Some of you may know from yesterday that I got into a car accident. Let’s start out first, that I am ok and I, nor the other person involved in the accident were injured, that is always the most important part whenever anybody is involved in a crash. Long story short, the guy was at a stop sign and he tried to cut across 6 lanes of traffic, except I just so happened to be driving through the second lane and he hit the back door of my car. There was no spinning out cutting into the other lane, luckily. The long part was after I called 911 and was waiting for the police to come to the scene of the accident. That is when I started getting nervous, anxious and felt like my sugar was going to be dropping. I didn’t bring breakfast with me yesterday because I was going to stop and get breakfast on the way there, so I was hoping that my sugar didn’t go low.
I also didn’t have any Skittles or any candy because I was going to be stopping at the gas station to get some at lunch time. This is another reason why you should always something on you because you don’t know when some sort of emergency is going to happen, you could be stuck on the side of the interstate or the Turnpike, or even at a golf course and not have any access to candy or juice. Time to make a new emergency diabetes kit because I haven’t carried one around for several years (I usually always have candy in my laptop bag that goes most places with me, except for on the weekends).
This leads me to know what all of you have in your diabetes emergency kit? Glucose tabs, juice, candy, Glucagon kit, whatever. What kind of bag do you carry it in? Do you take a larger kit for different situations such as in the car for a road trip, and then a smaller one when you go into the mall or store?
Love to hear your thoughts.
I usually carry a snack bar and some glucose tabs with me in my purse, but this has me thinking I may need to have something extra. Especially now that I bolus before I leave for work and eat breakfast when I get there. Same with lunch too. Prebolusing is needed, but it can be dangerous if you have to drive during your wait time.
The stress of an accident can move your blood glucose levels up or down. Better to be safe than sorry, and worry about corrections later!
Interesting. It’s funny, I have worked with diabetics for a long time and with all the talk of insulin pumps, diet management, etc I have NEVER heard one talk about an emergency kit. Something I never thought about, and I’m sure many of them haven’t either.
I always carry sweets (candy) in my car. The problem seems to be that the professionals have not considered the fact that two chemicals in the body reduce blood sugar. Insulin and adrenalin. Its the second they seem to forget. You have a close shave because someone cuts you up and the adrenalin flows. It will reduce your blood sugar level.
Emergency kits are something we tend to carry here in the UK. I am very good at loosing mine, hence the candy kept in the car.
Hi Neil,
Thank you for you comment. I try to carry candy every single place I go because you just never know when that low is going to occur. I don’t have as much of an emergency kit with me nowadays as I would like, but I still do try and keep enough supplies handy and always with me. Once again, thank you for your comments and best of luck to you.