New Symptoms of the Old Low

Every few years, my hypoglycemia symptoms morph.

When I was really young, my biggest symptom was a numb mouth. Lips would start to tingle, and then the top lip would go fully numb, spreading to the inside of my mouth along the roof, then to the back of my molars. It happened in noticeable but lightning fast stages, the transition from tingling to novocain-esque taking seconds. It made eating very awkward, talking was worse, but it usually resolved by the time I had taken a few bites of something sweet.

In my 20s, my most notable low symptom was to burst into tears. Mid-sentence sometimes, with confused gulping and apologies as conjunctions. I hated this syptom because it was very hard to communicate what I needed to get out of the low without becoming a hot mess. 

“I’m …” huge gulping sob “… LOW. I’m low. Could I please have …” wiping snot and tears away with sleeve “… some JUICE if that’s okay? My name is Kerri.”

(That has always been a consistent low symptom – telling someone my name. Even if they already know who I am. I always tell people my name, partially because I want them to know I’m still with it enough to know my own name, and partially because I want them to know that I may need them to communicate on my behalf at some point. Would make more sense to tell them who to contact in an emergency, or to let them know that a glass of orange juice would go a freaking long way, but instead, I just bark out “KERRI” though sobs.)

Late 20s/through my 30s, sweating was my low symptom. During the day, low blood sugars would end up beading sweat onto my forehead, making my long hair flat against the side of my face, adhered by my own grossness. Before being on an insulin pump system that took care of some blood sugar business on its own, I had crippling overnight low blood sugars. I would hit the 30s without symptoms and would wake up so sweaty that I’d end up in the bathroom, blow-drying my hair while shivering due to sweating through my pajamas. The sweat symptom was nasty.

New symptom on tap these days, though. And it’s a super fun one. Let’s say it together! Three … two … one … NAUSEA! 

Oh what a nasty low symptom. Getting that burbly and vomit-y feeling during a moment when it’s necessary to have a snack. I used to be able to drink down a juice box in no time flat, or inhale a pack of fruit snacks, but now I have to consume my carbs a little more slowly in efforts to keep my stomach settled. I haven’t ever booted as a result of a low, but the feeling is just disconcerting enough to have me chew slowly and deliberately, taking care to keep things mellow.

In a few years, symptoms will surely shift again. Something new will crop up to alert my body that my blood sugar is trenching. I secretly hope it may be something nice, like the feeling when someone pretends to crack an egg on your head and let the imaginary yolk drip down. Or maybe that feeling when someone runs their fingertips up the inside of your forearm, giving you goosebumps. Or maybe the feeling when you were young and your mom would stroke your hair, smoothing it around your ears and rubbing the back of your neck.

That would be much nicer.