It’s very common to get emotional when you go low. I get weepy or angry, depending on how bad the low is. I can deal with angry, but I hate it when I start to cry because of a low, as people think there is something really, really wrong when it’s really just a low. Ugh.
My son had a low yesteday… not idea how low…but we were in the car and he screamed… Mom tabs! I gave him a jar of tabs from the glove compartment and he ate about 1/2 the thing! When we finally pulled over he was 87…must been pretty low at first… he even said he nodded in and out of consiousness just before he yelled to me. I knew he was “over carbing it” but he said… “Don’t you dare try to take this jar away!”… he even yelled it at me… he felt that desparate. We were on our way out to eat… and in the end… he only went in to the mid 200’s …so not as high as I thought that would do to him. It was scary for him.
Yeah I think that’s what is happening. I’m an emotional lower. Dang.
I LOVE chatting with newbies like myself and in a similar situation. You should add me on FB: Danielle Marie Schamer and you can narrow it by education “University of Mary”.
And we can chat more there viz message, but:
I really like there at first because I thought WOW they spend a lot of time worrying about me. But then it got annoying. Jackie CONSTANTLY called me on my phone and left me voicemails and I caught myself purposely avoiding her calls so then I just gave up on them. Jackie just eventually got annoying and I didn’t feel very comfortable around her although she was smart.
Yeah I HATE when they treat T1 and T2 the same. I think YOU will know when you’re ready. Honestly, I could have been ready on the pump a lot earlier. As long as you have some semblance of what your I:CR is etc. you can go on the Omnipod. Its just so easy! And my A1C dropped from 8.7 to 6.3!!! I have Rarely ever any high highs and more lower blood sugars (but still a regular amount of lows, nothing too abnormal).
I will have to let you know how I like Shannon, my favorite doctor EVER (if anyone needs a rheumatologist, Dr. Gorman at the Poly Clinic. She’s like my BEST FRIEND and I absolutely LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE her!!!), anyway, recommended her and I trust her with my life so she should be good!
Seriously, if you want OmniPod advice, etc. Linda Myreck at the Everett Providence Diabetes Education (place?) in downtown everett at the hospital is AMAZING. She’s so sweet and taught me SO much there is to know about the pump and what I need and everything in between. I love her and I think she might give you a better opinion on whether you should get the pump. It is your choice!! I know you need a prescription but your doctor shouldn’t be telling you “NO.” if its something you want for yourself.
My I CR is messed up. I usually just bolus a unit or two or three depending on how carby it is and just check throughout. I’m still producing such a wacky amount of insulin.
I was on shots from Oct. 23 2010 when I was dx to early June, right before I started the Pump (I started the OmniPod June 8, 2011).
I use Novolog right now but I usually use humalog. I have a bunch of free insulin I got from Dr. Moore and then from volunteering at Camp Sealth this summer (diabetes camp) and so I’m using that up because it expires before my humalog pens do (I have those from an older prescription but I will just suck the insulin out of the pen and put it into my pump:) ). I’ve not noticed a difference between either so It doesnt really matter to me either way. I also have two vials of Apidra I haven’t tried yet but I know they are different and a little faster acting than the others but I probably wont use it before it expires so I may have to give those away on here.
Anyway, message me on facebook and we can chat more! I love talking to people in a similar situation as mine!!
Wow, so did it just hit him THAT fast or did he just not think about it until he was almost passed out? Usually the only reason I ever get REALLY low is because I confuse the feeling with what I’m doing (tired, sleeping, exercise, etc.) or I can’t get to sugar right away.
Glad he’s okay though! Tell him I said, I LOVE THOSE TABS. The grape are the best! They taste like sweetarts 
See for me, I would only go probably lower to mid 100’s after that. I’m still producing a lot of insulin!
Thank you so much! I really appreciated your post.
I’m thinking you’re right, I’m gonna try lowering my basal to about .4 from .7 all day. and .6 to .3 at night and see how that goes.
