Blacking out

Thankfully, I have never blacked out, but I am always nervous that I will. What BG number did you have before you went unconscious?

Thank you!

I think that all depends on the circumstances when you're going low. I've been up and about, not knowing I was so low, and was at a 26. If sleeping, and that low, I probably would not be able to wake up in the morning and would be unconscious. I also think it has something to do with how long I've been low. The longer I'm low, the longer it takes me to come up.

Somewhere south of 20. I say it that way as I have been 20, and conscious, but when I passed out, I don't know where I was at, but assume it must have been lower than my previous consciously noted low. Makes sense, right?

/\/\

I have had two scary incidents, I am like a type one diabetic as my Pancreas was removed during surgery. Several years ago right after coming home from the hospital, I woke up in the morning and was incoherent, babbling. My wife called 911 and the paramedics took my BG and it was 25. They gave me a glucose IV and I was soon OK after about 15 min. and in the hospital my BG was 17, my wife got some sugar into me and I recovered again in about 15 minutes. I have never blacked out but do know it can happen. A friend in church has a nine year old granddaughter who was hospitalized with a blood glucose level of over 1000. I never thought it could go that high but apparently it can.

I blacked out and survived. I don't know the number because I was out. This was before CGM's. The CGM has saved my life. I almost passed out while driving on Tuesday. I was in my 20's. The low hit me hard. You don't want to black out. I don't remember any of it leading into the black out. I awoke to the smell of my own vomit. I could not move my hands or arms to get the glucose, speak coherently, lift myself off the floor, or call 911.
I was alone. I thank god for my liver. You don't want to go low ever.
Another time I woke up in what I can only describe as having a seizure. My body seized up every time I attempted to move. Again I was alone. Same thing happened as above without the vomit. I had glucose next to me but could not operate my hands and arms properly to unscrew the cap and toss the glucose in to my mouth. Thank god for my liver. I guess I pray to my liver these days. It's pulled me out of a low so I could help myself or call 911 which I did the first time with the vomit. The poor EMTs thought I was having a stroke. I crawled to the door to unlock it to let them in.
Don't go low.

A tip I found useful. Most Grocery stores sell honey sticks which are like small straws filled with honey. I carry them with me everywhere. When I get below 70 I clip the end off an squeeze the honey in my mouth. I like the cinnamon flavored best. My sugar starts going up again in a few moments. It just might save your life.

Once at a diabetic summer camp, I went extremely low. By the time the camp doc had a look at me, I was finally climbing up. He seriously thought I probably hit zero, or got very close to it.

wow. some pretty scary stories here. I have reached 36 and managed to get it up.

Now, thankfully, with the dexcom, i don't think and hope never to experience blacking out.

Aussie,

A lot will depend on how your body handles it. After about 24 years with Type 1, I lost my symptoms of lows and would black out a lot - very scary because you snap out of it in different places, often with juice and food in front of you, with no memory of how you got there. However, I have also had many situations where I have been as low as 27, 36, sometimes the meter just says 'lo' - and been totally fine and able to help myself.

I have had two seizures from very bad lows, and of course they were not fun, nor was the hospitalization afterward.

All these things happened before CGM. I had a Freestyle Navigator, then a Dexcom 7, now a G4. The Dex will help you avoid lows and is an excellent tool. I am glad you have one, your chances of avoiding a bad low have increased very dramatically.

-Chris G

I never blacked out, but have been as low as 19 and still coherent. I had to call the EMTs in January when my Bg was 25 with 2 down arrows on the Dexcom, I drank a couple of glasses of OJ and still it was not going up like it typically does. I called 911 because I thought I might pass out even though I was eating and checking my sugar level. They showed up, one of the EMTs made me a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and they waited until I finished that and my bg finally started going up. Glad I had the Dexcom to tell me what was happening. I think they were too!

Have any of you who experienced really low numbers suffer from memory issues? I started having memory issues soon after having a couple of super low bGs.