I was newly diagnosed and had dosed too much insulin to cover my lunch when I was shopping with a friend. I felt myself going low so started eating candy as we walked. I started to feel as though I was blacking out and I ended up on a bench where two guys had been sitting. I was too spacy to remember them getting up and me getting there. One of them asked if I was having a blood sugar issue. I asked if they were EMT’s and one responded, “No, but I slept in a Holiday Inn last night.” I appreciated the levity…
Katie…I have been singing your Diabetes Rap all night. Type 1’s in the house!
Wow Bill,
I think you’ve been through way more than me! I really don’t know how I would have reacted in that situation but I’ll tell you this; reading your story really made me angry for you.
I just wonder how many diabetics are out there with their cell phones recording this type of activity now?
Barbara
The day I had my first low:
My wife and I had recently found out we were pregnant and we were in bed, reading “What To Expect When You’re Expecting”. We were going through the part that talked about how husbands showed some of the same symptoms (nausea, dizziness, etc.) their pregnant wives had… when all of a sudden I started feeling REALLY bad.
Initially, she thought I was just making fun of the whole thing… THEN it dawned on her that it could be my sugars. She ran to get the meter and, sure enough: I had a BG of 40…
I always tell people, since then, that the first low is the most dangerous one (I think), because you don’t know what’s happening to you. Good that she thought of testing me then.
So this is more like George from Seinfeld but… I was out to dinner with my Fiancee,her daughters and My parents THIS summer. I order, Test then take out my insulin to shoot up. My mother pickss up a paper napkin holds it in front of me like I was about to doa majic trick!!! Then at the same dinner I took a sip of beer from my Dad’s Glass and she looked at me and said (and I quote) “You were doing so well.” Good Luck withthe Movie!!
Hey,
I have a few good ones.
In my middle 20’s I traded commodities overnight out of my house. I was trading index arbitrage. My neighbor was my business partner. He always woke me up at around midnight. The neighbor and our other friend had been out drinking. They came into my apartment and woke me up. I apparently had very low blood sugar. He would always ask me “what’s 22+11?” If I couldn’t answer fast enough then he had a good idea to give me some sugar. I remember lieing on the floor and listening to them argue about whether I needed insulin or sugar. They then tried to take my blood sugar. At this point, I must of gotten a little adrenaline cause I came around a bit and let them know there wasn’t a needle in the blood pricker pen.
Another time, Same exact situation. I had another neighbor. He was a bit weird. He came over to wake me. I answered the door. He gave me a piece of chocolate in the shape of a penis. Once I realized he was laughing and I took a look at the box, I punched him the face. I thought it was funny later. But as you know you act weird when you have no sugar in you.
Yet another time, I left my house on a bike to ride to downtown Chicago. It is a 3 mile ride. I remember noticing I had blury vision. I also decided to ride directly south. I never decide to ride that direction. I think I was planning on stopping at a gas station to get a coke. I made all of these decisions less than a block from my house. So at some point I started to black out. I remember falling over. I remember getting up. I remember a bum asking me if I was ok. Someone had called the cops. The cops asked me If I was drunk. I told them I needed sugar. They offered altoids. I laughed and told them I wanted donuts. They were cops after all. I found this funnier than them. I think I had to sit down after that. Once the ambulance arrived the ambulance guy had to search out the dextrose. Once I got a little of that goo in me I was perfectly back to normal. The ambulance guy asked me if I knew I was bleeding. I responded that I was in fact not bleeding. Once I saw that I was bleeding from one of my legs and my elbow I asked him if he could clean it up. The guy laughed and asked if I thought I was in Barrington. I thought that was funny as hell. So they had me sign a waiver that said I wouldn’t sue them and they let me go to work. Once I was at work it hit me at what had really happened.
I have a pump now and have lost about 40lbs. So I do not have these incidents anymore. It was a wild ride. Also I proved Whiskey is effective at lowering my blood sugar. I have also booked bets on where my blood sugar will be in the next 15-30 mins.
That reminds me of when I was a kid…my sisters and I would go to the store with my mom and beg for candy and snacks. Well my sisters would usually get their way but when I would ask my mom would always answer loudly, “No way kid…your already high as a kite!!”…Well to my family it made perfectly good sense but she sure got a lot of dirty looks from other people in the store!!
