Scary low at school and no one noticed

JackyH · #1 09-27-2010, 07:05 PM

Oscar had a severe low at school today that he didn't remember until he got home. He said it was the worst he had ever felt. He remembers feeling his pump vibrate and testing - don't know what it was because he left that tester at school - he knows he had a juice and thinks he had rockets too because he saw them scattered on the floor as he was leaving school and wondered how they got there. It wasn't until he got home that it started coming back to him. He says he couldn't hear anything and everything was blurry. Thank God for his sensor. No one noticed anything wrong. I've emailed his teacher but I don't know that we could do anything different to prevent this from happening again and getting him help sooner? He said he couldn't tell the teacher because "his brain wouldn't work" and by the time it did work he didn't remember anything.

Has anyone else's child experienced this kind of blackout? I should probably lower his basal's and carb ratios for a few days?

Thanks.

Mom264 · #2 09-27-2010, 07:11 PM

This is very scary. I'm very glad he is OK now.

It sounds like he was acting very differently than he normally does at school. Rockets scattered all over the floor should have attracted some attention. Have you provided the school and teacher with some information about your son and set up some parameters of how they can help him? Also, perhaps he should have the CGMS on beep instead of vibrate.

BrokenPancreas · #3 09-27-2010, 07:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JackyH

Oscar had a severe low at school today that he didn't remember until he got home. He said it was the worst he had ever felt. He remembers feeling his pump vibrate and testing - don't know what it was because he left that tester at school - he knows he had a juice and thinks he had rockets too because he saw them scattered on the floor as he was leaving school and wondered how they got there. It wasn't until he got home that it started coming back to him. He says he couldn't hear anything and everything was blurry. Thank God for his sensor. No one noticed anything wrong. I've emailed his teacher but I don't know that we could do anything different to prevent this from happening again and getting him help sooner? He said he couldn't tell the teacher because "his brain wouldn't work" and by the time it did work he didn't remember anything.

Has anyone else's child experienced this kind of blackout? I should probably lower his basal's and carb ratios for a few days?

Thanks.

Did the sensor beep? What number do you have the low set at?

JackyH · #4 09-27-2010, 08:13 PM

The teacher has everything she needs to know about Type 1. His pump is set to alarm at 4 (72) - it was set higher but we get too many false alarms. I'm looking forward to the Veo and predictive alarms as this was a short, sharp drop. He never hears/pays attention to the alarms and no one else heard it either - it's a very noisy classroom with too many kids - I'm not surprised the teacher didn't notice anything

. It was only when it started vibrating that something was triggered in his fuzzy brain to react. I think we had a lucky escape - and dread to think where this would have gone had he not been wearing his CGM. He played quite a bit of rugby yesterday and then a football game at lunch recess. I'll have to wait until I can download the pump details tomorrow to see what really happened and maybe look at reducing basals the day after any strenuous activity.

KHM · #5 09-27-2010, 08:20 PM

OMG!

As I read this it seems unclear whether he came around because he had self-treated or whether he just doesn't recall someone stepping in to help at some point. I really can't wait to hear what the school folks have to say...I can't believe your son had an incident so profound that went unreported to you by a school official.

I'm glad he's well now but ohmygoodness. Oh. Are you OK?

And by the way---I think it might be smart to lower his basal until you have a more clear idea how this happened...

wilf · #6 09-27-2010, 08:29 PM

He had a pretty severe low

, and you all were very lucky he managed to help himself.

You should build into his plan that before he leaves school he tests, with someone else looking at the number and confirming he is ok.

wilf · #7 09-27-2010, 08:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JackyH

The teacher has everything she needs to know about Type 1. His pump is set to alarm at 4 (72) - it was set higher but we get too many false alarms. I'm looking forward to the Veo and predictive alarms as this was a short, sharp drop. He never hears/pays attention to the alarms and no one else heard it either - it's a very noisy classroom with too many kids - I'm not surprised the teacher didn't notice anything

. It was only when it started vibrating that something was triggered in his fuzzy brain to react. I think we had a lucky escape - and dread to think where this would have gone had he not been wearing his CGM. He played quite a bit of rugby yesterday and then a football game at lunch recess. I'll have to wait until I can download the pump details tomorrow to see what really happened and maybe look at reducing basals the day after any strenuous activity.

Did he have extra carbs to account for the extra activity?

JackyH · #8 09-27-2010, 08:38 PM

I was actually able to download today's pump info (must be a feature of the carelink upgrade as I could never get same day info before). Anyway, looks like he dropped fast from 6 (108) at 12:45 to 3.6 (65) at 1:05pm - he didn't react to the alarms until the pump started vibrating at 2.6 (46) - that was at 1:21pm.

I wonder if I could ask the teacher to have the kids that sit on either side of him to get her attention if they notice him shaking - is that too much to ask 10 year olds?

I have reduced the basals and will email our nurse as well. I was just wondering if that kind of memory loss is normal?

JackyH · #9 09-27-2010, 08:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by wilf

Did he have extra carbs to account for the extra activity?

Of course not. We make him sip Gatorade for activities where we are present but I can't get him to bring any D supplies or his tester out with him at recess - he thinks he is invincible and nothing will ever happen to him....

Sarah Maddie's Mom · #10 09-27-2010, 09:00 PM

I'm sorry he had such a bad low.

But I'm imagining that it must be really frustrating for you that he doesn't take a few carbs for serious exercise and that he ignored his alarms on his cgm. And if that's the case, I'd guess that he wouldn't want his peers to be acting as guardians.

It sounds like a tough situation. I hope you can work out a better plan for the future ... who knows, maybe today's experience will make him a bit more responsive in the future?