I just hung out with my boyfriend today and I started to get low without really realizing it. I started feeling groggy and I thought I fell asleep but I blacked out and I woke up sitting outside with a can of coke in my hand. My boyfriend was sitting next to me rubbing my back and asking if I was okay.
Apparently after I thought I fell asleep I kept mumbling and kept apologizing to my bf and kicking off the covers to my bed and crying. I guess I was also sweating a lot and shaking, drifting away and then coming back crying. He knew I was low (thank goodness) but still it was very scary that I had blacked out and didn't feel the low coming on at all. Is there any way to prevent this? Are there any similar stories?
That has happened to me, luckily my boyfriend at the time was a doctor and new what to do. The ebst way to prevent going low out of the blue is getting the CGM (constant glucose monitor) there are a few new ones out there that can tell you every 5 seconds what your blood sugar it. Another thing to do is (if you are on the pump) check your basil rate. You may be taking to much insulin at night. I started hitting a lot of lows at night when I went off some medications (birth control) being one of the major medicines that affects your blood sugar (makes it much higher) so if you quit or change types that can really mess with your sugar. What I did before I had the CGM and the pump and got better control (esp. at night) was not ever let my self go lower than 90 and at night time (before bed) no matter what I would not go to bed with out my sugars being higher than 150.
A CGM is definitley the way to go to help you with hypoglycemic unawareness. I'm not sure where to get these magical ones that test every 5 seconds... I'm pretty sure they only go every 5 minutes. :) Still very helpful!
It's great that your boyfriend was there to recognize the signs of low blood sugar and help you! I have a similar story.. I was vacationing with my (then) boyfriend's family in NY and randomly dropped low one night after a busy day of canoeing and hiking. Apparently I blacked out and couldn't talk, I just kept staring into space and mumbling. When I finally came to, I had devoured half a box of honeycomb cereal and some juice with my boyfriend next to me talking and trying to keep me awake! Thank goodness for all the significant others out there who essentially take on the responsibility of diabetes when they date us!
I was diagnosed 9 months into mine and my boyfriend relationship, so he's been there from the beginning. He listened to the doctors about how serious it was to notice my symptoms and he's always been able to detect when somethings wrong. It's great that your boyfriend knows the signs, especially when you can't even tell. A CGM would be great for you if you often go low without knowing.
It is amazing when we have that person who is so involved in our lives that they can do this for us. You are truly lucky in that matter. In all cases though as much as it might be difficult and awkward, this is why full disclosure is so key to our significant other. Even if it is not comfortable or awkward with him or her. They need to know what they are getting into and how to help you or at worst be able to call 911 if nothing else.
One night, before bed, I checked my BG and it was in the low 100s. I felt comfortable enough to go to bed without eating anything, afterall low 100s are a good target. So, I kiss my wife goodnight and fall asleep. I wake up in the middle of the night seeing 4 gentlemen hovered over me (kind of like that camera shot on TV shows when you see the viewpoint of someone being taken to the Emergency Room and there are doctors and nurses huddled over the camera). I try to say, "what's going on?" but all I can get out is, "taco". The men keep asking me questions and I can tell them what I want to say (in my head), but I can only spit out non-coherent things like "puppy licks" and "It's Tuesday, He-Man". I notice I'm in my bedroom, still lying down in bed and I see lights flashing outside of my window. I look for my wife and see her standing behind the 4 men, weeping a little bit. I finally realize that the men were EMTs and I must have had a hypo reaction. After a short while, I can feel the glucagon kicking in and I calmly thank the EMTs for their fast and caring attention. After they leave, I ask my wife what happened. She told me that I was rustling around in bed and was saying weird things. I notice that she has a mark on her cheek and ask her how THAT happened. She told me she recognized that I was having a low reaction and she tried to get me to eat some glucose tablets. When she tried to put them in my mouth, I swatted them away, scratching her cheek as I did so. After hearing that, I couldn't stop crying. I don't recall any of what she said happened while I was low. I know I couldn't control what was going on, but it tore me up to know that she was trying to help me and I hurt her in the process. All of this was about 5 years ago.
To this day, I have made sure I'm a "little" higher when I go to bed and my wife has learned to give me a glucagon shot. Hopefully, I'm not like a wild mountain man and she'll be able to inject me if I need the help.
I am so glad to have the advancements of the CGM and other things that make our lives much better and eaiser. And, I'm very thankful for an attentive, caring and loving wife that I know will help me when I can't help myself.
These things happen sometimes. You're lucky he knew what was happening and knew how to help. Do you have Glucagon kits available? If so, make sure your bf knows how to use it.
I've had that happen a few times. For example, me and my husband had argued one afternoon, and I went and took a nap. Because I didn't want him to bother me, I locked the bedroom door. At some point, about an hour after I fell asleep, he heard me moaning and crying or something and he kept telling me to open the door. Eventually, he had to kick the door in and give me glucagon.
