Does anyone get easily agitated when their blood is dropping/low?? I got a little angry the other day when I experienced a low and I thought why did I act like that and I was thinking maybe it is an involuntary response of the brain to try and raise your blood sugar without actually consuming food. I was thinking that bc when you are stressed out and get all angry your blood sugar tends to go up.
I've had T1 since I was 4 years old, and my mother will be the FIRST to tell you I am a BRAT when I am on my way down.
There have been so many times throughout my teen years, I would wake UP low. I'd get those glossy eyes and my mom would know instantly. When she would test my blood sugar and then try to get me to suck juice through a straw, she said I would battle with her - literally hit her and call her bad names. After my blood sugar stablizes, I feel awful. There was one time in 9th grade I actually had a seizure from being so low and my mom and my older sister called the squad; they were hysterical and the dispatch thought it was a domestic dispute, so the police showed up instead of an ambulance.
My mom said I was so mean to the officers and the EMTs - which I had no idea what I was doing until afterwards.
Being low is a terrible feeling; I can sometimes feel it and other times I can't. If I am being mean, my parents or my boyfriend will ask, "Are you low? Test your blood sugar." And 9 times out of 10, I'm inbetween the 40s and 60s.
Why is it? I don't understand. It's especially embarrassing when you call people names and physically abuse them and don't remember.. :(
I know I do. My parents and husband tell me that I fight with them about eating or drinking something when my blood is low. Since I was a child (diagnosed @ 6) my parents told me that I always fight with them when my blood is low. Sometimes, I just feel weak now a days.
Oh yeah, way agitated when I get low. Which is way out of character for me. I try to catch it quicker but sometimes it is to late and becomes almost involuntary for me.
[quote user="Meghann Tinker"]My mom said I was so mean to the officers and the EMTs - which I had no idea what I was doing until afterwards[/quote]
I too had a seizure that resulted in my folks calling the EMTs. I too was also a brat when they arrived and of course I don't remember a thing of it. However, I was retold my conversation and it went something like this:
EMT: Dan, we need to prick your finger to see your blood sugar
ME: Why don't you go prick your own damn finger
I wrote a sincere apology letter to the EMT for my behavior, however he told me he understood that I was out of my element. While it is no excuse, diabetes affects each of us mentally in very profound ways. Whether it is reactions to BS levels or the depression that many of us face, the impact that diabetes has on us can cause us to do things we normally wouldn't. I really try to keep my emotions in check with my highs and lows by just taking a deep breath and focusing on what is making me act the way I am. Good luck.
Dan
Ha one of my words got bleeped. I was referring to what we do to our finger with a lancet device not a particular male body part.
When I go very low, I get very quiet and do not communicate at all. I just sit/lie still and say nothing. This happens whenever I fall below the 30s. I take care of myself for 30 and above. I do not show anger for highs or lows. That does not mean i never become angry, it only means my blood sugar levels do not cause my anger.
I've experienced the opposite; I get angry when my BG goes high. I don't realize it, but my parents say they notice the difference. They never believe me when I go low, so I have to show them my meter with the number still showing.
I'm the opposite as well. I get so grouchy when my bg is high. When it goes low I can get very confused.
Hmmm...that's interesting. I have never noticed getting angry or mean when I'm low, and no one has ever told me that I do, so I guess I don't. I guess the one exception would be that occasionally if my parents or fiance could tell that I was low for other reasons and I couldn't tell, they would tell me to test my bg, and I would get annoyed by that. I don't seem to get overly emotional with highs either, just occasionally an overreaction to the high number on my meter. I burst into tears once when I saw a number in the 300s on my meter, but that doesn't happen too often... I seem to be lucky in that I have relatively mild reactions to abnormal blood sugars... I have never had a seizure or passed out or anything like that (knock on wood!!!). I usually just feel ill and lethargic when I"m high and tired and "low" (you know, that unpleasant feeling I can't describe, but I know it' means low) when I'm low.
I always get very snippy when my bg is either high or low. Usually when its low its more of an annoyance snippy because I can't express the way I'm feeling for people to help me, but I still want them to help me or understand. When it is high it is def more of a angry snippy and I will be mean to whoever talks to me. I feel bad afterward, but when I try to explain it to them (people other than my fam and husband) they just look at me like I am using Diabetes as an excuse for being snippy. So I definitely can relate.
well... i recall the very first time i went low... it was the day after diagnosis, and the docs were messing with my insulin levels. my mom knew what was happening, and i had no idea- she kept trying to force me to drink some orange juice, and i didnt want to... i started screaming at her, then slapped her in the face! haha.. we laugh about it now... but looking back, it was crazy. i still get a temper at times when i get really low- but, i dont think its anything that we should be upset at ourselves over.... we deal with a lot man... we are allowed to get angry from time to time. ;)
I can get REALLY annoyed/upset/violent if I'm very low. I've definitely thrown my meter at my mom when she's tried to check me. If I'm studying or trying to sleep, I also get easily upset because everything is so hard when I'm low. I also feel depressed sometimes, but not usually when I'm angry. Adrenaline definitely raises blood sugar - one time I was walking our dogs with my mom and knew I was going low but had no sugar on me. Towards the end of the walk, I could barely walk and my knees kept collapsing. My mom went to our neighbor's house and tried to bring me apple juice, which I refused before running away. After that my blood sugar went up into the 40s or 50s and I was able to walk the rest of the way home before treating the low.
Chasey gets quiet and gets the funny eyes too. We call them sick eyes. With us, her parents, she gets combative, she will yell at me and be mean sometimes. Somehow she doesn't do that at school, just gets quiet and withdrawn. She too will refuse to drink juice or eat her sugar tabs. It's a total battle sometimes. Once her sugar stabilizes it's like it never happened. It's like flipping a light light switch.
I get super-emotional when I'm high. Especially when I was in high school, I'd be really angry and my mom would tell me to go check my bs, which only made me angrier. But she was usually right. She had this magical ability to tell the difference between high-bs emotions and "normal" teenage angst.
I've also had seizures (3, 2 requiring EMTs) but I don't really remember anything, other than vomiting afterwards. I'll have to ask my mom if I displayed violent tendencies! ;)
Well for me it's short temper when high, silly and stupid when low.
When I'm low, sometimes, I'm also silly (and overly talkative), sometimes I'm confused, sometimes I'm anxious like I know something's wring but can;t figure out what it is. But, a couple times after my son was born when I was battling extreme lows (from getting my insulin right with all the hormonal changes) paired with extreme fatigue, I was extremely mean and violent (cursing at my husband, trying to hit him). I remembered it after and felt AWFUL. Luckily, it was only during that period. Yikes, I hate even thinking/talking about it!!!