Please educate me on diabetes: this kid can eat marshmallows?

Factual Questions
21

With all respect to Anthracite, I think suggesting that DDG find a drug to take care of a child who doesn’t live at her house is expecting a little much.

DDG, my mom is a Type 1 diabetic and has been for 35 years. When she has an insulin reaction, she turns very pale, shakes slightly, gets all clammy, won’t answer questions, and acts extremely confused. She had a reaction while we were walking to her work a couple years ago, and I practically had to drag her there. She wanted to stop and look in all the stores, spoke very slowly, and would have gotten lost - on a path she’s walked a thousand times! - had I not been there to get her to work. Later I found out that she had sugar pills in her purse and felt like an idiot for not checking. Never assume that a diabetic will know that he or she is having an insulin reaction. If you ask my mom how she’s feeling while having one, she will persist in answering that she feels fine, nothing wrong at all. If you notice this little girl having any of these symptoms, get her some juice. Force her to drink it if necessary. If she’s not noticeably better after a couple glasses of OJ, it is time to call 911. It’s not as high tech as emergency shots, but it never fails with my mom - who hasn’t any significant problems with her diabetes since she was pregnant with me.

22

Well, golly, folks, I’m going into data overload here, just a little.

Anthracite, two dozen red roses for your tremendous input. It’s good to hear from a real live actual diabetic, but can you maybe sum up a little? I’m feeling like I need to print this out and digest it a little. I am frankly appalled at the prospect of possibly having to supply life-saving first aid to this kid. I was rather assuming it was going to be considerably simpler, more like “Call 911 if she starts to such-and-such”.

I had the impression from my Reader’s Digest upbringing that what you did when you had a diabetic person who was having “difficulty” was, you gave him a drink of orange juice. OJ was supposed to be some kind of magic panacea, and if that didn’t work and the person passed out cold, then you called an ambulance and let the paramedics deal with it.

Rocking Chair, thanks for the diet food suggestions. I don’t normally keep Nutrasweet stuff around the house, so any Crystal Light that was made instead of regular Kool-Aid would be just because she was coming over.

I would also welcome hearing some input from people about whether it’s better or worse to single her out for diet cookie/pop/special treatment. Would it be better to offer her regular stuff and let her decide? Anthracite, does it embarrass you when you go to someone’s house and they know you’re a diabetic so they offer you special stuff? Or do you appreciate the effort? Or would you rather they let you make up your own mind about the chocolate cake (say your hostess baked an entire Nutrasweet chocolate cake just for you, and everybody else is eating regular Betty Crocker Devil’s Food Pudding In The Mix)?

23

I quit.

I and my 19 years of experience with this monster that is killing me must obviously be completely off base w.r.t. diabetes and the “Standard of Care” in the US, as must the experience of the internal med doc I live with.

I will never post to a diabetic thread again.

I have no hard feelings towards anyone; it just seems my ideas must really be against the grain. And this is not directed at anyone here either. It’s just a difference of opinion is all.

Una

24

Good Lord, such an easy question with such an easy answer. The mother of this child probably told her to take good care of herself, check her blood sugar, eat dinner, have fun, and eat a few marshmallows before going to bed at somebody else’s house simply to make sure that she does NOT go into insulin shock while at the house of somehow who may not have experienced taking care of someone in that situation before. If my child were diabetic and sleeping over at a friend’s house, I’d say the same thing. Having blood sugar of 150 or 180 for a few hours in the night is a hell of a lot better than having her crash, wet her bed, and having the mom call me at 3am wondering why my child is having a seizure.

And so that everybody knows, I’ve been diabetic since 1984 and have exquisite control. A1C’s are always in the 6’s. The average on my Accucheck machine just this afternoon was 100.

25

anthracite:

Just on my half, everything you have said here is true. I believe I just elaborated on some of the points, but I dont think that I said anything that flat out disagreed with anything you said.

As for those who think that the information that is given here isint correct, who are you going to believe if you dont believe those who live with the disease or those who are trained to care for them?

26

OK, I said I wouldn’t post. But I’ve changed my mind. Women are fickle, what can we say?

