Severe hypoglycemia?

[Orion]

Haven't been on the forums for a while but suffered an odd experience recently. FYI still fairly new with this T1 thing. A few days ago I finished work and started feeling a bit light headed. I got home ok but immediately I began to feel extremely confused, nervous, and my heart was palpitating. Worse of all it felt like I was losing my mind! In this state the thought entered my mind that maybe my bs were low. It was strange though, it felt like I wasn't really under complete control of myself. I ended up blacking out on the couch and when I woke up it was 3am in the morning :eek: Thankfully I came to and felt fine. I immediately checked my sugars and they were well within normal ranges. So what happened? I mean usually low bs symptoms come on gradually and I have time to counteract them while still in control of my faculties. This time was different though, much more severe... it's something I don't want to experience again. I didn't miss any meals or take any extra insulin either that day (well except for supper when I was completely passed out.)

[zookeeper671]

Orion~ Geeze... sorry you went through that. I guess a positive element of your experience is knowing what a rapid hypo feels like and what quickly needs to be done to fix it. What's your remedy of choice? Glucose tabs? Soda? I usually carry glucose tabs with me at all times.

I've had hypos come on both slowly and fast-as-****. The fast ones are definitely freaky. You're fortunate to have woken up feeling "fine" hours after the episode. When I pass out, I don't usually wake up... so I do my best to avoid it. Most of the time I'm successful. :whistling

How long has it been since your diagnosis? Also, http://pages.prodigy.net/indianahawkeye/newpage12/17.gif if I haven't already said so. :)

[am1977]

Orion,

Wow, that sounds like it must have been a little frightening. :eek: My guess is that it was low blood sugar that caused that whole episode. Those symptoms sound almost exactly like the symptoms of hypoglycemia. Were you particularly more active or busy at work yesterday? B/c being more active can cause your sugar levels to drop....just a thought. Also, when you came home and were experiencing those symptoms...did you eat anything? Anytime you feel like that, it's always a good idea to eat something just in case, b/c the next time it happens and your blood sugar drops like that you might not wake up. So please be careful. It's a wise idea to always have some kind of food w/ you in case something like this happens agaiin.

Take care :)

[buzzborne]

Were you particularly more active or busy at work yesterday? B/c being more active can cause your sugar levels to drop....just a thought.

When I read your post, I thought exactly the same thing, if you were more active than usual it can cause hypos... sometime severe ones like you described. Sometimes when I was at school and I had been doing more exercise or just more active in general I would find that I had a delayed hypo, luckily signs would always appear for me, even if it was during the night I would wake up.

As am1977 also said, did you have anything to eat when you first had the symptoms? Even if your not sure its worth having something just in case so it doesnt get worse.

Sorry that you experienced this, and hope that it doesnt happen again!

All the best.

[gettingby]

I know where you are coming from Orion. I had the same thing happen to me at work on Monday. I didn't pass out but it was close. Scared everybody half to death tho. Also, it came on so quickly that I didn't realize it was happening. Boy, everyone got a lesson that day on what to do. I didn't want to go back to work yesterday but a friend helped me to see that I really shouldn't be embarrassed. :D

[archimeech]

I've had that happen to me quite a few times. Had a really bad episode right after starting on my pump. I awoke to 2 EMTs working over me to get my sugar back up. Luckily I was at work and they called 911. I have had those symptoms sometimes without having low sugar. Don't know why, but it happens. Sometimes anxiety or panic attacks can bring on the same kind of symptoms. Wether I think it's high or low, the first thing I do is quickly down a glass of Orange Juice. I then check my sugar, if it's high, then I take more insulin to bring it down, but if it's low I've all ready begun the process of bringing it back up. Highs are easier to deal with, lows are very, very deadly. Most people have to go really, really high not to be able to deal with the situation, but that low is just around the corner if you're dropping. Be careful.

[HeatherP]

Sorry to hear you went through that Orion. Scary stuff, eh? I've never passed out, but I have quite a few episodes a couple of years ago. The first time it happened, it was a normal day. I felt a little low so I ck'd my b/s level. It read 66. Okay, so it needs to be treated but it's certainly not an emergency. I was standing at the kitchen counter drinking some juice when my husband came into the room. I guess he must have seen something that looked odd because he came over to see if I was okay. I wasn't. I'd crashed. I couldn't answer his question, I couldn't think of anything, I didn't recognize where I was, I couldn't focus my vision, I had all this background noise and I couldn't make sense of any of it. He sat me down and started pouring juice in me - apparently I was babbling all kinds of nonsence. He called 911 - by the time the ambulance got there I was doing better. They looked me over and gave me some sort of dextrose drink. My reading on my meter was 68 at that point. We didn't test my sugar during the incident as we were busy getting juice in me.

Be very careful. You could try testing more often, and remember that if you feel low, but can't ck for sure, treat it and ck as soon as you can afterwards. It'll be easier to get your b/s down later than for you to pass out. Keep a glucagon kit with you too, just in case.

Hope it doesn't happen again,
HeatherP

[lgvincent]

You need to be careful any time you feel strange. I've found it's better to check it and be sure than to do nothing. It's always best to check your blood sugar before driving, too. I know from experience the pain in not doing so.