When a low comes on so fast that you hardly even notice, it's usually because you've given too much bolus insulin. When I was younger, it would happen if I had too much alcohol the night before - the alcohol + hangover would mask the feeling of the low coming on. To prevent such things happening again, you really need to look at why it happened in the first place and work to prevent it from happening again.
These things happen sometimes. You're lucky he knew what was happening and knew how to help. Do you have Glucagon kits available? If so, make sure your bf knows how to use it.
I've had that happen a few times. For example, me and my husband had argued one afternoon, and I went and took a nap. Because I didn't want him to bother me, I locked the bedroom door. At some point, about an hour after I fell asleep, he heard me moaning and crying or something and he kept telling me to open the door. Eventually, he had to kick the door in and give me glucagon.
When a low comes on so fast that you hardly even notice, it's usually because you've given too much bolus insulin. When I was younger, it would happen if I had too much alcohol the night before - the alcohol + hangover would mask the feeling of the low coming on. To prevent such things happening again, you really need to look at why it happened in the first place and work to prevent it from happening again.
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I agree with spaghettio, have anyone you know learn how to use a glucagon kit. If you need your CDE to teach them have them do it.
I'm glad to hear that your bf was there to help you through this & that he knew what to do to help you. And many of us have similar stories like mine is that my bf of 4 yrs didn't know anything about diabetes before we meet & right up until this past June he never knew much about how to help me because the situation had never come up but since I had throyid surgery in June things for us have been pretty intense. Every week now I'm having 3-4 really bad lows, so for a man that can't go near a needle without freaking out he is always there for me when I need him. He is now at the point that he can tell by looking at me to know that I'm not doing well & I'm on the way down. Because since surgery all of my early warning signs of a low have disappered!!! So now the only warning that I'm getting it a very bad headache & nausea but I'm not having them until I'm already really low & more than likely being rushed to the hospital.
So I'm in total agreement with if it wasn't for my bf then I may not be here today. So I'm so thankfull for all the bf's, gf's & spouses that are there for us to get us through the high's, low's and all of the major problems/situations that come from having diabetes. Because in my life I had a bf that was with me when I was d'g & when we broke up he told me "that I would never find anyone to love me or support me beacuse I was diabetic" & I'm so thankfully that I've been able to find someone that no matter how bad my low is that when I come out of it he is so thankfully that I'm alive & have been able to make a full recovery.
I've been with my b/f for ten years now and he tends to know I'm going low before I do. Even my mom wasn't that good. Sorry mom. Several years ago we were at a friend's house and I started to go low while everyone else was conversing. I went to their junk food drawer and started rummaging around but couldn't make any decisions. When I realized I was losing control, instead of just asking for help, I tried to get his attention by tapping on his shoulder (or something, I was definitely having trouble communicating). I think I hit the floor before anyone realized there was a problem and before I knew it he'd gotten a pop out of the fridge and in my hand and was helping me drink. The thing I discovered that day was, once I was able to hold the can on my own, I seemed to be better able to focus on getting un-low with him sitting behind me and holding me tightly. Maybe it's similar to the calming effect some autistics experience in the cow press? Since then I've learned that instead of wasting time in front of a snacky machine trying to decide what I want vs. what I should eat, if I need it fast, I should just give him the money.
[quote user="Sara S."]I went to their junk food drawer and started rummaging around but couldn't make any decisions.
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I do this when I'm low frequently. It's like I know I'm low and need a snack, but stand there in front of the cupboard or frdge and just can't decide what to have. finally I'll snap out of it and eat something. Weird though for sure.
My wife notices when I'm low but also thinks I am sometimes when I'm not. Then I don't have an excuse she says. She will always help me, but often gets impatient and makes snide comments and insinuates it's my fault and if I was better at it it wouldn't happen. The other night I was low and laughing and being silly and she gave me juice and was upset with me becuase it was "inconsiderate of others" to behave this way. I don't like this and tell her, but it's just the way she is. And I now she will help me if I need it because she has many times.
I know how you feel... it is terrifying. I've had diabetes for 20 years (and I'm only 23), and never had a serious problem with it until two years ago. My blood sugars were out of control due to stress on my body from a car accident, and a week after the accident I had a hypoglycemic seizure. It happened at night, and the seizure woke up my boyfriend and he called 911. I remember coming around and seeing several paramedics in my room and thinking "Why are they here? I am fine. What is going on?" Well, obviously I was not fine, but I couldn't figure out why they were there, and I kept asking every few minutes or so, and my boyfriend patiently explained every time. He was pretty terrified too, but since then he has understood what I live with a lot better. My basal rates at night are too low now because I am afraid of it happening again, but I don't suggest that as prevention because I wake up with highs. Not good, I know. I am slowly increasing my basal rate at night now.