Hypoglycemic Unawareness and the Mr. Universe Story
Forgive me for being on a diabetes roll, but it's been a busy week of diabetes related news, and of course I have a special interest in caring for those who live with diabetes.
A number of my favorite diabetes bloggers, such as Kerri and Amy are talking about Mr. Universe, Doug Burns, and his episode of low blood sugar (called hypoglycemia) that led to an altercation with the Redwood City, CA police. Mr. Burns was present with a friend in a movie theater when he began to notice the symptoms of low blood sugar. He attempted to go to the snack counter to obtain food but was intercepted by a theater security office, who thought that he was drunk. He escorted him outdoors and asked him to leave (you have to love this thought process, "let's take the drunk guy outside and tell him to get lost??"), but when Mr. Burns remained in the area and appeared "dazed" the security staff called the police.
The arriving officers reported finding Mr. Burns to appear intoxicated, and stated that he became agitated and attacked an officer on approach. They brought in additional officers and police dogs who maced and forcefully restrained Mr. Burns, then called for paramedics.
These rescue personnel report that they found a severely low blood sugar and that they treated Mr. Burns by administering a fast-acting dose of IV sugar. His hypoglycemia was confirmed in a subsequent visit to the local hospital ED. Until recently Mr. Burns was headed to trial for assault and resisting arrest, however the charges have been dropped, to the great relief of the Internet diabetes community, who actively called the area District Attorney to ask that the charges be dropped.
In reading about his story I am honestly surprised at the response of the police, who should know to be on the look out for things like a Medic-alert bracelet, which Mr. Burns was prominently wearing at the time of the incident.
I am also shocked at the number of people responding to the blogs about the incident that want to blame this individual with diabetes for his lack of ability to care for himself. Mr. Burns had temporarily switched from his insulin pump to individual insulin injections because he had run out of administration sets for his insulin pump while traveling. This kind of thing happens; any one of us could miscount the number of pills in the bottle and run out of our prescription while away from home. Unfortunately insulin pump administration sets have to be mail ordered, so he was waiting for his shipment to arrive. Mr. Burns found himself having an unexpected low blood sugar that may have been due to his switch in how he was giving himself insulin.
He recognized that he was having a low blood sugar, but apparently it was too late; by the time he acted he was already very low. This can also happen to anyone with diabetes; some days blood sugars are unpredictable despite their best efforts. Many individuals have some degree of a problem called hypoglycemic unawareness, in which they don't have early physical symptoms of low blood sugar at all. This can occur in anyone living with diabetes, especially those who have had the disease for a long time, but this lack of awareness can also be increased by certain medications, such as beta-blockers used for heart disease.
Whatever the cause, low blood sugar can cause the individual with diabetes to become sweaty, lightheaded, shaky, confused, and anxious. They may feel hungry and tired, and may abruptly become agitated and belligerent, even with people they know well, such as their spouses or parents. They will get to a point where they have no control over their emotions and actions and if the low blood sugar goes unchecked eventually they will become unresponsive.
It is extremely important that people on the scene of such a situation look for a medical bracelet or necklace and ask the person if they have diabetes, and to call 911 to have the person assessed. If they are agitated then don't approach them in a way that might be perceived as threatening, but speak calmly and follow behind them so that you can help rescue personnel to find them. You may also be able to set a different "stage" for the person by suggesting to those who arrive to help that you are concerned that the person may have diabetes and a low blood sugar. I certainly wonder how differently this incident may have played out had someone pursued that line of thought with the arriving officers, or with the original security guard.
I wish Mr. Universe well in his efforts to educate the public about diabetes and low blood sugar, and I hope this post will be one more place where he feels supported in his efforts to educate the public. I hope that if you ever have the opportunity to be the voice of reason in such a crisis that you will be successful in your efforts to help the person with low blood sugar receive appropriate treatment, rather than a face full of mace and a beating.
Take care, Laurie
Related Topics:
A number of my favorite diabetes bloggers, such as Kerri and Amy are talking about Mr. Universe, Doug Burns, and his episode of low blood sugar (called hypoglycemia) that led to an altercation with the Redwood City, CA police. Mr. Burns was present with a friend in a movie theater when he began to notice the symptoms of low blood sugar. He attempted to go to the snack counter to obtain food but was intercepted by a theater security office, who thought that he was drunk. He escorted him outdoors and asked him to leave (you have to love this thought process, "let's take the drunk guy outside and tell him to get lost??"), but when Mr. Burns remained in the area and appeared "dazed" the security staff called the police.
The arriving officers reported finding Mr. Burns to appear intoxicated, and stated that he became agitated and attacked an officer on approach. They brought in additional officers and police dogs who maced and forcefully restrained Mr. Burns, then called for paramedics.
These rescue personnel report that they found a severely low blood sugar and that they treated Mr. Burns by administering a fast-acting dose of IV sugar. His hypoglycemia was confirmed in a subsequent visit to the local hospital ED. Until recently Mr. Burns was headed to trial for assault and resisting arrest, however the charges have been dropped, to the great relief of the Internet diabetes community, who actively called the area District Attorney to ask that the charges be dropped.
In reading about his story I am honestly surprised at the response of the police, who should know to be on the look out for things like a Medic-alert bracelet, which Mr. Burns was prominently wearing at the time of the incident.
