Diabetes on TV
Have you ever noticed the absolute dearth of accurate portrayals of diabetes on TV? Probably not, unless you're a diabetic.
I had high hopes a few years ago when ER introduced a diabetic character -- the son of a nurse. This was until the kid binged on ice cream and candy and his mother exclaimed that he was hypoglycemic and needed insulin right away. (I listened to this several times and turned on the closed captions; she definitely said "hypo.")
Uh, yeah. In case your medical consultants were taking a nap that day, hypo means "low," and hypoglycemia means low blood sugar. The kid was hyperglycemic. The last thing you do when someone is hypoglycemic is give them insulin, unless you want to kill them.
I saw an episode of "Touched by an Angel" in which a teenage girl is diagnosed with juvenile diabetes. Her mother wakes her up in the middle of the night to test her blood sugar. The girl was definitely old enough to test her own blood sugar. As for the testing in the middle of the night, I thought it was a bit over-the-top, but apparently some parents with diabetic children do that -- if their children are fairly young. I don't know any parents of diabetic teenagers who do. (I happen to know a lot of parents of diabetic kids because I do volunteer work with the JDRF.)
Anyway, apparently this girl wanted everyone to know that she was still "normal." So she made a big speech to her classmates in the middle of the gym, then pulled out a syringe, gave herself an injection, and collapsed instantly.
Insulin doesn't work that fast.
I accidentally took an insulin overdose a couple of weeks ago. I gave myself three times my normal amount of insulin (long story, I mixed up two different types of insulin that had different dosages.) I did not, however, collapse instantly. If i hadn't done anything about it, I'd have collapsed at some point, but not instantly.
Then there's the common plot of "Introduce a diabetic character so that we can separate them from their insulin and watch them get really sick really quickly." Most diabetic people take injections before meals plus one or two shots of long-acting insulin a day. If a diabetic person misses an injection, they'll probably feel yucky, and they'll be grouchy and tired and thirsty, depending on how much basal (long-acting) insulin they have in their system, but they're not going to go into a coma as soon as they miss one, single injection. There have been a few times when I've missed an injection, and I didn't even realize I'd missed it for a couple of hours.
Low blood sugar is more dangerous in the short term than high blood sugar. Prolonged high blood sugar is definitely dangerous, but low blood sugar comes on quickly and if not treated can lead to fainting, seizures and unconsciousness (though not instantly, like the girl in "Touched by an Angel.") But the TV show writers generally go "diabetes=insulin", and that's it.
In an episode of "Third Watch" a diabetic boy was missing. His mother kept wailing about his needing "his medicine" but no one ever mentioned the word "insulin." He had a "special watch" or bracelet that he supposedly needed, but Glucowatches (a watch-like device that tells your blood sugar) are fairly expensive (and apparently not very accurate) and it was not very likely that a poor kid living in a poor area of town (it looked like what TV shows portray as "the projects") would have one. (I suppose it could just have been a watch with an alarm that told him when he was supposed to take "his medicine.") Again, this was a case of "if he doesn't take his insulin at exactly the right time, he'll DIE!!!!"
Finally, if there is a diabetic person on a TV show, at some point someone will mention that sugar is POISON to a diabetic. Um, no. Sugar is in a lot of foods that diabetic people eat every day. If a person has low blood sugar, you give him -- guess what -- sugar! (I know people who have had well-meaning co-workers try to take Coke away from them when they have low blood sugar and give them Diet Coke because of this myth.) People who have diabetes should certainly not eat a LOT of sugar, but those of us on insulin can adjust our insulin to match the amount of sugar (actually, carbohydrates) that we eat.
I had high hopes a few years ago when ER introduced a diabetic character -- the son of a nurse. This was until the kid binged on ice cream and candy and his mother exclaimed that he was hypoglycemic and needed insulin right away. (I listened to this several times and turned on the closed captions; she definitely said "hypo.")
Uh, yeah. In case your medical consultants were taking a nap that day, hypo means "low," and hypoglycemia means low blood sugar. The kid was hyperglycemic. The last thing you do when someone is hypoglycemic is give them insulin, unless you want to kill them.
I saw an episode of "Touched by an Angel" in which a teenage girl is diagnosed with juvenile diabetes. Her mother wakes her up in the middle of the night to test her blood sugar. The girl was definitely old enough to test her own blood sugar. As for the testing in the middle of the night, I thought it was a bit over-the-top, but apparently some parents with diabetic children do that -- if their children are fairly young. I don't know any parents of diabetic teenagers who do. (I happen to know a lot of parents of diabetic kids because I do volunteer work with the JDRF.)
Anyway, apparently this girl wanted everyone to know that she was still "normal." So she made a big speech to her classmates in the middle of the gym, then pulled out a syringe, gave herself an injection, and collapsed instantly.
Insulin doesn't work that fast.
I accidentally took an insulin overdose a couple of weeks ago. I gave myself three times my normal amount of insulin (long story, I mixed up two different types of insulin that had different dosages.) I did not, however, collapse instantly. If i hadn't done anything about it, I'd have collapsed at some point, but not instantly.
Then there's the common plot of "Introduce a diabetic character so that we can separate them from their insulin and watch them get really sick really quickly." Most diabetic people take injections before meals plus one or two shots of long-acting insulin a day. If a diabetic person misses an injection, they'll probably feel yucky, and they'll be grouchy and tired and thirsty, depending on how much basal (long-acting) insulin they have in their system, but they're not going to go into a coma as soon as they miss one, single injection. There have been a few times when I've missed an injection, and I didn't even realize I'd missed it for a couple of hours.
Low blood sugar is more dangerous in the short term than high blood sugar. Prolonged high blood sugar is definitely dangerous, but low blood sugar comes on quickly and if not treated can lead to fainting, seizures and unconsciousness (though not instantly, like the girl in "Touched by an Angel.") But the TV show writers generally go "diabetes=insulin", and that's it.
In an episode of "Third Watch" a diabetic boy was missing. His mother kept wailing about his needing "his medicine" but no one ever mentioned the word "insulin." He had a "special watch" or bracelet that he supposedly needed, but Glucowatches (a watch-like device that tells your blood sugar) are fairly expensive (and apparently not very accurate) and it was not very likely that a poor kid living in a poor area of town (it looked like what TV shows portray as "the projects") would have one. (I suppose it could just have been a watch with an alarm that told him when he was supposed to take "his medicine.") Again, this was a case of "if he doesn't take his insulin at exactly the right time, he'll DIE!!!!"
Finally, if there is a diabetic person on a TV show, at some point someone will mention that sugar is POISON to a diabetic. Um, no. Sugar is in a lot of foods that diabetic people eat every day. If a person has low blood sugar, you give him -- guess what -- sugar! (I know people who have had well-meaning co-workers try to take Coke away from them when they have low blood sugar and give them Diet Coke because of this myth.) People who have diabetes should certainly not eat a LOT of sugar, but those of us on insulin can adjust our insulin to match the amount of sugar (actually, carbohydrates) that we eat.