Concerned.

[bombadilian]

Hello everybody, hope you are all okay.

I'm not diabetic myself but I am concerned about someone close to me who is.
About six months ago she had a hypo and since then her mental condition has got steadily worse. Amongst other things she has been:
- constantly checking her blood sugars
- chain smoking, even doing so in the house, which she never, ever did before the hypo
- repeating the same things over and over again, and being in a general state of confusion (which has got significantly worse in the last couple of months)
- soiling herself
- refusing to take insulin even if her blood sugars are extremely high (as a matter of fact all she wants to do is drink more coke)

We have seen diabetic specialists who all tell her she is slowly destroying herself but she does not take any notice whatsoever.

We just have no idea what to do, we think the best thing for her is to be in some sort of controlled environment, but the doctors/specialists just tell her to stop drinking fizzy drinks. They might as well talk to a brick wall. Her husband is struggling to cope and the constant smoking in the house is affecting him as he has COPD.

Any suggestions/advice on this would be greatly appreciated, and thank you in advance.

 

[Antje77]

Sounds horrible and dangerous. Can't give you any advice but here's a virtual hug to you, her, husband and all others involved.
The confusion could be from high blood sugars or do you suspect there has been some brain damage from the hypo? Depression? Fear of hypo's after a bad one? Simply giving up, some sort of slow suicide? Diabetic burn-out?

I really hope you, husband or HCP can reach her and things will get better.

 

[Jaylee]

Hi @bombadilian ,

Welcome to the forum.

To the best of your knowledge. What type of diabetes has your friend been diagnosed?
& for how long has she been diabetic??

How severe was the hypo your friend had 6 months back..? Hypoglycaemia can be very distressing for some. (Like a bad "trip.")
Some of your friend's subsiquent physiological disorders may have stemmed from the hypo as a catalyst?
Her current way of managing to avoid further hypos will not help.

Edited to tag in, @himtoo @Diakat @Juicyj @helensaramay @kitedoc @Scott-C @Mel dCP who may have further ideas..

 

[bombadilian]

Thank you both very much for your replies.

By way of further explanation...she has had type 1 diabetes for five years, and in all this time she has managed it no problem. I don't think the hypo itself was all that severe, but she can't remember any of it. Her husband just said that she started acting strangely, walking into walls, etc. He was concerned enough to call for paramedics who gave her a glucose shot.
Since then, as I said before, she's just got worse and worse. Stuff she used to do (jigsaws, giving attention to her dog which she's had 11 years and adores) she simply doesn't do anymore.

As previously mentioned she has been told time and again by diabetic clinics. She even had 'ketones' in her blood when they checked her one time. But nothing they, or we, say to her registers, she just totally disregards it.