to think shops and cafes should give free sugery drinks to diabetic people in emergency situations?

[ikeaismylocal]

I saw a mum with 3 children having what looked like the beginnings of a fit at a shopping centrer today, everyone else was walking past ignoring her ( whole other thread) I stopped and tried to talk to her but she was very confused and kept trying to tell me her mobile number. I ran into a shop and asked them to call an ambulance ( I had no phone or money, dp had all my things in ds's pushchair and I was meeting him at the car, I'd stopped to go to the toilet)

Her children were about 6 months, 2 and 5, the poor 5 year old was terrified and wouldn't say anything but I chatted to her and told her everything would be ok and after a while she told me her mum was diabetic.

I ran to the nearest cafe and explained there was a diabetic woman who needed a sugary drink and could I have a coke and come back and pay after as I had no money, the lady gave me a coke and I ran back, the diabetic mum drank the coke but was still shaking and sluring her words, I ran back to the cafe and explained and asked for another coke, the lady said no she wouldn't give me anything as I hadn't paid, I'm 7 months pregnant so running isn't something I look at ease doing, I also don't think I look like a kid trying to get some free coke.

I went to a shop further away and they gave me 2 cans of coke. The diabetic lady recovered quite quickly once she had drunk the coke.

Aibu to think that shops and cafes should give free sugery drinks if they are needed?

Watching: the OP has stated that the woman did have dextrose on her, but was unable to self-treat due to the hypo.

Sometimes hypoglycaemia happens so quickly that people are unable to self-treat. Loss of warning signs also happens. So the person can be carrying glucose but unable to manage the hypo, sadly.

In my 15 years of working with people with type 1 diabetes, I can only think of a few situations where I have had to intervene as the person is unable to self-treat.

So hardly hoards of people requiring sugary drinks on demand.

I'm short on time so can't read the whole thread but OP you did a great job.

I've been a first aider at work for 9 years & only ever seen one diabetic in a fit & had I been a passerby on the street I would have thought he was an aggressive drunk, as he was shouting & staggering. If your person was exhibiting similar symptoms then perhaps that's why people did not stop to help.

I have experience of the opposite side though in which I wish people hadn't come to help. My mum has always been epileptic & although it was controlled by drugs she would still have fits. Even at 5 years old, being the eldest I knew how to care for her but I still vividly remember her having a seizure in the street. People came to help but ignored me as I was only about 7 even though I knew what to do & didn't listen why I told them not to shove a metal spoon in her mouth & that the bloody froth was because she had bitten her tongue, it wasn't anything serious. In their haste to help people can do more harm than good & my mum was taken to hospital with a broken tooth for no good reason. I was also a calm & capable child & wasn't prone to panicking or hysteria, like the people who came to help. Had they left me to it I would have dealt with the fit calmly as I did all the times at home when it happened.

I also know a couple of people with severe nut allergies, and they're totally responsible for carrying their own emergency medication around with them (they'd die very quickly without it), I don't think it's unreasonable to expect a diabetic to do the same TBH.

A nut allergy requires medicine which isn't readily available from any high street. It's hardly the same!

Ah, I do have a great deal of personal experience of living with type 1 diabetes, and of helping children manage their own type one or twoo diabetes in school.
And yes, I do judge those who appear to not have thought ahead, especially if they are in charge of very small children.

You sound like the kind of 'professional' my friend's T1 daughter & all her teenage mates with T1 despise. It is hard to manage T1, especially through times like puberty & pregnancy. They know they are 'judged' in clinic for not doing well enough and they hate it - as if a life limiting and potentially life threatening condition isn't bad enough, idiots like you get to 'tut' at them. Just stop the judging.

T1 can be very very hard to manage at times, no matter how hard you try & meticulous you are.

OP - you are great.

Rose202, yes, I'd forgotten that I helped a guy in a shopping centre, who was diabetic who appeared, to other passers-by, to be drunk. I heard them muttering. Luckily I knew that the two things could look very alike - and tbh even if he had been drunk, he still needed help. I'd rather help someone who needs it than judge them or make the wrong call and let someone get seriously ill or even died.

Also helped another guy collapsed on the street who I think probably was drunk (from the way the ambulance crew were talking to him - I wasn't listening but their body language suggested they were telling him off). Or maybe had a head injury. But he was in danger, so I called an ambulance. Who cares if he was drunk, he still didn't deserve to be left in the street.

There are some on this thread who seem to think that diabetics who needs medical assistance shouldn't receive it. That it should be their responsibility to mind their condition and if something goes wrong it's their own problem and why should anyone help them.

Attitudes on this thread are sickening.

To respond to this situation:

" i carry dextrose but sometimes with diabetics thats not enough. you cant even get them into your mouth. your brain shuts down, its deprived of vital glucose. you feel like you are dying and you are starting to. its incredibly important that someone like the OP helps. that woman had 3 small kids with her. "

With:

You should have your own medication (which people on the thread did, they couldn't access it)
You shouldn't expect anyone to help it's your own problem
You shouldn't ask for help as it might cost someone £1.30
etc etc etc la la la

I really think that if it was a plastic bag to seal a lung puncture or a stack of napkins to compress a wound people wouldn't be saying that they shouldn't expect help.

And yet here we have this situation where people are.

Is it because it's diabetes?
Is it because it's a drink? Sugar?

I really don't understand.

Fortunately I think attitudes like this are rare and IME most people do want to help when they see someone in need of medical assistance. I guess the people who don't want to help need to justify that action to themselves by saying, oh well it was £1.30, oh well you shouldn't have been in that state in the first place, oh well it's your problem no-one elses.

Almost like people are equating having a diabetic situation to something self inflicted like being drunk or drugged.... Maybe there is something there? Or maybe some people are just arseholes

Maybe there is a diabetic somewhere who was nasty to her once because the posts come across as wishing harm quite frankly they are quite scary and unpleasant to read.

i have reported yellow. goady but worse dangerous. this is a life threatening situation, its not a joke. people who dont get assistance die.

Glamping reported

Ok that is over the mark. You have given "advice" on this thread that would have meant the woman in the OP who was in trouble ended up in a much more serious condition. You have indicated that people in this situation should not seek help. Now you have told a poster with this condition, who has been in situations where she could have been seriously ill or dead, that you wish she would die. You are seriously fucked up and you need some help or something. Jesus.

glamping don't take it to heart words on a screen and all that.
fuck me.
people do help with stuff, they really do.
what a terrifying thread.

or I guess a view into the thought processes of a minority of fucked up nasty people.

that's maybe a more productive way to look at it.

Sorry but not everyone knows about diabetes. Is it fair to castigate and attack someone who does not understand diabetes like the shop woman?

She's not being castigated and attacked.

And certainly no-ones saying they hope she dies.

On another note. I was thinking about making some sock puppets with the kids today. That sounds like fun and might take my mind off some of the attitudes on this thread.

yellow what you said to glamping is by far the worst thing I have ever read on MN.

My DH nearly died as the result of a hypo...he survived but now has permanent hearing loss and memory issues as a result. Guess what, he did have snacks on him, but the hypo came on so quickly that he didn't have time to react.

You wishing another poster dead is beyond disgusting

Where was someone wishing somebody dead?

me.

this is a life threatening situation, its not a joke. people who dont get assistance die.

yellow

I wish you would glamping

MNHQ??

Oh my goodness.
Glamping are you OK?
this is seriously disgusting.

What did glamping and yellowfin say to get deleted?

OP You did great. As someone with a diabetic mother, I thank you.