Okay, I am SO the right person to talk to about this. I am a diabetic who gets low a lot, mainly because I hate high blood sugars and I give myself too much insulin. When I was in college, I didn’t have any really bad lows, or, if I did, I took care of them without people noticing.
After college I lived on my own for a while (I’ll talk about that in a bit) and then with roommates. When I had roommates, generally, they ended up calling the paramedics a couple times a week because I got so much. The paramedics gave me lectures; I promised to take better care, and I did, somewhat.
But since September of 2008 (and from January 2006 to June 2006), I have lived on my own. I have had a lot of severe low blood sugars. Once and only once did I make enough noise for my neighbors to call the paramedics; the rest of the time I’ve dealt with it on my own. Sometimes I’ll wake up in bed, sometimes next to my bed – if that happens, then I know the low isn’t too severe. I’ll test and get something.
But, other times, I’ve had bad lows. They almost always happen while I’m sleeping – I would get equally severe lows during the day, but I’m awake to treat them. When it happens, I generally trash my apartment and have a seizure. I’m not even aware it’s happening. I actually had one this morning. I wake up, have no control over my body, and I know I need sugar, so I sit awhile until I have enough energy to get to my fridge or wherever the closest source of sugar is. Generally, though, by the time I come to, my body has made enough sugar that I don’t even need to eat anything. Once I stop speaking in tongues and can form complete sentences, I assess the damage. This ranges from unplugging my alarm clock (always happens) and being 3 hours late for work to having a seizure on my laptop and completely breaking it.
Anyway, this has happened to me at least 100 times (probably more). Every single time, I wake up and come to. I know people say low blood sugar episodes can kill a person. However, since I have come through it so many times, I really don’t think they’re going to kill me. Obviously, I have no supporting evidence for this, but I wouldn’t worry too much about dying from a low while alone; your body will do what it can to live, and it can and will pump you full of sugar.