Unfiltered Story #248812

A couple of months ago, I had some errands to run for work, including picking up some food from a supermarket deli. It was a large order and they ended up running late, but I didn’t have a problem with it because it was the first chance I got to take a break all day. At this point it was around 2:30, and I hadn’t eaten all day, but my dumb a** was sure I’d be fine.

While waiting I made some small talk with a girl who was about ten years old. One second I was standing up talking to her about her shoes, the next an elderly woman is standing over me asking if I’m okay, the little girl nowhere in sight. Since I was obviously missing time and had no idea how I ended up on the floor, I said no. She called a manager over, and he went next door to grab a paramedic from the clinic next door (lucky coincidence, I know). By the time they got back it had sunk in that something was seriously wrong, and I was having a panic attack on top of recovering from my blackout.

The manager and the paramedic were both amazing. The paramedic talked me down while getting my vitals and my blood sugar, and the manager got me some tissues for my crying and a candy bar and sports drink to bump my blood sugar back up quickly. Once I’d calmed down enough, the paramedic said my blood sugar had been at 26 mg/dL (anything below 70 is considered low, and below 54 is cause for immediate action) and that he wanted to get me to a hospital.

After undergoing a litany of tests, the doctors at the hospital determined I had non-diabetic hypoglycemia, and they were all surprised I made it that far through the day without food. I haven’t been able to find the paramedic again to thank him properly, but I do go back to the store regularly. The manager refused to let me pay for the tissues and candy, but I posted a review online saying how great they were. The deli employees still joke with me about how I was lucky they were running late, or there’s a good chance my blackout would have happened while I was driving!