I’ll try to summarize, based on what I and others said:

If she is having troubles or feeling sick and is aware, have her test - it only takes 30 seconds. If low, give OJ, non-diet pop, nestle quick, whatever - about 200 calories worth - or glucose tablets as well - about 3-4. Have her re-test again in 15 minutes to see if it’s going up.

If she seems really sick, and is very disoriented, try to give her whatever she can take (chocolate milk, non-diet pop, OJ, and surely she must have glucose tablets) while calling 911.

OJ has a lot of sugar and calories, so it’s good. HOWEVER, sometimes it won’t sit on your stomach when you are having a reaction, so I go with chocolate milk. From a reaction-stopping standpoint, they are equivalent effectiveness.

It does embarrass me, because I try to not be treated differently. The effort to be accomodating is much appreciated though.

I guess what actually bothers me is if they make a fuss in front of everyone, instead of asking me privately as an aside or in advance. Just ask them privately what they would like, or ahead of time. It’s always bad when someone says “oh, and here’s a special thing for you Una!” which calls attention to me, and then starts the inevitable questions like “How long have you been diabetic?”, “If I eat too much sugar will I get diabetes?” etc.

27

duck duck goose, i mentioned the sugarless options so that when she came over everyone could have the same stuff. i have a buddy that is diabetic and when i knew she would be stopping by i would have stuff we could all eat. there by not getting into the “this is only for so and so” thing. i just wouldn’t say anything and serve the sugarless stuff. no one else really noticed anything and i told my buddy and only her the first time she was at my house that when she would be there i would go with her diet and everyone else would to. it’s no big deal for a day or two. ask her mum what she would suggest for meal time or snack time. also ask her about how to handle a medical emergency, she will be able to clue you on what sort of things to look out for, and what to do.

28

OK; it looks like you got your questions answered and more, and by folks far more knowledgeable about the subject than I. I’ve got just one question, and I’m not trying to be stupid; I’m really curious . . .

Grape jelly in the spaghetti sauce?

Ignore this if you must, but I had to ask . . . .

29

Well, I dunno how they do things where you’re from, but around these here parts we always put a big serving-spoonful of grape jelly in the spaghetti sauce. Does wonders for it. (Of course, we’re not talking homemade simmered-all-day-on-the-stove-by-Mamma, we’re talking sauce-in-a-can. The cheap kind.)

Anthracite, if I didn’t know your living room was already full of roses, I’d send you a dozen more. Thank you for summing up–I am going to definitely print this thread out, highlight the “summing up” and a few other things, and keep it in the big cabinet by the telephone where I keep the other important stuff like the dog’s vaccination records.

My worst nightmare, of course, is to have La Principessa appear at my bedside at 2 a.m. during a slumber party and say, “Mommy, Courtney’s sick…” Now I will know what to do.

Also, a big “thank you” to everybody who posted. You fought a great deal of ignorance on my part here, and I’m grateful. I thought diabetes was just a “sugar” thing; now I realize it’s also carbohydrates, too.

30

A quick word about some sugarless treats…

Some sugarless candies and treats contain sugar-alcohol sweetners like maltilol and sorbitol. These taste great, but can cause some problems, nausea, cramps, diarhea, flatulence, that kind of thing, if consumed in more-than-conservative quantities. And, nutra-sweet like sweeteners can cause reactions in some who cannot metabolize one of the proteins in it.

Some sweets are OK (Edy’s Sugar free Fat free ice cream is awesome. Instead of serving a specific food to your guests, how about making various foods (cake, candy, dried and fresh fruit, chips, dip and salsa, nuts) available, and let your guests select their own poison? That way no one feels singled out or different.

I vividly remember when I made the mistake of attending a management dinner at work one time, right after I was diagnosed as diabetic and not feeling to confident. First, they served steak, which I like extra dead, and mine was swimming in a crimson pool. Second, they served a big lump o’ sugar for desert. The mental giant accross the table managed to blurt out “Whatza matter wit you? You on some kinda DIET or somethin?” Thanks, dude. Glad I could find a place to fit into your world.

