I have been high like 400's and felt fine. Also have been 200 and felt like death.
It's the same with being low, sometimes I would be like 40 and feel completely fine and other times be 100 and feel like shakey, tongue tingly, sweaty.
Why is this so inconsistent? The higher you are the worse you should feel. I have mentioned this to my doctor and they have no explanation for this happening. It sometimes gets hard to tell how I am feeling because of this. I have been T1 for 21 years and feel like Im changing now.
Hey Sue - Here I was thinking I was the only one feeling that way [lol] I have noticed that over the 17 years with diabetes, my symptoms to being high and low vary. There are moments when I feel like my levels are high (weird feeling in my mouth, overall pissy attitude, feeling angry) and my level was completely normal. There are moments when I feel like my levels are low (shaky, a weird sensation in my forearms, feeling weak, crying ... yes, I cry easily when I'm low - figure that one out) and my level was, again, completely normal.
It's almost as though I've become hyper-sensitive to highs and low. Although, there are times where I don't feel any sort of symptom and I'm actually high or low. I've had several experiences where I'm feeling fine, then I go and test, and I'm actually low. It's only then, when I see the number on the screen, do I feel the symptoms. It usually happens when I'm low, not high. WEIRD!!
Hi Sue. I get this too. For me, it's part of hypoglycemia unawareness. I've had T1 for 23 years and my body is basically not as sensitive to lows anymore. My endo suggested running higher for 9 weeks as a means of becoming more sensitive again to lows. For highs, the only time I feel them is if there are ketones present - its a pretty unmistakable feeling and happens around the 230 mark. It happens if my insulin isn't being absorbed properly from my pump. But if I'm high because I ate too much cake or something, I probably won't feel it even if I'm 300.
Well, I've only had T1 for 13 yrs. and I also get these inconsistencies. I've been as low as 37 and have not felt a thing! I mean, I was even working and lifting heavy things, but I was just as energetic, focused, and aware as if my sugars were normal. But, a few times I've been at 75 or even 80 and have felt super shaky, weak, sweaty, and starved! A couple of times I've been as high as 450 and have also felt just fine. But usually when I'm at 200 I start feeling nauseous.
It's so weird, I agree. I have no explanation for this. It aggravates me to no end though because I feel like my body is playing tricks with me on purpose, just to make it more challenging for me to manage my diabetes!
When you're a new diabetic, or rarely have lows, your body will release adrenaline when you drop below 70 or so. But after a while your body doesn't have the same stress response with lows. You can reset your body's feeling of normal blood sugar by avoiding highs and lows for a week or so. I'd lost low awareness after havind D 25 years but then sort of regained the low feeling after starting with a pump.
Now I usually feel high between about 160-180, but that bad feeling disappears if I get any higher. Same thing happens with lows... I feel it at about 60, but feel nothing if I go lower. Sometimes symptoms can be confusing too, like the other morning when I woke up feeling high, but was just dehydrated from eating super salty pizza the night before. Needless to say I'm thankful for glucose monitors to confirm what's actually going on.
I have also found that the reason my blood sugar is not normal will predict if / how I feel.
If I go high because of a lack of insulin, I will feel really bad. If I go high simply because I ate something with lots of sugar (I love birthday cake) and glucose is getting into my blood faster than the insulin is taking it out, I wont feel any symptoms of being high unless it remains high for an extended period. In this situation though, the insulin usually catches up and brings it down to normal without a correction bolus.
How do I feel when high? Very heavy. Chest sometimes feels tight, like taking a deep breath is not possible. Limbs kinda feel like the blood in them is actually jello thick. Not nice.
On the other hand with lows I find that I will feel bad if the rate at which my blood sugar is dropping is fast. If I've slowly dropped into low territory I will not get the tingly tonge and cold sweats( Yuck!) like I would if I was dropping fast. I could, like has been mentioned, feel low when Im actually still in normal range.
For me, it seems, In both situations I will only feel bad if the situation requires immediate attention. i.e. Low that requires sugar NOW. or high that requires I take a correction bolus.
Hi Sue, I have been a T1 for 38 years and the control can be challenging to say the least. I have had hypoglycemia unawareness now for about 4 years because my body seems to not to experience lows or highs. Occasionaly, I feel a low so I really have to rely on the blood testing at least 6 times a day and it has helped me. I have experienced being fully functional at 40 and yet very shaky at 60. I try to keep my A1c below 6.5% because I feel a lot of the complications can be minimized
I have also found that the reason my blood sugar is not normal will predict if / how I feel.
If I go high because of a lack of insulin, I will feel really bad. If I go high simply because I ate something with lots of sugar (I love birthday cake) and glucose is getting into my blood faster than the insulin is taking it out, I wont feel any symptoms of being high unless it remains high for an extended period. In this situation though, the insulin usually catches up and brings it down to normal without a correction bolus.
How do I feel when high? Very heavy. Chest sometimes feels tight, like taking a deep breath is not possible. Limbs kinda feel like the blood in them is actually jello thick. Not nice.
On the other hand with lows I find that I will feel bad if the rate at which my blood sugar is dropping is fast. If I've slowly dropped into low territory I will not get the tingly tonge and cold sweats( Yuck!) like I would if I was dropping fast. I could, like has been mentioned, feel low when Im actually still in normal range.
For me, it seems, In both situations I will only feel bad if the situation requires immediate attention. i.e. Low that requires sugar NOW. or high that requires I take a correction bolus.
YES, YES, YES! I am so glad I'm not the only one! It is so inconsistent. I have been T1 for 34 years and I experience the same thing. Sometimes I feel fine and just check my BS just because I happen to be walking by my meter and when it says a high number or a really low number I'll go "WHAT?" But sometimes I'll feel shaky and all the low symptoms and it will be a great number.
It happens to me too. Even weirder is that I will start to feel numbers after I test and find out that I am high/low. Personally I know that my body only has the typical symptoms if it is a quick change. If I go from 110 to 70 in an hour, for example, I will notice it. However, if I slowly make it down to 50 over the course of 3 hours I won't. It can be pretty scary and thats one of the reasons I am excited about getting hooked up to a CGM.