Halloween with diabetes: that one time I got lost with a hypo 🎃
Halloween and diabetes. You might think the biggest challenge is the abundance of candy.
For me, a few years ago, things went just a little differently.
I was away for the weekend with friends at the coast, in Oostduinkerke, and we decided to join a Halloween walk in the dunes. It was described as a fun, well-marked trail with various stands. A cozy evening, a little spooky, lots of laughs… That was the plan, anyway.
However, it soon got dark, the route wasn't always clear, and suddenly we were… just lost.
At first, it was still quite funny. We weren't alone either; there were lots of people nearby. We would find the right route again.
Until my sensor went into update mode.
And I started to feel low.
I pricked my finger, and I was at 45, quite low for me. But I had hypo snacks with me, so I ate some of them and we carried on.
Only… we kept walking.
And searching.
And walking some more.
My sensor didn't come back, I felt worse and worse, and eventually, I ran out of hypo snacks too.
That was when the laughing stopped completely.
We were somewhere in the dark in the dunes, had barely any signal, and I didn't know how low my levels were by then or how much further we had to go.
And then, of course, your mind starts racing.
Can an ambulance even get here?
Do they have a special buggy for the dunes?
How are they going to find us here?
Or is a helicopter going to have to land here if I can't get out of here on my own?
Just when I decided I couldn't take another step, I heard someone say:
"I think I see the house where we started!"
I don't think I've ever been so happy to see a house.
A cola and way too much food later, my blood sugar shot right to the other side.
But honestly? At that moment, I couldn't have cared less.
Diabetes always comes along for the ride
At the time, I was genuinely scared.
And perhaps that’s something people without diabetes don't always see.
You can be having a perfectly great night out. With friends. Doing something fun. Not thinking about diabetes at all for a while.
Until diabetes decides it needs all the attention anyway.
Fortunately, that doesn't mean we shouldn't do those things anymore. I am still a proponent of living with diabetes instead of letting it dictate your entire life.
Although I admit: since then, I've been a little less enthusiastic about Halloween walks in the dunes. 😉
Luckily, Halloween can just be fun too 🎃
That's why, for Tinsulin, I preferred to get to work with ghosts, pumpkins, bats, and skeletons.
A sensor that's on your arm every day anyway? It might as well have a ghost or pumpkin on it.
An insulin pump that always comes with you? For Halloween, it can simply be part of your outfit.
And kids with type 1? They should, above all, be kids—dress up, collect candy, and proudly wear a sweater that perfectly matches who they are.
The Halloween collection is now online, featuring sensor stickers, fix tapes, pump stickers, and T-shirts, sweaters, and hoodies for children with type 1 diabetes.
So that diabetes can feel free to stand out at Halloween, but preferably in a fun way. 🧡