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Bad low - unusual symptoms?

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WhimsicalWays

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Hi there,

I am new to the forum, and very happy to have found it! I have had Type 1 diabetes for about 15 years (I am a 25 year old female) and generally have pretty good control over my blood sugar. I had quite a bad hypoglycemic episode today (with some symptoms I do not usually get, and that concerned me) and wanted some feedback.

Basically I realized that I was low and left a store that I was in to test my blood sugar. I was 2.6 (Canadian here, can ya tell?) and so I had about half a granola bar and some candies. I was definitely 'out of it' - very dizzy, disoriented, some blurring of my vision, but did know what was going on. However, even after eating and waiting for probably 5 mins to come back up, I think I must of plummeted because apparently (my sister was with me, thank goodness!) I started doing really weird movements. I was jerking my head and arms around. My sister gave me some orange juice and tried to calm me down. The physical 'acting out' did not last very long, and after probably 20 minutes I was close to normal. Surprisingly, after a whole granola bar, 4 candies, and 1/2 cup orange juice (normally way more than I'd normally have) I was only 4.4.

Anyway, I just wonder if anything similar has happened to anyone else? I have been combative probably twice before in my life (ie: I was VERY low, and when someone tried to hold on to me to force me to eat, I hit them! I have no recollection of these two incidents). But I guess I am worried about this one because I thought I had it under control. Any explanation why I would suddenly start to 'act out' physically? Are such random, jerky movements a symptom normally experienced by Type 1 diabetics?

Sorry for the long post, but I was just left feeling 1) embarrassed, 2) out of control, and 3) confused. Any feedback would be wonderful! Thank you!
 
VERY low BG can cause fitting
What was your level?
Have you heard of the 15 rule?
If hypo, take 15g pure glucose( glucotabs) and wait 15 minutes. Test BG and if still too low do it again. Glucotabs are the most controlable hypo cure. wih most other things, there's a danger of going too far the other way and setting up a pendulum for the rest of the day.
 
Thanks, hanadr, for taking the time to respond. My blood sugar was 2.6 which, normally, I'm still fairly functional and can handle pretty easily. I have heard of the 15 rule, but thank you. Happily, I i did not spike later in the day (which I was actually surprised about). Do people normally 'fit' at 2.6? I just found it so peculiar that I was (while quite disoriented) talking/eating, and then suddenly started to jerk around a bit (only for a couple of minutes but still...).

Thanks, again, for your response!
 
Low blood sugar can cause many different reactions in different people. I am a nurse, working with diabetics for several years and have seen random, jerky movements in some patients. This may be normal for you with a very low blood sugar. In the US, blood sugar ranges are 70mg/dl to 110 mg/dl of blood milligrams per deciliter of blood. Not sure what normal ranges for Canada are, or what 2.6 means. What are normal blood sugar ranges for people in Canada and the UK and how are these measured?
 
This is the dumb nurse that asked the dumb question about what Canada and UK blood glucose ranges are. Should have looked at the whole site as there is a converter listed on the home page. Duh.
 
Hi Faithfully,

I really appreciate you sharing feedback and your expertise. It's good to hear that you have seen movements such as those I described - because it is fairly unusual for me, it was a little scary.

Truthfully, I hadn't' noticed the converter either so thanks for pointing it out. As you've probably gathered now, my blood sugar at the time was 46.8.

Thanks, again, for taking the time to share some of your insight!
 
faithfully300144 said:
This is the dumb nurse that asked the dumb question about what Canada and UK blood glucose ranges are. Should have looked at the whole site as there is a converter listed on the home page. Duh.
Click to expand...

We use mmol/l. in the UK as opposed to mg/dl in the US. A simple way to convert the numbers is to just divide or multiply by 18. Therefore 46.8 mg/dl divided by 18 = 2.6 mmol/l.

Ken.
 
Hi Whimsical,
Hana is right that hypos can sometimes cause fits and can occasionally be very serious. It maybe that your levels were still falling, or that your meter recorded it a bit higher than it actually was (they're less reliable at lower levels).

It might be a good idea to run your levels a little higher for a while to try to get back your hypo awareness, its much better if you sense them in the 3s or above than in the 2s. (Its also worth trying to pinpoint the reason for the hypo)

The fifteen carb minute rule is a good stand by but maybe its better to use dextrose tablets or hypofit gel as they work very fast.