31

I was diagnosed as an insulin dependent diabetic when I was 6 years old (I turned 40 yesterday - happy birthday to me!!) and quite frankly do not remember NOT being diabetic. The best thing is, as someone else posted, is to ask the mom for guidance and also ask the little girl privately what she wants. She is, after all, still a little girl so lend a little more weight to what her mom says. When my blood sugar gets low I don’t necessarily know it and I almost always forget I have stuff on me to fix the problem IF the drop is fast and dramatic. If it’s a slow drop then I can help myself. BTW my A1c’s are always on the 5.5-7.0 range and have been for years. I am extremely blessed to not have complications any worse than they are right now (hey, I went to college and did the obligatory partying!). If I trade off other carbs for the sugary carbs only at mealtimes then I can handle it. No snacks, though, unless I need one at bedtime and then it has to be something with nutritive value and a little protein in it to keep me from bottoming out in the wee hours. It’s a very regulated, hour by hour kind of lifestyle. Be kind to diabetics and don’t point out the differences unless they do so first. I tend to feel like a freak anyway and to have someone make stupid comments makes it worse.

32

Just as a side note – glucagon is $70 a dose. (atleast thats what my fire department gets it for) I could see where some diabetics may not have that drug on them if they can’t get insurance to cover it, or if they dont have insurance at all.

33

I’ve only ever had gestational diabetes and it wasn’t insulin dependent. It was diet controlled.

You should talk this over with the parents. I was told to keep Life Savers around because you could pretty exactly measure the amount of sugar if any was needed quickly. I think if I started crashing it was 2 Life Savers that I was supposed to have. I’m sure the amount is different for different sized people though.

Maybe it’s different for insulin-dependent diabetes, but I was only allowed so many calories per meal. So, putting the grape jelly in the spaghetti sauce would have thrown off my estimation of the amount of calories that I was taking in.

34

I just found out yesterday that my nephew (not even 3 yrs old yet) has been diagnosed w/juvenile diabetes :frowning: , so I just wanted to thank everyone here for a very interesting and enlightening discussion (thanks also for the links).

35

Well, since this thread is about it anyway, I hope DDG won’t mind if I ask my own question.

I have a friend who has type 1 diabetes, not well controlled (although we’re not sure why, she might have other physical problems). She eats pretty much whatever the hell she wants to (including all kinds of sugars and carbohydrates).

She does, however, carry around fast-acting and slow-acting insulin, as well as a blood-testing-machine thingie. She has been diabetic for as long as she can remember, and adjusts her insulin according to what she ate.

Is this effective? I mean, is taking the right amount of insulin to counteract the food just as good as not having eaten it in the first place?

(and Anth, please don’t leave the thread, I’m really interested in what you have to say)

36

Just out of curiosity-the whole thing with the marshmallows-could she, perhaps be stretching the truth a bit? When my cousin was little, she was allergic to chocolate, causing her face to break out in a hideous rash. Once, she came over and told my mother she was taking medicine so she could have chocolate-which she did. And her face broke out a few days later.

She eventually outgrew the allergy, but still, just to be on the safe side, I’d talk to her mother.

Oh, and not every parent who doesn’t want their child to have sugar is a bad parent. My mother was like that with me as a child, since I’m ADHD.

37

Well, that’s a blast from the past. :smiley:

The “marshmallow thing” was evidently perfectly legitimate–with a lengthier acquaintance, it turned out that she had her diet and insulin under perfect control, and knew down to the last mouthful exactly what she could and could not eat during any given Slumber Party. We never had any “middle of the night” crises, although she did turn out to be a bedwetter, which made an interesting new social problem for the Slumber Party Group to deal with.

She has now moved out of our circle, her dad having finished construction on the new house he was building, and they’ve moved, but it was nice knowing her while she was here.

38

Well, I suppose it could be an effective method, especially if you’ve been diabetic for a long period of time, you test your blood glucose frequently, and you use an insulin pump. In theory, you could consume any amount of carbohydrates and offset it by taking an appropriate amount of fast-acting insulin.

But any type 1 diabetic will tell you that it’s much easier to stick to a more routine diet without varying your insulin dosage.