I suppose the pre surgery getters with the complications from being diabetic has me thinking about this but it always seems that people kidnapped on TV programs or in the movies who were diabetic always faced the same problem: the kidnappers didn't bring their insulin and the police had to find the kidnap victim within a certain time frame or the victim will go into a diabetic coma and die.
In real life that is not true.
There is no set time that one goes without insulin before they go comatose and die. None of these programs ever distinguish between type 1 or type 2 diabetes and all of these programs end with the rescuers shoving a bar of candy in the victims face to save her life (as almost always the victim is a female). The problem with the story line is that insulin helps lower blood sugar but most likely it is the long acting type which gentle lowers blood sugar over a 24 hour period. For immediate lowering of blood sugar one needs to take a fast acting insulin which probable isn't one of the medications the victim was taking anyway.
A diabetic can control blood sugar highs and lows through diet which is difficult enough but would seem to be a taunting task for a kidnap victim. Diabetic friendly diets are hard to come by outside the home. If one is offered a hamburger, a diabetic should eat only a small portion and none of the bun.
The biggest danger here is the added sugar to the condiments and the added salt to the burger.
The point is about these shows is that going a long time without food will drop ones glucose levels and insulin is the last thing the patient/victim needs. A candy bar will raise ones blood sugar levels too fast and will result in a serious "crash" a short time later. In other words, these shows do not reflect the reality of the situation because reality doesn't add the dramatic effects the producers feel the show needs to get and keep your interest.
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