Have you got a glucagen kit? if not and you have someone to administrate it ask your doctor to prescribe one .http://www.novonordisk.com/diabetes/public/hypokit/glucagenhypokit/benefits.asp I think you should discuss these hypos with your doctor anyway.
 
Hi, remember that if your sugar level is crashing, ie; rapidly, then your reading of 2.6 isnt a true reading.

I am completely functional at 2.6 if its dipping at a reasonable rate although ive had a bad hypo before (if I recall, my sugar level was around 2.4) and I could barely focus and felt extremely weak. This was about a month back when I had injected for dinner but I was a bit slow in getting the meal ready so I had basically had insulin attacking my foodless body; rapidly :D.


Lucozade and glucose tablets are our best friends in those times.
 
Thanks, everyone, for sharing your expertise and experiences.

I do have a glucagon kit, and am careful to keep it with me...

Good points re: rapidly changing sugars and inaccuracy of the meter itself. The rapid changes in blood sugar is actually one reason I am considering getting a continuous glucose monitor as they can predict the direction your blood glucose is going...

Thanks, again!
 
three1ne said:
Hi, remember that if your sugar level is crashing, ie; rapidly, then your reading of 2.6 isnt a true reading.

I am completely functional at 2.6 if its dipping at a reasonable rate although ive had a bad hypo before (if I recall, my sugar level was around 2.4) and I could barely focus and felt extremely weak. This was about a month back when I had injected for dinner but I was a bit slow in getting the meal ready so I had basically had insulin attacking my foodless body; rapidly :D.

Lucozade and glucose tablets are our best friends in those times.
Click to expand...

Hi three1ne.

Does this mean you are losing or have lost your hypo awareness ?

Ken.
 
cugila said:
Hi three1ne.

Does this mean you are losing or have lost your hypo awareness ?

Ken.
Click to expand...

Hi Ken. I could have made that clearer. If my levels drop below 3.5 ill notice a few symptoms in my eyes, dizziness etc and while I will correct this immediately with some lucozade (or something similar) I am fully functional, ie; I know I have at least 10-20 minutes before the situation becomes more serious.
 
Just a few comments to add from my experience (I have a 12 yo son with T1D):
- Yes, I have observed the same symptoms you are describing when my son is very low (under 2). It takes him a good 10 min to recover physically, and then 10 other minutes to recover emotionally.
- The more he gets low, the more sugar and time it takes for him to recover to a good BSL of 4 +. If he is at 1.6, it takes him twice as long to recover than if he is at 2. Fortunately, those bad hypos happen rarely...
- In case of a bad Hypo, he seems to recover more quickly if he has a sugary liquid than if he has lollies or other sugary, solid food
- I am not sure that a granola bar and orange juice, and 4 candies are the best to take when very low: orange juice is not very sweet, and would mostly contains fructose, which has a relatively low GI. Most candies only have 50-60% sugar, so 4 would not give you a big quantity of sugar to recover from a sever hypo. I am unsure about a Granola bar, but check the nature of the sugar in them and the quantity and %. This is maybe why you were only at 4.4 after ingesting what you thought were highly sugary food.

If my son is very low and has only access to fruit juice, he adds 2 spoons of sugar if he can. We make sure we know the % of sugar in the candies and calculate how many he should have (6 for a 50 kg child when having a hypo). We have purchased little tubes of semi- liquid glucose in a pharmacy, and found them useful when having a severe hypo, although the taste and texture are not great.

I hope this is useful, although I understand that different people react differently...

Keep smiling
 
I agree with a couple of points here - you were probably dropping when you took the 2.6 reading (and 2.6 for me is scary scary low. Anything under 3 makes my eyes go wide and gives me goosebumps!)

A granola bar wouldn't be my choice for that reading - I'd want Lucozade straight away - it's liquid and fizzy so works quickest. Just like champagne gets you drunk quicker than still wine!

A whole meusli bar (if it's not a loaded sugary one) 4 sweets and some juice really isn't that much - you were obviously running on empty and that's why you acted a bit weird!

I can't recommend Lucozade highly enough - I always have it in my bag.
 
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