Post Punk Kitchen Forum

I've had diabetes for 25 years, and, that I'm aware of*, have only had a blood sugar that low once. It was terrifying. And I went to see the doctor that week to address what caused it.

*Meters weren't very accurate and/or didn't exist when I was little, so I can't say for sure.

I've tested in the 30s in the last couple months.

that's scary low, pretty close to the lowest a meter can read-I think 20? My son has read that low when he was on nph, stupidest insulin ever.

A study looking at mortality rates for people with diabetes found that those diagnosed between 1965-1980 were expected to live fifteen years longer than those diagnosed between 1950-1964. Tight control only began to be adopted in the mid 1980s, so I expect the numbers will be even better for those diagnosed after 1980.

Here's a write up of the study and results, including the life expectancy for people in both diagnosis ranges. (I wasn't sure if people would want to see those numbers since some find it morbid.)

I was diagnosed in 1992, so I'm going to live forever!

I wish I remembered the name of the doctor that told me my son would only live to be 35! He could use a copy of that, and something that explains manners.
We're having a sucky week, well my son is and I'm tired-scarlet fever is really screwing up numbers.

That must be so uncomfortable and hard on both of you. I hope he recovers soon.

They're putting a bottle of insulin on the back of the new Canadian $100.

http://pearlsa.com/blog/2011/06/23/insulin-–-a-tribute-on-canada’s-new-100-note/

I'm not diabetic, but my husband is type 1. We came back from Europe a couple of days ago, and 20 minutes into one of our 5 hour flights my husband gasps, looks at me and says "I just gave myself the wrong insulin." As in 14 units of fast acting!

Luckily he was a little high (180s) when he did it, and the flight attendants were super awesome with the limitless orange juice. But it was a little scary for a bit!

oh no! i'm really glad everything was ok and that he realized it right away.

I did that once, about a year ago. It was scary.

He was a little mad at himself for making the mistake (he's been diabetic 11 years) but I told him that I'm sure he's not the first!

I ended up doing that when I was fifteen. Had to eat a second dinner.

so my had a very scary allergic reaction to the antibiotics he got for scarlet fever and went to the hospital overnight. He turned red and his face was all swollen-couldn't get his bg below 200 for a week, which made him dehydrated. He looks better now but he's using so much more insulin even though he's now off of all the meds except for his recently diagnosed asthma. What is also very scary is the pediatric ward of the hospital has no clue about how to deal with diabetes, they gave him a dextrose iv to rehydrate him and 1 measly unit of novolog to cover it! Yet they wouldn't give him steroids because it would raise blood sugar. I want to move to Portland just for his safety!
I never get why the ADA or JDRF partner with unhealthy companies, sends a very strange message. That $100 bill is cool!

I've heard so many horror stories about hospital stays. I hope he's feeling better soon. Scarlet fever, hospital stays, prolonged BGs over 200, and allergic reactions sound terrible.

Guess who is probably allergic to lantus? Boy, diabetes is never-ending fun!

oh no! Does that mean you'll have to change to a whole new insulin routine or are there other long acting ones you can try?

I'm switching to levemir, which is supposed to be pretty similar. It's probably not the actual insulin that I'm allergic to but one of the binders in the solution like zinc. So hopefully switching brands will do the trick. If that doesn't work, I'll have to switch to an insulin pump (which uses humalog) or switch to nph. I really do not want to use nph again, since it causes a lot of problems, especially overnight. We might try switching to different syringes, too, in case that's the problem.

People can be allergic to (a preparation of) insulin?!

Great.

How long have you been on lantus?

I've been on lantus about ten years. The allergy is pretty rare. My doctor has only seen one other case in the past couple of years in a pregnant woman. (I am not pregnant.) And of course we won't know that that's the issue until I've switched over to the new insulin and given my legs time to heal.

I brought this to the attention of the RN last time I was in, and she had no idea what was wrong. I'm glad I made a fuss and insisted on getting another opinion.

oh man! how do you know your allergic? Like what are the signs? My son is on lantus. fingers crossed you will never have to go back to evil nph. and I don't mean Neal Patrick Harris :P

I have giant welts at my injection sites, and they take maybe 3 weeks to disappear.

yikes! hope you get better!

So it's only been about two days since I stopped using lantus, but there's already a huge difference. The welts are healing much faster. I think they'll be gone in a week.