Ability to respond at 1.7

[mazea]

Can a diabetic stop being able to respond when their blood sugar is 1.7 (30.6)? I'm asking because someone told me that they had a hypo of 1.7 and couldn't speak or respond. When they had the hypo.vtheir relatives called an ambulance. I didn't realise blood glucose levels could do this at 1.7 and thought you would only stop responding at about 1. I thought I should find out so I can file this info away and be careful.

I've been 1.7 six times this year due to changing insulin to carb ratios(I have type 1.5), but have always been able to respond. So it scared me a bit to learn that at 1.7 you may not be able to respond.

[shiftzor]

We are all different and as glucose powers the brain with no reserves of its own different people will be impaired at different bg levels. I can handle myself (so far) at that level although usually doesn't involve much thinking other than gulp down glucose. Hope your friend is oki and takes it as a warning that he should improve his control. Low bgs should not be taken lightly.

[poodlebone]

Everyone reacts differently at different numbers. Some people would be unconscious at 1.7 (30) and others can continue doing their regular routine without even knowing they're low. Some people will become incoherent at a reading of 50 (2.7). If you're hypo unaware youi can usually function at very low levels. I'm not sure what my cutoff is. I've tested my BG at 23 and was able to treat myself and do what I had to do. I have passed out and had seizures but don't know at what level that happened.

[xMenace]

Ya, I believe so.

I wonder how your friend got tested if they were unresponsive. Most friends and relatives have no clue how to test someone. Even if tested, meter variances make a reading of 1.7 problematic. It could easily have been 1.5 or lower.

[BlueSky]

... I've been 1.7 six times this year due to changing insulin to carb ratios(I have type 1.5), but have always been able to respond. So it scared me a bit to learn that at 1.7 you may not be able to respond.
Whether you can respond doesn't only depend on the blood glucose level. It also depends on how quickly blood glucose has been dropping dropping. The faster the drop, the sooner those stress hormones are released. And the more likely it is that you will become incapacitated at relatively high high BG levels. I find that if I avoid sudden drops, I continue to function well even at very low levels.

[jenb]

Like Liz I've had a low of 25 and had no trouble responding. Didn't like it at all and felt awful for a while afterward. I surely wouldn't want to repeat the experience very often.

Jen

[zoelula]

I agree with the YMMV even for the same person. I had a couple 38/39's where I managed just fine, just felt kind of crappy. Then I had a fast drop to 39 where it took all my will to test and take glucose tabs. I was completely incapable of counting them or making sense of the clock. I was pretty close to losing consciousness. That scared me enough I never want to go back and got me over the strong denial I've had about diet.

[DeusXM]

Like everyone else said, it depends. I've been in a situation where I've tested, found I was at 1.8, walked two minutes to the end of the road where there was a shop and then managed to count out the right change to buy a bottle of Lucozade.

To be honest, I think the lessons to be borne in mind are that you shouldn't let your BG get that low in the first place (but hey, it does happen) and that if you're not getting hypo symptoms once you go below 4mmol/l, you need to start working on getting your awareness back.

As a quick question, does anyone else out there 'know' when they're going to go hypo even before they've reached the hypo point? Sometimes I can actually feel when my BG is dropping too quickly before it's hit a hypo level, which is a very useful sense to have!

[jenb]

As a quick question, does anyone else out there 'know' when they're going to go hypo even before they've reached the hypo point? Sometimes I can actually feel when my BG is dropping too quickly before it's hit a hypo level, which is a very useful sense to have!

Yes - I get a weird "fluttery" feeling in my stomach when I'm headed into the 50s. It's a great little alarm :T.

Jen

[GeishaGirl]

My mom was at 19 (1.0) and fully responsive (if really really irritable). I think that was when she punched the ER doc who tried to give her a glucose injection.... we still rib her about that one.

[zelack]

I've never passed out but I've had a few scary ones--not always dependent on the number. Once last year I was in the fifties and was almost hallucinating--my friends had to spoon maple syrup into my mouth and I was laughing and crying and trying to rip my clothes off (not drugs obviously--I was freaked out because I had that tingly skin feeling, like it was crawling off). But last night, I woke up at 3 AM to a reading of 32, felt shaky and sweaty but otherwise fine; I drank some juice and played Mario Brothers for an hour on the Wii. So, as I've learned, it vastly depends.

