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can anyone help ? Worried mum of a type 1

M

mossy71

Member
Messages
16
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Hi can anyone help?
Hi I’m looking for some advise my son is a type 1 diabetic and on Saturday evening drank a bit too much anyway he went from being happy go lucky to very aggressive where I had to call the police! The police were adamant he had taken drugs of some kind which I know wasn’t the case. He doesn’t take any sort of recreational drug and had been at home all day! He ended up being pepper sprayed and taken into custody, he has absolutely no memory of what happened. Could this purely be down to alcohol and poor ( high) blood sugars??
He’s never really accepted his diagnoses and doesn’t look after himself correctly but this has really worried me! He was told a week ago he has high cholesterol now too so went cold turkey on not eating chocolate and for that week has suffered mood swings too I’ve googled it and it said that giving up chocolate can give like withdrawal type symptoms!!
Another worrying factor about Saturday night is that while this was going on he was also talking in a different accent, it’s all very strange and out of character. Would appreciate any help you can offer ? Unfortunately he’s landed himself in a bit of bother but still remembers nothing about it!
Thank for any help in advance
 
Gosh I’m so sorry for you!

We’re his blood sugars tested at all when this happened?

It’s possible it could have been a mixture of blood sugars and alcohol but without knowing what his blood sugars were it’s impossible to guess.

Hypos can make you seem drunk and can make you talk different, this is my concern.
I had a sickness bug the other week and it happened to me, I was on the floor for an hour and my partner said I seemed drunk and was talking funny (he knows I wasn’t) so it could have been a hypo and being drunk that made it worse.

Impossible to say without knowing his levels though x
 
Hello thanks for your reply , I asked the wpc to please test his bloods when they got him to the station I don’t know if they did or not as he didn’t even know where he was when he woke up, they tested in the morning and they were 15 so I’d say they were a lot higher the night before.
He developed and accent while this was all going on it was really scary to see but still remembers nothing!! He’s in court in a couple of weeks he’s made an appointment with diabetic nurse to discuss what happened and to try and get help to sort his bloods his hba1c is way high has diabetic changes in his eyes and high cholesterol he’s 21 x
 
Hi @mossy71 - this raises a number of concerns. The behaviour you have described sounds very much more like a hypo than hyperglycaemia. I have been in a similar state after drinking and with an unrecognised very low blood glucose level. The knowing nothing about it is also something that is very common in hypoglycaemia.

Your description of his Hba1C and has retinopathy changes in his eyes, which are often symptoms of blood glucose levels that swing up and down dramatically, are also important to note in this context.

When he was taken to the police station, what was he charged with? What actions were taken by the police in response to the charge and your concerns? Was he provided with insulin overnight? Waking up at 15 would be quite normal as the body's response to hypoglycaemia, especially if no background insulin was provided.

You do need to get answers to these questions, as the charges, no glucose testing on the part of the police and withholding insulin for a Type 1 (which is essential medication under the equality act) are behaviours that would not look all that helpful on the police in court. On the other hand if he was charged with drug related offences and they had blood tested him and obtained a positive outcome, the situation is rather different.

I'm sorry I can't be more helpful, but unfortunately there are a lot of ifs and buts in this situation that would need clarity before we could provide you with any helpful benefits.
 
Hi
He was charged with assault on a police officer! My husband had my son restrained on the sofa when they arrived and had in fact calmed him down a little I went into lounge followed by police and he got up to give me a hug the next thing I knew he was bent over the sofa having been pepper sprayed myself and my husband were right there and later told he head butted the officer!

His solicitor told him there was no mark on the officer the next morning and although he had a body cam they were experiencing technical difficulties which prevented him from seeing the footage!

I don’t know if he was given insulin on arrival to the police station all we were told is that he was being well looked after but when he was released he had had nothing to eat or drink accept a few glasses of water but had had his level tested in the morning.

My son doesn’t drink often and is usually a chilled tearful drinker this is totally out of character he even pushed and shoved me but not even the slightest memory of any of it
 
I have been a T1 for 26 years. Once I OD misjudged my long acting and out of character behaved very much as your son did. This aggressive behaviour of which he won’t remember much of if any of it is a recognised symptom. He won’t respond to reasonable requests to help it is very distressing to watch. I am pretty certain his biggest problem is others ignorance. My advice is get a Libre Lifestyle sensor and you can read his blood sugars without his cooperation.
 