I REALLY want a CGM I think it will make my life so much easier but OmniPod is teaming up with Dexcom to put one with the OmniPod and so its in one controller also, so I don’t want to get one and then have that come out! But I’m keeping my eyes and ears open, too. I may looking into it and heard the Dexcom 7 was the best. Any other advice on that?
I don’t have the best insurance and my OmniPod is pretty spendy so I’m going to fill out the forms and see how much the dexcom will cost me. My parent’s are probably gonna have a heart attack. It’s really unfair how our healthcare and everything works 
Hey, I can’t complain it could be worse.
I think the sleep thing just goes with the fact that I am in a new place with a new bed and new room and I’m not used to it here completely yet. I am hoping to get myself back on a better sleep schedule asap.
I got a little nervous in the beginning of my speech and kinda stuttered through the first 30 sec but after that I got used to it and put my notes down and then nailed it!!
I was at a garage sale today (its rummage sale weekend in Bismarck because there is the Pow Wow this weekend) and I was chatting with a lady because she had a chocolate lab like mine. We were just making pleasant conversation and a guy that had been standing off to the side just kinda looked at me and said, “Okay, I HAVE to ask…what is that on your arm?” and I started and then OH YEAH, my pod. “Oh, its just my OmniPod. My Insulin Pump :). I have diabetes.” …“Good for you!” and then while I was explaining and answering some questions all I got back was big smiles and proud faces and “Good for you!”'s. Hey, they were sweet people. Could be worse. I’ve found in a smaller lesser known town like these people don’t have as much knowledge about things like Type1 Diabetes. Well, guess what, I’d love to educate them!
Thanks!
Danielle
You may want to mention the constant sleepless to a doctor. They are several things that can cause that and they might be able to help you with it.
Danielle,
I can so relate to this. At nearly 60 years old, I only graduated from college six years ago, and I had to fight lows that often occurred just by walking around the college campus. Sometimes it was a nightmare, but i always seemed to get through it. I carried glucose tablets with me, and ate them like candy. It seemed to be the only thing I could do, except for grabbing an occasional sugared soda between classes. I can imagine your embarrassment in talking to the instructor…
Fast forward to now, I begin pumping this week I am concerned that this will be a roller coaster of highs and lows and I will need to discuss the situation with my supervisor, who is half my age. I hope it goes as well as your situation.
Aside, I am happy to read that you are in school in North Dakota. I live in Moorhead, Mn, near Fargo, North Dakota and am a proud NDSU Bison alum.
Be well.
Brian Wittman
Danielle, I would wait for the Omnipod and Dexcom to be combined, too, if I were in your shoes, totally due to the money involved. The dexcom is absolutely wonderful. It told me exactly what different types of foods were doing to me, and tho it was behind in time, it was right on and a great warner when it started sliding downward. I had it for a year, worked on developing different types of research on my body with it so I came out of the year very well educated about me. You will find people will appreciate your educating them, and your nursing buddies will, too. Maybe even your faculty will learn some things from you - in fact, I’ll guarantee they will if they don’t have diabetes!
It went from… “hmm kinda feeling low… to BooM … Give me tabs!” We have been trying to keep him a little on the higher side of things to get him more “hypoaware”… he has trouble feeling them till they hit hard… When he is “just before a low” He feels his best … so it is hard to know that “feeling” great might mean he is going low. Kinda a catch 22 for him.
If you are adjusting your basal, I’d suggest trying smaller increments than to cut it in half like you’d suggested? I have found that a lot of times, .1U/ hour or 1 carb/ U will make a pretty significant difference in whatever numbers I’m trying to cook. The other thing I’d suggest would be to test more frequently at whatever times you see the biggest challenges, sort of “attack” them with extra testing to figure out how to get them covered? I have had a bunch of crazy BG adventures, some stretching way back to college, but never figured out how to fine tune things unitl I got a pump and, a couple of years later, a CGM? I was sort of close, pre-CGM when I had a challenging period right before I tested for my Black Belt in Tae Kwon Do. I was running and lifting weights at lunch and then 1 or 2 TKD classes 5 or 6 nights/ week (this is when I was 40…) and, when I counted later, was testing 17 times/ day, just to keep up with it.
