I was just watching a video on youtube of someone detailing his low blood sugar symptoms and realized they were sort of different from mine.
Here are mine:
1. First everything starts to feel a little slow. I lose focus on everything around me, and my surroundings seem like they're either vibrating gently or shifting.
2. Just as I'm losing focus on my surroundings (and this is where I might differ from other diabetics), I become REALLY REALLY focused on something in front of me or something I'm doing. For instance, if I'm reading a book, I'll start to read faster and faster, absorbing what I'm reading extraodinarily quickly, or at least that's how it feels to me.
3. Soon I start shaking, although a lot of times I don't realize this if I'm sitting down. If I'm leaning on my elbows I notice this.
4. Soon after I start shaking, I start sweating. Usually when I start sweating I admit to myself that my sugar is low (that's right, haha, I habitually lie to myself, tricking myself into thinking everything's fine and that I should ignore my sugar), and as soon as I admit that I'm low I begin to panic. By panic, I don't mean I freak out the way people do when a car explodes or when your aunt leans in to give you a wet kiss, I mean the kind of primal, instinctual fear that sets in with the realization that something NEEDS to be done. It is precisely when I confront this reality that my acute attention shifts from the book I am reading to the prospect of jamming carbs down my throat.
Other symptoms I get include mild to moderate headaches, irritability (I've said some things...), lovey-dovey-ness (again, I've said some things...).
Anyway, I'm just curious what different peoples' lows are like. Hopefully, the amount of text doesn't scare everyone away :)
Sometimes I don't even realize I am low because I am too busy at work or with my studying. But when I do notice it, I am miserable! I get shaky (like everyone, I assume), I get really hot, very moody, and sometimes my vision will fade in and out (very scary). Not as often as the rest, but sometimes when I'm low, my thighs feel kind of tingly... (weird?)
I start to feel weak if my blood sugar drops below 70. Sometimes that comes along with crankiness or not being able to think straight. Often I will sweat profusely. If it gets below 50, these symptoms start to worsen. Below 40, I begin to have zaps in and out of consciousness. One second I will be aware of my surroundings but then I will black out for a second or so and then come back to. This makes walking and talking impossible. This happened once to me when I was on Bourbon Street in New Orleans. I fit right in since I looked drunk. As I start to recover from the low I will shake. I have had several episodes as a teenager when I would completely lose consciousness and would have seizures.
I've pretty much had it all, currently the biggest one is that if I'm reading i keep reading the same line over and over and not understanding. I will also get shaky, and my knees will collapse underneath me, very embarrasing when that happens in the middle of the dining hall. . . I just had a siezure a few weeks ago while I was sleeping, and I had quite a few when I was young. I will also get headaches sometimes, slur my speech, repeat myself over and over. . . and I know i'm doing it but I can't stop. Plus, just like Elie I will try to convince myself I'm not low, even though obviously I am. Also, If I wake up in the morning low sometimes I'll have really wierd episodes kind of like i'm sleep walking, so once i drove myself to school and when I got there i "woke up" and started crying because I didn't know how I got there. what's even stranger with that is that my level will actually be up and it takes me at least an hour after it's up for me to really come out of it.
How low were you when you drove yourself to school? I've had that "waking up" thing happen twice, but l was too out of it to even give myself juice let alone get in a car and drive. That's really scary. I hope you've figured out how to avoid that happening again. The worst thing about the "waking up" thing (I don't know what else to call it lol) is that no one else realizes that I'm not actually awake. A few months ago I was with my family in the morning. They thought I was just tired. For 3 hours! My sugar was 30. For 3 hours! Then suddenly I "woke up," immediately realized what was going on and freaked out. I couldn't believe how unsafe I felt around people who usually make me feel safe. It was definitely a moment of vulnerability.
Hi all...When my daughter (7 y/o) is low, she stares out into space. Its so obvious that I can not imagine how anyone could ignore it. We usually test her blood sugar 4-6 times per day, though, so if it starts to rise or fall we can correct it realitively quickly. We just received her diagnosis 6/16/2011 so we are still sorting everything out...So relieved to see that there is a network for people to come together...love and support to all...
Elie: Wow, I couldn't imagine having a BG of 30 for three hours! If it would have been me I would have been unconscious. I can't imagine what that waking up feeling must be like.
