[slipperyelm]

I've seen other people post here when they say they are having a hypo. Well I'm a bit hypo and am having one heck of a time posting. First couldn't remember my user name or password, then I've made about fifty mistakes in typing. At least I'm together enough to see the errors. But how do you folks do it-- post coherently while hypo?

I was going to respond to BlueMax's question about whether s/he might not really be type 2 diabetic, but in having m y log in troubles, I thought I might not be a responsible sort of person to respond.

Anyway, I stayed up late to exercise to get my BG down from 228, a number which I have not seen in ages. Actually rarely in 15 years have I seen a number like that. But I hgad eaten atrociously, including--oh my gosh, an unholy amount of Keebler Grasshopper mint & chocolate cookies. So I believed the meter. But I did not wash my hands before testing. I had washed my hands since eating the cookies, but not just prior to testing.

So I did my vigorous dancing for twenty minutes. waited 30 more minutes and tested again. Oh good grief, my BG was 73. No way could it have been 221, legitimately.

I know this post is babbling. You know what it is like. Just waiting for the potato to kick in. I don't even keep glucose tabs around since I started eating low carb (except fort those cookies, of course.)

Well I remain confused. This message has taken me a long time to write, what with my gazillion errors. And I'm hot and a bit shaky. Not too bad on that last one I guess. Okay, checked again, I'm at 70, but feels a tad lower. Darn I think I have to go eat some more and I have so over eaten today anyway. Hmm. I wonder if that pear over in the fruit bowl is ripe. Pear: fructose? Right? That hits the system just a little slower than glucose, right? But it would taste good.

Thanks for hanging with me. I sure do just want to go to bed (1:28 a.m. here) instead of eating and testing BG. 70 just isn't good for me after that exercise though.

[Scrabblechick]

Bless your heart! Hope you feel better this morning! Let us know.

[slipperyelm]

All is well, thank you. That was not too bad or too low. I just felt inordinately scrambled in my ability to think last night.

[xMenace]

Originally Posted by slipperyelm

But how do you folks do it-- post coherently while hypo?

I practice with copious amounts of alcoholic beverages

[Mich]

Hey Slipperyelm,

Not one of us who read that post wasn't

a. smiling
b. completely commiserating with you
c. going over your list of available food and deciding what we would have chosen.

I wouldn't be able to post if I were really hypo either. But if I tried, I would have sounded exactly like you
Mich

[Isometric]

Yeah, what Mich said - we'd all sound a bit silly if we just started typing in the middle of a hypo. I just had a weird "double" hypo the other night. I'd had a big dinner (with it's corresponding big shot) and gotten a little sleepy, so I dozed off for a while. I woke up kind of fuzzy, so it took me a minute to realize that the cold sweat feeling was probably a hypo. I bolted upright and asked my wife to get the tester and some juice. I tested at 36, less than two hours after that meal! Well, 45 minutes and probably 70 or 80 carbs later (with no added insulin), I got the sweats again, and tested at a 53! I had another one of my daughters juice boxes and ended up OK, but let me tell you - it's hard to form a thought, let alone a sentence at 36. I've had a friend around when low like that before, and I remember thinking one thing and saying something completely different to him. Weird stuff happens when your brain is deprived of sugar!

[Hammer]

Just curious Isometric, but what would have happened if you didn't take anything when you had a BG of 36? The reason I'm curious is because I live alone, and if I were to ever go hypo, I'd probably just say the heck with it and go back to sleep....if I could. I imagine there's a lot of shakiness when you go that low, so sleep might not be possible.

I would think that if you did nothing, your BG levels would eventually rise on their own, but never having been hypo, I don't know.

[Mich]

Hey Hammer,

One of the unfortunate things about being diabetic is that your days of unconcern are over. No more just rolling over and going back to sleep, particularly when you take insulin. It could end up costing you.

