azure
Expert
- Messages
- 9,780
- Type of diabetes
- Type 1
- Treatment type
- Pump
Everything you wrote is true Juicy but I'm not content with merely controlling my type 1 diabetes, I want to beat it. And to do that, knowledge is key.
Aside from this, knowing the point at which I'll drop unconscious or lose my sight could indeed save my life, and likely has a few times already. I've run out of glucose pills from a severe hypo, then had another one, while walking, exercising and even driving. Stopping your car in the middle of nowhere could result in you dying too (imagine the horror of your phone being dead too...it's happened to me, all these things going wrong at the same time), so being resilient and able to get somewhere in one piece to get a candy bar is helpful.
The body can be trained to do many things, including work under mental duress and even outright impairment. I've had cases where I was working for hours and didn't realize my sugars were low the entire time, because, let's face it, while your brain is starved for sugar it's not in a competent / rational state (in fact you could probably get exculpated for your actions in this state). When I finally fixed my sugars and reviewed my work I wondered "what is this nonsense?" This is why I check my sugars before writing any emails at work, hypo and even hyper-glycemic episodes can have a detrimental effect on your professional career if you're not careful. Getting irritated / enraged / defensive / paranoid are only some of the reactions from this disease.
So yes, absolutely, knowing more facts on the signs and effects of hypos on the body and mind can help you out of a tough spot, or even mean the difference between life and death. I've woken up in my bed after a night out, not knowing how I got there, and with bruises, cuts on my knees and torn jeans (from crawling home on my knees while semi-conscious, presumably). I never black out from alcohol, but hypos have messed me up and blocked out many memories. This has even happened to me during the day, just walking home from work, literally falling over, banging my head. So tell me again how it's not important to know when you're going to collapse so you can yell to a stranger for help or even eat a candy bar from a shoppe despite not having any money or even being able to articulate what you're doing. My worst nightmare, not being able to ask for help or explain how I need a muffin or candy from a store clerk, has happened many times. It's infuriating, frustrating, degrading. Have you ever been arrested for your diabetes? I came close, twice. Once when I crashed my car due to a sudden blackout and complete loss of vision, and the cops assumed I was drunk and made me take a breathalyzer. I lost my license as a result (I got it back later when my hypo frequency got better).
All this is to say, that yes, I do think it's significant to know the rough point at which one will collapse due to a hypo. Frankly, I find it odd that I even have to rationalize my asking. Other type 1s should know exactly how this feels. And being able to tell this information to friends and family is also vital. I've had friends who nearly came close to killing me by thinking when I passed out that I needed MORE insulin. Ignorance is not bliss, it's a killer.
I completely agree hypos can be vicious and can come on suddenly. I sympathise hugely that you've suffered so badly.
However, I still don't understand the actual point of this enquiry. If I test my BS and it says 3.9 I eat something. I don't carry on with what I'm doing. Why would anyone do that? So how could the knowledge of at what level you'd lose consciousness help you? Surely you too would eat in the 3s? You wouldn't carry on with what you were doing because you 'knew' you wouldn't pass out until you were under 2 or whatever?
I'd also point out that it's not just the loss of consciousness that's the issue. Even while conscious, damage can be done to the body eg the brain cells, etc.
The trick is to test and spot a potential hypo before it happens. Just like we correct a BS that's a bit high rather than wait 'because we know you can't go into DKA until you get to 30.
The answer to your query re losing consciousness is somewhere between 2.5 and 0. There is no definite figure, and moreover there's not even a definite figure for an individual person at which they'll pass out.