Cody, it was the worst feeling in the world, and yeah, I was unconscious. Only I know it was three hours because when I came to I asked them how long I had been there. Massive, massive headache. The feeling of being completely drained.
Elie, I was at 130 or so before I drove, my parents knew I was low because I slept through my alarm, luckily I was still in high school. we don't know what I was originally at because they just assumed I was low and gave me juice, which I will drink in my sleep as long as it has a straw. . . kind of crazy. normally it happens when i'm at 40 or 50, but I've been lower than that too. What's even worse is that my mom saw me driving when she was on her way home from dropping my sisters off. She said I looked like I knew what I was doing, so she figured I was better. . . now they watch me after it happens. They know because if they talk to me they can tell I have no idea what's going on, I also get really anxious, crabby, and I yell at people a lot. Afterwards it's like it's all a dream, so I remember everything, but I don't feel like I actually did it. I normally cry when I'm coming out of it too and then get the headache and the crappy feeling.
Speaking of being low for 3 hours, when I was little, maybe 3 or so, I was at 28 for 3 hours and my parents were on the phone with the doctors. They wanted to give me glucagon, but the doctors said as long as I wasn't dropping any lower to just keep giving me juice. I was unconcious, and only 3 so I don't remember anything about it just the story.
I find that my low blood sugar symptoms vary with the acitivites I am doing at the time. If Im walking my legs will get tingly, If im talking a lot my toungue will go numb/tingly. If im reading or doing hw then my brain gets really slow and Im not able to really understand what im studying. Obviously I get the shakes, the sweats, headaches, and definitely the irratibility. I know Im in REAL trouble if my vision starts to go, that is a sign that if I dont already have some form of sugar in my hand I will likely have a seizure. EEP!
Sometimes when I wake up in the middle of the night with the shakes and sweats, you know the kind of low where you must lay down cuz it is absolutely too much energy to even lift your arm... well... I kind of almost 'like' these lows not because of the lows themselves but because of the feeling of absolute satisfaction/relief your body feels when your blood sugars start to rise.
Sometimes I don't notice my symptoms cause i think i am just nervous! :(
1. I start sweating, shaking, and my face turns red(i blush super easy). Next, my heart beats super slowly, like I'm about to have to do something really scary.
2. One time, I yelled at my sister when I had a low....
3.Then, another time, I talked, and just wasn't making any sense. ex. couldn't get any words out, studdering, said shhixtty frive instead of 65. (now my family makes fun of it(;)
4.Really Big Symptom:I have the sensation to CHEW...EVERYTHING!!!
5. After Symptoms:Still feel shaky after I'm back to normal...still very sweaty!!
anyone have some of the same symptoms ive been having?
I usually feel like I am intoxicated. I start talking out of my ass and I suddenly seem *SO* interested in everything and everyone; I even talk to myself. It's crazy. Sometimes I get the tingly shakiness in my hands and feet; others who observe me say my pupils get really dilated, and my mom usually says I'm being a grouch and asks if I am low.
Meghann, I talk out of my ass, too! And a lot of times people say I'm being a grouch. It gets really awkward once and a while when I test and my bg is fine...haha
I used to be able to tell my low bs range by the symptoms, but they are just all over the place now. I have all of the symptoms people have already stated, but it depends on the occurance as to what symptoms i will experience. Sometimes I'm intoxicated, sometimes I'm really irritable. Sometimes I get tingly in my face and arms, sometimes in my thighs. Somtimes I get lethargic and start to think I need to correct a high, but check the bs and find out the high is BS. My most unusual symptom, which only occurs in the 20s, is a change in my vision. The first time it happened I was driving home from work, had run out of "glucose reserves", was broke and pretty close to home. I thought I was having a psychotic break. Everything I saw was framed like in a comic book. It was the craziest thing. I could look at anything I wanted to, but whatever it was would have a border around it (usu not a regular rectangle). I was finally able to park (in my lawn). Went inside the house, told my ladies I loved them and was going to miss them......at least I tried to. Couldn't talk straight, convey a message, nothing. I broke down, started crying, ran to my bedroom..... My wife grabbed some milk (the quickest cure for a low that I have experienced. Idk why).
Recovery generally feels like a 9V battery on my tongue, but all over my body.
The crazy thing is, they say fat slows down the absorption time. Whole milk is the only miilk I drink.....I can't stand "watermilk". Whole milk seems to give me the quickest recovery from a low, with the least pain. Maybe I'm just a freak.