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Can low blood sugar make you sick?

Chrissie9

Newbie
Messages
2
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Insulin
Hi,

I've no idea why but my blood sugar dropped to 1.5, I had some chocolate and a drink of milk and was violent.y sick. I've slept and my sugars are now up to 8 and I'm feeling fine but wondered if anyone has any idea why this happened? Is it normal? It's never happened to me before and I've been diabetic for 20 years.

Thanks
 
Hi @Chrissie9 and welcome to the forum.

It happened to me once; I'd skipped a couple of meals, felt woozy and ate a bowl of porridge with cream and drank a cup of coffee. The whole lot came out so quickly it was regurgitation rather than sick - it still tasted and smelt of cream and coffee (sorry, TMI?). I suspect it was nothing to do with diabetes but rather the effect of rich food on an empty stomach. Nowadays I'm a bit more careful not to skip meals.

Incidentally, do you feel OK with a BG reading of 8? I try to keep mine a lot lower than that, though my previous GP said anything in single figures was OK.

Kate
 

Yep, I have occasionally been through phases where I get a hypo symptom of extremely severe nausea (which is deeply unhelpful when the only thing you need to feel better is to eat some sugar) never actually been sick due to a hypo, but certainly come close! Horrible. Hope you are feeling better.
 
yeh I've had bad nausea with hypos before too... not fun when you have to treat it and don't want to eat.
 
Thanks all that's reassuring. I'll speak with my diabetic nurse on Monday, it's just never happened to me before, maybe it's the unaccustomed heat having something to do with it too!
 
On the rare occasion I've had a very sudden hypo that's dropped well below 2 I feel very nauseous. I've never been sick but this is probably sheer willpower.

I sipped Lucozade or coke, I think anything more substantial would have definitely make me ride the vomit comet!
 
is common with very low glocose level. nausea and in some cases sickness
 
Don't think chocolate is a good hypo treatment. It takes far too long to get absorbed into you and can eventually send you high as it is likely too much is eaten.
I use a small carton of orange juice or gluco tabs if very low
 
Hi @Chrissie9. If memory serves me right, I've been sick maybe 2 or 3 times whilst treating a hypo. Once was from eating to many bananas and I vaguely remember being sick after eating weetabix early one morning to get myself out of a hypo. Always put it down to bad hypo food choice and the unpredictable nature of diabetes. As like you I felt fine afterwards so personally didn't give it a second thought.
 
yes, low blood sugar can cause vomiting. If this happens I swallow a tube or 2 of glucogel because it starts working immediately & replaces any sugar you have just brought up.
 
Yes, I've had strong nausea at very low sugar levels too.

@Chrissie9 do you think you may have lost some of your hypo awareness?

I ask as getting down to 1.5 mmol/l suggests this might be the case.

If you are getting sugar levels under 3 mmol/l on a fairly regular basis, it's worth visiting diabetes.co.uk hypo site, which can help with improving hypo awareness and preventing very low blood sugar from occurring.

http://hypoglycemia.uk/

Best wishes
Ed
 
richyb said:
Don't think chocolate is a good hypo treatment. It takes far too long to get absorbed
Click to expand...
I'll second that, plus it turns into an icky mess far too easily at this time of year.
 
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