I am also shocked at the number of people responding to the blogs about the incident that want to blame this individual with diabetes for his lack of ability to care for himself. Mr. Burns had temporarily switched from his insulin pump to individual insulin injections because he had run out of administration sets for his insulin pump while traveling. This kind of thing happens; any one of us could miscount the number of pills in the bottle and run out of our prescription while away from home. Unfortunately insulin pump administration sets have to be mail ordered, so he was waiting for his shipment to arrive. Mr. Burns found himself having an unexpected low blood sugar that may have been due to his switch in how he was giving himself insulin.
He recognized that he was having a low blood sugar, but apparently it was too late; by the time he acted he was already very low. This can also happen to anyone with diabetes; some days blood sugars are unpredictable despite their best efforts. Many individuals have some degree of a problem called hypoglycemic unawareness, in which they don't have early physical symptoms of low blood sugar at all. This can occur in anyone living with diabetes, especially those who have had the disease for a long time, but this lack of awareness can also be increased by certain medications, such as beta-blockers used for heart disease.
Whatever the cause, low blood sugar can cause the individual with diabetes to become sweaty, lightheaded, shaky, confused, and anxious. They may feel hungry and tired, and may abruptly become agitated and belligerent, even with people they know well, such as their spouses or parents. They will get to a point where they have no control over their emotions and actions and if the low blood sugar goes unchecked eventually they will become unresponsive.
It is extremely important that people on the scene of such a situation look for a medical bracelet or necklace and ask the person if they have diabetes, and to call 911 to have the person assessed. If they are agitated then don't approach them in a way that might be perceived as threatening, but speak calmly and follow behind them so that you can help rescue personnel to find them. You may also be able to set a different "stage" for the person by suggesting to those who arrive to help that you are concerned that the person may have diabetes and a low blood sugar. I certainly wonder how differently this incident may have played out had someone pursued that line of thought with the arriving officers, or with the original security guard.
I wish Mr. Universe well in his efforts to educate the public about diabetes and low blood sugar, and I hope this post will be one more place where he feels supported in his efforts to educate the public. I hope that if you ever have the opportunity to be the voice of reason in such a crisis that you will be successful in your efforts to help the person with low blood sugar receive appropriate treatment, rather than a face full of mace and a beating.
Take care, Laurie
Related Topics:
- WebMD Video: Personal Story - Living with an Insulin Pump
- WebMD Video: New Blood Sugar Monitor Calculates Insulin Dose
5 Comments:
Hi Laurie,
Thanks for the shout-out. And thanks for being aware of the hypoglycemia issue...
What was actually underreported was that I ran a "Call to Action" campaign on my blog and also emailed hundreds of community contacts on Doug's behalf.
As a result, the DA's office got dozens of angry phone calls. The Power of The Community was at work here, and magically, the case was dropped the next day.
Hooray for Citizen Journalism!
Laurie
It's so hard to describe what it feels like when your blood sugar is low, that I think it's important to educate 'the public' as much as possible.
For me I've had all of the following symptoms at different times: anger; silliness; weeping; startled by loud noises; sleepiness; inability to talk/express myself; unable to ask for help; sweating; stumbling.
It's a long list. And many of these things can be mistaken for drunkiness. First ask yourself - does this person smell of alcohol. If not then maybe it's a low blood sugar (hypoglycemia). If so, the best treatment is a drink with sugar. Apple juice, orange juice, soda. Hard candies. Not candy bars because the fat makes it slower acting.
Maybe we should organize a hypoglycemia awareness day - HAD. As in I wish I HAD a normal blood sugar!
I just ran across your Hypoglycemic story about Doug. I am a Paramedic in a very Large tourist town and I can say that the police have done this before. I have witnessed it here. I hate to say it but the Police don't see it as thier problem. I have seen a patient w/ a low Blood glucose and Given a Amp of D50 (sugar) and before we arrived at the ER it had bottomed out again. So, It happened and youre right that the public needs to be more aware of 'what' hypoglycemia is and it needs to start with most Doctors. We go to pt's all the time that know they have 'low sugar', but really has no clue what it is or how to fix it. Many people remember low sugar needs candy....so when we arrive, low sugar is not their only problem...now they are choking because a family member put a peppermint in an unconsious patient. so, yes there needs to be more public information out, whether on TV, newspaper, etc. We do try to explain to the patients family that what we do is a so called ' quick-fix' and that they need to feed the Patient Ex. a PB&J sandwich. It seems that once we go a time or two that we don't go back unless it is time for their meds to be altered.
Hypoglycemia is not just for people with diabetes. Anyone can have a hypoglycemic episode. There are also some out there that have hypoglycemia - I happen to be one of them. Many doctors still argue whether it exists on its own or not, but I can tell you it does.
I can totally relate to hypoglycemia. I know I have this condition. There have been some times when I did not even know what was going on with me. I would get very moody,shaky,hungry,confused,irritated,sleepy,difficult to put two words together,etc.Ican feel for anyone that goes through low sugar episodes. I find that stress seems to trigger mine. My husband found Extend Bars for me. So far, since eating 2 Extend Bars aday, I am able to control my low sugar and manage it better. They can be ordered on line We also find them at Walgreens.Depending on where you live, I suppose. But, good luck to anyone who has hypoglycemia, and just remember, your not alone. Episodes I have had, have caused arguments with my family for their lack of knowledge about it. I brought up some info online about it. I had my husband and kids read it, for the most part they are more understanding. We still have our times, but life isnt perfect.
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