When she didn’t show up, her work place called her multiple times but got no response.  Her sister happened to visit and found my friend almost unconscious on the floor.  The sister was able to get my friend to drink some orange juice, which enabled her to return to a conscious state almost immediately.  Needless to say, she didn’t make it to work that day.

The following day the exact same scene played out again.  This time her brother found her unconscious and unable to respond.  EMS quickly came to her home and found her blood sugar to be 14 (normal is between 70-120).  She was very near death.  Once again, after the administration of 50% Dextrose IV, she regained consciousness – only this time she was transported to the hospital for treatment.

My friend was found to be in kidney failure, a condition that is quite common in diabetics.  She had no idea that her kidneys had been failing and exhibited no signs or symptoms.  Because her kidneys were not properly excreting her medication for type 2 diabetes, the ingredients continued to accumulate in her body, eating up all of her insulin.  The result was a catastrophically low blood sugar, or hypoglycemia.

Hypoglycemia is a very common problem for people taking insulin, but rare in diabetics on oral agents.  Over the course of the past 5 years the hospital in which I work has seen an increase in type 2 diabetics suffering from hypoglycemia secondary to kidney failure.  In some cases, people have died because of a severely low sugar.

There are many reasons why hypoglycemia in type 2 diabetics can occur.  However, the bottom line is that if diabetics check their blood sugar frequently, low blood sugar can be prevented.  While people with insulin dependent diabetes know to check their blood sugar at least once a day, people with type 2 diabetes either simply ‘forget’ or don’t feel that it is necessary.  My friend’s almost tragic story is a cautionary tale for frequent blood sugar testing.  Had she tested her blood sugar the night before the incident, she would have recognized that she was at high risk for a critical event and could have prevented that crisis.

So, whether you have type 1 or type 2 diabetes, please remember that testing your blood sugar at least once a day is essential.  Your life depends upon it.