Hypo/hyperglycemia

[Skogkatt]

Recently an elderly man fell down in a public setting and myself and another lady went to help him.  He seemed a little confused but uninjured.  Some quick questions he was able to respond to revealed he was diabetic.  Because of his slight confusion and the "glazed stare" that he gave me when I asked questions, I decided that it would be a good idea to give him a little juice immediately rather than wait for the blood glucose tester to get there.  My thinking was that he didn't have any outward signs of hyperglycemia and even if his sugar was high, it's not going to hurt him to give him a tad more whereas if he lost consciousness it would be very difficult to get some sugar in him.

The other responder adamantly opposed any juice stating that it could kill him if his blood glucose was high.  While I know she was wrong that it could kill him to give him a little juice, I was wondering what others think about the question and what others' experiences have been.

If his mental state had continued to deteriorate or if he was completely confused I would have given him the juice despite her protests.  As it turned out he seemed fine a few minutes later, we got his blood tested and it was 165, he demanded we recall the emergency vehicle, and he went on like nothing had happened against my advice.

Anyway, once again the question would be... when you feel there is more evidence for hypoglycemia than hyper, is there any danger in administering a small amount of sugar.

[Pete919usa]

First off, I commend you for assisting him... I hope someone like you is around if I ever find myself in that man's situation.

If I were that man, given the situation (no glucose meter nor medical professional immediately available) I, as a diabetic, would want someone to try giving me a sugar boost.  When blood sugar falls too low, it's amazing how quickly the symptoms clear by ingesting some carbs/sugar.

With a diabetic, especially elderly, the symptoms he was showing could easily have been low blood sugar or high blood sugar, or something entirely different (heart attack, stroke, or even intoxication, or embarassment at having fallen in public), so knowing he was diabetic and with medical help on the way I don't think any immediate harm would have resulted by giving him juice.

[Skogkatt]

Thank you for your comment.  If he would have been in a less responsive state, I would have insisted.

[BetaBuddy]

not really. it's important to be careful not to overtreat. ideally, a blood meter will always be handy, but if not, then administering 15g of carbohydrate (about a glass of juice) will do no immediate harm. in this case, it is unclear whether it would have helped, but it seems your instincts were correct.