phone
the NHS direct helpline the lady took my details and so on and so on then told me that my out of service hours Gp would give me a call in up to an hour if Ifeel worse to call them back and she will put it through as urgent.
Ok then long wait felt like it was hours at this time its 1am tired, dizzy, high just want to go to sleep but I could not how ever hard I tried so I get the call the lady asking me are you so and so livingat so and so a known diabetic well hell yes of course, during all this time she had not given me her name.
I explained the situation told her I on novorapid and levemir then she goes on saying on so you take oral medication
arghhhhhhhhhhhhhhh then had to explain all over I am type 1 take insulin injections and blah blah blah and the first thing she said to me was it looks like it’s uncontrolled, I got angry excuse me UNCONTROLLED how bloody dare she,I told her that I am controlled and that I have taken my insulin as well as it being that time of month so I am sure that everyone has some sort of problem
when its that time of month even non-diabetics get pain and whatever, I said the reason I called is to get advice on what I should do should I take more insulin and have a hypo later on or just go to sleep, she then went on to say your levels have risen in such a short time (I bloody well know) and I think you should go to the hospital A&E, I was like are you serious I am not waking my parents at nearly 2am to take me to the hospital her comes the second
part well your 25years old and I think your old enough to take care of yourself!
Is this lady for real one minute shes saying I am uncontrolled and now I can take care of myself , anyways I went on saying I can
take care of myself but do you really think it’s a good idea for a dizzy
diabetic to be driving at 2am in the morning? She went on to say my advice
would be to go to the hospital and get a full check up seeing as your levels
are high and your feeling dizzy.I was like ok thank you hanged up, told my sister what’s going on waited for a bit checked my bs level and it went down to 15.3mmol/L (275.4 mg/dl),
I never went to the hospital and the dizzy spell went away thank God just read some prayer and quran and went to sleep.I think she just decided at the start seeing as I was diabetic I must be controlled withour getting any facts she just judged!
So how do you all feel of the way the lady went on? Am I just being a drama queen?
I think this sounds like a case of “a little knowledge is a bad thing”. I wonder what medical qualifications the telephone operators have? It seems that whatever you call with, as soon as you tell them you are diabetic, that is what they focus on. I had dreadful labyrinthitis once and the room was spinning like a top. When we called NHS direct, and i told them my bg was 9, immediately I was told it was too high (well yeah but not for me usually), but my diabetes wasn;t what I was calling about.
I wonder if they have a sheet that says, “get the patient to check their blood sugar” and if it is anywhere outside of 4-7mmol/l then you are UNcontrolled.
I hope you are feeling better and all sorted out now. How are the levels this morning?
Don’t know who or what qualifications the woman had but being she’s not a Doctor means she can’t diagnose and even Doctors won’t diagnose over the phone, they almost always tell you to go to emergency or come into the office. I’m sure she was following a script just giving pre determined information out. Frustating and annoying I’m sure. If it was me, I would take 1 or 2 units if it is at 300 or so and have no problem going to sleep. If it is a rise from treating a low, then I would do nothing, just go to sleep and check in the morning. It happens all the time, many times when I go low it will bounce high afterwards. Sometimes it’s because of how I treated it. A muffin may have been a bit too much causing it to rise so high. I’ve switched to glucose tabs, they’re perfect. I also get dizzy all the time, and my stomach aches… all the time. (I’m a mess) There are nights where I just plain feel like ■■■■! If I still felt that badly the next morning I would have called my Doc. Anyway, don’t get too upset, the woman was limited in what she could do for you, maybe you can call your Doctor’s office and explain what happened and ask them what you should do, they may be able to give you some actual advice. For sure you should talk to your Doctor about it at your next appointment. At least you called and tried to get help, and next time (if there is one) you’ll know what to do. Hopefully all is well today.
Good luck!
Barb thats the think I do think it was a doctor from my gps out of hours,first I called it was them ppl who take the details of whats wrong and then they decide to get you to talk to.
She was a doctor a very lame one at that but a doctor I have never felt dizzy thats why I was scared and the muffin was not a whole muffin not even a half,just think it was my cycle messing everything up.
Thank you for your feed back both of you and taking the time to read my issues.lol
Sounds like an awful experience, Osob! When you are feeling that lousy physically and then scared on top of it, you are really in need of some insightful down to earth ideas and reassurance. You got a patronizing idiot! I’m so sorry. To tell you the truth when I have something that worries me happen I just post on here and my other site and (because we are international so it doesn’t matter the time) I get more good insight and information than I probably would from any advice nurse/doctor!
