tommy28

Are movie makers making mistakes with diabeties???

In Panic Room the girl needed a shot of insulin because her sugar was low,isn't that wrong,wouldn't she need sugar????or is that a different shot then Insulin,

same thing happened in Con Air...

anyone know.

ts

Goat3001

I don't know much about diabetes. But I know my uncle has it and when his sugar is low he eats sugar. Of course Panic Room and Con Air might be differant. Maybe more severe cases need insulin shot? I'm really not sure.

Jay G.

Don't remember Con Air, but in Panic Room, it was an injection of glucose, not insulin. Most of the time, Type 1 diabetics who take insulin shots can keep from getting low by eating something with sugar, but by the time they get so low they're almost into a coma, then it's time to pull out the glucose shot, which most diabetics carry around.

REL77

i believe onec it gets two low, the shot is a sure fire way to get you out of the attack. It is kinda like a last chance before you start dying thing

audrey

There are several types of diabetes each of which requires different treatments. For more on this disease see for example: http://www.drkoop.com/template.asp?p...=93&encyid=150

Meatpants

In Panic Room they gave her a glucose shot, not an insulin shot.

Staccatos

I'm not an expert on the field but here are the basics that I know.

Insulin helps the body's cells absorb glucose (sugar) from the bloodstream in order to be processed within the cell. Diabetics have a difficulty producing insulin, therefore they have a difficult time getting nutrients into the cells. Because of all the wasted sugar, one of the signs of diabetes was having a lot of waste sugar in the urine (you can try this self-test at home, if you like).

Insulin can be administered as a shot. Or, in worse case scenario's, the diabetic can eat high sugar foods to try and saturate their bloodstream with sugar (even without insulin, some sugar is absorbed into the cells, insulin allows this to occur at a more efficient level).

rfduncan

In reference to Panic Room

I am diabetic, and I will tell you one thing for certain - that watch she had which displayed her sugar level does not exist. If it DOES, I sure as hell would like to know where to get one.

There was something else wrong with the diabetic issue as well - can't recall. There were so many errors in regard to this scenario that I lost track of them... Truly a disappointment on Fincher's part in my book.

neiname

She needed sugar, not glucose... Don't you people even bother to read a person's post?
























yeah, I know glucose =sugar

tommy28

Thanks everyone

iv learned alot.

ts

nchhabra

here is the definitive answer:

in panic room the little girl's blood glucose got too low, so she got a shot of glucose to prevent her from going into hypoglycemic coma. the reason she didnt take it by mouth is because she was starting to seize and the risk of aspiration increases dramatically during a seizure.

as for con air, i think he needed insulin because his blood sugar was too high, which can also cause u to go into a coma. i dont remember exactly what the situation in that movie.

either way if low blood sugar and high blood sugar can send u into coma and potentially kill you.

funkyryno

Oh, so that's what that sugary taste was.

funkyryno

Doesn't look like you'll have to wait too long

Diabetes watch

Ketamine

From what I remember about Panic Room, this all happened in the middle of the night when they would have been sleeping. Assuming that the girl has been on insulin for a while and her insulin doses have been adjusted over time to find the "right" dose for her, she should not have had a decrease in glucose levels as depicted in the movie. In fact, the stress of the situation would have made her blood glucose levels go up, not down. So in my opinion, this was a mistake. I don't understand why details like this get through, but I guess they rely on the ignorance of the general population on such matters. Another example-> I have yet to see John Q b/c I have been told that the boy is intubated and on a ventilator, but still is able to "talk" to his dad. The problem is, you can't talk with a breathing tube between your vocal cords. Just plain stupid IMHO.

victant

Following Ketamine's thought, I think the same reasoning behind Con Air shows that it's misinformation. Granted, it's been quite a while since I've seen this movie (I'm waiting for the Criterion version ). If the prisoner, who likely hadn't had a glucose-loaded meal within the previous few hours, needed anything, it would most likely have been some sugar/glucose. Even type I diabetics (congenital), who almost universally need insulin for treatment of their diabetes, take insulin shots only to decrease their blood sugar levels after a meal. Taking insulin without a meal would be disastrous, and can even induce coma and eventually death.

