Have you ever seen the video that went viral on Fb wherein 4 wonderful girls with sort 1 diabetes speak about what hypoglycemia (low blood sugar) looks like?
I really like this video, and it impressed me to consider what a low blood sugar looks like for me and to place it into phrases on this publish. I feel that is notably helpful for family and friends who might not know or perceive what it’s like.
Please watch the video and think about sharing this text along with your family members in case you assume it helps clarify how you’re feeling when your blood sugar is low.
What does low blood sugar really feel like?
Attempting to elucidate a sense is all the time exhausting, and attempting to elucidate one thing as distinctive as the sensation of low blood sugar is even more durable.
The bodily points of a low are simpler to explain, so let’s begin with these.
I nearly all the time really feel the indicators of a low blood sugar earlier than it turns into important. I’ll really feel it when my blood sugar is round 60 mg/dL (3.3 mmol/L).
(Hypoglycemia is usually formally outlined as a glucose degree at or under 70 mg/dL. Nevertheless, signs seem at totally different ranges in numerous individuals.)
Gentle low blood sugar signs
I’ll begin shaking just a little, my cognitive perform goes out the window, I get weak, and I usually begin sweating. These are among the many most typical gentle low blood sugar signs, which might embody:
- Weak point
- Sweating
- Starvation
- Tiredness
- Dizziness
- Lightheadedness
- Temper swings (corresponding to nervousness or worry)
A half-cup of juice or some glucose tablets will normally get me again to regular fairly rapidly, and I’ll transfer on with my day. (Observe the directions in your glucose tablets to find out what number of to take, and study extra about treating hypoglycemia in Find out how to Deal with Lows as Shortly as Attainable.)
Reasonable to extreme low blood sugar signs
However after I don’t catch my signs earlier than they get extreme and my sugars dip decrease, that’s an entire different story. Signs of average or extreme hypoglycemia can embody:
- Nausea
- Abdomen ache
- Nightmares
- Abnormally quick or sluggish heartbeat
- Confusion
- Blurry imaginative and prescient
- Vomiting
- Impaired cognitive perform (psychological talents)
- Fainting
- Seizures
- Coma and even dying
I not often expertise extra vital episodes of hypoglycemia in the course of the day as a result of I can catch it earlier than it will get to this stage, however it’s going to generally occur in my sleep.
Nighttime hypoglycemia
I’ll get up in the course of the night time and comprehend it’s unhealthy if I’ve had a “stress dream” (for instance, issues will transfer excessively quick within the dream or I’ll be caught in a loop of some kind) or a nightmare, and I’m sweating profusely and shaking.
After which there’s the sensation — it’s an urge, an nearly primal have to eat. I’ll stand within the kitchen, drenched and shaking, with all of my instincts screaming “feed me!”
It is sensible. At this level, my mind isn’t getting sufficient glucose to perform because it ought to, so the instincts take over to ensure that me to not die.
It’s, to place it mildly, extraordinarily uncomfortable. And in case you don’t have a plan in place, a method for what to do throughout lows, you’ll rapidly have emptied the fridge and cupboards and eaten something you may get your fingers on.
The traditional indicators that inform you to cease consuming are merely placed on standby when your blood sugar is low.
I’ve written a whole publish about how I deal with lows at night time, and I all the time attempt to comply with that technique. And no, this method doesn’t all the time work (and what works for one particular person might not essentially work for one more).
For those who aren’t experiencing signs of low blood sugar, study extra in Hypoglycemia Unawareness.
Find out how to keep away from low blood sugar
For some individuals, lows could be very scary, however I’ve by no means handed out from a low or had a seizure, so lows don’t scare me as such. However I’ll nonetheless do all the pieces I can to keep away from them.
In reality, I not often have lows, and I feel there are a number of causes for that. Most significantly, I put on a steady glucose monitor (CGM). Since my CGM warns me earlier than I’m going low, I could be proactive and stop it from occurring within the first place.
The CGM alarm for lows could be particularly useful in the course of the night time, since they wake me up after I’m sleeping and would possibly in any other case not concentrate on the growing low.
I additionally manually test my blood sugar ranges incessantly and have spent a number of time determining my insulin wants for various instances of day, varieties of train, and sorts of meals.
This didn’t occur in a single day, however I’m pleased to say that for me, low blood sugars at the moment are rare and barely extreme.
Remaining ideas
All of us expertise lows otherwise, however I feel anyone who has ever skilled what low blood sugar looks like will agree that it’s past uncomfortable.
So, subsequent time one among your family members asks, “How do you’re feeling when your sugar is low?” think about displaying them this text and video.
It’s not possible to totally perceive you probably have by no means had a low your self, however this could at the least give them some understanding of what you’re going via.
Steered subsequent publish: What Ranges of Blood Sugar Are Harmful?
