Remove the cat from your head and drink the juice.

Boy, if I had a nickel for every time I heard that one from my brain...

Also, this is one of those things that amazon.com calls "statistically improbable phrases."

OMG Kerri, that is so scary. I am sorry the year started out this way.

Kerri, as i read your post,,I thought of my daughter KayLee(dxd with Jd @ 26 months-Now 5). I've saw those blank stares on her little face,,and her cries of fear when she has had temp paralizing times from her sugars dropping low,,or just dropping too fast. I had beat myself up over it time and time again,,, I have felt so helpless to it all. Your post really hit home. Reading your posts help me relate to her and understand more of what she is going through. Thanks for everything.

Between the grogginess from sleep and the low to top it off, your brain was on vacation. It's really difficult to function under those circumstances.

Luckily you found your way out of the well.

Kerri - We've got some catching up to do. We have been fishing in one another's brains again, I think... I could have written these pieces (using different words of course) about lows I've had and the thinking of done around them:

"The pillow is damp. The bedsheets are cold. My shirt is stuck to me and wrapped around me like a maypole ribbon. I feel a bead of sweat run down my forehead and trickle down my neck.

Why do I feel the need to test, even when I am completely certain I’m low?

Where is that line between “just low” and “too low?” And what keeps us from slipping over that line?"

Lately, I've had two extraordinary lows that have left me soundless and feeling unable to respond. Both times, I was thinking - is this what it's like to have a stroke? Or to be in a coma?

It's creepy and terrible - and I'm sorry you had to experience it. But you are OK - and I'm really happy for that.

Nicole - EXACTLY. That whole, "Is this what it would feel like to go into a coma?" feeling. Creeps me right the hell out. And having my body not respond to screaming requests from my mind is just so disturbing.

Bobbi - I'm glad that the posts are helping you gain an understanding. :)

Bob - That made me laugh. Thanks, Moon Moon.

George and Shannon - Thanks!

Kerri - Scary, Scary, Scary. I can relate to those feelings as well. Still being pregnant I also have a new symptom as a side effect of one of my meds where my tongue and mouth also go numb. Makes me wonder whether I am really talking out loud and people can hear me or not.
Waking to a low is freaky!!!
What a way to start the year!

Maybe you were less awake than you thought? Periods of light sleep are characterized by paralysis.

NOt that it would make it less scary.

Kerri, this was so vivid and so familar. I haven't had a low like this for a month or so (and sad, that feels like a long time) but your writing is just so on - it puts us right there. you have such a gift for expressing what we all have felt. for me, this was such a valuable reminder for me to watch things a little more closely, no matter how closely i think i'm already watching. so many thanks to chris, too, for saying such good words where there really are none.

Kerri,
I've had that feeling one too many times while I'm at school. I started keeping "low snacks" in my bedroom as to not walk as far in my apartment or make my room mates think someone was robbing us with all the noise I make. When I'm like that, all I want is my mom. Glad that you're okay :o)

Thanks for sharing what sounds like a horrifying experience. I'm glad you're OK. Makes me think that when Charlie is grown up and out of the house, we'll still be uneasy about his blood sugar - wishing we could be there to test him in the middle of the night.

You described what Greg has described as some of the worst lows.

The 2nd worst low (besides the seizure) was where he couldn't speak. Even for a couple hours after treating the low, he could not speak. (This was when he was 15, well before I knew him.)

Your writing expresses exactly what it feels like to be low in the night. It is such a relief to hear other people's experiences are similar to my own. It's unfortunate any of us has to go through this.
I too keep a selction of juices and granola bars at my bedside for the odd time when I wake disoriented, sweaty and scared, knowing that I'm low. It is always preceded by nightmares which I think are triggered by my body releasing hormones screaming: Danger! Danger! Get up! Fight or Flight!

Thank you for sharing your experience with us. I'm sorry it happened at all but I'm glad you are OK.

Wow, that is scary. I've been there, and would hate to relive it. Scary stuff.

I have been 36 plenty of times but a 36 in the middle of the day and a 36 at 5:23am are two completly different things to me. At 5:23am I would have felt the same way you did and in the afternoon I would have functioned just fine. I think it has to do with just being so dang groggy on top of the extreme low. So glad you caught it in time.

Kerri,
I'm sorry things were scary for you. I'm glad everything turned out OK. As I was reading it, I was trying not to freak out. I kept telling myself you must be OK because you were posting.

