Making comedy film about diabetes

Type 1 and LADA
1

Hi.

I am currently working on a comedy script for a show on diabetes. It will be a low budget film which will be shown on the web. It is about a group of people who are all type one diabetic who join a diabetes support group. They all come from different backgrounds. It is meant to be in the same vain as ‘Learners’ (Check you tube, it’s a british comedy about learner drivers).

Do any of you have any funny situations with your diabetes that you would like to share.

The aim of this show is to do two things. One of these things is to put right the misconceptions of type one diabetes, and to bring more awareness. The other thing is to go against stereotypes.

Thanks

2

I don’t have a personal story ,but I was told one.(my daughter has type 1) a son of a freind has a pump,he is 7 yrs old.he was taking a bath one night and all of a sudden his parents heard him crying.they went into the bathroom and seen him laying belly down with no water.they come to realize his tube went down the drain and he was stuck.the father had to take apart the drain to get him “unstuck”.they said it was scary at the time but they say now kind of funny looking back now.I hope this is what your looking for,good luck with it

3

Have any need for someone to score original music for the film? I’ve never tried it, but have been seriously interested.

4

Interest is always good. I would love to have some music. I wouldn’t be able to pay you though, I am working on a micro budget (as it stands, almost no budget). I am using my skills to borrow, beg and steal what I need (But obviously not stealing as that would be very wrong).

5

I was suffering a low at an all you can eat salad bar. I went up to pick out may food knowing a need a fast acting carb. I looked at all of the fruit and moved on, again knowing I needed some sugar. I pick out some food and went back to the table. Apparently my brain and body were not on the same wave link. I looked down on my plate and had brought back a piece of lettuce and shrimp tempura.

6

Wow. I bet that was scary. And I was thinking of going on the pump too. I don’t want to be sucked down the drain. lol

7

Here’s a story for you. I don’t know if you can use it but it amused me at that time and I tell it often:

At my wedding, after the ceremony and all the picture taking, I started to go low. My maid of honor had stocked her purse just for this reason so she gave me a granola bar to eat. My new father-in-law saw me with the granola bar and said, “you should share your food!” Then he proceeded to take the granola bar out of my hand and rip off half of it for himself! Fortunately, my maid of honor went into protective best friend mode and snatched both halves out of his hand and informed him I would not be sharing any of my food.

8

didn’t mean to scare ya …lol. this was told to me 2 weeks after my daughter was daignosed to cheer me up.lol. shes only 4 but i’m still considering one for her to.

9

I’ve been pumping for close to 12 years now. I lost count how many times my tubing has found it’s way out into the open air while doing housework. Consequently, I’ve found myself tied to drawer pulls, tangled up with a pile of laundry in my hands, and the best was I closed the dryer door and tried to walk away and made it about 4 inches before I snapped back realizeing my tubing was inside the dryer. If there would have been a hidden camera in my house, I probably would be $10,000 richer from America’s Funniest Home Videos.

Also, it wasn’t funny at the time, but now I can laugh at it. While in college, I lived in an apartment in a somewhat creepy part of town. I guess one of my used syringes fell out of a garbage bag I was taking to the dumpster. A few days later I got a knock on my door from an apparant druggie offering me cash for clean syringes. Freaked me out at the time, but in hindsight it was quite funny.

10

Upcoming pumps will give you an alert if you get too close to the drain.

11

I like the suggestion about pump tubing ‘tying’ people up. Same thing happens to me…on door knobs —seems like all the time. I like to yell at my pump when this happens—‘come on dude–stop it’ Any diabetic on a pump(non omnipod) would relate immediately.

12

I hate when that happens!!! Sounds so like me sometimes

13

I copied this from my discussions:

I was arrested when I was a kid because of my syringes. It was in the late 70’s. I was pulled over for something and I became nervous as the officer asked for my identification. My purse spilled on the seat and there it was in his sight.

I was handcuffed and taken to the jail where I awaited partially ticked and envisioning my mother coming in to pick me up. It was everything I had envisioned. That officer I found out was a rookie. He just didn’t want to listen to me. He thought he had a druggie! No charges were filed and I didn’t get a ticket.

