MovieChat Forums > Panic Room (2002) Discussion > I'm not a doctor, but...

I'm not a doctor, but...

posted 8 years ago by joyceluvsjames-427-298254
5 replies | jump to latest

As far as Kristen Stewart's character's illness, they never say she's a diabetic or that she is insulin dependent, but they do make it pretty obvious that she is. The Mom watching how much sugary coke she drinks with her pizza, checking the monitor on her wrist, her daughter saying she was getting dizzy, the toe curling, etc., at one point Mom was looking for something that had sugar in it. Ok, that makes sense. You need to try and keep a diabetic's sugar as level as possible. When Mom gets really worried is when the daughter starts crashing (the toe curling, she's sweating, when Burnham is in with her), Mom is flipping out about giving her her shot. Her insulin shot? She doesn't say 'insulin' I know but it's a safe assumption. The girl hasn't had anything to eat, her sugar level is dropping, she's about to go into a coma, so hurry up she needs more insulin???!!! I'm sorry, but wouldn't she get worse if she got an insulin shot if her sugar level was too low? I would think the mother would want some candy or orange juice with sugar in it. There was orange juice in the little frig next to the girl's bed and the mom never touched it. I'm just sayin'...

[–] dutchusc 8 years ago

You are absolutely correct. The mom should have given her a tube of glucose gel if she had one available, which many diabetics have for those situations.

[–] snapespet1 8 years ago

She was freaking about getting her sugar. HUZZAH! There's ANOTHER shot that can bring a diabetic back from being very LOW. It's not all insulin shots. They can go the other way. Yes, we have emergency shots that can bring us UP from very low blood sugar. I've had it. Jodie Shouldn't have covered her daughter with the blanket when she was low. I know it's an instinct, but when your kid is low, she's SWEATING. She's HOT. Not shivering...that comes when your numbers come back.

Do you ever get down on your knees, and thank God you have access to my dementia?

[–] 8 years ago

[deleted]

[–] Mr_Ectoplasma 8 years ago

No, she most definitely should've covered her with the blanket. It doesn't matter if you're sweating or not—when your blood sugar drops that low, so does your body temperature.

[–] Mr_Ectoplasma 8 years ago

I'm a Type 1 diabetic so I can comment on this with some authority—having low blood sugar is in some ways more dangerous than having high blood sugar. Generally high blood sugar is bad over the long-term, but there are warning signs that creep up on you more slowly if it's running high. The problem with having a low is your brain, at a certain point, malfunctions if there isn't enough glucose in your body because there is no energy source for your cells. This causes people to pass out, have seizures, and in extreme cases, go into a coma and/or die.

That said, the only way that a diabetic can get dangerously low is if they either take too many units of insulin without eating a corresponding amount of carbohydrates/sugar, or if they've over-exercised and burned through the glucose in their bloodstream without replenishing it. Drinking alcohol without eating is also dangerous because alcohol tends to lowers your blood sugar, so you have to eat if you are going to drink (my grandfather was a type 1 as well and died because of this). It's a balancing act. To be safe, I always carry some sort of fast-acting sugar on me, whether it be glucose tablets or Lifesavers, just in case I need it.

The shot that Jodie Foster's character is looking for is a glucagon shot, which you can use on someone if their blood sugar has dropped to the point that they are unconscious and unable to eat.