I was just sitting here in front of the tv thinking I would like a snack (boredom). Checked my bs to see where I was at so I could decide the best snack and I was 59!!! I felt nothing! What the heck???
I usually feel a low starting at about 3.7 (66) but have occasionally found myself way down into the twos without feeling the onset. If this doesn’t happen often, it may not be a big deal, but something to watch for.
Good thing you caught it!
Sometimes I will just feel like having a snack, rather than feeling a low.
This will usually happen in the 60s - 70s…
I usually check if I feel anything different…
The point at which I first feel a low rises and falls depending upon how many recent lows I’ve had and who knows how many other factors. This afternoon I felt something was amiss while I was working in the yard and came in to check as soon as I became suspicious. I was already down to 39.
This time I think it was largely affected by how out of normal my metabolism has been this week. I’d had a colonoscopy this morning, so no food until after noon. Yesterday was a clear liquid day, so only about 200 calories in white grape juice and broth. And the two days before that, I was required to be on a low fiber diet, so BG was much more variable than when I follow my normal high fiber diet.
Hopefully now that I can eat like a normal person again, there won’t be so many things that mess up my system and I’ll be able to get my hypo awareness back to a better level.
To me being totally unaware of a low at 59 is not at all uncommon. Do you have many lows? Or have you had more than normal lately? Usually after you have one, you are more likely to go lower in the next day or so before feeling it.
There are generally two kinds of lows, both dangerous but one maybe a little more than the other. Teh quick low is pretty much what most of us regard as so dangerous, We get low quick and we feel it.
The second kind is slow and low. like a glide path into the low. it might happen all night or over a few hours at leat. This one you may not know is happening. It can sneak up on you even under the best of circumstances.
So what is a good way to think about things? Quick lows can be watched well with a CGM. Low and slow can also be seen with a CGM but if you look. (i usually do not) So Sheryl does.
Moral of the story? Everyone needs a Sheryl.
rick
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So,take this with a grain of salt but I’m non-diabetic and wore my son’s almost expired transmitter for a few days and noticed that I went down to 59 once on my own. I felt hungry and slightly shaky but otherwise fine. I spent a good portion of the day between 65 and 70 and was below 65 pretty often too. So now I’m not convinced that everyone feels that low at 59. Obviously when you have D it’s important to catch this, but just saying maybe it’s not that abnormal anyways.
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Down to 45 tonight and felt.fine. scary…
I feel the same at 100 as I do at 60… especially if I wasn’t dropping fast and it happened over a long time so it sort of “snuck up” on me. I don’t usually “feel low” until I’m under 40.
Feeling my lows depends on if I’m really busy/distracted or how quickly it drops from under 40 on down. When I first realized my hypo-unawareness was becoming a problem was when I felt just really tired & my husband suggested I test & got 23. I had absolutely no clue. None. I had just helped him load/unload/carry in mom’s house a piece of heavy furniture, chatted with mom a few minutes & came back home. I could have dropped from “fine” to that low inside an hour, I suppose, but I’m pretty sure I would have felt it if it was dropping very fast at all.
My diabetic nurse said that hypoglycemic unawareness is a form of neuropathy. I know when I first was diagnosed a 70 felt low. Now I feel nothing until I’m in the 40’s and lower.
Yikes that’s scary. But if that is the case, how come it can improve when you just run high and completely avoid hypoglycemia for two weeks?
I gotta admit, I don’t know. I wasn’t sure what to think when she told me that.
For me, this varies like everything else according to a zillion factors (am I tired, or dehydrated, or a dozen other things). But generally, all other things being equal, I don’t feel it until I get to about 50.
I agree that there are two types of lows.
The one I readily feel is low 80s to 60 and dropping fast. The speed of the drop is what gets my attention.
The other kind can be more dangerous. The really slow drop. Before I had a reliable CGM, I could drop down to the high 20s and not notice it until the very end.
Thankfully, my CGM keeps either type of low from staying around long, but it requires that I act immediately on the warning from my CGM. When I first got my Dexcom, I would ignore the low warning because my previous CGM was so inaccurate. When the Dexcom says I’m going low, 9 times out of 10-- I am.
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I’m going to go out on a limb and say that hypoglycemia unawareness has nothing to do with neuropathy for the vast majority (and then some) of PWD. Many toddlers and young kidlets are hypoglycemic unaware and I seriously doubt they have diabetic neuropathy.
At least you’re out on that limb with your medical degree to keep to company. 
My experience is that the more lows I have, the greater my chance of developing hypoglycemic unawareness. Conversely, reducing the number of lows has often restored my ability to feel them.
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My experience has been similar
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My understanding is that some hypoglycemic unawareness is related to autonomic neuropathy. When that occurs, one is not able to get awareness back by running one’s numbers higher for a period. Most of us are able to get it back through changed management in which cases the problem is other than neuropathy.
Quote from: Diabetic Neuropathy | NIDDK
Hypoglycemia Unawareness
Normally, symptoms such as shakiness, sweating, and palpitations occur when blood glucose levels drop below 70 mg/dL. In people with autonomic neuropathy, symptoms may not occur, making hypoglycemia difficult to recognize. Problems other than neuropathy can also cause hypoglycemia unawareness.
Along with a bunch of PhD’s and the odd Professor or two I suspect…