• Guest - w'd love to know what you think about the forum! Take the 2025 Survey »

What's the lowest hypo value you're ever had?

My lowest was 3.8uk and we're not allowed to drive below 6 which always makes me laugh as non diabetics are expected to be between 4-7 so if you look at it across the board I guess 85% of the population drives illegally lol
 
lukkymik said:
My lowest was 3.8uk and we're not allowed to drive below 6 which always makes me laugh as non diabetics are expected to be between 4-7 so if you look at it across the board I guess 85% of the population drives illegally lol
Click to expand...

Where have you seen or been told that you have to be >6.0mmol/L to drive? You need to be >5.0mmol/L as far as I am aware or if between 4.0-5.0mmol/L take a snack before driving (I would personally still wait until risen >5.0mmol/L in this case).

DVLA's DIABINF leaflet covers this:

DRIVERS WITH INSULIN TREATED DIABETES ARE ADVISED TO TAKE THE FOLLOWING

PRECAUTIONS.

· You should always carry your glucose meter and blood glucose strips with you. You should check your blood glucose no more than 2 hours before the start of the first journey and every two hours whilst you are driving. If driving multiple short journeys, you do not necessarily need to test before each additional journey as long as you test every 2 hours while driving. More frequent testing may be required if for any reason there is a greater risk of hypoglycaemia for example after physical activity or altered meal routine. The intention is to ensure that blood glucose is always above 5.0mmol/l while driving.

· In each case if your blood glucose is 5.0mmol/l or less, take a snack. If lt is less than 4.0mmol/l or you feel hypoglycaemic, do not drive.
 
1.8 in Late April/May 2014, a month after my diagnosis in April 2014. I felt fine, just like a normal 3.8 hypo
 
1.6 after a couple of hours' hard work in the garden planting bulbs. It was late November and I should have planted them earlier, so I had worked on after going inside for glucose when I started to feel hypo. I didn't allow long enough for my BS to come up before going back to the task in hand, so by the time I'd finished I felt dreadful, but was still walking and talking. I felt so awful it taught me a lesson.
 
joanne75 said:
I was only looking the other day to try and find the same answer that you have asked, I suffered a terrible hypo a couple of days ago 1.8 and thought ok so at what point would I have gone unconscious, I did ask my DSN today who said that its different for everyone but she did say that 1.8 was dangerously low. I have only ever experienced one episode of unconsciousness so am fairly lucky in the fact that it would normally wake me up and it did this time but a lot lower then my normal 3.2.
Click to expand...
 
joanne75 said:
I was only looking the other day to try and find the same answer that you have asked, I suffered a terrible hypo a couple of days ago 1.8 and thought ok so at what point would I have gone unconscious, I did ask my DSN today who said that its different for everyone but she did say that 1.8 was dangerously low. I have only ever experienced one episode of unconsciousness so am fairly lucky in the fact that it would normally wake me up and it did this time but a lot lower then my normal 3.2.
Click to expand...
Hi I have had type 1 diabetes for 30 years I was diagnosed at the age of 6. I have also been looking for information on how low can u go and still be functioning. I have had a few episodes of late where I have only felt a bit well uneasy and have tested my blood and found it to have been 1.1 and on another occasion 1.6 I find it mystifying as to how I could still be functioning and when I say normal I mean it. I have upto, between and after had great hypo awareness. I am and have always believed that everyone is different!!!!! but if any facts exists or anyone could make sense of the issue it would be greatly welcomed. Thanks
 
Hoping4Cure said:
I'm curious what any of your lowest values were, where you managed to bring it back up and remain conscious.

I've woken up in the hospital a couple times in my life so had no idea what my value was for those times, but typically have managed to fix it myself, or have someone at hand to help me drink some OJ.

My personal lowest was 1.1 that I can remember.
Click to expand...

My lowest is 1.3, but I have also had to go to hospital because my sugars dropped while I was out shopping and I lost my sight for a few minutes
 
1.4! I felt as I imagine the walking dead to feel, if they were self-aware, of course.

Having said that, I've had 2.2s and 3.2s that send the shakes through me and cloud my mind.

Slowly but surely I've decreased the frequency of instances of hypos with tight blood sugar control and learning (through trial and error) how my body operates, averaging 1 a week. Even newborns don't have this much to learn!

All the best,

A.
 
lukkymik said:
My lowest was 3.8uk and we're not allowed to drive below 6 which always makes me laugh as non diabetics are expected to be between 4-7 so if you look at it across the board I guess 85% of the population drives illegally lol
Click to expand...
Even though you're probably fine at 3.8 (about 60mg/dl here) as I always say "you're either on your way up or on your way down". So if you're on your way down you don't have much of a cushion. I've really glad we don't have the diabetes police here. I do keep a meter in my car though. And butterscotch candies!
 