14

Several very funny ones…

When I was 13 (4 years after diagnoses) my best friend Samantha and I were with her then step mom and we had gone to Dairy Queen for a Cone I order then called my mom to make sure I was drawing up the right dose (my friend was with me at the table) Right after I hung up from my mom her step mom walk over right as I was giving a shot in my leg. I then proceeded to lay the needle (capped) on the table. Her step mom did not know I was diabetic and told Sam that they needed to leave right then and I need to call my parents to come an pick me up. Sam tried to tell her that I was a diabetic (Sam’s dad is a doctor, my doctor at the time) but her step mom did not believe her she swore up and down that I was doing drugs. After Sam’s dad (who was going in meet us there anyways) showed up and tried to calm her step mother down everything was “okay” but it never really was. Now when I am with Sam we joke that I have to go shoot up and to watch the door for cops. Although now I am on the pump so it’s really makes no sense but we still do it anyways.

I was 16 or 17 and was in Ft. Worth,TX when I got pulled over. The cop didn’t like teens nor did he like the military so he was giving me a hard time. After running my license and checking my insurance and proving my registration wasn’t a fake (Texas has them on the windshield) he had nothing left to do but search my car. So to amuse myself I let him (knowing the only thing he was going to find was some syringes and maybe a lancet or 2 ) So he went through my backseat and started going through the front. I hear him yell “Got yeah!!!” and it is all I can do not to laugh. So he pulls out 2 syringes from the door. “So when was the last time you shot up?” Well what time is it? “2:15pm” so about 2 maybe 3 hours ago. How many times a day do you shoot up? “It just depends usually 6 or 7. I usually do it about 45 minutes after waking up in the morning, then 2 hours after I go to school, then after lunch, then before I leave school, then 1 to 2 hrs after I get home then one before dinner, one after, then one before bed.” Do your parents know you do this that many time’s a day. Yes they even prefer to watch me do it… Finally something clicks in he’s head. “Do you have any medical problem?” Yes I have Type 1 Diabetes! I was then able to leave with a speeding ticket (58 in a 30 construction zone no workers present)

15

Ha! Those were Funny Emily. :smiley: We need smiley’s. :o)

Mine don’t put right any misconceptions or go against any stereotypes nor was it funny at
the time. But we all laugh about it now…okay my Husband still gives me “that look” :-x…

Picture this, Cicily, 1977…sorry wrong show!

We were about 17(me & my BoyFriend(Husband now) and we both ran away from home…
together(yes, 17 is kinda old to be running but anyways…). We ended up at my Sister’s
and BIL’s home in Toronto. They Welcomed us. We were there about 3 weeks and we
were all invited to another party.

I had been tired since my Boyfriend and I had been wearing out the pavement looking
for jobs. Anyways, the party had heated up, dancing and music was Great but I hadn’t
eaten much since I was nervous(new People). There were about 18 People there.

So Ya about 2 hours after we got there, I “decided” to have a reaction…after falling to the
floor(luckily not centre stage). My BoyFriend was trying to help me(he had only seen me
in a similar situation once before…in his blue Mustang.

My youngest Brother had gone to get me some juice from the kitchen and supposedly
there was much upheaval and swearing going on. It wasn’t my BoyFriend (I couldn’t make
that man swear if my Life depended on it, even now. Believe me, I’ve tried :D).

My BoyFriend(not thinking???!!!) “decided” to stick his finger in my mouth to stop me from
bitting my tongue(“rolling eyes”). Luckily he’s one of those People who could block pain
aimed at his body…'til the emergency is over(handy…but not healthy, I’m sure).

My Brother saw the situation, knew it was too late for juice and got the corn syrup. He
knew I hated that stuff(we spent a lot of our Childhood drowned in it by Mom). :frowning:

I slowly came out of it(all sticky) and my Sister and her Friend put me to bed. My
BoyFriend’s finger throbbed for some time…days he said. He had a ton of gauze
wrapped around it??? I surprisingly didn’t break the skin, just left deeeeep tracks.

