This might seem silly, but I get kinda nervous driving because I am so worried about my numbers dropping. I typically don't feel them dropping until they are LOW, like at least in the 30's. A couple weeks ago I was driving and noticed my hands started to get shaky. I was about 3 miles from home so I just finished the drive. After checking my numbers I found my BG was 41. I have had my BG's get much lower than that without me noticing though. Any advice? I always check my numbers before I get behind the wheel, but I can't guarentee when I'm going to have a random low.
Not silly at all! It's definitely a reasonable thing to worry about. It sounds like you're already checking yourself before you drive, so that's good. Maybe you can keep some fast-acting carbs in your car cup holder? Like a big tub of glucose tabs or a juice box. That way if you're driving and you start noticing symptoms of a low (like shaking hands, as you said) you can just reach down and have sugar right there. I've been known to pop a glucose tab or two while driving, but I can usually detect my lows in the 70's or so. I've also been known to pull over if I'm scared that I'm too low, so there's no shame in that! Also, I'm not sure if you're on a pump or injections, but have you thought about getting a continuous glucose monitoring system? It can be very useful for predicting lows...especially in people who don't detect lows well on their own.
Molly
I've been guilty of finishing the drive home while going low, i think at some point we all have.
As mentioned, if you do go low often, keep some snacks in the car and pull over if you feel yourself going low or just aren't sure. It's better to pull over and treat then to continue driving while trying to do that. If you had a low recently, check before getting into the car.
CGMs are recommend for those who aren't able to detect their lows easily so it might not only put you more at ease while driving but be very helpful in everyday life to consider getting one.
It's also good to look for a pattern when you go low in the car. I personally don't go low very often, maybe a few times a month, but if I am on the highway for longer than 30mins, I start to drop..but only if I'm the one driving not if I'm the passenger. If i'm going on a long trip, I stop every hour or so to rests and test/have a snack, because i don't feel my lows as easily on the highway and I tend to drop pretty fast when driving on the highway.
Having a CGM helps me with that, but I mostly don't have too much of a problem. I have, on occasion, eaten a couple glucose tabs when I suspected a low but was on the highway. My theory was that if I was low, I wasn't too bad off yet and a couple tabs would keep me from dropping, but if I wasn't low, two tabs wouldn't do much damage to my control if I test and bolus relatively soon.