Very bad weekend at home.

**GreenDragon** · 23rd June 10, 05:32 AM

On Friday, my in-laws moved into the house we're all now sharing. (It was planned that way when we bought the place. That's not the point of the story.)

Every day, my mother in law goes to bed around 7 pm gets up at about 1:00 am. I don't know why. That's just her schedule.

My mother in law has really bad Diabetes and it's affected her sight. So in the hall there's usually a night light kept on.

Fast forward.

Monday morning, about 2:30 am, we're all in bed and there's this loud thud from the steps. My wife jumps out of bed screaming. She knew. Her mom had fallen down the steps.

She's been in the hospital since then. Her blood sugar was about 38 (very dangerously low) at the time of the fall. Tests also showed she had a mild heart attack.

**cessna152towser** · 23rd June 10, 05:44 AM

Your family are in my thoughts and prayers.
I am not sure how you measure blood sugar in USA, a reading of 38mmol/l would be dangerously high here in Scotland where the normal range should be around 4 to 10. Below 4 there is a danger of hypoglaecemic fainting and above 25 there is the risk of hyperglaecemic coma which is often fatal.
My wife Ann was diagnosed with diabetes a few weeks after we married. She lived with it for fifteen years before the first of a series of strokes from which she is now paralysed from the waist down and mentally confused and lives in a nursing home as she needs full time care. Diabetes causes hidden damage over a long period, I have seen my wife go from being a partner and companion into becoming someone whom I now regard like a dear old aunty whom I visit and sometimes take out in a wheelchair, love her every bit as much but in a different way.

**Mipi** · 23rd June 10, 06:16 AM

Good thing you were close to her.
Hope all will turn good!

**piperdbh** · 23rd June 10, 06:22 AM

I hope it all works out well for your family. You're in my thoughts and prayers.

One of my father's sisters had the kind of diabetes in which she had to give herself insulin shots. Many's the time I've seen her double up on insulin so she could have another piece of cake. That was an eye-opener to some of the rest of us who shared the same genes.

**wildrover** · 23rd June 10, 08:28 AM

GD, your family is in my thoughts, hope it all turns out well for your MIL.

Cessna...I can't even imagine what that's like...please forgive me if this is inappropriate, but for some reason what you said made me think of this:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Notebook_(film)

Hope all goes well for everyone! At least one person in my family has adult-onset diabetes, and over the years I've known others who suffer from it...you're right about it taking more of a toll than simply restricting dietary choices.

**AcuteEnigma** · 23rd June 10, 08:33 AM

Cessna,
(from webmd.com)
A normal sugar level is currently considered to be less than 100 mg/dL when fasting and less than 140 mg/dL two hours after eating. But in most healthy people, sugar levels are even lower.

During the day, blood glucose levels tend to be at their lowest just before meals. For most people without diabetes, blood sugar levels before meals hover around 70 to 80 mg/dL. In some, 60 is normal; in others, 90. Again, anything less than 100 mg/dL while fasting is considered normal by today's standards.

What's a low sugar level? It varies widely, too. Many people's sugar levels won't ever fall below 60 mg/dL, even with prolonged fasting

**ronstew** · 23rd June 10, 11:00 AM

So it seems that in the US, the sugar is measured in milligrams per deciliter, while in the UK, it is measured in millimoles per litre.

GreenDragon, I hope that your mother-in-law recovers quickly and completely.