This sounds interesting I haven’t heard of this before! That’s how it all started I could see he wasn’t himself and suggested a blood text and insulin and he kicked off! His solicitor has said that he will probably have to plead guilty but my concern is how can you plead either way to something you can’t remember doing and no one saw !
I guess maybe something good has come of it he’s determined to get help as it has scared him half to death and vows not to drink again even tho he doesn’t go out and will only drink at home x
 
Hi @mossy71 My thoughts are similar to others in that this sounds very much like a hypo as all the characteristics are so closely linked and to change personality so quickly certainly indicates it.

It would help his case in court if you could get your consultant or GP to write a letter which confirms that this behaviour is associated with a hypoglycemia episode and if you can find out what his result was when he was tested at the police station too to confirm this ? If he wasn't tested then you would have to argue that his behaviour was characteristic of a hypo episode, it would be a shame if he ends up with a conviction as a result of this one incident. Also get some character witness letters too, it's useful to show the court these as they will confirm what his character is usually.
 
Thank you I will definitely recommend he joins thanks everyone for all your help! There were made aware he was type 1 as the wpc said there is no way this would be brought in by high blood glucose and alcohol alone and that he must have taken something even tho I assured her that he hasn’t ! I asked for his bloods to be tested when he got to the station and gave them his insulin to take
 
Hi @mossy71 Another question is were they aware that if his bloods went low that he would require glucose to treat ?

And another point drinking alcohol raises the risk of going hypo in type 1- so it's important to understand exactly how alcohol affects the liver in type 1 diabetics, as alcohol prevents the liver from releasing glucose meaning that you have to be extra careful of going low when drinking: http://www.diabetes.co.uk/alcohol-and-hypoglycemia.html I would print this page off as a reference for his court case too.
 
I think the pertinent points in the article relate to the following:


I still think it is important to understand what action was taken in relation to procedure in this case. If the police had been informed he was T1, and no blood tests were undertaken on arrival into custody, then there is cause for questions over procedure. You need your solicitor to find out exactly what happened at the police station.
 
Thank you so much I will try and print all this off but I’m not very good at this it’s taken me days just to be able to sign up and post! All your help is very much appreciated
 

I think his solicitor will be able to obtain the results of any blood test taken by the Police, so can you advise your son to ask for them?
 
Yes he asking for them and also to see if they have managed to resolve the technical fault with the footage from the bodycam at least then if he sees it for himself he will know that he did actually do it and plead guilty, as I don’t know how you can plead either way if you can’t remember.
 
Almost definitely a classic hypo reaction. My own doctor once admitted he was ready to use violence himself when bringing a Type 1 diabetic out of a hypoglycaemic episode. Also if his basal insulin was withheld overnight, his glucose levels are certainly going to be well up.
 
Thank you ! I was certainly not making excuses for him to the wpc (this was before the assault) I was just trying to explain to her that it was out of character his blood levels must be high , and she said there is no way just alcohol and high blood glucose would have this effect, I felt she thought I was making excuses for him which like i said was not the case! I didn’t even recognise my own son! Once we’ve seen the footage and he did in fact do it then he will have to deal with concequences and learn never to let it happen again
I’m actually doing a diabetes collage course at the moment and even though my son has been diabetic for a number of years am still finding out things I didn’t know
 
Thank you
 
Surely they have a blood alcohol and surely he did a "whiz quiz" urine screening for other drugs, and they SHOULD have tested his sugar if they knew he is diabetic and takes insulin. They took it the next morning after all. I'm betting he was just stink-faced and went ballistic so you called the cops appropriately. He'll probably get charged for clobbering the cop.
 
Just adding to all other replies. This was undoubtedly a hypo, very low blood sugar. Possibly bought on by alcohol especially spirits. A call for paramedic assistance would probably have been better for all concerned. The police were obviously totally out of order on all counts. After nearly 40 years on insulin it never ceases to amaze me the ignorance of police and medics to T1 diabetes. Hope your son is OK now. In the future any change in behavior on his part always suggest he checks his sugar, if he refuses, chances are he's hypo. Sorry if that sounds blunt,but generally it's a fact. My wife will verify this, unfortunately.
 
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