Help For My Nan

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kazza2312

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My 84 year old Grandma has had Diabetes (not sure what type but uses insulin injections) for over 30 years and has always controlled it very well, until recently...
Over the last 6 months she has had 3 or 4 "episodes" with the most recent being a 1.2 blood sugar level resulting in a coma until the paramedics arrived. Our worry is that if this happened when she was on her own things could be far worse. Nan's of very sane mind (not "losing her marbles!") but seems to forget to take her injection, forget to eat after taking her injection or cooks and forgets why the food is in front of her. As she's clued up I can only put this down to confusion as a result of her glucose levels, injection or something similar (sorry I'm quite naive when it comes to diabetes).
Anyway, after this rambling my question is:
As Nan lives on her own are there any products we can buy to try and secure her safety? I've seen the watches that alarm if sweating starts but Nan doesn't seem to have many syptoms before she loses consciousness and she'd soon stop wearing it if it sounds false alarms as I've read in reviews....if anyone knows of anything that would help I would love to hear. Thanks in advance.
 
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donnamum

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We have tried to get my gran to wear an alarm around her neck incase of emergencies she has type 2 but she cpmplains it doesn't go with her outfits and makes her feel old (age late 80's).

Age concern have lots of gadgets to make it easier for the elderly to stay in their own homes. Give them a try.

Hope that helps a little.
 
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hanadr

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My mum is 90 and lives alone too. She's not diabetic, or even frail, but her neighbours (in a tiny village) look after her. Someone looks in at least once a day and she has an alarm on her wrist, so that if she falls ( which she has done), she can call for help. Social services have installed a couple of aids in her home. check them out. they were brilliant for my mum.
 
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Katharine

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It may be worth asking the GP about getting community nurses to come in and give her twice daily mixed insulin injections followed by a supervised meal. The blood sugar and flexibility will be less but it could be a lot safer.
 
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Rach79

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Hi there. Well don't worry confusion and forgetting insulin is usually what I go through on a daily basis and I'm only 29 :!: I recommend your nan reduces her insulin doses by 2 units on each dose and tests her sugars up to 6 times a day whilst trying to keep a note of what they are doing or when she has hypos (preferably with the help of an expert). I occasionally suffer loss of awareness in my hypos (as probably your nan is too) and am looking into alternative methods such as animal insulin or a warning device of some sort. I too have had the paramedics called for me and it ain't a nice experience (not that it's ever a nice experience but I am just saying I remember the incident well and how uncomfortable I was). The link below says nurses can provide such devices and gives a more detailed description than mine above about what to do in this respect.

http://medweb.bham.ac.uk/easdec/prevention/hypos.htm

Let me know how she gets on.
 
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broads

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kazza2312 said:
My 84 year old Grandma has had Diabetes (not sure what type but uses insulin injections) for over 30 years and has always controlled it very well, until recently...
Over the last 6 months she has had 3 or 4 "episodes" with the most recent being a 1.2 blood sugar level resulting in a coma until the paramedics arrived. Our worry is that if this happened when she was on her own things could be far worse. Nan's of very sane mind (not "losing her marbles!") but seems to forget to take her injection, forget to eat after taking her injection or cooks and forgets why the food is in front of her. As she's clued up I can only put this down to confusion as a result of her glucose levels, injection or something similar (sorry I'm quite naive when it comes to diabetes).
Anyway, after this rambling my question is:
As Nan lives on her own are there any products we can buy to try and secure her safety? I've seen the watches that alarm if sweating starts but Nan doesn't seem to have many syptoms before she loses consciousness and she'd soon stop wearing it if it sounds false alarms as I've read in reviews....if anyone knows of anything that would help I would love to hear. Thanks in advance.
Click to expand...

Was wondering how your Gran is getting on? Best wishes.
 
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