training older diabetics type one

[victorhill]

:cry: o dear o dear
i should not say this ,but after a visit to a hospital i was saddened to the following ,
after seeing 2 nurse s attending to a gentleman they gave him a cup of tea and biscuits ..
i asked what had happened he said his blood sugar was 2.4 and he was improving .
then after my visit was all done .
half an hour had gone by i had a cup of coffee in the cafe ..
the gentleman came and sat down near a table to me .what had he got eat the following ,one large mars bar one turkish delight bar , and 2 big bread rolls now i reckon his carb intake would be estimate 50 grams of fast acting carbs then
60 grams of slow acting .
i spoke to him on my way out said was he ok .yes came the reply .had he taken insulin to cover his meal no why had not got any glucose when he first gone no. he a had left in his car .
i left thinking why are people in denial of diabetes THE NURSES THE NHS have all done a super job giving this person his health back but the training of him to look after himself he can only do this . he poss was fed up of going low .and now he will have a big boost for the next few hours . but to what cost
sorry this just a note for all of us vic ps i was like this years ago back in th 70 s

 

[donnellysdogs]

Dont think it will all be down to training.. I dont know how old gentleman was, or how long type 1 ( quite a while I suspect)
He may well have been educated this way years ago and no-one helped him by telling him things have progressed
Mars bars used to be told to type 1's as a good hypo stopper with some carbs afterwards... To this day.. I havent been admitted to hospital for years due to hypo, but I remember my last one where I had ambulance crew when I had an awful stomach bug and couldnt get levels up and stable. Ambulance personnel got levels up, but insisted I had to have carbs before they would leave. I told them I would be sick... They gave me choice of carbs or hospital, so I forced down two pieces of toast.
I then was assisted to have a bath by the medics as I was so, so sick and back end too...
So medics also can insist on seeing long acting carbs ate, so he may well have thought a roll would do.. And if I was needing to drive after a hypo, i too would go and eat substantial carbs before I got behind thevwheel.

In addition the HCP's may have suggested he get more in him.. Yep, know his choice high carbs, but HCP's may well be considering his licence... Him too. As you dont know if he asked for help or someone had to give it.

A lot of if's and buts.. But jumping in and making an assumption on how someone is dealing with one hypo is not necessarily a fair view of that person. I

It may well be a bit more education needed, but may well have other extenuating circumstances too. I personally would be mortified if I went hypo at hospital and I think I would overdose myself with carbs before I drove.. That would be my natural reation, i dont think I would necessarily make a wise choice. The DSN's may well have told him off very harshly for not having hypo stopper with him.. Etc .. It may all have been a 'gut' reaction so to speak....