TheBigNewt said:
Even though you're probably fine at 3.8 (about 60mg/dl here) as I always say "you're either on your way up or on your way down". So if you're on your way down you don't have much of a cushion. I've really glad we don't have the diabetes police here. I do keep a meter in my car though. And butterscotch candies!
Click to expand...

The UK doesn't have the diabetes police either. We have sensible rules about driving - as do many other countries :)
 
azure said:
The UK doesn't have the diabetes police either. We have sensible rules about driving - as do many other countries :)
Click to expand...

I'm not on insulin, so the testing rules don't apply to me. I do, however, need to be wearing my glasses to meet the legal requirement for eyesight while driving.

If I drive off without my glasses, knowing that I need them, I am breaking the law, pure and simple. And if I have an accident while not wearing my glasses, not only am I guilty of driving without due care and attention, for which I could lose my licence, I have also automatically invalidated my insurance.
 
BarbaraG said:
I'm not on insulin, so the testing rules don't apply to me. I do, however, need to be wearing my glasses to meet the legal requirement for eyesight while driving.

If I drive off without my glasses, knowing that I need them, I am breaking the law, pure and simple. And if I have an accident while not wearing my glasses, not only am I guilty of driving without due care and attention, for which I could lose my licence, I have also automatically invalidated my insurance.
Click to expand...
And if you live in the UEA and are in an accident and have ANY ALCOHOL detected in your blood test (0.0001) your medical insurance is cancelled and you pay your own hospital bill.
 
Many years ago, in my first six months post diagnosis, I had a hypo so low the meter couldn't measure it. Never experienced anything like it since. It went nothing, nothing , nothing, what's that black spot in my eye... to tunnel vision and barely able to control my limbs. Literally took 30 seconds to go from perfectly normal to almost incapable. Immediate glucose tabs and then checked BS level and got error message too low to read. I don't know why i didn't go unconscious but I managed just about to hold myself together enough to get myself out of it.

Never been anywhere near it since and glad not to. Tbh don't know how i got there anyway as I can always tell when I'm close to hypo now (as was the case then apart from this one time) No indication at all though it was very early in my diabetic career
 
Interesting thread. Quite nice to see how low over people can get! My personal low is 2.1. This thread is especially helpful to those like me who have only been recently diagnosed.
 
Scott-C said:
Great to see such an optimistic post from a youngster, @ljmercer !
Click to expand...
Aw thank you :) I don't see the need to let our condition stop us from doing anything. If we let it stop us, we'd never get anywhere. That's no way to live. We are strong as we deal with so much that is often hidden yet we carry on. Diabetes frustration does happen from time to time. I still get it. But it's okay to have that frustration. As long as it doesn't take over and control you. We're all strong.
 
1.7 I was so surprised how low I took a photo. See my avatar!!
I was shaking so may have a bit blur on it. Sweating a lot too.
I've never had sweating for a few weeks. New insulin regime has improved my care.
 
The lowest blood sugar levels I have had is 0.9 and I was still able to walk and talk just sounds as if I was on the drink and I was arrested once with sugars around 1.5 as they thought I was drunk and disaudly until I got to the police station and they found out I was a diabetic and I was rushed to hospital in a car to a & e to be brought to the levels my sugars should be so a police officer can do you for being drunk when you are having a diabetic fit and they don't relise the difference until it's too late and you are in a coma and in a ambulance as you can tell them but they don't work that way as they are told to work as if you are telling lies and they have to prove that you are telling the truth and sometimes it can be to late
 
ljmercer said:
Aw thank you :) I don't see the need to let our condition stop us from doing anything. If we let it stop us, we'd never get anywhere. That's no way to live. We are strong as we deal with so much that is often hidden yet we carry on. Diabetes frustration does happen from time to time. I still get it. But it's okay to have that frustration. As long as it doesn't take over and control you. We're all strong.
Click to expand...

That's the spirit! Recently, I've started to think of it as a little bit of my body has broken, so I need to help it out. That way, instead of feeling like I'm fighting it, it's more like co-operating with it.
 
Scott-C said:
That's the spirit! Recently, I've started to think of it as a little bit of my body has broken, so I need to help it out. That way, instead of feeling like I'm fighting it, it's more like co-operating with it.
Click to expand...
That's a really good way of looking at it. I see it that I'm the same as everyone else, I just have to be more prepared and organised. Carry a bag with me instead of just my keys and my phone like most of my friends. It shouldn't matter that we're diabetic. We still do everything the same :)
 
Back
Top