most diabetics should have some form of glucose laden sweet on them -i always have the jelly snakes -soft and easier to chew than hard candy therefore more quickly absorbed - dried apricots & other dried fruit are good too as are juices & cola type drinks NOT DIET drinks though.
NB -if a person s unconscious from HYPO glycaemia NEVER ATTEMPT to feed them-call an ambulance.If not unconscious they may argue & act like an idiot-please stay calm .
It's happened.
Diabetes is a strange affliction. My father has been a brittle diabetic (can go into insulin shock very quickly) since the age of 18. Growing up, our family had to be ready to take care of him at a moments notice if his insulin levels got out of balance. He would generally be aware he needed to eat some candy, but not always. When he didn't catch it, he would start to act strangely, almost like in a daze, and couldn't respond to us. My mom found out that honey worked incredibly well to bring him out of insulin shock, with no side effects afterward.
To the poster who said not to try to get someone out of an insulin coma -- that may work out if medical help is minutes away, but when it's not, you can still give honey. In a diabetic coma, the jaws tend to lock shut, and swallowing isn't an option. Honey can be spread on the gums, and the body will ingest it sufficiently to neutralize the excess insulin and bring the person out of a coma. Trust me -- this works. We've had to do it.
In response to his diabetes, my mom put us on a very strict vegan diet, with no sugar, oil, etc. While it was boring, we were pretty darn healthy, and my dad is the healthiest diabetic I know. He's 68 now, and still going very strong.
My next door neighbor (a Skagit County Sheriffs Officer) told me a rather harrowing story about a diabetic. He got a call that someone had just stolen a trailer out of someone elses yard, and went to investigate. He found the truck with the stolen trailer going down the road, and pulled the guy over. The driver was acting very strangely, moving jerkily and waving his arms and not responding to verbal commands very well. Because the driver was in the commission of a felony, and acting very strangely, Kyle ordered the driver to exit the car, and walk backwards towards him. The guy got out slowly, acting even more strangely, and by now Kyle had his AR-15 out and trained on the driver. The guy, instead of walking backwards, started walking forwards towards the sheriff car, then started putting his hands behind his back and moving them around. This looks very much like going for a gun, and Kyle told me he actually had his finger on the trigger and was starting to squeeze at this point.
Somehow, he figured something else was going on (thank God), and didn't shoot. With Kyle yelling at him, the driver finally stopped and turned around. He didn't have a gun, but he was a diabetic and was having an insulin reaction. His sugar levels had been dropping for some time, so when he went to get his truck and go pick up his own trailer, he somehow wandered into a strangers yard, hooked up their trailer, and then drove off to who knows where. The drivers wife had arrived by this time, and was able to give him something to bring his blood sugar level back up and get him back to a coherent state. I don't think any charges were filed, once the mess was sorted out. Turns out he'd been in trouble with the law as a much younger man, and remembered having to put his hands behind his back to be taken into custody. When he saw Kyle in his sheriffs car with the lights on, in his insulin daze he just reverted to his younger days and put his hands behind his back. Kyle is VERY thankful he didn't take the shot, even though he would have been completely justified in doing so.
) all of which can live in a cargo pocket.
It's also for prolonged rescue breathing. Much easier to breath through a mask that makes a seal with the victim, than to have to make a seal physically using your mouth.
