embarrassing insulin reactions
I’m interested in knowing how people handle embarrassing insulin
reactions. It doesn’t happen to me often, but when it does, it is so
horrible. I get confused and act weird, and when I try to explain
what’s going on to someone I do not know well, they just look at me
like I’m a freak. Sometimes they’ll say something like, “Oh yeah.
When I don’t eat my blood sugar gets low and I get cranky,” not
seeming to understand the whole confusion aspect.
I recently had someone get angry with me because I was low and wasn’t
able to help him with directions while he was giving me a ride. And
tonight I had an insulin reaction on a first date. I was rude to
someone at the next table, and am afraid I cannot salvage the
situation. Mostly I feel bad about being rude to someone. I was
confused and got defensive. I thought she was making fun of me or
something. I feel like I acted like such a freak! I’m so upset I
haven’t been able to sleep all night.
Thanks in advance for your support.
June 29th, 2007 at 4:27 am
I’ve had very few insulin reactions around friends. In fact I haven’t had a
serious insulin reaction anywhere other than my home since high school. Most
of my friends also know that I am diabetic, so if I did go low, most of them
would understand if I snapped at them or was a bit rude.
I wouldn’t worry too much about interacting with strangers. For things like
the first date, had you mentioned beforehand that you had diabetes? (I know
I’m really bad at doing this.) If they already know you have diabetes and
you’ve explained lows to them and they’re still turned off, I’m not sure
there’s a whole lot there WORTH salvaging.
I think most people would be pretty understanding if you apologized for
doing anything inappropriate and explained what a low blood sugar is (and
what caused it, and why you get “out of it”).
Good luck!
Jen