SCENARIO: A blood sugar of 53 mg/dL caused me to wake up at 2 am, drink a juice box, and stay awake until 2.30 am waiting for my blood sugar to rise.
DESCRIBING TO MY FRIEND: “Yeah, sometimes diabetes is a thing at night. I had a low last night that woke me up around 2 am, but that’s why I keep juice on the bedside table. Do you want coffee? I totally could use some coffee.”
DESCRIBING TO MY HUSBAND: “Did you hear my alarm last night? Yeah, the juice box was from that. I need to make sure to grab the straw wrapper off the floor before the baby finds it. We need to buy more juice boxes, as I think that was the last one.”
DESCRIBING TO MY MOTHER: “I was 53 mg/dL, but I had a juice box right there on the bedside table, and my CGM alarm woke me up, and I wasn’t even tired this morning! So no worries, Ma.”
DESCRIBING TO MY INSURANCE COMPANY: “My continuous glucose monitor alarmed, waking me up at 2 am in time to treat a hypoglycemic event before encountering a seizure or similar. The glucagon kit in my bedside table was my last line of defense. This is why access to, and reimbursement for these tools is so important to me.”
DESCRIBING TO SOMEONE WHO SAYS DIABETES IS A DISEASE THAT PEOPLE SHOULD JUST BE ABLE TO CONTROL EASILY: “I hear you. But you have to understand that diabetes looks one way on paper and entirely another in real life. Not making insulin? Take insulin. But with that request comes the real risk and accompanying real fear of low blood sugars that could cause seizures, coma, or death. It’s a balance between taking too much insulin and not enough insulin, and a miscalculation is easy with so many shifting variables.” Insert awkward laugh. “We make it look too easy at times, but it’s not easy.”
DESCRIBING TO SOMEONE WHO I HOPE WILL DONATE TO SUPPORT A DIABETES ORG: “I think about diabetes every night before I fall asleep. Because I’m never sure I’ll wake up in the morning. When I’m alone at night with my kids, I wonder who will get them breakfast if I die while I’m sleeping. It sounds dramatic because it is a realistic worry. I never feel safe. I’m afraid that diabetes looks too easy or looks to manageable to folks on the outside, which might keep them from thinking it’s serious. But it’s deadly serious. We deserve funding for research and a cure. Until we’re cured, every day we manage a serious amount of risk.”
DESCRIBING TO MY CHILDREN: “Yes, I had a low blood sugar, but you know what? That’s why I wear my Dexcom. And why we keep juice on that table. Mommy is always as careful and as prepared as possible. Because what’s my job?” Long pause. “That’s right, to take good care of you.” Long hug. “I love you guys.”
I add describing to myself: It’s just a low sugar. Eat something now, it will pass. Ok you’ve eaten and I know it still feels bad, stop eating and wait. Keep waiting, it will pass. No, you don’t need anymore to eat, just wait.
Ok, there it is, it’s stopped dropping. I know I dont feel right still but in about an hour you will. Ok, it’s normal again. In a little while I will feel sleepy. That’s ok, it’s just the relief of my brain not feeling like it is drowning anymore.
Describing to others: No, I DON’T need insulin. No, I can’t just eat a pack of nabs and go right back to what I was doing. I could eat ten candy bars and I would not feel ok in a few minutes. It takes about an hour to recover from a something that releases fight or flight hormones into the body because I am literally in the process of my brain drowning for lack of air (glucose). I am a little sleepy now. Why you ask? Cause I am relieved I am not literally dying at the moment and its left me a little drowsy.
It is always hard to describe to others unless they themselves have experienced such a feeling.
You are most definitely right. I think it takes more than one description depending on who we are talking to.
lolololololol I a soooo onboard…….
My mom used to say she was shaky. I often think of that and find myself saying it every once in a great while.
Sheryl: What happened int he kitchen?
Me: I was shaky
Sheryl: Hey the blankets are in the closet not the pantry.
Me: Yeah Yeah Yeah
Thanks, Kerri!! ur right, every different audience needs a different way of describing the event. I especially
love ur answer to ur kids!!!! As usual, U ROCK!!!!
