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Worried about Seizures
by LaurenRose, Oct 16, 2007 12:00AM
My boyfriend (has type 1) almost every night gets incoherent and starts twitching and gets to the point where he cant control anything he does. it gets soo bad with the shaking and twitching sometimes that he will try and stand up and fall down over and over, he ends up completely covered in sweat even before. he also will making gargling noises or fake chew, smacking his lips. he told me to give him like chocolate milk or gatorade to bring his sugar up till he comes to it. and when he does come to it he doesnt know what happened and acts like nothing even did.. but sometimes he gets violent or refusive and wont drink it. tonight he ate half my chocolate bar and some gatorade and even when it hit around 11 pm he was telling me something and in the middle of his sentence passed out and then when i woke him up he started acting weird.. so i tested his sugar level and it said 57 and his doctor said to stay between 75 - 150. he then then even at 57 started yelling and then being depressive then passed out. it gets so bad sometimes and i dont know what to do. im not sure if hes following his shot schedule or eating right or anything.. i dont know what to do if it gets real bad so if theres any info someone can give me it would really help..
Doctor's Answer
by JDRF-VOL-SG, Oct 16, 2007 12:00AM
Your boyfriend is having night-time hypoglycemic episodes. These can be very dangerous, so you are absolutely saving his life by trying to help him. Kudos to you for being there for him.
First, let me address how to help him the best. Gatorade really is one of the quickest 'fixes' available, but it takes a lot of Gatorade to do the trick. It takes about twice as much Gatorade as juice to give him the same help because Gatorade is diluted for quick absorption and digestion. So you need to give him at least a cup of Gatorade and probably more like TWO cups if he is low enough to not be very responsive. Forget the candy bar, for candy has fats mixed with the sugar and takes too long to digest in order to help him -- he can actually get worse while digesting the candy bar because of the fat slowing down the digestion time.
I tell you this from personal experience and from lots of reading about hypoglycemia and research being done on this subject. The last time I got low while out, I bought a candy bar and ate it, forgetting to follow my own advice, and I was surprised at how long it took to 'kick in'. Juice is much better, and Gatorade even quicker than juice. If he is this low, the Gatorade is the best solution if he can drink it. If he is having troubles swallowing, than juice may be better because it takes less of it to help him and so he has to swallow less.
One suggestion is to keep both handy. I keep a 6-oz can of apple juice right by the bed for ease of use.
POINT 2: some people do get aggressive or defiant when low. He truly is not at all aware of what he is doing or saying, so don't take it personally or let it bother you. His brain has been temporarily affected so that his personality and emotions are not his usual ones. And he may not be aware at all of what he is saying or doing. He may indeed have no memory of the incident at all. Refusing to drink the juice or Gatorade is common, for we as type 1 diabetics have years of being told we can't drink or eat this, and in our primal state we sort of revert to believing it is poison to us. I know that what works best for me is if the person takes a very firm tone of voice and insists. Don't ask him to drink it, tell him. Very calm, firm tone of voice: DRINK THIS RIGHT NOW. If he won't, or if he gets aggressive, call 911 and have an ambulance sent to his aid.
POINT 3: how to stop this from continuing. Something is indeed wrong if this is happening often. It should be rare or never. With all of the types of insulins and types of deliveries, it is possible to live without ever having this happen. He absolutely needs to talk to his doctor about making some changes to his current insulin regimen, for this is not healthy in the long run and can actually cause brain damage (memory loss) if it happens repeatedly.
POINT 4: it seems that his warning symptoms for hypoglycemia are not good right now. He should be feeling himself get low, and his body should be giving him enough warning that he wakes up on his own if his glucose levels drop low. He can regain good warnings if he starts to test very often for about 2 weeks, like every 2 hours, and he catches lows before they get significant this way. If he can avoid all lows for a period of about 2 weeks, his body will recover its warning symptoms according to some tests that have been done.
Do get your boyfriend to read this response. If he wants to communicate further, then have him contact us directly via the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation websit at www.jdrf.org -- click on the link for the Online Diabetes Research Foundation and fill out the form that pops up, asking to be put in touch with someone experienced in issues of hypoglycemia and hypoglycmia unawareness.
This can be fixed. Take heart.
First, let me address how to help him the best. Gatorade really is one of the quickest 'fixes' available, but it takes a lot of Gatorade to do the trick. It takes about twice as much Gatorade as juice to give him the same help because Gatorade is diluted for quick absorption and digestion. So you need to give him at least a cup of Gatorade and probably more like TWO cups if he is low enough to not be very responsive. Forget the candy bar, for candy has fats mixed with the sugar and takes too long to digest in order to help him -- he can actually get worse while digesting the candy bar because of the fat slowing down the digestion time.
I tell you this from personal experience and from lots of reading about hypoglycemia and research being done on this subject. The last time I got low while out, I bought a candy bar and ate it, forgetting to follow my own advice, and I was surprised at how long it took to 'kick in'. Juice is much better, and Gatorade even quicker than juice. If he is this low, the Gatorade is the best solution if he can drink it. If he is having troubles swallowing, than juice may be better because it takes less of it to help him and so he has to swallow less.
One suggestion is to keep both handy. I keep a 6-oz can of apple juice right by the bed for ease of use.
POINT 2: some people do get aggressive or defiant when low. He truly is not at all aware of what he is doing or saying, so don't take it personally or let it bother you. His brain has been temporarily affected so that his personality and emotions are not his usual ones. And he may not be aware at all of what he is saying or doing. He may indeed have no memory of the incident at all. Refusing to drink the juice or Gatorade is common, for we as type 1 diabetics have years of being told we can't drink or eat this, and in our primal state we sort of revert to believing it is poison to us. I know that what works best for me is if the person takes a very firm tone of voice and insists. Don't ask him to drink it, tell him. Very calm, firm tone of voice: DRINK THIS RIGHT NOW. If he won't, or if he gets aggressive, call 911 and have an ambulance sent to his aid.
POINT 3: how to stop this from continuing. Something is indeed wrong if this is happening often. It should be rare or never. With all of the types of insulins and types of deliveries, it is possible to live without ever having this happen. He absolutely needs to talk to his doctor about making some changes to his current insulin regimen, for this is not healthy in the long run and can actually cause brain damage (memory loss) if it happens repeatedly.
POINT 4: it seems that his warning symptoms for hypoglycemia are not good right now. He should be feeling himself get low, and his body should be giving him enough warning that he wakes up on his own if his glucose levels drop low. He can regain good warnings if he starts to test very often for about 2 weeks, like every 2 hours, and he catches lows before they get significant this way. If he can avoid all lows for a period of about 2 weeks, his body will recover its warning symptoms according to some tests that have been done.
Do get your boyfriend to read this response. If he wants to communicate further, then have him contact us directly via the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation websit at www.jdrf.org -- click on the link for the Online Diabetes Research Foundation and fill out the form that pops up, asking to be put in touch with someone experienced in issues of hypoglycemia and hypoglycmia unawareness.
This can be fixed. Take heart.
Member Comments (2)
by boseephus, Nov 20, 2007 12:00AM
To: ghutchins@sbcglobal.net
This is not an easy fix. Get glucagon injection and keep it loaded. Trust me I deal with this frequently. Just inject him when he is not paying attention and he'll come around shortly. Don't take any chances he could die get glucagon and use it.
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