At what point do you feel low? Everything I read states that hypoglycemia is technically a blood glucose of 70 mg/dl or lower.
However, I exhibit hypo symptoms at anything below 80. I’ve spent two weeks carefully tracking my numbers, carbs and insulin (trying to get that dosing on track!) and have had the of many lows recently…which, while that is no fun, has been quite helpful in fine tuning how my body responds at different BG levels.
(I know some folks no longer feel their lows, and that one can feel low after crashing from a high BG but still be in range.)
So I’m curious about others and if you know somewhat precisely at what point you are experiencing a hypo.
I’m weird… I’ll feel low if I’m around 90-100, or under 70, but from about 70-90 I feel fine. All dependent on whether it’s a gradual hypo or a total crash (those are never fun)…
I’d say I’m typically feeling them @ 70, sometimes 80.
I can sometimes feel them at other ranges IF my glucose is dropping too quickly even when it is above 80. I’ve had less of those lately, I think because of better control. I would also say that sometimes it seems as if the threshold I feel them at rises if my averages are higher than they should be for a prolonged period of time.
I used to run so high, that when I was “normal” ( about 130 or so) I started to feel low.
Since this time, I’ve gotten much better control and I start feeling low at around 70. The crazy thing is, I can feel like I’m about to pass out when my blood sugar is around 60-70. Then, on the extreme end, when I have tested and have been in my 20 -40s - I function perfectly fine.
The other day, I was getting home late for work and felt a little low. I tested and my blood sugar was 31 - but I didn’t feel shaky or dizzy or anything. I wonder why this is??
I just started on insulin so haven’t had much experience. I usually feel low at about 70 or so especially if my BG is coming down quickly from a high. But the other day I miscalculated my insulin and thought I was high- dry mouth and all, and it turned out I was 51. I was very shaky and dizzy. That’s my lowest so far.
Also, I’ve noticed a new symptom when I get low. My tongue/lips tingle, almost as if they’ve had mild electrical shock. It’s not painful - just kinda weird. Anyone else notice this? It’s almost a metallic taste too.
i’m still pretty much hopeless at identifying a hypo. but i’ll feel kind of weird, or ‘off’, like something’s not right. sometimes i’ll get a bit shaky, and most of the time my tummy will start growling, as if i’ve been starving for a while. this mostly happens when i’m below 3.8mmol, but sometimes i guess wrong.
I usually feel low at about 3.5. My symptoms are very mild, though, but they are noticable. Since going on the pump I actually feel low at significantly higher levels than I did before (before I felt low at 2.5-3.0), and I’ve also begun waking up for lows at night which I used to do when younger but hadn’t done for years. The lows I wake up for are very low (2.0, 1.9, etc.) but at least I’m waking up for them rather than waking up really high the next morning.
Of course, when I’m running higher I feel low at higher levels. I also find that if I’m going low a lot in a short period of time, such as multiple lows in the same day, the level at which I feel low drops (I might feel the first one of the day at 3.8, the second at 3.4, the third at 2.9, and so on).
I cant always tell my highs from my lows apart. I feel hungry and weak, my head hurts but sometimes when I check and expect a low its high or vice versa. I usually feel “off” at 90’s. I told my diabetes educator and she said “oh thats fine.” even though I feel icky. I just eat a little maybe 10-15 carbs and usually I feel better. the lowest I’ve ever had (only been 2 months) is 91.
I’m so glad you posted this question. its been very helpful because I was told its no big deal unless its less than 70 but sometimes I feel awful around 90 but I kept telling myself it was nothing. thanks now I know
I feel the symptoms of a low at about 3.8 - 3.5. My lowest so far is 2.9. That was a killer! I felt so shaky and out of it. I just had this cold sweat. My forearms were soaked. It was horrible. My ears block up sometimes. Has anyone else had this happen???
Reference (for everyone): multiply (or divide) by 18 to do the conversion.
So:
2.5 = 45
3.5 = 63
3.8 = 68.4
As for me, nowadays I can still feel decent at 80+ (4.4+). Before, it used to be the case anywhere less than 100 I felt horrible. Nowadays, I start to REALLY feel low under 70 (3.8).
I used to start feeling low around fifty, but I’ve had a couple I caught by accident. Tested around bedtime and to my surprise 52 with no symptoms. Very scary, and I think I’m going to cut back on my runs.
I am extremely thankful that after 34 years with db, I still have good hypo awareness.
I feel low about 60, but don’t always have the same symptoms - sometimes it’s just a vague feeling of lightheadedness, or a numb mouth, or at night (as we talked about before) those “blotches” in from of my eyes.
I get the blocked ears symptom a lot, but since I have only just started on insulin I wonder if that’s a result of a rapid change in blood sugar, rather than a true low. I know that I have only gone low a couple of times but I often have a 200 point turn around within an hour, say from 80 to 180 and back down again. The blocked ears thing is very unpleasant.
Like a couple of the others mentioned, because I used to run high all the time, anything below 100 and I would start shaking. Now, I don’t start shaking until I am at around 70 (which is a very rare occurrence). I’m hoping to get that to be my norm eventually.
I swtiched endocrinologists recently, and we realized I hadn’t changed my ranges since the 1990s. I was still doing below 80 as low and above 240 as high. And really, I used to eat something if I fell below 100. I’ve been “practicing” being between 70 and 100 lately. I really have to fight the urge to eat something when I’m 80, but I’m starting to feel more comfortable at those numbers.
