New to the list………..
Thanks for the replies to my earlier posts. Now for my story.
My husband is 46 and has been type 1 diabetic since he was 11. He does OK with his sugar levels, but it is a constant daily battle. Being an adult with type 1 seems to be difficult due to the fact that daily stress, emotional level and physical level all play havoc on the blood sugar level, in addition to food. It’s hard for him to calculate how much insulin to take - ever day is different.
My husband has had several laser eye surgery’s due to Diabetic Retinopathy. Last December he had to have Vetrictomy surgery with a Cataract surgery the day before. He was basically blind in that eye for 3 months until his eye settled down and he was issued a prescription for glasses. At some point, he will have to do the other eye. We are just waiting to see if the eye “blows” again before we do surgery.
He is now on the pump with Novalog. He takes blood pressure medication (not for high blood pressure, but hopes that it will keep his eye from blowing again and requiring surgery), high cholesterol medicine (his cholesterol isn’t considered high for the normal person, but being diabetic, the Dr’s want it under 100), and he takes an anti-depressant.
The reason I am joining this list is because I feel like I need to be in connection with people who are going through the same thing. At this point my husband is having more low blood sugars, but doesn’t detect them as well as he used too. I can usually detect low blood sugar before he can (which sometimes produces an argument, which I end up winning when he checks his blood).
Last Friday we were in the Emergency Room for 6 hours. I couldn’t wake him in the morning. I squeezed a tube of glucose gel into his mouth, which thank goodness he swallowed. I disconnected his pump and then in 15 minutes checked his blood. He was up to 50, but still not waking up. I did another tube of gel (which took me longer since he started to toss and turn). He then started to waken so he sat up and drank some juice. (He doesn’t remember any of this). I then checked his blood and he was 90. A decent blood reading, but he was still very, very confused - couldn’t put two words together. Didn’t know who I was. He was trying to ask for food (which I knew at this point he didn’t need). We checked the blood again and now he was 123. But, still couldn’t produce a sentence. Then, he started to vomit. So, off to the ER we went.
When he checked into the ER, his temp. was 2 degrees below normal, his blood sugar was 158, and he didn’t know my name (the kids names or the dogs names) and couldn’t produce a sentence more than 3 words long. They got him heated up, did a CT scan for brain swelling, etc. Everything checked out normal.
After checking his pump, we know what happened - but the fact is, it was still very scary. He was very close to not waking up. We think he hit a low around 2:00am and stayed low for the next 6 hours. Now we wake up at 3:00am and check his blood.
Two days ago he came home from work after just about having a nervous breakdown. Sitting in his truck, crying and confused, beyond the point of thinking he needs to eat anything. He finally made it home and I checked his blood - he was 46.
Last night he went shopping - gone for only 1 1/2 hours. When he came home, he had low blood sugar - sweating and confused. I didn’t check the blood level - just gave him something to drink.
It’s been getting more frustrating every day. It seems like I can’t go more than 2 hours without having contact with him to make sure he is ok. Forget about leaving him overnight - or for the weekend (if I wanted to go somewhere). He gets more frustrated - he knows he is loosing his independence. He is becoming more dependent on me everyday. His memory fades a little everyday - his mental capacity.
Sorry for the length of this e-mail, just thought I would give a glimpse of “our life as a diabetic” - Thanks!
Loreta