[Beckernj]

ello everyone. I thought we could use a thread for people wanting to know what it feels for others to have a low BG.

For me around 70 my hands start shacking a little more then usual, then around 60 I get really hungry. Then at around 55 I feel it coming because I feel increasingly violent like I want to rage scream or punch a wall or something. The lowest I got was 40 and when it hit that point I couldn't move a whole lot. Had to sit in the futon while my room-mate ran to the vending machine to get me a soda. I felt incredibly numb, and felt like my head was floating in the air lol.

So what are your guys' feelings of a low?

[Timmy Mac]

for me i start to feel a little weak and tired around 60
-start to get a little shaky around 55
-start sweating and get really shaky in the 40s
-huge adrenaline rush once i get into the 30s (i think its my body saying, must... not... passout...)
-basically turn into a half conscious zombie in the (rare) occasions that im below 25
-never been much below that and i really don't feel like going through it

[poodlebone]

I no longer have signs. Sometimes if my BG has dropped very fast (always during/after exercise) I feel very weak/tired and feel like crying. For a normal low, like taking too much insulin for a meal, I feel nothing. If my BG drops overnight, I don't feel it. It has to be a very fast drop while I'm doing some kind of activity.

[jenb]

I get butterflies in my stomach when I go below about 60. Into the 40's I also get very impatient and develop "OCD" - I have to do tasks repeatedly to be sure I've done them right. At some point in this behavior pattern I recognize that I should check my blood sugar. A glucose tab or two and I'm back to normal.

Jen

[jillrapp]

My first signs used to be "brain tinglies" where my scalp felt like pins and needles -like when your hand falls asleep. Now I don't ever feel that but I tend to drop fast if I'm having a low. Light headed around 70 - nauseaus around 60, dumb/stupid around 50, totally incapacitated at 23 - where I could not take the cap off of a bottle, could not walk, felt killer drunk without any of the good feelings.

[Delphinus]

Sweating, mumbling, and not steady on my feet...

[sarahspins]

My typical hypo symptoms are numbness, fatique, and lack of concentration and rational thinking (basically my brain doesn't want to work, I can't focus on anything, or make appropriate choices).. which is scary since those aren't always easy to spot. I don't get shaky until I'm VERY low, like the low 30's.

[misha09]

I really don't feel any warning signs anymore. If it drops slowly then I will get confused, can't focus, can't read if I don't catch it right then and there it's too late. There is a very small window of opportunity for me. If it's fast or in the middle of night it will get very low and I will never recognize the symptoms.(confusion, sweats mostly) I think by the time I start to feel any physical signs my mind has gone and I don't recognize the few symptoms I may be having. My husband can always tell, though. That's why I test, test, test!

[GeishaGirl]

Mostly I get the shakes. That's how I tell now -- if I feel shaky at all, I hold out my hands to check. If my fingers are trembling, I treat. If not, I leave it alone.

Of course, I test also. But without my tester (like today the grocery store) this is my gauge.

[xMenace]

Mostly I get no more symptoms until I'm in the low 2's (40-50)

tiredness
mumbling
confusion - stupidness
wobbliness
emptiness in my gut
numb lips
and most importantly a low reading on my meter!

[Jabra1871]

A lot of you are saying you don't get warnings any more. So does that mean you used to get all the usual warning signs, but now you don't get any? I didn't realise that over time you stop getting warning signs. Does this happen to everyone, or just some people?

[poodlebone]

Originally Posted by Jabra1871

A lot of you are saying you don't get warnings any more. So does that mean you used to get all the usual warning signs, but now you don't get any? I didn't realise that over time you stop getting warning signs. Does this happen to everyone, or just some people?

I used to have all of the classic symptoms. Sweating, shaking, panic, unsteady on my feet. As I moved away from 2 shots a day to MDI and tried to get tighter control I had more lows. Over time my warning signs became much more subtle. Blurry vision was my main symptom for awhile. When I found myself squinting at a book or computer monitor I knew I was low. By that point it would sometimes take me awhile to realize it because my brain was already very fuzzy. There was also a point in time when my mouth/lips would feel numb. As my body got used to lower numbers I lost even those signs. I'd be doing something, functioning as usual, and then I'd wake up surrounded by EMTs. That was if I was out - at home I'd just eventually wake up in bed having a seizure.

Some people blame the use of human insulins on their unawareness. For me I think it was just having way too many lows on MDI and my body go so used to those low numbers. I guess the key is to avoid hypos whenever possible.

I'm now pumping and every so often if my BG drops very fast when I'm exercising or active I can tell something is wrong. MY legs will feel either very heavy, or very light. It's odd how it can be one extreme or the other. Both make me feel clumsy, as if I'm going to fall. I will also sweat with a very fast drop.

[acstokes]

At about 70, I start to feel weak and light-headed. Usually, at around 40, I'll wake up if I'm sleeping and can hardly make it to the bathroom to take glucose tablets (3 tabs, then wait 15 minutes and recheck my BG). Recently, I awoke (fortunately) with a BG of 26! My vision was blurred, I felt like I was in another world, I thought I was dreaming, and could hardly make it to the bathroom. I think I went to bed with a too low BG. I'm being extremely careful now and make sure my BG is at least 90 before I go to bed.

Fred

[KCP]

I usually get cold sweats, then jumbled brain, and nausea. THen i have difficulty holding a conversation..

[poodlebone]

Originally Posted by acstokes

At about 70, I start to feel weak and light-headed. Usually, at around 40, I'll wake up if I'm sleeping and can hardly make it to the bathroom to take glucose tablets (3 tabs, then wait 15 minutes and recheck my BG). Recently, I awoke (fortunately) with a BG of 26! My vision was blurred, I felt like I was in another world, I thought I was dreaming, and could hardly make it to the bathroom. I think I went to bed with a too low BG. I'm being extremely careful now and make sure my BG is at least 90 before I go to bed.

Fred

Why are the glucose tablets in the bathroom and not right by your bed? I keep a bottle of tablets as well as 2 mini juice boxes on the table by my bed. The low itself doesn't wake me up but eventually my CGMS alarm does. It's so much easier having the treatment right there rather than having to get up and retrieve it from another room.