We've all learned to drag ourselves out of a sound sleep and test if we think we are low. (Most of us keep testing things and glucose tabs in the nightstand.) Then we have to do something to correct the low. Some of us can do this like we are sleepwalking, flopping back on the pillow afterward and being back asleep within a short time.

Just another of the delightful little life changes they don't mention when they diagnose you.

Mich

[Hammer]

Originally Posted by Mich

Hey Hammer,

One of the unfortunate things about being diabetic is that your days of unconcern are over. No more just rolling over and going back to sleep, particularly when you take insulin. It could end up costing you.

Mich

Yes, but that's what I'm curious about. You say that it could end up costing you, and I wondered how? What would happen if you did just roll over and went back to sleep? I thought that even if your BG was very low, that whatever you were taking that made it low would eventually wear off, and your BG levels would go back up, wouldn't they?

[Ronman]

I know just how you all are feeling. Years ago, when I was first diagnosed and put on medication, I had a hypo moment and I sent a e:mail to my entire company which is still talked about.

[Lulika]

Slipperyelm, I am glad you are fine now but its true, I did smile reading your post I have never had a hypo yet, but when and if I do, I will let you know first! Take care...xxxx

[Mich]

Well Slippery Elm and Lulika,

The lowest I can remember being was in the 20's and still headed downward. That was after my very first dose of Humalog and I didn't realize how very quickly it can work.

If that's how I feel in my 20's (sweaty, confused. blanking in and out, could barely remember how to eat glucose tabs and afterward, how long since I had eaten them...Yikes!) I never want to go lower than that.

There are people on this board who have ended up hospitalized for low blood sugar. Not a pleasant experience and one I try to avoid.
____________

This is from the Blue Cross/Blue Shield Page:
f your blood sugar continues to drop (below 40 mg/dL), your brain may receive too little sugar to work properly and your judgment and muscle coordination will be affected. These are symptoms of moderate low blood sugar. You may not realize your blood sugar is too low and you may not be aware that you need to eat food with sugar to raise the level. Someone else may have to help you eat or drink something to raise your blood sugar level. If you do not get help, you could get in an accident if you are driving a car or operating other machinery. If you are pregnant, low blood sugar can harm your baby.

If your blood sugar continues to drop (below 20 mg/dL), you can lose consciousness. If you do not receive prompt emergency care, you may have a stroke and possibly die. These are symptoms of severe low blood sugar. If you are pregnant and taking insulin, very low blood sugar levels are dangerous for your baby.
_________

So I've never wanted to chance it. Chances are you may have already used up all of the sugar your liver has stored...or not. Not worth the guess if you ask me. Treat it.

For me, 9 grams of carb raises my blood sugar about 50 points. If I were at 50, I'd eat two glucose tabs (8 grams) and see how it was going. If I tested and it was then 45, I'd eat another because my sugar was obviously on the way down. At 15 minutes (takes that long for the glucose to get to your blood) I'd test again. Either way, if I got that low I would probably have what we all fondly call a "liver dump" of glucose into my blood so I would test several times over the next two hours just to keep an eye on things.

MIch

[slipperyelm]

Oh, my! BGs of 36 and 20! Oh!

My lowest as a type 2 not on insulin was 43. That was while taking glipizide, one of those infamous sulfonylureas. Numb, "buzzy" lips, tongue that felt like somebody else's (!), felt like my eyeballs were drunk, visibly and internally shaky, sweating, hot, was hard to motivate myself to speak, wanted to just fall over and wilt. Don't know if I could even walk. But did not trust myself to try, as I would have had to climb stairs to get my glucose and meter. Fortunately, my husband was there and got those.

That time was bad because I just kept eating glucose and testing, eating glucose and testing. It started in the early evening and not until the wee hours of the morning could I finally go to sleep. At least I knew my pancreas still can really churn out its own insulin. Trouble is, it would not quit churning out the insulin that night. That was the last time I ever took that stupid glipizide. (Sorry: stupid FOR ME glipizide. It might be smart for others, but for me it was stupid.)

So, yeah, y'all please post when low. Should be amusing!