[nantomsuethom]

Orion, I am glad everything turned out fine.

Thomas had a bg of 45 yesterday. He goes really low if he doesn't disconnect his pump when he is very active.

[archimeech]

Orion, I am glad everything turned out fine.

Thomas had a bg of 45 yesterday. He goes really low if he doesn't disconnect his pump when he is very active.


Yes, you must be careful. All lows are not the same. During my first year as a T1, I had a bg reading of 17. I was walking, talking, fully coherent. You need to be more aware of yourself.

[gettingby]

Orion, this may be a stupid question but Do you live alone? If you do, then HeatherP's suggestion about checking more often would help alot.
Meech, I know how ya feel buddy. EMT's, been there, done that, don't want to ever again(even though one of them was a hottie, lol).
lg, :topic: Love your signature. I haven't thought about that since I was a youngun. LOL

[rzrbks]

Dude

you've got to learn to "Feel" where you are and pay attention to anything that is abnormal.

When the abnormalities appear, check your B/G and take appropriate actions. It's much better to over-use your meter and always be in the safe range. :thumbsup:

[Dewey]

Hi Orion, and welcome to the forums. I'm really sorry you had such a bad episode, :( and I agree that it definitely sounded like a hypo. Sometimes, the liver will kick in and help to bring the body's sugar level back up to par (but it's not good on the system). If you didn't eat, that may have been what happened. If you do live alone, and happen to feel any of those symptoms, it may be best to just eat something first, then test later. It's far easier to treat a slight high than a low, especially when lows can happen so fast like that. Glad to hear you're alright and hope to see ya around more. :thumbsup:

[Dobson]

I've never passed out, but I have felt really, really weird before. The worst instance was about a month or so ago. I was working a school project, and was up at 4:30 am. Since I had been sitting down the whole time, I hadn't noticed anything. Earlier that night. I took some insulin to correct a high blood sugar. It must have been too much. I thought my head was going to float away, and I struggled to walk downstairs to get something to eat. Yes, I was so out of my mind that I got a cereal bar instead of a glass of juice to fix it... that was stupid. It was a mix of severe fatigue/low blood sugar... not a good combination.

[Orion]

Thanks to all for the kind words and encouragement! :) It was a scary experience but good to know there's a great knowledgable support group here. Personally I don't know anyone locally that's diabetic I can talk to. I've been T1 for almost a couple of years now. The diagnosis was really hard for me to take. No family history or warnings whatsoever and my entire life changed overnight. I'm trying to think back and maybe figure out what caused my episode but I cannot seem to pinpoint it. It was just another day at work and no more active than usual. I took my regular hits of NPH/Rapid insulin, and ate my meals. I do find that sometimes my bs will vary by quite a large margin for unknown reasons. Normally when my numbers are low I'll consume candies, dextrosol and juice. Usually I start feelling a bit shaky and that's my warning sign to take in some sugar. There was no such warning prior to my passing out that day. The feeling of utter confusion and panic prevented me from eating anything or checking my bs. That's a good suggestion, checking the numbers more often.

[archimeech]

Dude

you've got to learn to "Feel" where you are and pay attention to anything that is abnormal.

When the abnormalities appear, check your B/G and take appropriate actions. It's much better to over-use your meter and always be in the safe range. :thumbsup:

Unfortunately, later on in life the "feelings" of low blood sugar go away. When I was first diagnosed, I knew when my sugar got down to 70 or 80 without question. Last night, around 9pm I was feeling just fine. I had a little bit of a headache so I checked my sugar. It was 48.

It is good to pay attention to how you feel, but don't and I repeat, DON"T, rely on feelings only. You gotta check, brother! Plain and simple.

[mark-TN]

Orion-

Low sugars can be a very scary experience and I know I have been through to many to count over the years. The important thing in order to obtain the best control possible is to correct the problem(s) that are causing the low first. This can only be done by looking at patterns on an accurate and complete glucose chart. Our insulin requirements are changing all the time. With you having this dx for less than two years your insulin doses will change a good bit. Another problem is that NPH can be very unpredictable. If you are taking injections of NPH greater than 7 units its absorption can vary a great deal from day to day. For those with NPH doses (or any long acting insulin, ie Lantus, Lente or UltraLente) greater than 7 units at I time I have heard of people taking multiple injections of there insulin in increments of 7 units or less. Say your dose is 20 units NPH at night. They would take 3 different injections of 7,7, and 6 units at the same time using the same syringe in 3 different injection sites. This will make your absorption much more consistent and efficient and most likely will require less of an overall dose. I would highly recommend you doing this with the help of an endo or CDE. This is a little drastic, but it does make the absorption more consistent from day to day. That way you can see patterns in your blood glucose log that are more meaningful to use to adjust your insulin doses correctly. If it is an option I would talk to your Dr. about switching to a more peak less insulin such as UltraLente or Lantus. You will still have absorption problems with doses over 7 units so even for these insulin’s the best way to see consistent patterns is with splitting the dose as described above. By the way this absorption problem also holds true for injections of fast acting or Rapid acting insulin as well.

Mark