Just my input, but I would have done a correction for a high like that. levemir is a long-acting basal and doesn’t set in for about two hours. I would have computed the insulin on board, and because it was bedtime taken less than I thought I would need to hit my target goal, but at least enough to get it out of that super high zone (and hopefully make me feel better!) Glad you are better now.
Zoe you are spot on and if my laptop was working I would have come on here without any doubt but because I was feeling dizzy I thought it would be better to just talk to someone rather then come downstairs and get into trouble whilst I was on my way down.
It was so late and thought that if I take a correction I would go hypo and then wake up in the morning with a high but spoke to the nurse and she said what I done was correct and that lady had no right to speak to me in that manner she was just rude and I am not one to get angry about things but she got me mad.
Thank you very much Zoe and I wont be making that mistake again.
I’m sorry you had this experience.
It is so hard to explain to people what is going on when you are sick. I get so frustrated when I get sick or have to go to the hospital on a non diabetic related issue and then all the ER docs seem to focus on is my diabetes and not why I am really there. They get all freaked out if my levels are slightly elevated. Which is mainly due to pain, which causes me to stress which can elevate or make me crash. (I have Fibromyalgia and two other forms of arthritis since I was 8, so when I get in flare up it can mess with my sugars)
I just had abdominal surgery a few weeks ago and I had to cut back on my Levemir the night before my surgery. So since I wasn’t able to get the full dose the next morning before my surgery I spiked to 378 and they were like why are you so high. And I had to explain to them well its X Y & Z. I would have rather taken my full dose of insulin and if i so happened to drop that morning at least I could be hooked up to Glucose via IV. I was following what the hospital told me to do the night before. I wish doctors would listen to all the issues at hand instead of focusing on one thing. I am not a textbook diabetic. I have other auto-immune disorders that if one gets flared up you can be sure that my B.S. levels are gonna be wacky. And yet I get crap from my doctors wondering why are you not in control.
You are not a drama queen. It is your body. You have every right to call and ask for advice. Its a shame that medical professionals act so unprofessional. Hope your feeling a bit better.
I don’t think you’re being a drama queen at all. You weren’t treated respectfully, she offered no help or medical support. Wonder if your phone calls were recorded so supervisors can hear the type of non-help she gave. In the US many of these types of calls are recorded & the caller knows they are.
I correct highs before bed, but at a lower dose than usual.
Thank you Gerri,
Yeah they do record over here but not all of them she was just useless to be honest and I will be correcting any highs from now on no matter what time.
I would have done the same as Zoe - taken into account how much fast acting insulin I had in my body, and calculated from there the amount of fast acting insulin I would have to take to bring me down (I like to be around 5-6 at night).
I guess one thing that I’ve learned since going onto the pump (was on insulin injections (MDI) for 40 years prior) - is how much 1 unit of insulin will lower me down. I still have a “duh” moment sometimes, as before on MDI I somehow “winged” it properly in giving myself the proper insulin to bring me down. Obviously, as you can see I would not be a good teacher for you, but there are many out here in Tudiabetes that have a better way of explaining that.
Personally, if I had been in your shoes with that person, I would have either gotten someone to drive me to the hospital, as I don’t feel I would have been “with it” to drive in that state. Too dangerous. It’s too bad they never gave their name out, as I would be reporting them. Sounds like you know what to do in future tho’ correcting on your own (we’re always learning something new about D ). Again s others have said, correct a high at night with perhaps abit less insulin then you’d normally do during the day time to be on the safe side. What BG’s do you try to be at before you go to the land of nod? Just curious.
Anna from Montreal - expat from England - The Roller Coaster Ride of Diabetes
Seriously hate to find pleasure in another’s pain., but reading about your night made me feel pretty god about me. I go through very similar situation about once a week my numbers drop to 20’s mg/dl and fly up to 500-600+ with little to no rhyme or reason. No mater how much effort and steps taken to towards "Control"
Blame the out of control, won’t comply diabetic seems to be the theme. Though I have been put in hospital 2wks at a time 3x now with top diabetic experts trying to control my blood sugars. Not for one 24 hr period were they ever able to control it. Under the strictest of regimes. Yet, still I am told how I did wrong. How I deal with it now-
Very much alone. (glad to find this site) those calls never helped or felt supportive. I roll w/ it keep sugar and insulin on person. Every instance ALL BAD REAL SCARY BAD-and yeah you feel like â– â– â– â– . but that was yesterday. it will happen again -And you will get back up and keep on trucking -and be glad for the new day
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