Does violent behavior while life-threatening low escalate?
My husband has been a type 1 diabetic for 49 years. Control has always been an issue for him. He is a medical professional and finally started checking glucoses about 8 years ago. He uses lantis and a humalog pen but refuses a pump. He has daily lows and highs, but my concerns are the life-threatening lows which occur frequently and w/ increasingly violent threats towards me. He gets upset when I call 911 for help and I do have a glucagon kit for when he passes out or I wake up because he is having a seizure and of course, I have used too many. Do I need to be worried for my safety? He always says he can't remember the threats or attempted violence. He never apoligizes (even though he knows that he always behaves poorly) unless I demand it. I, more than anyone in the world, wish he weren't diabetic but wouldn't an apology be standard after being saved from a life-threatening low? I am sad, tired, and confused. . . .
I'm no therapist but both you and your husband need one. The low's you speak of are violent and, when my diabetic son was younger, we called 911 twice because we could not control him well enough to even administer glucagon. He would not allow it. I am surprised your husband even allows you to give glucagon in the state you describe. He is not only out of control diabetes wise but also mentally to tolerate the number of lows you describe.
There is a second aspect to this. A diabetic will not remember what happens during these deep lows (our son did not) but it is also true that my son's lows did not allow him to walk around and do anything----he was incapacitated when extremely low and usually semi-consious at best. If your husband is walking around the house, doing things with anger and appearing to be conscious of what he is doing then he may have real anger issues and not low's. Anger issues go with diabetes type I because of the frustrations involved and the rigor with which one must lead one's life.
In any case talk to his endocrinologist in private about his responses to low's and see a therapist about anger issues. They are two separate things.
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