How often do you have lows where you need help?

silverbullet · #1 (**permalink**) 05-06-2006, 06:50 AM

Just wanted to say thank you for all of the info so far. I made an appointment with a new endo but most wait until July to see them. So I want as much info as I can get.
I have been Type 1 since Feb 92. Never needed help with a low until 12/05 and again 4/06. Scared the **** out of me cause nothing different in meds or diet. Wondering what experiences you all have had.
A1C 3/06 7.3

psilocybin · #2 (**permalink**) 05-06-2006, 07:57 AM

uhm...needed medical attention once...passed out twice. second time was just after eating a bottle of glucose tabs so i woke up after they kicked in

Funnygrl · #3 (**permalink**) 05-06-2006, 08:11 AM

I average about twice a year for a low someone else needs to help me out of.

spike · #4 (**permalink**) 05-06-2006, 09:30 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by silverbullet

Just wanted to say thank you for all of the info so far. I made an appointment with a new endo but most wait until July to see them. So I want as much info as I can get.
I have been Type 1 since Feb 92. Never needed help with a low until 12/05 and again 4/06. Scared the **** out of me cause nothing different in meds or diet. Wondering what experiences you all have had.
A1C 3/06 7.3

I was 47 a few minutes ago. took a few glucotabs and am now sitting at the PC until it recovers enough for me to resume working. Since I began pumping I've gotten low plenty of times, but maybe only a handful of times have I asked my wife to go into the kitchen to get me something. Before I began pumping, I needed assistance, esp at night because I'd be less than 35. I would be so low I could barely get my jaw to work to chew. Thankfully, those days are behind me. and no more Glucagon injections, either.

poodlebone · #5 (**permalink**) 05-06-2006, 09:51 AM

I never really needed much help for a low for the first 12 years or so. Probably because much of that time I was so out of control and running high anyway. It was only after I became hypo unaware that I needed help. I live alone and unfortunately, my first really bad low (seizures) happened at home, alone. I've had several episodes like that over the past 5 years or so and luckily my body eventually helped me out enough so I could move and get some sugar.

At work I've passed out maybe 4-5 times, requiring a 911 call. Only once was I taken to the ER and the other times they brought me out of it at work. A couple years ago I passed out at my sister's house during a party for my niece. One time I accompanied my mother to her eye doctor appointment for a procedure she was having, and passed out there. My sister has gotten food/soda into me several times when I was with her and barely conscious.

I've been pumping for a year now (5/16 is my 1st year anniversary) and have not needed any help at all this past year. After the previous 6 years of hypo ****, this last one has been a breeze.

spike · #6 (**permalink**) 05-06-2006, 09:57 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by poodlebone

I never really needed much help for a low for the first 12 years or so. Probably because much of that time I was so out of control and running high anyway. It was only after I became hypo unaware that I needed help. I live alone and unfortunately, my first really bad low (seizures) happened at home, alone. I've had several episodes like that over the past 5 years or so and luckily my body eventually helped me out enough so I could move and get some sugar.

At work I've passed out maybe 4-5 times, requiring a 911 call. Only once was I taken to the ER and the other times they brought me out of it at work. A couple years ago I passed out at my sister's house during a party for my niece. One time I accompanied my mother to her eye doctor appointment for a procedure she was having, and passed out there. My sister has gotten food/soda into me several times when I was with her and barely conscious.

I've been pumping for a year now (5/16 is my 1st year anniversary) and have not needed any help at all this past year. After the previous 6 years of hypo ****, this last one has been a breeze.

I've never lost consciousness yet, and it's a good thing--in CA, if a physician documents a lapse in consciousness, the DMV pulls the patient's drivers license.

notme · #7 (**permalink**) 05-06-2006, 10:06 AM

I hear you Spike, they must have scared the lows out of us. I also live in CA and luckily in the 20 years I have had diabetes, I have always been able to help myself during lows. I have many.....more than I can count. There have been a few times in the middle of the night that I have woken my husband up and have him get me something. Other than sending someone for food, I have never needed medical attention for a low.