[Olidus]

Hard to add anything to this response as everyone has pretty much covered it all.
I like to use the word "LOOPY", when I get low that is how I get. I can talk, but not always make sense. I know when I get low as I start to shake, and if really low in the 1's I start to see stars.
Lets also keep in mind that when we test our meters are not 100% but more of a ballpark figure.

[mmissanne]

Everyone reacts differently at different numbers. Some people would be unconscious at 1.7 (30) and others can continue doing their regular routine without even knowing they're low. Some people will become incoherent at a reading of 50 (2.7). If you're hypo unaware youi can usually function at very low levels. I'm not sure what my cutoff is. I've tested my BG at 23 and was able to treat myself and do what I had to do. I have passed out and had seizures but don't know at what level that happened.

Hi poodlebone; How are you converting a BG reading of 50 to a decimal of (2.7)?

[CountYourselfIn]

I had a 1.9 once. I was up and walking around, but fading extremely fast. In about 5min I went from just sorta sleepy to gushing sweat from every pore in my head, to shouting when I talked, and everything being super far away.

Managed to get some Dex 4 glucose drinks before losing motor skills.

I'd say it's reasonable to assume that the severity of the symptoms depends on how rapid the onset of the hypo - IE someone who'd been gradually dropping over a longer period vs someone who took a bad shot of insulin intravenously (by mistake, of course) and dropped immediately vs how much and how fast that person can compensate w/ glucagon.

I'm still pretty new to diabetes. Just putting it out there. :confused:

[zoelula]

To convert from one type of reading to another divide (or multiply) by 18.

[shiftzor]

There is a converter on this forum in the site navigation menu on the right hand side click converters under new posts, there lies is a Blood Glucose Unit Converter. The two standards are mmol/L used by Europeans and Canadians etc and then there is mg/dl which is used by the Americans, i.e. 5.5 mmol/L = 101 mg/dl.

[Lizzie G]

Yes - I get a weird "fluttery" feeling in my stomach when I'm headed into the 50s. It's a great little alarm :T.

Jen


i can feel the drop more than the low itself; for instance last night my BG was 5.3, which is a nice steady level, or should be, but i just became aware that i was dropping, sure enough my IOB was 0.67 units, enough to have taken me right down to around 2.0 if i hadnt taken action.

[techgirl2000]

Lowest I've ever experienced was 1.6 mmol/l.

Today, I was @ 1.7 mmol/l. Honestly I didn't bothered to ask anyone for help. I just went straight to the kitchen and made a cuppa slightly diluted hot chocolate drink. Obviously the drink wasn't enough. Was still prespiring when I decided to eat 2 plain buns and rest (with my head) on the dining table waiting to recover. After about 10 - 15 mins, I was ok :P

[gigiwong]

I've been as low as 1.2-1.5mmol/L for a few times and I'm still be able to response, at least once I was low and I could still walk for 15 min around the corner to buy a very nice icecream sundae :D

I never go unconsious before, but I think you can feel how long you can stand for~ It can't be feeling nothing and suddenly falling down, I imagine.....

[bellicosejason]

My friend's father had a hypo reading of 22 and was still responsive. His speech was slurred but he could still speak. As a few others have said, I imagine it's different with everyone. Like when I get down in the 70's I start feeling really bad but others may feel fine in that range.

[mmissanne]

Thanks for the conversion method

[Jan B]

I have tested in the 20s (1.11 - 1.61) several times, and was able to carry on. The lowest I've tested was 19 (1.06), and that was soon after some OJ; I had almost lost consciouness (the only time I've ever felt myself slipping away), and was curious and tested.

[ccryder19]

I have never seen anything lower than 32 on my meter but, I know I have been lower than that at some point in my 15 years with diabetes. I have never passed out and have always been able to treat myself.

If one's average glucose is in the normal range most of the time versus a high range then a low is not felt as quickly as someone who has higher glucose averages. It is as if the body gets used to feeling 200 and then when you hit a 60 you really feel the low.

A doctor told me that the smaller the person, the less they would feel a low blood sugar. It makes some sense to me. I was diagnosed at 11 years old and remember feeling low at 45 and later at 60. Right now that I've gained weight due to being pregnant with twins, I feel low at 70. I don't know, could be why?

[OctShadowz]

It really just depends on the sensitivity on how each person responds to a low. I have been to 25 when i was younger and acted just normal and fine. I have also been at 60 and was completely out of it that i was unconscience. It just depends on each person