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I was given a giant gummy bear for my birthday. I ate it in one sitting, just a few days ago. And then, I searched Google about diabetes.

Now, there are three things troubling me.

Soon after I ate the giant gummy bear, I felt very tired - a symptom of diabetes.

From the day after I ate the gummy bear, I noticed my breath was slightly sweet. It usually smells really bad before I brush teeth in the morning. It stayed like that, which got me worried.

Today, my cough worsened. I had a drink. After brushing teeth, I coughed in the sink, which caused the drink to go up my nose and mouth - basically, I threw up. It could a symptom of diabetes, or just an effect of coughing with my head down like that.

Now, those three are symptoms of diabetes and I'm getting seriously worried. Should I tell my parents or my doctor? If so, how would I explain it to them?

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  • Editing and substantially changing your question years after accepting an answer isn't really fair to the answerer, or to the readers. It also left your question not making much sense ("my cough" -- what cough? ... "These three" -- These three what?). So I'm reverting your edits and locking the question because it's no longer compliant with MedSci guidelines.
    – Carey Gregory ♦
    Feb 6, 2021 at 16:49

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There are multiple questions here so I'll tackle them one by one.

Your initial question: Can a gummy bear give me diabetes?

One giant gummy bear, alone, is very unlikely to give you diabetes. I don't want to say indefinitely, because nothing in health is a definite. However, the likely hood is so close to 0% I would consider it insignificant.

Next, you stated that immediately following the ingestion of a cute gummy bear, you felt tired and the next morning your breathe smelled sweet.

The reason for both of these symptoms can very well be due to your sugar levels becoming drastically high. In the medical field, we call this DKA. (Diabetic ketoacidosis). Essentially, your body recognizes a sharp increase in blood glucose levels and is trying everything in the books to expel the glucose. Your body does this by releasing ketones from your respiratory system. DKA is most notably recognized by sweet smelling breathe. Almost like juicy fruit gum.

DKA can actually be a very serious emergency which, if unchecked, can lead to a diabetic coma. However, for individuals without diabetes, and a properly working pancreas, your sugar levels should be back to normal by now.

I believe your incident with the cough is completely unrelated.

To recap. No I do not think you have developed diabetes due to a single gummy bear. However, it never hurts to be checked for the disease. You could very well already have diabetes, and the gummy bear threw you into DKA. Because I cannot see you, nor properly perform any tests. To cover myself for any legal issues I will say that 1. I am not a doctor and 2. Go get it checked.

In regards to telling your parents. Just say you had some candy and you felt really weird afterwards and you're nervous that you might have diabetes. Any sensible parent will at least set you up with a doctors appointment.

Rich AEMT

Source: http://www.diabetes.org/living-with-diabetes/complications/ketoacidosis-dka.html

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  • Nausea, vomiting, light-headed, feeling feint or passing out, and excessive sweating are all big no-no's. Go to the ER immediately (don't drive) or call 911.
    – EMT_Jedi
    Aug 15, 2015 at 12:59
  • "The reason for both of these symptoms can very well be due to your sugar levels becoming drastically high. In the medical field, we call this DKA. (Diabetic ketoacidosis)." Extremely unlikely given that the OP managed to post here a few days later.
    – Count Iblis
    Aug 15, 2015 at 15:15
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    No doctor here. Also, you can be in mild DKA for awhile. Had a PT with a BGL of "high" (over 500 on our machines) for several days before he called us. Actually, he's a frequent flyer and does it about two times a month.
    – EMT_Jedi
    Aug 15, 2015 at 15:32
  • Everything is possible, including worrying too much. If you read the OP's account, focus more on the way of thinking in the question asked, it smells a lot more of the latter than of DKA. Throwing up after coughing = nausea and nausea = sign of diabetes, that are two associations made and that after worrying about diabetes after the eating the gummy bear. With two associations the number of combinations are astronomically high, the hypochondriac's choice is guaranteed to be among the possibilities.
    – Count Iblis
    Aug 15, 2015 at 15:49
  • And that's definitely true. Just throwing out possibilities. Is it diabetes? The likely hood is pretty insignificant. Without actually seeing the OP... eating lots of sugar plus sweet smelling breathe, is definitely a possibility for DKA. It's almost textbook.
    – EMT_Jedi
    Aug 15, 2015 at 15:56