seizures

[Paris47]

I am gathering some information on others with diabetes that
also have seizures, my 23 year old son has had diabetes for 10
years. About 5 years ago he started to experience seizures.
He is on many meds, diabetes, seizures, mental health..
many issues here. the main question I have is that when my son
experienced a seizure recently, 911 call for help resulted in the police also arriving. I was not present. My son coming out of a seizure state, not know what was going on and scared with Police at his home, he 'kissed' a police officer, (male officer) he was charged with 2nd degree assault & then they went to arrest him and of course he resisted and put up a fight, therefore 2nd charge of 2nd degree asault and now resisting arrest.
Anyone else have any problems?
Court is behind us, he had ton's of witnesses with documentation from drs about his behavior and was just release from the hospital with 3rd degree burns from having a seizure in the shower. Yet the attorneys put this on the 'stet docket'.
so if my son stays out of trouble, for a year, he's ok.
my son has daily seizure, we are terrified to call 911.
Any assistance is greatly appreciated.

[JDRF-Team-wak]

I am not a physician, but the mom of a type one diabetic. You did not state whether your son wears a medical alert id of any kind.  This small little necklace or bracelet, might have helped, as the police would have know that it was a medical conditions, and not assault.  They can say several things on them. I personally have one that lists several medical allergies, and the meds I take.   MY daughter has one that she never takes off.  Medical personal and the police are trained that when a person is having a seizure to look for them.
I would also suggest talking to your son’s endo to see if he is a candidate for an insulin pump.  They help to be in better control of blood sugars.  Most people I know that are in the pump, including my daughter have had fewer severe lows on the pimp than on shots.

I also suggest having your son check his blood more often to try to catch the lows.


Hope this helps.  Please check back and let us know   how things are going

[Paris47]

clarification, when I said 'court is behind us'
I meant it's too late, already had our day in court..

not that 'court is supportive'

[quatlox]

Paris47,

You son needs to get his insulin regulated.  It sounds as if he does not feel low blood sugars.

I have the same problem of not feeling LOWS and it can lead to some very stupid things I do that is not understood by people that does not know what is going on.

Get you son to the DR I hope he is seeing an Endo.  It sounds like he is taking too much insulin or not eating enough food for his snacks or both.

He should also check his blood sugars on a regular basis.  After I started checking my Blood sugars regularly, I still have LOWS, but now I have time to eat something before it gets so LOW that the rescue squad has to show up and I can't help myself.

I once got so LOW that my wife gave me orange juice to drink, but I denied to her I was LOW and knocked the juice out of her hand and all over my hands.  When she called the rescue squad, they took a blood sugar and said it was high and not low because of all of the OJ on my hands (they thought I was having some other type of siezure).  I ended up fighting 4 Firemen and 2 Policemen until they had me strapped to a gurney (in my mind I was fighting Pirates).  At the hospital the Dr took blood from my vein and sent it to the lab and found out I was LOW. They gave me Glucose and I came back to life as I had Passed Out.

Not feeling LOWS is very dangerous, Your son can die if left in that state too long or he can get some serious brain damage as the brain cells start dying without enough sugar to feed them.

Get him to a DR and get his blood sugar under control and have him test himself 4 times a day.  If he wants to live he will have to do this as there will be 1 time when no one is around to help him and He can't help himself in this state of being.

Also have him check his Blood sugar before going to bed, as the "DEAD IN BED" syndrome is very true for people who can't feel the LOWS, do a web search for "dead in bed".  It would be a shame to lose your son to a LOW when a snack could have saved his life.

I take the LOWS very serious as they can and will Kill Diabetics.  My son had a friend who died of this, but on the death certificate they listed cause of death "natural causes" because he was a diabetic.  It is better to have high blood sugars and die 10 years earlier than you should, than to DIE TODAY of a LOW BLOOD SUGAR.

Sorry this is so long, but it needed to be addressed.

Bob

[Paris47]

Thanks so much, I agree with everthing you have said..
and I appreciate you taking the time to type all this
information for me and my son. My son's other problems
is my son's mental health status with
remembering what to do, did he do it, and to continue to cooperate & to work together.
He gets frustrated, feels it's not working, then
over reacts...
He is seeing many drs, therapist, endo's family phy & a psyk
is doing better,
but then the next day, not so good, his stress level
can cause him to go 'low'.
I wonder if in your area, did you get arrested for the
'fight with the pirates',
not trying to be funny, I am serious, I am concerned that
the police are not educated, I am not 'bashing' police
I believe they need to do what they do to protect
others, themselves, and my son.
but I feel , having my son arrested
went beyond the situation.
thanks so much again, I hear your concern, I have
felt this concern for so long, it's killing ME

[quatlox]

Paris,

No I didn't get arrested for "fighting the pirates".  I guess they relized it was a medical situation.  They just helped the paramedics get me tied up to take to the hospital.