Hi Kerri. My name is Kerri also. My blood sugar drops frequently. I haven’t really tested for high blood sugar. Mine seems like reactive hypoglycemia.
I am new at being a diabetic….I try to control it with a good diet,it all started with low blood sugar years ago,I didn’t go by the diet that I had so now after so many years of bad habits,I am a type2 diabetic,I did this to my self I have been told…..my body craves sweets,I don’t know if any of you have experenced this but I have the sweetest taste in my mouth all the time….is this normal?
I have been a Type 1 diabetic for many years, and I have noticed that the more crazy my blood sugars are, the more I crave junk food (most often if they are high or on a roller coaster course). If your meds aren’t controlling blood sugars, maybe that is leading to the sugar cravings.
I am really Blessed and thank JESUS that I did not die from not knowing what was going on in my brain. I am still being educated about diabetic. I have learned not to trust my feelings but to test by blood. I have type 2. and I still have problem with the med the Dr gives me. Some time the natural remedies help me better. My cinnamon, my honey, my turmeric and a lot of water and PRAYER
I have lived with the middle of the night chrisis for SO long…crazy!!!!
This is right on the mark! I never thought about how my description of a low BG varies according to who I’m talking to, but you’re totally right. Thanks once again for putting the perfect words around something that we all experience!
I love this. So many angles, and good examples of when and with whom to minimize, when to be real, whom to scare/not scare. And then there’s the variability of what we feel, too. Some 53’s are more soul-crushing than others. I was already feeling blah this past Monday as I was getting ready for work and then got socked with a 51 and was over an hour late for work as I proceeded to eat all food not nailed down, or close to it, and then of course was chasing highs for a while. Luckily I have a forgiving work environment but I really feel for those who don’t. Diabetes does not care what else is going on in your life. Never has, never will.
Yes I Prasanna ( male) a Gold medalist iddm from the age of three and am now 61 years completed. I have gone into sevaral hypoglycemic spells around 5000 as well. Iam fine. I would like to share my hypoglycemic episodes and at the same time tell all the diabetics that we will defeat diabetes and we can, for ever with controls. I proudly announce i have no complication that a diabetic for so many years might have developed. I am from India. Now come to USA for a few months as a tourist and to spend some happy time with my daughter and grandchildren.
So thankful we type 1’s get each other
Just love, understanding and acceptance because we’ve all been there
The rest of the world needs an explanation, apology, education, or whatever
Birds of a diabetes feather must stick to diabetes getter ( word mine)
Oh my heart! This is brilliant!!!Not only your own words,Kerri, but other’s comments as well. How have I not read your blog until tonight????
I am a mom to a daughter with type 1. I have always struggled with “not knowing how diabetes feels” but knowing all too well what it looks like and how it acts. The mom in me wants to know first-hand. I know the pain of a broken bone, a headache, hunger- but I don’t know the feel of lows or highs. Your blog has me smiling and crying at the same time. Thank you for sharing your experiences so vividly and candid, so real.
why do you have so many lows? the insulin supply, amount, speed must be wrong. Pls explain to me why you have so many lows and how you have any energy with so many lows? would a snack at bedtime solve one low?
I don’t write this blog every day, and when I do, I tend to focus on the exceptional moments, the ones that stand out for whatever reason. On a day to day basis, I don’t have a tremendous amount of lows. Explaining it to you? Sorry.
Kerri,
You are a type 1 hero.
I am a mom of a type 1 and am so thankful my daughter now wears a Dexcom. Lows are so unpredictable and at times impossible to avoid for a type 1.
Exercise, hormones , miscalculating carb counts and sometimes who knows why your blood sugar drops.
Thank you for all you do to educate and inspire the type 1 community!
I dont for sure thats what is going but ill tell you what happens. Sometimes ill just be standing somewhere feeling fine then bam i feel a cold sweat come over me, my stomach starts feeling nauseous, i can hear people but it sounds like they are in a tunnel, my heart races then i lose my eyesight. I have to stop and sit down wherever im at and just hope that it passes. Then after it does pass i feel so drained and have to find a place to lay down fpr about an hour or so then when i get up i feel fine. Its scary.