About our e-newsletters
- Free e-newsletters
- Mayo Clinic expertise
- We do not share your e-mail address
Housecall, our weekly general-interest e-newsletter, keeps you up to date on a wide variety of health topics with timely, reliable, practical information, recipes, blogs, questions and answers with Mayo Clinic experts and more. Our biweekly topic-specific e-newsletters also include blogs, questions and answers with Mayo Clinic experts, and other useful information that will help you manage your health.
Housecall Archives
Mayo Clinic Housecall
Stay up to date on the latest health information.
What you get
- Free weekly e-newsletter
- Mayo Clinic expertise
- Recipes, tools and other helpful information
- We do not share your e-mail address
Preparing for your appointment
By Mayo Clinic staffA diabetic coma is a medical emergency that you won't have time to prepare for. If you feel the symptoms of extreme high or low blood sugar, call 911 or your local emergency number to make sure help is on the way before you pass out.
If you're with someone with diabetes who has passed out or is acting extremely strange, possibly as if he or she has had too much alcohol, call for immediate medical help.
What you can do in the meantime
If you have no training in diabetes care, wait for the emergency care team to arrive.
If you are familiar with diabetes care, follow these steps:
- Test the unconscious person's blood sugar.
- If the blood sugar level is lower than 60 mg/dL (3 mmol/L), administer an injection of glucagon. If glucagon isn't available, rub glucose gel, honey or non-sugar-free syrup on the inside of the unconscious person's cheek. Do not give insulin to someone with low blood sugar.
- If the blood sugar level isn't low, wait for medical help to arrive. Don't give sugar to someone whose blood sugar isn't low.
- Let the emergency care team know about the diabetes and what steps you've taken, if any.
- Masharani U. Diabetes mellitus and hypoglycemia. In: McPhee SJ, et al. Current Medical Diagnosis and Treatment. 49th ed. New York, N.Y.: McGraw-Hill Medical; 2010. http://www.accessmedicine.com/content.aspx?aID=15524. Accessed Jan. 26, 2010.
- Masharani U, et al. Pancreatic hormones and diabetes mellitus. In: Gardner DG, et al. Greenspan's Basic and Clinical Endocrinology. 8th ed. New York, N.Y.: McGraw-Hill Medical; 2007. http://www.accessmedicine.com/content.aspx?aID=2633151. Accessed Jan. 26, 2010.
- Kitabchi AE, et al. Hyperglycemic crises in adult patients with diabetes (consensus statement). Diabetes Care. 2009:32;1335.
- Hypoglycemia. National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases. http://diabetes.niddk.nih.gov/dm/pubs/hypoglycemia/. Accessed Jan. 26, 2010.
- Brenner ZR. Management of hyperglycemic emergencies. AACN Clinical Issues. 2006:17;56.
- Standards of medical care in diabetes, 2010. American Diabetes Association. Diabetes Care. 2010;33(suppl):11.
- Kitabchi AE, et al. Clinical features and diagnosis of diabetic ketoacidosis and hyperosmolar hyperglycemic state in adults. http://www.uptodate.com/home/index.html. Accessed Jan. 18, 2010.
- Diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA). The Merck Manuals: The Merck Manual for Healthcare Professionals. http://www.merck.com/mmpe/print/sec12/ch158/ch158c.html. Accessed Jan. 26, 2010.
- Hyperglycemia (high blood glucose). American Diabetes Association. http://www.diabetes.org/living-with-diabetes/treatment-and-care/blood-glucose-control/hyperglycemia.html. Accessed Feb. 17, 2010.
Find Mayo Clinic on