If your son does not remember.  Do what I did. Get a wrist watch that has alarms on it.  Mine has 3 alarms. 1 goes off at 10 am to tell me to eat a snack, the next alarm goes off at 3 pm to tell me to eat a snack and the 3rd alarm goes off at 6 pm to tell me to eat dinner.  I don't need an alarm to tell me to eat breakfast or lunch, but if I could find a 6 alarm watch I would have the breakfast and lunch programed in.

I had to get the alarm watch as I would "forget" to eat my snacks and then I would get LOW blood sugar stupid.

It worked for me.  My wife thanks the world of that $40 Timex.

Bob

[Paris47]

I don't know what took me so long to find
this place, but I am so thankful I did.
your ideas are great & information very
helpful.
I will use all your advise, I hope my son
will be as receptive.
How are you on organizational skills with
getting prescriptions refilled?
We seem to always have an issue with that.
and again this might seem like a simple task
for some, but my son with his multiple issues
is in need of guidance.
I don't want to be the one to always 'take care'
of him, at his age, (23) he has started to resent
his continued dependency. I am trying to get other
agencies involved for home visits, and nutrition
so such. I am trying to get him in his own place
where he can feel better about himself. I just worry
about him feeling isolated, he's not doing well in the
friends catagory.
thanks again so much.

[JDRF-Team-cb]

Hi
I was just reading your questions and had an idea about refilling prescriptions.  Does your son have a cell phone?  You or I mean he can program reminders on the calendar of his phone and it will ring or rather an alarm will go off on that date.  So, maybe it could be set once a month or however many times a month to have an alarm go off to remind him.  Just another thought-does he e-mail alot?  I have this e-mail reminder -birthday alarm.com-I think, maybe he could use it to send him an email every month to remind him--or maybe there is some other site that has e-mail reminders for different things.  I don't know that just popped in my head and I thought maybe it could help.

[Paris47]

Great ideas, wow you guys are great.
no cell phone yet, but thinking that is
the way to go, with him not driving due to seizures,
and needing to commmunicate in case he misses the bus,
a land line phone won't be much help, and if a cell
phone can do that, yea, we're there.
thanks again

[JDRF-Team-wak]

Check with you local pharmacy - some locals and now some major chains have automatic refills for medications and supplies that are needed on a continuos basois.  there are mail order companies that automatically send the sypplies every 3 months and then when a new perscription is needed they call the dr for you.   I would ask the pharmacists near you for help in this area

[Paris47]

Another great idea! Thanks so much.
You are all wonderful.

[isaiah'smom]

Today my 8 yr. old son had his second seizure.  The first seizure I understood why, he had a B.S. of 33, but this a.m. he was sleeping and I awoke hearing him choke on his spit.  His left side of his face was twitching & he started drooling.  During his seizure my husband checked his B.S. and I was putting sugar in his mouth.  My son's B.S. was 184, (not bad!) but not sure why he had a seizure.  I took him to E.R. and they did a C-T scan and found nothing.  What's next?

[Paris47]

Good question, what next, be ready for more seizures to come,
and have sugar handy or those shots or gluecose liquid.
Does he have a endo?
good luck, they never did resolve my son's issues,
Just continue to monitor, take meds, and hope for the best.

[isaiah'smom]

Well we found out about my son's seizures.  Along with his diabetes he also has whats called Benign Rolandic epilepsy.  He will be on seizure medication until further notice from the neurologist.  Another devastating blow!  He's never had seizure before and I'm left to wonder if the diabetes brought this on???

[510]

I was reading about different comments and questions of diabetes. My diabetes has been in and out of control for the past 3 years. I was diagnosed with being epileptic at the age of 14. I am now 43. I have been seizure free for 3 years. August of 2006 I have had 16 seizures and 12 of the 16 were grand mal seizures. From what I have read from others my out of control blood sugars could be the cause of these seizures. I have many doctors trying to find out the reasons of the seizures but still no final explanations. This is very scary to me. Thank you, 510