Worst I’ve had in decades was a “double-dip” low last summer. I’d been up into the wee hours jamming with friends, drinking a bit of single malt, maybe inhaling something that used to be more illegal than it is now… Anyway, got up the next morning with a surprising low in the 50s, which for me means I’m getting that flashbulb-afterglow effect in my eyes. Treated with sugar in my coffee (caffeine alone has a big spiking effect for me), and after a while I was trending up in the 70s. So we went out to breakfast a few miles’ drive away, and when we got there I discovered I couldn’t read the menu above the ordering counter. Didn’t feel low, but the center of my vision was blanking out. CGM had me in the 60s with a down arrow, and a finger stick showed I was in the 40s.
Downside: kinda scary. Upside: getting to have a high-carb breakfast without having to bolus for it.
That is exactly what happens to me when I’m fairly low–central vision blindness. Usually it’s at it’s worse when I wake up with a bad low, but it also begins to show up when I’m awake and transitioning to a low. Praise the lord for my CGM! It alerts me and when I get low now it’s because I’m busy and just plain don’t want to stop what I’m doing.
The lowest I’ve ever been while still conscious was in the mid 20’s but there were plenty of times when I was a kid that we didn’t even bother testing because I was unconscious and my mom was too busy giving me glucagon to stop and see just how low I was.
I definitely know that flashbulb feeling @DrBB and yes I usually get it when I’m in the 40’s too, but I haven’t had a severe low in at least 6 months so I haven’t had to experience that recently.
A few years ago, Norm jumped up on my bed and woke me up. I checked my BG on the CGM and it read 89 mg/dL. I did a finger poke, just to be sure, and it was very low, like the low 40’s.
I got up, treated my low and carved out a healthy tablespoon of peanut butter from the peanut butter jar for Norm’s reward. As Norm was going to town on the peanut butter, my Dex 55 alarm sounded. Norm had caught the rapid drop about 15 minutes before the CGM.
I apologize for the thread detour.
My A1c has ranged from 5.5%-6.0% over the last year.
