What Your Family Should Know
Reviewed by CDE Mehandi Sharma · Updated
A severe low blood sugar is the one diabetes emergency where the people around you matter more than anything you can do yourself. If you lose consciousness or cannot swallow, someone else has to act.
So teach whoever you live with three things. What a low looks like — confusion, slurred speech, sweating, odd behaviour, unsteadiness. Where you keep your glucose tablets or sugar. And that if you cannot swallow, they must not put anything in your mouth, but must get medical help immediately.
Glucagon is a hormone that raises blood sugar, available as an injection or a nasal spray, and it is what treats a severe low when the person cannot eat or drink. Whether this applies to you depends on which medicines you take. If you are on insulin, ask your doctor whether you should have some at home and get your family shown how to use it.
Two other things worth doing. Wear or carry medical identification saying you have diabetes and what medicines you take. And keep a written list of your medicines and doses on your fridge, where an emergency responder or a relative can find it without unlocking your phone.
None of this takes long. It is the sort of preparation that only matters once, and matters enormously on that occasion.