But I'm not an expert, either. Just my thoughts....

Jamezuva

Ketamine has it right (btw nice nickname, do you do phencyclidine or do you just stick with the Special K? =) ) Anyway, I just wanted to clarify that when you get excited, your body releases hormones to increase the level of glucose in your blood (e.g. glucagon and catecholamines like norepinephrine). I was disappointed that this mistake wasn't caught, in otherwords what I regard as an excellent movie

Groucho

I guess I can't use these movies as a substitution for medical school then. Too bad, since I was under the impression that both were intended as scientific documentaries on dealing with Diabetes.

Meatpants

Controlling insulin / blood sugar is not a definite science. My GF has been diabetic for more than 10 years, and while she's very good at monitoring it, sometimes she gets low, and sometimes she gets high. The girl in Panic Room could've taken her usual dosage assuming she was going to be eating over the next 12 hours, but she didn't, causing insulin to build up in her body, which dropped her blood sugar, requiring the glucose shot.

The real question is why did she have that fancy watch-o-meter but not an insulin pump.

Ketamine

While I agree that anything can happen so you can defend this movie, it is fairly unlikely that she would have dropped her blood glucose levels in the situation presented in the movie. First of all, it is pretty important that this happened after she went to bed. This tells me that she wasn't planning on getting up and eating a meal during the time that the movie took place so your theory that she missed a meal is unlikely. Insulin taken before bedtime is in general a long acting form and provides a basal supply of insulin that mimics normal insulin release throughout the night in people without diabetes. Usually,people don't get into trouble with hypoglycemia because of insulin building up in the body, but rather taking a dose that is too high for the glucose (food) intake after the insulin dose. Again, since this does not seem to be a recent diagnosis of diabetes with frequent adjustments of her insulin dose, so the amount taken prior to her going to bed would be unlikely to cause a serious decrease in blood sugar. On top of that, she was in a very stressful situation (which results in epinephrine release), which generally results in high blood sugars, not low. Especially with all of this put together, I stand by my original criticism of this part of the movie. Again, I know the body is complex and anything can happen, but her getting hypoglycemic in this situation would not be the norm.

The answer to the "real question" is that while there are studies looking into placing kids on insulin pumps, most doctors are reluctant to put kids on pumps because they can be very dangerous without very close supervision.

garmonbozia

that was worth logging on this evening. thanks for that laugh, and i'm a medical student.

Ketamine

Let's just say that I give it out to others to make them feel good; I've never tried it myself.

nchhabra

that is how the tested for diabetes in the old days. i am glad technology has advanced to the point where u don't have to do that anymore.

nchhabra

ok here is a potential theory that could explain all this. she has an insulinoma, say as part of a MEN syndrome (i realize she would be a very atypical presentation considering her age) or some other reason. and she normally gets up in the middle of the night to get her glucose by mouth or shot. and she couldnt take it because of the situation. while i realize that the stress of the situation would increase her blood sugars, maybe her basal insulin secretion is so high that it would override the catecholamine effect. i am sure there is a loophole in this great theory of mine, but just for arguements sake.

aa-dvd

They do have a glucose testing watch in is called the Glucowatch
http://www.glucowatch.com/us/default.html

It is not worth it IMHO. I am also diabetic. I agree that a girl with the watch would probably have the pump. If she needed an insulin shot before bed and didn't take it her Blood Glucose level would rise. Technically speaking, if she only missed one shoot she could survive for quite a while, even up to a couple of days. If her glucose rose up rapidly (due to stress, no shot, etc.) she could then also enter a state of coma. Then she would need a shot of insulin.
In the movie, as I recall, it was very low. I don't remember if she said glucose or insulin shot. If she said glucose then she is right.

Ketamine

You didn't actually read any of the above posts did you? Thanks for the watch link but it was already established earlier in this thread that they make a blood glucose watch. As far as the movie, it was posted here by a lot of different people that her blood sugar was low and she took a glucose shot. This discussion is past that and we are on to if the movie made an error in having her blood sugar go down rather than up.