I’m not sure why but he still wanted to go out with me and about 4 years later asked
me to marry him. Crazy Guy! :smiley:

16

Hey Rebekah,
Seems like I have a million funny stories I could tell! My husband and I laugh about my T1 all the time. It keeps my spirits up.
One thing that happened not too long ago that was funny was when I had a low bg after I got home from work. I was trying to figure out whether to go to the gym or whether to eat first. My meter was downstairs, and I knew I needed to get it so I could figure out what to do. But I had already taken most of my clothes off from work and was very confused about whether to put gym clothes on. So I walked part way down the stairs, and my husband was sitting on the couch in our living room, which is visible once you get half-way down the stairs. For some reason I felt like I had to hide from him. I peered around the corner of the wall while on the stairs, like my husband couldn’t see me. LOL. I guess you had to be there. He said, “um, what are you doing?” I was acting like I was trying to hide and was not wearing much of anything, and being all secretive about getting my meter. I shushed him and got my meter and ran back up the stairs.
The hardest I have ever laughed about D was when, this past Christmas, my brother and husband (after drinking several glasses of loaded egg nog) broke out into a rap about T1. It was HILARIOUS and I have wished ever since that I got it on video so I could put it on YouTube. My husband was like, “get your sugar up, get your sugar UP” and my brother was saying, “Type 1’s in the house! Throw your meters in the air Throw your meters in the air” and he grabbed my meter and was waving it back and forth. It was SO FUNNY-- I crack up every time I think about it.
We also laugh a lot at the stupid meter commercials on TV. They ALWAYS have a perfect number when they show a picture of the meter. One commercial always shows the same number – 93 – even though the actors are different and they show the meter more than once. Um, HELLO, if your bg is always 93, then you would not need that meter! I guess it’s the irony that cracks me up.
Good luck with the show. Let us know when it’s out!

17

Thank you for all this. Keep them coming, it’s great.

18

I called it “shooting up,” too, with a fun coworker at an old job. I use to slap my arm as if to bring up a vein. My husband does worry that if someone sees me injecting, they’ll think that’s what I am doing, so he’ll sort of warn people…tell them I have T1 in case they see me inject…which I rarely let anyone do. I think I should be offended that he is not so much worried about me maybe needing assistance, as much as offending someone!

19

It was quite traumatic when it happened. But in hindsight I’m able to laugh at the ignorance of the situation. Fifteen years ago I was a freshman in college. I was paired up with a stranger as a roommate because the university I attended was four states away and I didn’t know anyone. The summer before I moved in, we wrote letters back and forth(pre-internet) introducing ourselves and giving background info. I was totally upfront about my diabetes and quite proud of how healthy I was. I also tried to ease her mind by letting her know that when we moved in I would have a sheet of paper with instructions if I happened to “act weird”. She actually was cool about having a diabetic roomie because her mom was a nurse and gave her a bunch of info too. Cool…so I thought. Fast forward three months into the semester, she moved out without talking to me about it. She left me a “dear John” letter. It basically said, the used syringes and lancets in the garbage can were more than she could handle. It “creeped” her out.

I was mortified at the time. But now, all I can do is laugh with pride and say “idiot”.

20

Years ago, when I was “shooting up” (I’m on a pump now) I got pulled over on my way home from a party. I was not drunk, and not on any drugs (except insulin), but had taken a shot in my car before leaving the party because I was “high” (I find it hilarious that many of us use the same nickname slang terms for what we do). I think the only reason I was pulled over is because I was on the road after 2 AM.

The case that I kept my insulin vial, syringes and alcohol swabs in was on my passenger seat. The officer asked the usual questions; “Where are you coming from? Where are you going? Have you been drinking?” etc. He noticed the case on my passenger seat and said “What’s that?” I said it was my works, because that was what I always called it. I knew “works” was a slang term for equipment to inject drugs, and that’s exactly what it was, but I didn’t think me saying it would elicit the response that I got. I was instantly pulled out of the car, thrown on the ground and cuffed.

I kept telling them that I was a diabetic, but they said diabetics didn’t have “works.” After they opened the case and saw that it was syringes, swabs and a vial of insulin, they asked me “What did you put into this insulin vial? You must believe we’re pretty stupid if you think putting your drugs into an insulin vial would fool us! What’s really in here?” I kept telling them insulin, but they didn’t believe me.

After backup arrived, I was searched and put in the back of the police car. The cops began to tear my car apart and found my meter in the back seat. As I sat in the back of the police cruiser, the sergeant must have arrived on scene, and spoke with the officers that pulled me over. After a very long time, I was taken out of the back of the cruiser, given a stern talking to about using drug slang to police officers, and a ticket for having a headlight out (I didn’t have a headlight out before I was pulled over, and now I had one that was smashed).

I guess I should avoid using drug slang for my diabetic stuff around cops.

-Bill