My grandma was in a rehab facility for a broken leg for 60 days for healing purposes. During this time she stopped eating and started dropping with her sugar. I brought her home hoping with good food being offered it would help. There's other complications too such as severe neck pain as she missed her nerve blocker two months ago and is now in such severe pain it's making her noncompliant. Bottom line though is that she refuses to eat to keep up her sugar. She's refusing everything I'm offering so ends up so low not even the monitor can read her and then and only then can I stuff something in her mouth to keep her from passing out completely.
What is her blood sugar level when she has those symptoms? 82, 51, what? Have you told her diabetes doctor this?
It sounds like all Grandma is eating all day is fast-acting carbs. A glass of juice will bring the bs up quickly, but puts it at risk of crashing down low again. The usual treatment plan for lows is a 5-oz glass of juice or milk (or other fast-acting carb) repeated in 15 minutes if that hasn't brought the numbers up to a safe range. And then to have a sandwich or other small meal including fat and protein. Again, don't act on my suggestions, talk to her doctor! I know she is refusing to eat and that is a real challenge for you. Would she eat some cottage cheese? An egg-salad sandwich? Is there ANY small meal she might consent to eat to keep her bs from crashing?
My mother also could not take morphine and also had constant pain. It took a lot of experimenting but they got her on a good schedule. Once I was in the NH when the med technician came around with a pill for her. They always tell what the pill is for. She said, "this is your afternoon pill for pain." Mom said, "But I don't have any pain." The tech and I both laughed. "Yes, and that is EXACTLY the way we want to keep it!" Your mother needs a good schedule of what she can take to keep the pain at bay.
I sincerely hope that her shot in a few days makes a significant difference! But I urge you to contact the doctor who follows her diabetes as soon as possible.
I see the doctor tomorrow at 2 pm. She's newly on insulin but is only on one shot, Lantas, so it's all or nothing. She gets her shot in the morning and will normally eat breakfast happy but as she goes through the day her pain gets to be more and more so she starts refusing more and more. By the end of the day she's literally abusive with the hitting and biting and beating up those around her who try to help her. She bit herself in the hand yesterday and left a mark. I'm guessing that's an example of how much pain she's in. Having her get this upset only compounds the issue. She has gone so low as to barely be awake with her arms and legs tremoring and her eyes drooping but never completely out. Normally when she gets to this point she allows me to either put gel in her mouth or give her a cup of juice. So unfortunately all day long I'm sitting here pumping her full of juice or using gel just to keep her alive. It's no way to live.
Hopefully the doctor has some ideas tomorrow. I'm at my wits end.
How low does her blood sugar get? Does she have symptoms at that level? How do you treat each incident of low bs?
Does she stay hydrated? That can effect blood sugar and feelings of well-being also.
Would she be more likely to drink something than eat? A small milkshake every few hours? A glass of apple juice?
Pain itself can do weird things to blood sugar levels. Treating the pain seems to me to be highest priority here. How soon is she going to get the nerve blocker? Has she been seen at a pain clinic? I suspect that if the pain were managed the other issues would be easier to deal with.
I hope you and Gradma can get the blood sugar managed, and also the pain! Let us know how this is working out.