And, Riley ALWAYS goes low after a set change. I hate to have to change his set at night. But, for the last few months, I've been dropping his basal 60% for 3 hours after set changes and this helps (even though the lows still creep in sometimes)

Wow, that's awful. I'm so glad you're okay! The feeling of a really low bloodsugar is just the absolute worst. I'm glad to hear that things turned out okay, though...

I have been reading your blog for some time. It is a real inspiration. One of my endo's little sayings is that you only get one brain. As much as we want to keep our readings in line, I think sometimes it would be better to be high than risk the extreme lows.

I have been there....too many times. You can have a case of juice by your bedside, but if you are too disoriented because of the low blood sugar (btw, different numbers will affect people in different ways), you would not even be able to reach out for any of the bottles let enough to know that they even exist. You were at least fortunate enough to have someone by your side. There are many who do not.

Just a poscript to the above from one of the medical magazines I read...."Sleep impairs counterregulatory-hormone responses to hypoglycemia in patients with diabetes and normal subjects".
Which is why it is much more difficult to get back to consciousness or/and normal functioning.

kerri, we started the new year out in a similar way, ugh! we had our very first scarey low episode ( we have been lo before however this was not just a lo episode) with our 2 year old. it was the closest to a true seizure we have ever come, i dread the memory of it all. however i think the angels placed her delicate body in the bucket and pullied her up the well for us, thank GOD. And thank GOD for the beautiful motivational speaker you have inside. Glad all is better now.

Kerri, I know everyone has said this but I'm so glad you're O.K.

Kerri- this one really got to me.

Internal Motivational Speaker definitely gets a raise.

i hate that feeling. i've woken in bed before but couldn't move, couldn't speak and weren't sure if i wanted to. it was dead weird. i drifting in and out of sleep. waking up and feeling paralyzed. in the end i don't remember what happened.

my boyfriend had to shake me awake and removed me off the bed and made me sit on the floor while he rubbed gluco gel on my gums and other random sugar stuff. i came round eventually.

my boyfriend said he thought i was dead. like one of the many bodies he'd seen in the morgue. i test at 2am everynight now without fail.

was just too scary.

Perfect description of a scary episode, Kerri! And I certainly know what you are talking about – it is so scary to recognize that something is wrong, but not be able to react upon it because your body and brain just don’t cooperate.

I agree with what other commenters have said about reacting differently to a low depending on the time of day. I have had that feeling of not being able to move when I have been very low several times, both night and day times.

Night time lows are the worst, though. I do not recognize lows when I am asleep, and thus do not wake up due to lows, never had. When I am low in the morning, however, I find that it is extremely difficult for me to wake up, and I can easily sleep through several hours of my clock radio playing music to get me up, before actually being able to react upon it and grab the glucose tabs situated on my night stand.

This past night Jimmi also had to treat a low for me. I only remember part of it and I never really woke up fully - almost managed to test with my eyes closed! At that time I was above 5.0 (90), and both of us (though I don't think that my opinion in this situation should be taken too serious, as I was only half awake and aware ;-)) thought that it would be safe to go back to sleep. After all, Jimmi had stuffed me with a full package of glucose tabs (14 pieces, equaling approximately 45 grams of carb) and half a slice of rye bread with cheese to maintain BG in a safe range. It worked. I woke up at 8.0 (144) this morning. My bed linen was still damp, although Jimmi had prevented part of it by placing a towel underneath me (I cannot remember that at all, and am still amazed as to how he managed to do that!).

Anyway, hang in there!

Since having the dexcom, I've had fewer severe lows. I set the "low" alarm at 90 mg/dl, which usually helps me ward off anything too serious. (I tend to be 10-25 mg/dl lower than the actual reading, it seems.) The dexcom doesn't always work reliably for me, so it's not a perfect solution. But it does give me some peace of mind when it is working well.

And good for you for never seeing "HIGH" on the meter. yikes, I hate that.

Hey Kerri,

Scary situation, great post.

Those lows at night are the hardest ones for so many of us. We just get caught without our guard up because we're sleeping.

20/20 hindsight is a real bitch in cases like this too - throwing guilt around where it doesn't belong.

Glad that you are Ok.

Just change your night basals- wouldn't it be better to wake up 150 each morning, than low so many nights? You have such a history of lows from your past blogs. Discuss this with your endocrinologist. I respect your quest for tight diabetes control; however, you need to find a good balance. Be careful because you may be developing hypoglycemic unawareness. Slightly higher BG's in the morning are safer than the borderline BG's you get were you could seize soon. Be well.