My 29 Lives

In July 2007 I had a heart attack with cardiac arrest that required 29 cardioversions/resuscitations and resulted in three stents for a 100% blocked right coronary artery and a triple bypass for blockages on the left side. I HAD NO PAIN OR CLASSIC SYMPTOMS and later found out that this is not uncommon for diabetics. It is this message that I want to promote in this blog plus my recovery process including lifestyle changes and my dealing with denial, depression, anxiety and ongoing health issues.

Friday 24 July 2015

HYPOGLYCEMIA - Do you know what to do?

I want to raise an issue which I came across last night when giving a talk to a community service group (Rotary, Lions, Probus etc) here where I live. However, first I need to mention I am T2 diabetic and I am also a heart attack survivor and have/had Graves Disease (thyroid burnt out in 1998). I am on medication for all of the above and often can have issues with balancing my meds but that is fine, I am attuned this, know what to watch out for and have plans of action, including one for when a Hypo occurs.

Now last night I was out giving a talk on behalf of Heart Foundation with whom I am a volunteer speaker. The topic was Recognizing Heart Attack symptoms and being aware of the risk factors of heart disease. I have done this talk a number of times but something happened during last night's talk to 36 people which got me thinking.

Heart Foundation for a while has been running public awareness campaigns about heart disease etc. but what happened last night got me thinking about what the various Diabetes organizations are doing in the community regarding one aspect of Diabetes awareness and that is what to do if, when, someone has an hypoglycemic episode?

About 20 mins in to my talk last night I noticed one lady put her hands on the table (it was a meeting where I was the guest speaker after dinner) and then watched her slowly put her head down and then rest it on the table. My initial thought was she is tired and then I thought, given the topic I was presenting that this could be a 'worst case scenario' of someone having a heart event at the meeting.

Within minutes, others on the table looked concerned, some got up and huddled up around her and I heard the word DIABETES.

I got down from the rostrum, went over to see if I could help and heard a comment that she had had a low blood reading earlier in the day and she didn't have any meds with her for her diabetes. The thought of this lady having a HYPO came to mind but given we had only had dinner a short time earlier I wasn't sure.

When I went up to the lady and looked at her and tried to speak to her, she was virtually unable to speak and I thought she was only minutes away from passing out. I ascertained it was a HYPO, organized for a glass of coke and went to my bag to get my jelly beans and proceeded to give her a few.

After sipping down half of the glass of coke and eating a few of the jelly beans the lady picked up and within five minutes was sitting upright at the table as if nothing had happened. I went back to my talk, spoke to the lady afterwards and it was apparent she knew what happened but was just not prepared nor were any of those from the group I was addressing.

And this brings me to the issue, I believe, of the need for a public awareness campaign to be introduced of what to look out for in someone having an Hypoglycemic episode and what to do if this happens to a family member, a work colleague, a social friend etc.

Campaigns abound re: T2 Diabetes just as they do for people learning CPR and how to us AED's but I am unaware of any awareness campaigns in the community to show people how to recognize a Hypo and how to help someone having an episode.

So I am posing this question here for comment and suggestions. I know this is something I will pursue where and when I can both when I give talks and on Facebook and elsewhere but am interested to hear from others on this topic.