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Local girl died; feeling a bit freaked out - are there ways to reduce risks of diabetic comas?

As others have said, don't have too much alcohol and try to get the daily Basal dose right. If you do go hypo during the night despite this it should not be an extreme one and highly unlikely to cause a coma.
 
I know it's easier to say than done.. But at night I've trained myself to act in the eventuality of a night hypo... ( not unlike that hippy dream control stuff? )
Bit like familiarising a building should the event of a fire....?! I've never had any treatment by my own bed.. However when doing hotels or "sleepovers" my bag is near with more than what's needed in the eventuality...

It's wise to say be aware... But loosing sleep over it causes it's own issues ....
 
Hey - try not to panic (easier said than done!) as this is extremely rare!!! Keep lucozade by your bed and check your blood sugar before bed. I sometimes set an alarm an hour later after I plan to go to sleep just to test again and reassure myself.


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Robinredbreast said:
Please try and not to worry too much, I know it's hard but as members have said, these things are rare and unfortunately it's the sad or bad things that hit the headlines and not a headline with 'a newly diagnosed type 1 diabetic woke up to a 5.6 this morning and she is so happy with her control' !
Do you have any more news on the poor girl who died so suddenly, was it a hypo ?

Take good care and always check your blood sugars.:)
With best wishes RRB
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Thanks @Robinredbreast :-)

.... here's the article that was in my newsfeed.... I've since realised there are collection buckets all over the small town where I live; which is lovely - but also a steady reminder :-/

I don't know why she had a hypo; but it does definitely sound like that's what happened - and that she was asleep at the time. Poor girl x

http://www.southwalesargus.co.uk/news/11334052.Music_festival_organised_in_memory_of_Usk_woman/
 
Thanks so much for all your lovely replies. They mean lots to me - as I said this is brand new and possibly just slightly unfortunate timing - but I'm *really* grateful for all your reassurances / words of support. I've been staying with a friend since I started the insulin on the weekend - but go back to my home tonight - so first night at home alone since I started injecting.... I will be popping on here to remind myself of a few things when I get home - so I don't get myself too worries - and will prolly stay off the vino for now.... ;-) x
 
Just a thought..?!
Until you get more comfortable with your new insulin regime, whilst still retainoing independance, why not arrange a quick text to a friend to confirm you are awake. If the friend don't receive a text template saying "good morning" by a certain time, then they ring you.. If no reply? Then assistance to your address....
 
It reads like it could be a dka coma with heart failure, dka is about 90% vs hypo 10% death related
I take away from the article the possible reinforcement of proper bg control and acting on symptoms as they appear.
 
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I whole heartily agree with you about the keto benefit to hard to control diabetes
diamondnostril said:
Hi Artemis,

I am a T1 that lives alone.

In the last 2 years I have discovered the Ketogenic diet, and this has been a complete revelation to me. In addition to preventing high blood-sugar levels it also protects against the unpleasant effects of low blood-sugar levels (because the metabolism switches to feed the brain primarily with Ketones rather than with Glucose).

I know the idea is a bit controversial and when I've stated this idea on previous threads I've received some negative responses; if the same happens here I won't respond, so that this thread doesn't get pulled off track.

There are several published medical studies that confirm the idea that a Keto-adapted brain does not experience a loss of function even when blood-sugar levels are extremely low.

Even if you don't buy into the above idea, the very fact of eating Ketogenic (LCHF) means that you are reducing your Insulin to the minimum possible doses, which minimises any mistakes and makes serious problems much less likely. (The "law of small numbers", according to Richard K. Bernstein.) I totally accept that the Keto diet is not for everybody. Depending on circumstances it may be difficult to stick to. But if you are a T1 living alone then it may help to alleviate anxiety about Hypos.

As Indiana91 said, this is extremely rare for anybody to die from a Hypo, whatever is their strategy for managing Diabetes. Usually bad Hypos are a thoroughly unpleasant experience, but rarely cause physical harm.

The following Post/Thread may be of interest to you . . .
http://www.diabetes.co.uk/forum/threads/lchf-hypo-danger.56717/page-2#post-527324

Regards,
Antony



Insulin-Dependent Diabetics that experience Hypos have them because they have injected an inappropriate amount of Insulin. Diabetes sends blood-sugar levels HIGH; only a problem with your Insulin injection will send your blood-sugars too LOW. (I realise there are exceptions, but I speak about 99.9% of cases.)
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jack412 said:
It reads like it could be a dka coma with heart failure, dka is about 90% vs hypo 10% death related
I take away from the article the possible reinforcement of proper bg control and acting on symptoms as they appear.
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@jack412 - that's a really good point.... I don't know why I assumed it was a diabetic coma from a hypo that happened in her sleep?! Reading it again it doesn't say that at all.... I think cos thats what I'm super fearful of, that's what I read - how weird. It doean't actually say at all whether she was awake or asleep; or hypo or DKA.... she may have been of course; but it sounds like she equally might have been neither of those things.

Thank you so much for adding a different perspective on what may or may not have happened - whilst I appreciate DKA is just a big a thing I need to be aware of, it feels a little less scary and possibly more within my control than just slipping into a hypo coma in the night; whilst living alone.

....I did read it on the morning after my first day of insulin though; after a night in A&E - funny what tiredness / fear can do... x
 
Jaylee said:
Just a thought..?!
Until you get more comfortable with your new insulin regime, whilst still retainoing independance, why not arrange a quick text to a friend to confirm you are awake. If the friend don't receive a text template saying "good morning" by a certain time, then they ring you.. If no reply? Then assistance to your address....
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@Jaylee - also a really good idea - you lot are superstars, thank you! :-) x
 
-Artemis- said:
Thanks @Robinredbreast :)

.... here's the article that was in my newsfeed.... I've since realised there are collection buckets all over the small town where I live; which is lovely - but also a steady reminder :-/

I don't know why she had a hypo; but it does definitely sound like that's what happened - and that she was asleep at the time. Poor girl x

http://www.southwalesargus.co.uk/news/11334052.Music_festival_organised_in_memory_of_Usk_woman/
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I have jt read the article and It is so sad. My heartfelt condolences go to her family and friends .A well written and compassionate piece and more awareness of this condition.
The music festival sounds like a wonderful tribute to a well liked member of her community who sadly lost her life to a possible complication of Type 1 diabetes :(
The post mortem will hopefully put an end to speculation about the actual cause

RRB x
 
I would want to see the medical report rather than a newspaper saying what they think was hypo
I would think it is more likely the person died at home from dka
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Sorry, but dead-in-bed syndrome is hardly unheard of. We now have some theories as to what might be causing it thanks to the increasing prevalence of CGMs, but we still don't really know what causes it and thus don't know how to prevent it.
If there's nothing we can do about it, I would try to not worry about it too much.

Most of it more often than not circulated urban myth style poison letters...?
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Your "urban myth" is responsible for 3% of deaths in diabetics aged under 40.
 
AlexMBrennan said:
Your "urban myth" is responsible for 3% of deaths in diabetics aged under 40.
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My "urban myth" reference which you pulled "out of context" was actually regarding the misinformation/propaganda spread about on social media..
Leading to misconceptions & knee jerk reactions from the term "Diabetic coma".. DKA & hypoglycaemia both need very different treatments.
In this case a tragic tale about a dead diabetic which could either slot into the 6% DIBS statistic or the 3% DKA bracket..?
Either way it has resulted in the worry of a member posting for advise...

My personal trust in the general public to react accordingly on the general term "Diabetic coma" bandied about in the press on this basis is not high.
They are more likely to save my life if I was to be in this unfortunate position if they ******** off & voted UKIP.
 
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