Hi guys. I’m wondering if I can become hypo-unaware. Normally I feel it if I’m starting to go low, but lately I’ve been feeling fine and then right now, I’m at 51 and feel normal. Now that I’ve started to treat for the low I’m starting to feel shaky and cold and all that goodness, but I’m a little concerned. I’ve been swinging wildly today, woke up at 4 with a low, went back to bed and woke up again in the 170’s, then back down to 100, then back to 191, and now 51. What is going on?! I’ve had a 1/4 cup of rice with my low at 4 am, and a bacon lettuce cheese sandwich when I was at 100, and that is it.
When you start to spend amounts of time low (< 70 mg/dl) your body becomes used to it, you feel normal, you don’t counterregulate and you can become hypo unaware. Over time, do this enough and go even more low and you can permanently damage your ability to sense hypos and counteract them.
It is always prudent to treat a low and avoid spending any time < 70 mg/dl. If you are 69 mg/dl, treat it, even if it just means having one smartie.
And I can’t explain your gyrations, but remember as a type 2, if you have a low, you can counterregulate, dumping blood sugar from your liver going high, then you treat the high and cause yet another low. Don’t do the yo yo.
And yes, sometimes you can just feel normal when you are low and at other times, particularly if your blood sugar drops sharply you can feel hypo even tho you aren’t.
I’ve spent a lot of time low. I’m usually aware of the low, but, occasionally, I’m not. I know sometimes I test, and it tells me I’m 28, and I’m like, no way! So I test again, and I’m told I’m 25, so I sugar up. And, then, later on, when I’m about 50, I realize, wow, I feel really low. (That was just an example.) I’ve worried a few times that I’m becoming hypo unaware, because it will happen a few times in a row where I don’t recognize it, but it usually happens again where I do recognize it.
I really can’t tell you if you’re hypo unaware or not, but, if you’re feeling it later on, I’d say you’re probably fine. I also don’t know why some people develop it, and others don’t. (I think you saw my thread the other day; I’m low very frequently, so I’d think I’d be one of the first people to develop unawareness, but I haven’t. Yet others, who don’t get low as frequently as I do, develop unawareness.) Anyway, this sounds like an aberration, so I wouldn’t worry about it until you have a lot of lows without absolutely no symptoms at any point. (Though you should probably talk to someone with unawareness for the actual signs of unawareness.)
Aside from the hypo unaware issue that others are addressing, you might also be overtreating and creating that yo-yo effect. Try using glucose tablets and learning how many carbs raise you how many points. I usually take 2 tabs, then check in 20 minutes. It’s a lot easier to gauge then food items and precludes the tendency to overeat and go high.
I agree with Zoe, use glucose tablets and then you can treat the low properly with the right dosage.
Also as BSC points out if you feel low just treat it. Your meter may be off too and you could be lower than your meter.
I get angry and very irritable when I go low and like you I am unaware of it many times. I have said some things I shouldn’t have said. I hate it when it happens.
This helps a lot. I’ve been having an unusual number of lows the past few weeks. I think it is because I’m still working out the kinks with my medications. Haven’t quite figured out the insulin. It used to be that my sensitivity was literally 1:1, 1 unit of insulin lowered me 1 point. Since I’ve started the Metformin and upped the Lantus, that ratio is WAAAAAAAAYYYYYY off. I also had a low yesterday and I think I’ve been yo-yoing since then. I’m holding steady at 150 now and even though it’s a little higher than I want, I don’t really want to do anything about it this late in the day. I’ve woken up low 2 nights in a row and I don’t want to do it again. Thank you all for taking the time to help me out on this. I really appreciate your feedback! LOVE YOU GUYS!!!