A diabetic patient starts to fade before my eyes last week, slow speech, glazed eyes but responsive as I ask "what's wrong". His labored response is "I need some sugar". I've kept a couple of small christmas candy canes hanging from a cork board for years for just this occasion. I took an EMT course years ago and for the first time was witnessing someone going into a diabetic coma. I gave him one and watched as he chewed and swallowed it. I now realize that I should have insisted he suck on it under his tongue to get the sucrose into his bloodstream sooner! Fast forward 10 minutes and he hasn't improved but he hasn't digressed. We find some orange juice and boom, he responds and after an appropriate amount of time and observation, and a promise of going to get something to eat I send him out the door. Was I wrong to not call Emergancy Medical Sevices?
I know by not calling EMS (an ambulance) I exposed my doctors to litigation should he have had further complications but I also didn't incur an unnecessary expense for him (with him saying "don't call EMS"). It's now your call. What would you have done for this relatively common condition?
PS: I now know there is an over the counter lozengere for just this scenario.
PPSS: Of course if you're in doubt CALL 911!!!
Diabetic shock kills quickly!
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