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Treating other people's hypos

Robin sparkles

Robin sparkles

Member
Messages
9
Type of diabetes
Other
Treatment type
I do not have diabetes
I'm a first aider, professional scuba diver, runner and in my working life come into contact with 100s of people and out and about I see thousands every day.
If you could have everyone in the country carry one hypo treatment to assist a stranger what would you recommend?
It can't be sweets cos I'm lacking in self control and would eat the jelly babies
 
As a fellow first aider, I would look to find anything that could tell me information and get the hypo patient if he was aware, how it should be treated. Get the patient comfy and phone emergency number if need be!
You wouldn't know how low the patient would be so giving anything is probably only in real emergency is something you should avoid.
If the patient is awake and lucid, then appropriate treatment is probably necessary. And he might be carrying something!

Personally, as a RH er, I couldn't have any glucose or glucagon as this would put me into a hyper, which we RH ers try to avoid!
 
I'm thinking more of someone low but still coherent, who able to tell what the problem is/ask for assistance. That I could say ohh I don't have red coke but I have this ect
 
If conscious and still talking I would carry plain sugar lumps in a little container.

Check wrists or necks for any details.... My wrist band gives phone number and direct instructions on how to treat me as I cannot have anything but natural food ie plain sugar cubes or gluco gel. All other sweeets etc have ingredients in me that would adversely affect me.

I would check bags (if another person present) to see if person had anything on them that they carry and eat...
 
Mmmmm sugar lumps not seen them for years. Not sure I could be trusted with them either :( out of interest do you know how many sugar lumps and does that equate to those little packets of sugar? Might be ok with them
 
You are going with standard treatment, everybody isn't type 1 or type 2 or even diabetic that has hypos.
Allergies play a part!


Edited by a. Moderator
 
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I'd second glucose tablets. They're small and easy to carry, and would probably be instantly recognisable to anyone with diabetes. It's also easy to give an appropriate amount.

If you had space, another possible thing is one of those mini cans of regular coke or a similar full sugar drink. If someone having a hypo needs your help, then they probably need something that works quickly, and both of those items would.
 
My own experience of treating hypos was with a child and I knew that the child had diabetes but not whether they were high or low (no meters in school then) so yes I followed standard advice .
However people are usually able to answer when hypo, even if they may not really want to, so the sensible thing to do is to ask them. If they are unconscious you shouldn't try to give anything orally in any case. I'd certainly hope someone would assist me if I needed it .
It's an awful waste of resources to call an ambulance for something that a couple of sugar lumps will cure!
 
Absolutely @phoenix I agree with that.

I also think it's important to realise that sometimes hypos mean that the person might be a bit 'vacant and not be able to adequately communicate what they need or answer any questions. I used to have nightmares about being very low and someone asking me if I needed sugar and I did but wasn't able to speak.

I think being able to,recognise hypos is very useful, but probably hard for the general public unless they have experience.
 
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