Cinnabon · #8 (**permalink**) 05-06-2006, 10:27 AM

In my whole Diabetic life I must say 4-5 times, where I have passed out. Never taken to an ER for anything that has to do w/ DIabetes. Other than that, its been as much as "hand me the Coke, please" Especially tith the pump, much less lows.

spike · #9 (**permalink**) 05-06-2006, 12:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by notme

I hear you Spike, they must have scared the lows out of us. I also live in CA and luckily in the 20 years I have had diabetes, I have always been able to help myself during lows. I have many.....more than I can count. There have been a few times in the middle of the night that I have woken my husband up and have him get me something. Other than sending someone for food, I have never needed medical attention for a low.

If I don't get hypo a few times a day, I figure I'm not riding my bg's hard enough! While my wife sleeps, I fend for myself 99.99% of the time, when low at night.

JediSkipdogg · #10 (**permalink**) 05-06-2006, 01:17 PM

Since I've been on a pump, never. Prior to pump days, at least once a year, if not upwards of 3-4 times a year. And guess what....it was all on NPH and DURING THE PEAK.

poodlebone · #11 (**permalink**) 05-06-2006, 01:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JediSkipdogg

Since I've been on a pump, never. Prior to pump days, at least once a year, if not upwards of 3-4 times a year. And guess what....it was all on NPH and DURING THE PEAK.

Mine, too. The thing is, the peak could sometimes shift. Usually with me it was about 5 hours after injection, but could be 6-8 hours. Mid-late afternoons sucked on NPH, as did early morning.

poodlebone · #12 (**permalink**) 05-06-2006, 01:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by spike

I've never lost consciousness yet, and it's a good thing--in CA, if a physician documents a lapse in consciousness, the DMV pulls the patient's drivers license.

I've heard that some states are really hard on diabetics. I don't even have a license, so I'm not too worried about it.

Would the DMV penalize you even if you weren't driving at the time? And what ever happened to keeping a patient's records confidential?!

JediSkipdogg · #13 (**permalink**) 05-06-2006, 02:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by poodlebone

Mine, too. The thing is, the peak could sometimes shift. Usually with me it was about 5 hours after injection, but could be 6-8 hours. Mid-late afternoons sucked on NPH, as did early morning.

Same here, my peak was unexpected all the time. I even got to the point in high school where I'd eat a snack at a set time to control the peak. That lasted about 3 months then the peak shifted to about 15 minutes before the snack and I'd have the problems then. I think in high school I got maybe 3 ambulance rides out of it where the nurse's office couldn't control it.

Quote:

Originally Posted by poodlebone

I've heard that some states are really hard on diabetics. I don't even have a license, so I'm not too worried about it.

Would the DMV penalize you even if you weren't driving at the time? And what ever happened to keeping a patient's records confidential?!

Nothing is confidential anymore. Here in Ohio we don't have the restriction, but anyone can pull a police run and find out that you were sitting at Bob Evans and lost conciousness, and that's not confidential. We do have a form though that anyone in the general public can fill out, it requires two public signatures and two police signatures, or just three police signatures total it will suspend anyone's license. Most don't know the form exists since it can only be obtained at police stations and most stations don't have them. And the DMV can penalize one even if not driving. I forget the term they use for it, but the theory is it "could" happen while driving, so let's prevent it before it does.

spike · #14 (**permalink**) 05-06-2006, 07:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by poodlebone

I've heard that some states are really hard on diabetics. I don't even have a license, so I'm not too worried about it.

Would the DMV penalize you even if you weren't driving at the time? And what ever happened to keeping a patient's records confidential?!

doesn't mattter where you were. it's a matter of physical problems that the DMV is concerned about--not WHERE they first occured.

jeggeman31 · #15 (**permalink**) 05-06-2006, 09:25 PM

I have never had a low that required help that I can remember. I have been in the 30's before, but always able to bring my self out of it. However I have been low before, and not remember it and the wife and I wake up in the morning go down stairs and see all the snacks in the house gone, and the empty wrappers on the kitchen counter.