RE: Breaking Down the Basics of Diabetes: A simple way to understand the pathophysiology of diabetes (Part I).
I also have type 1 (a little over five years now...) and it can get really frustrating when the general population has no idea that type 1 is different than type 2. It's scary when people tell me, "Oh well if your blood sugar gets low that means you need insulin! Do you want me to practice giving you insulin, just in case of emergency?" which I've heard from friends and family on more than one occasion... It's scary and I hope I'm never in a situation where I'm unconscious and a well meaning loved one does the wrong thing.
And it's not like I've explained and corrected them, there seems to be a much stronger culturally enforced idea of diabetes ingrained upon them that seems impossible to overcome. I've gotten more and more discouraged from educating those around me about my condition, but it's good to see others like you who are getting the truth out there. Keep it up!
You make an excellent point that was not addressed in this post; the lack of awareness. It is important for people to be educated, or they really could kill someone! I was strictly keeping the topic to the pathology/physiology of the disease of Type I, which generally will not cause hypoglycemia (however when the autoimmune process is going on, it actually can cause the beta-cells to release more insulin as the beta-cells are dying. I did have symptoms of mild hypoglycemia before I stopped making insulin. I am curious to know, did this happened to you?...) A whole topic could/should be given to the management of diabetes, and the resulting side effects of hypoglycemia (low blood sugar). I will address that in this comment below, briefly, for others to view. Thank you for sharing your personal experience, and I look forward to reading your future posts. There is much overlap with symptoms and side effects of treatment with Type I and Type II diabetics, which may be an opportunity to include more on hypoglycemia in future posts.
Hypoglycemia (low blood sugar) occurs when you give too much exogenous insulin. In other words, you inject too much. This can happen for many reasons.
A Type I diabetic can get it from taking too much rapid acting/regular insulin with not enough carbohydrates at meals (carbohydrates break down into "simple sugars" within 30 minutes). A Type II can also get if they also take insulin (which some do not require). When someone is "low" (low blood sugar), giving them candy or a sugar drink is already in "simple sugar" form and will take about 10 minutes to raise their blood sugar.
Long acting/intermediate insulin (insulin released over time, which I can explain in a management post) can cause hypoglycemia if the wrong dose is administered or if a specific type is taken (NPH) and a meal is not eaten around 6 hours after the dose is given....NPH insulin "peaks" at around 6 hours.
Type II diabetics can get hypoglycemia from taking certain medications. Some of note, and most dangerous, are the sulfonylurea class drugs like Glimeperide. Drugs like Metformin, actually, do not cause hypoglycemia, which can be explained later.
Like @theb0red1 noted a lack of awareness from the caregiver or "good samaritan" could lead to death. If one does not understand the disease process, they could actually give insulin when the diabetic is already suffering from low blood sugar. If unsure, do not give the patient insulin and call for emergency assistance. Try and check the blood sugar as well. I will go into symptoms of hypoglycemia in a future post.
Exercise is a big one to cause hypoglycemia (will give more on this in a future post. The physiology of this is actually fascinating, and I just fully-understood this about a month ago).
*I am probably forgetting some more and can elaborate in a later post. Main point of this comment/second post is if you see a diabetic unconscious or acting "funny" always think low blood sugar rather than high sugar and think "this patient needs sugar" over "this patient needs insulin" (which could kill them).