Bingo! Right on guys. Finally, someone with a sense of humor about life as well. The situations I’ve been in…Well, sometimes at work people will ask me to do something that really sucks so I will look them straight in the eye and tell them I’d love to help them; however, unfortunately I’m not sure if you aware, but… - I have diabetes…so…sorry. That line isn’t really funny unless you give the right facial expressions/attitude. Also, one time, I was giving myself a shot at work and unknown to me a little group had formed behind me to ask some questions - I turned around with my belly out and syringe in hand only to find a lot of gauking surprised people. About 10 seconds of a very awkard situation ensumed. I would love to work on this with you guys. 
While we have all shared the bad times, I have also had some amazingly good times too. One girl that I dated in high school was an absolute sweetheart. After being newly diagnosed and not quite sure what to do about it, she had me over for a picnic luncheon of big macs (my old fav when I used to eat burgers) and as a dessert she made sugar-free jello with sugar-free whipped cream. While I’m not one to take things emotionally, the simple act of researching something so simple was truly touching since she, as a normal sugared person, took the time to make me feel a bit more comfortable in my new skin.
Oddly at the time, I used to describe diabetes as kinda like turning into a vampire. You wake up one day and have a craving that could only be satiated by one substance and without such a substance, you’d perish. The one day was the day of something dying (your pancreas) and discovering a new way to live (sans pancreas).
She seemed very curious about me, my new illness and several other things that helped make sure I didn’t need a correction injection.
I always seem to get my line hooked on drawer knobs in the kitchen, It jerks you back real fast!
I love your discussions!
thank you all. Keep these coming. These are great.
My older sister was like a tattle tale for me. She would detect a high sugar simply by smelling an orange odor and go tattle to my mother. Mind you she is eleven years older than me and I did everything I could to avoid her whenever she was around because of her finding something wrong with me. She made me feel so self conscious and so bad about myself.
One day I was so mad at her that I made sure she would be around when I had breakfast. Guess what, I chose to have orange juice with my meal. I thought it was so funny when she ran and told on me. I tried to compose myself when my mother came into the kitchen but she didn’t find it too funny.
It was one of the first times I realized my sister was looking out for me but I thought it was a great prank!
Hi Rebekah,
Have you had a chance to visit Hypoglycemic Experiences? There’s some funny stories in this group too!
Such a diabetic adventure. Scenario: drive back not alone and have a low when you get where you’re going.
I can’t wait to see your comedy film, Rebekah.
Watch this space. Filming is planned to commense summer 2009. Post Production (Editing and music etc) Shouldn’t take more than a month or so (though I litte longer if I start in Sept as I will be entering my third year of University) And the first instalment should be online by Jan 2010.
I don’t know howmay instalments I am splitting it into, but at the moment I am aiming at 6 10 minute instalements, making the overall production about an hour long. The reason for this is that it is aimed as being an internet movie. It is designed to be something someone can watch in their tea break.
Eventually we will be selling DVDs and are hoping to make a documentry on both Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes as one of the bonus features, but that is way off in the future. I am just concentrating on actually writing this thing first.
We are applying for funding at present (British funding as we are britsh crew and filming in Britain) but if anyone knows of any ways to get funding that I might have missed, I would appreciate all help.
Also, although the setting is England, I want to make sure it is relevant to Americans as well, so I have one charater who has moved from the States, and he is on the pump. (Not very many people are on the pump in the uk, as you may have read in my other posts I am fighting to get one). I would appreciate it if you could let me know of anything that you may think is everyday in yor lives, but which I am not away of. For example, I saw in the film panic room that the diabetic girl has a watch which tells her she is low. Is this fiction or is it something you can get. Do you buy it, or is available through yor insurance. Do only children get them. Are they reliable readings?
thank you all again
Didn’t know there was this thread. I will look it up. Thanks
Hi:
I’m not sure what watch was being used in the film Panic Room but there
was a watch a couple years ago for glucose readings called the Gluco Watch.
How simple?
I was going to buy it online so I read up on it. It wasn’t expensive at the time.
BUT I was hearing from Diabetics on Diabetes Communities that it wasn’t
reliable as far as near accurate readings as a meter… Therefore, I didn’t
bother with it.
Here is a website: http://www.glucowatch.com/
I notice this is not the one I saw. This is a newer model, G2. I do not know
the price of this one since I haven’t read this and I’m in too much pain to
concentrate right now on long writings.
You could Google similar names and perhaps you’ll com up with similar products.
Cheers! :o)
Why are you in pain. are you okay.
Thank you for the info