Recently a friend of mine had a hypo at work and for a diabetic the blood glucose level does at times fall below the normal level and as a result they have a hypo which I will explain further down in this article.
The friend did not tell anyone that she was a diabetic and went about her work day discreetly giving herself the much needed injections of insulin as she was embarrassed about the fact that she was indeed a diabetic and didn't want to seem different than her work colleagues.
After lunch one day I noticed the friend stopped in the middle of the room with a glazed look on her face, when I asked her if she was OK she remarked that she felt confused.
When I inquired why she felt confused she couldn't answer me.
The observation that I made from that conversation is that my friend had a few too many wines over lunch as I made the assumption that she was in fact drunk.
I went over to her desk as she was trying to type and her actions were over exaggerated and robotic and all she said is "I haven't time for this now.
" I then knew something was very wrong with my friend.
I have since learnt that my friend was having what is commonly called a "hypo" and for anyone who has type 1 diabetes may display the following symptoms of low blood sugar levels such as:
I asked for her cell phone to call her husband and the battery was flat she was not able to tell me the cell number, after trying to speak to me she fell asleep.
It was with this that we rang an ambulance as we could not rouse her.
At the end of the day although my friend was living with diabetes daily her work colleagues did not know what to do when her BGL (blood glucose level) fell to a dangerous level and she had a hypo.
Had she told people close to her for example her boss or a work colleague they would of been able to assist her simply by:
The friend was exhausted after the hypo and was apologizing for making a fuss.
Having diabetes is not embarrassing and every effort should be made by anyone who has diabetes to give instruction to those around them so that they may assist the diabetic when she can't or has difficulty communicating.
The friend did not tell anyone that she was a diabetic and went about her work day discreetly giving herself the much needed injections of insulin as she was embarrassed about the fact that she was indeed a diabetic and didn't want to seem different than her work colleagues.
After lunch one day I noticed the friend stopped in the middle of the room with a glazed look on her face, when I asked her if she was OK she remarked that she felt confused.
When I inquired why she felt confused she couldn't answer me.
The observation that I made from that conversation is that my friend had a few too many wines over lunch as I made the assumption that she was in fact drunk.
I went over to her desk as she was trying to type and her actions were over exaggerated and robotic and all she said is "I haven't time for this now.
" I then knew something was very wrong with my friend.
I have since learnt that my friend was having what is commonly called a "hypo" and for anyone who has type 1 diabetes may display the following symptoms of low blood sugar levels such as:
- appeared a little vacant.
- on first appearance can sometimes look like they are under the influence of alcohol.
- as the blood glucose continues to fall confusion sets in and she was looking into space with a glazed over look.
- difficulty in speaking.
I asked for her cell phone to call her husband and the battery was flat she was not able to tell me the cell number, after trying to speak to me she fell asleep.
It was with this that we rang an ambulance as we could not rouse her.
At the end of the day although my friend was living with diabetes daily her work colleagues did not know what to do when her BGL (blood glucose level) fell to a dangerous level and she had a hypo.
Had she told people close to her for example her boss or a work colleague they would of been able to assist her simply by:
- giving her a sweet drink
- lolly basically anything that has sugar to increase her BGL
The friend was exhausted after the hypo and was apologizing for making a fuss.
Having diabetes is not embarrassing and every effort should be made by anyone who has diabetes to give instruction to those around them so that they may assist the diabetic when she can't or has difficulty communicating.