Being new to the whole diabetes thing - can anyone tell me what is considered 'low' blood sugar" Yesterday, despite eating properly as advised, shortly before dinner I began to feel quite crappy....a bit dizzy, a bit headachey, a bit sleepy, nothing very specific but just not quite right. I have to test my sugar before dinner, and it was 3.1. After I forced myself to eat, I lay down for a bit and within a short period of time felt a whole lot better. Tested again and it was up to 5.8. Do you think the wobbly feeling came from slightly too low blood sugar?
Posted by katie at January 17, 2004 11:37 AM3.1 is low
Posted by: Aka at January 17, 2004 01:17 PMEveryone gets slightly different "warning signals" when their blood sugar drops, except for a few unlucky souls who get no warning until they collapse. Happily that's not going to be happening to you :)
A blood sugar below about 4 is what I'd consider "low" and can be considered as the onset of a stage 1 hypoglaecaemic attack. The symptoms that you report fit in nicely with this sort of level, I get a cold sweat as well as feeling dizzy, but a slight feeling of confusion (i.e. you know SOMETHING is wrong but in your slightly befuddled state can't work out what) is a very common one. For all you non-diabetic readers out there the easiest analogy is if you have just done a really strenuous activity... a full game of football, half marathon type of thing... and then try and bend down, touch your toes and stand up quickly! Not exactly fun. To deal with this sort of low sugar situation take something with quick acting sugar(CHOCOLATE), followed by something with complex carbs in (biscuits, toast etc.). The reason being that the quick acting sugar will pull your blood sugar up rapidly, but won't stay in your blood for too long... so you need a backstop.
If your sugar starts to drop much below 3 you'll move from a stage 1 hypo to a stage 2. At this point you don't think there is anything wrong with you any more (useful huh) and you get really stroppy with anyone else who tries to "assist" you (so G needs to know this bit). you tend to have a real one-track mind about whatever it is you are doing at the time and might even get tunnel vision or the like. At this point you need fast sugar, several spoonfuls of sugar into a cup of water, half a can of fat coke... that sort of thing. After a minute or so you should go back to a stage 1 hypo, and then recover. Again taking some complex, slow acting carbs after this sort of thing is useful. Important Note, this should only be done if you are concious, otherwise see below.
If your sugar keeps dropping (and I'm never sure the point this happens, it varies from person to person, I've known some folk to drop at about 2.1 whereas I've still been up and wibbling at 0.8 but I don't recommend trying to figure out your level) then you'll lose conciousness and go into a diabetic coma. This is not a good thing. Whoever is about should call 911. If there is some jam in the vicinity there then sometimes smearing this onto the diabetics gum under the lip can help bring them around, or you might have been prescribed a glucagon kit... you'll feel like crap after this for days though!
This is all based on my personal experiences so yours will be different, but hopefully it'll help you a bit!
Posted by: Aka at January 17, 2004 02:01 PMblimey - thank you very much for this info. I have noticed myself being extra - arsey shortly before food when my sugar is low-ish (as has G, poor chap!)
Posted by: Katie at January 17, 2004 02:07 PMThat grumpy sign was what got my mum to take my dad to the GP in the first place. He woulg get really moody, bad tempered and one track minded.