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hypoglycemic coma:cognitive damage/repair

my fiancee went into a hypoglycemic coma(diabetes coma)he was in this coma for at least 4days. he has since then recovered most of his memory and cognitive skills. but he is having some short term memory loss and cognitive damage. He seems to be recovering but he's recovering without any intense rehabilitation. should he get intense rehabilitation? will he recover his memory and cognitive skills fully? doctor's are not giving me any answers. his actual rahabilitation is coming from me and his emediate family and freinds. I need some help from SOMEONE, ANYONE???!!!
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Avatar universal
My Mother is diabetic known from last 4 years and her age is 60 years

she got injury of spinal and a cut in upper head, she admitted to hospital sooner and she was fully conscious and she treated well and discharged from hospital for complete bed-rest

on 4th days at home in the evening she feels like irritated, and was talking something meaningless and finally sleep at 2 A.M and in the morning at 9.00 am her sugar level checked at it was 120 but she found unconscious at that time
we do not able to understand what is happening and tried to wake-up my mother again at 11 A.M., since we do not have sugar report of morning time
we thought sugar increased and ask to a doctor assistant to give insulin of min amount and waited for 1 hr and even after when she do not wake-up we call for a doctor
and he measure the sugar level at that time and it is found to 46 and at same time and started a glucose drip and in half hr sugar level maintained and at that time my mother
opened her half eye and showed some body sensation but still in the unconscious situation then we rush to hospital

In the hospital she is in ICU and at ventilator support and after 4-5 days in ICU she started to open the eyes and some time left leg movement observed but not able to identify anything.
but as per treating doctor's she is still in unconscious and as of now 20 days passed in ICU and ventilator support is removed from last 6 days and she is able to breathe self and there are eye ball movement and eye opening when touching or shaking her shoulders but not able to identify and also there are little movement in right leg fingers

we are not able to understand what is happening and what is the chance of her recovery or even she will survive or not could anybody please help us to understand better or suggest if we can do something better
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Avatar universal
My Mother is a known diabetic past 10 years.
She was travelling & on her way back she was sleeping & when my Dad went to wake her up ,he found her unconsious @ about 5:00 am.By then she was unconsious for 10 days & doctors say that she is semiconscious now,coz hs opens her eyes,moves her limbs.But doesnt recognise any of my family members nor she speaks.
Please let me know more about this.

Thanks in Advance.
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Avatar universal
I feel for both of you. Actually, nobody can really say what a person's brain is going to do when damaged by this kind of coma or an injury. Each person is different. From my readings, it appears that some short-term memory loss can happen if a person is severely hypoglycemic for a long period of time, but I frankly do not know of anyone with severe problems from this type of coma. I suspect that in time, he will recover fully or very close to fully.

My experience is as a type 1 diabetic for 35 years who has had her share of severe lows. For a number of years, I had lows in my sleep often enough to be concerned about death by hypoglycemia, and shortly after my second child was born, i did almost die from a hypo. But modern insulin regimens have brought back my hypo awareness and have removed the danger of severe lows with tight control, so I do not live in fear anymore. Although my memory may not be quite as good as my husband's, it never really WAS, and I do not feel that my intelligence has been impaired at all.

But all tightly-controlled diabetics have to walk that tightrope, and of course a slip can be dangerous. I am so glad that your fiance survived the experience. I do know that severe brain injury takes about a year to heal, for my son-in-law was ejected from a vehicle and nearly died from a head injury several years ago. He was in a coma for 14 days, and was severely impaired when he did recover his consciousness. However, a year later, he is very much as he was before, although short-term memory problems may always be part of his life now.

Now, your fiance's damage is probably not nearly as severe as my son-in-law's. Although nobody can say for sure how he will recover, I suggest that you continue to help him with memory and to stimulate his cognitive skills and then be very patient, for he will require lots of sleep while his brain recovers and this will take time. I suspect he will be fine as the months go by, but don't expect the recovery to take just a few weeks. It can be a lengthy process.

Most states offer state-sponsored brain injury therapy if you ask for it. I believe that the injury has to be significant in order to be eligible for this therapy, and your fiance may not be eligible. But it is worth making some phone calls -- your fiance's doctor may be able to tell you how to contact the brain injury office for your state. In my son-in-law's case, he was eligible, but opted not to participate, and he is now driving and working and living a pretty normal life. I suspect your fiance's damage is less than his and that he will recover better and faster.

Your fiance may do well with brain stimulation such as crossword puzzles, music, or just interesting conversation. This is just an idea to help you help him. Meanwhile, he needs to put together a safety net to make sure that this never happens again. The answer is NOT in raising overall glucose levels, for high glucose numbers can cause the complications that destroy quality of life later on. The real key is frequent glucose testing so you KNOW when glucose levels are rising or dropping. I suggest to folks who attempt tight control that they test not only before each meal and at bedtime, but also at least once in between each meal, so the tests happen every few hours. This way, the diabetic can see when a drop is happening and catch it before it gets serious. In my case, doing this works beautifully, and I can keep my tight control without fear of hypos.

Night-time is a little trickier, for 8 hours is a LONG time to go without checking. Drinking alcohol is dangerous for type 1 diabetics and so it is recommended that diabetics do not drink, especially at night, because hypos can result. Also, it is important that he eats early enough every evening to be still awake when his insulin is doing its peak work so nothing major is happening after he goes to bed. Late evening meals can be dangerous, for food is still digesting and insulin still peaking while the person sleeps. He should try to avoid this at all costs. And if a late meal happens, it may be smart to set an alarm clock and wake up a few hours after going to bed to check the glucose levels.

I do hope he will be OK. Please keep us informed about his progress.
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