Acidrock is very right. Your nighttime may not need much lowering if you’re sleeping through the night, that is, if you have no lows at night.
How about reducing by 10%-20% daytime? See how it goes, even put on a pedometer for distances you’re walking & gauge what you need for particular class schedules.
When I reduce myself, I think in terms of what percent change in blood sugars I want. Keep to small tweeks. They’re corrected more easily.
I was standing in line at Walgreens a few months ago and started to cry. I didn’t fell sad or mad or anything. I just started to cry. Then I said to myself “I’d better check my bg”. It was 39. I grabbed a juice and got back in line and guzzled. I figured I had to wait before I drove home anyway. When I cry, I am either reminded of death, and I miss my mommy (who died 4 yrs ago. I am not over it yet, but so what.), or my bg is low. That is just about it. Okay, maybe Halmark commercials, but those didn’t phase me until mom died.
Hey Danielle,
I was honeymooning way before I started college, but there were a few things I didn’t consider when I was in college:
- I moved from a flat town to a hilly town. Walking up and down hills depletes your bg faster.
- I didn’t usually walk with a backpack before. Walking with a pack of 30 to 40 lbs of books depletes bg faster.
- I don’t need as much insulin when I am sleep deprived. Walking when tired depletes bg faster.
Don’t freak out. The next paragraph is to let you know not to be careless like I was, and it is better to ask for special accommodation, because if you are too worried about it, you will probably get it anyway. Most professors want to test what you actually know. (most prof’s)
Once I took a test, and had no idea how I got back to my apartment. My roommates told me some guy said I was laying on top of my backpack on this big lawn area near the dorms. Apparently I told him where I lived and he helped me home. My roommates told me to drink juice until I became coherent. My professor graded my test and asked me to come see him before he handed out any graded exams. Aparently I worked on the first problem, started the second, and then left. My only recollection was that I was tired during the test and put my head down. The proctor said that wasn’t allowed. I figured I left at that point, but I don’t recall. I blacked out and never got that memory back. It doesn’t freak me out, b/c I know that when your bg gets too low, memory is one of the things your brain doesn’t work to maintain.
Also, I have read your responses, and I am not sure you have something clear. I have different amounts I bolus for my carbs depending on what time of day it is. I am not sure, though, if you are able to do that based on your sleep schedule (or lack of schedule). The other thing is I have 3 different basal rates depending on the time of the month. That affects everythign if I get that wrong. You don’t need to reply, just stuff to consider.
Thanks! Yeah I’ve not had one of those types of lows yet but I’m sure it will happen.
Yup I don’t even really count carbs anymore. I just bolus 1,2, or 3 units depending on time of day, what I’m going to do later, and the type of carbs and how much. I bolused 1 unit for a white chocolate mocha with pumpkin spice syrup today and was perfect BG before I drank it (I think it was 84), anyway, I drank most of it (grande!) and studyed with some friends at barnes and noble. nothing too hard core, no stress, nothing like that. Anyway, we left there about an hour after I finished that and drove across the street to Target. I felt low and checked and I was 54.
My body is clearly still producing some insulin at times. Its just what I’m gonna have to deal with for a while until it settles down. So I don’t really have a bolus or basal with a lot of rhyme or reason and probably won’t for a while. I’m usually in perfect range if not a little low a lot since I moved here so I just lowered my basal a bit from .7 day and .6 night to .6 day and .5 night. Hasn’t made any big different for me.
So everyone is a bit different, and I know Leo2 and Acidrock were saying not to lower it too much, well I tried it for a day or two, also no big difference. and I’ve done it before, where I’ve changed it up, not a change really other than my blood sugars running a bit higher (lower hundreds) when I bring my basal down to .3 day and .3 night.
So…yeah
That’s good that everything worked out ok. By “no big difference”, do you mean your BG was ok? If your BG didn’t run up or down crazily, I would take the lower basal dose and see if it works? The goal for basal isn’t to “beat” a number or get “lower than” a number, it’s to be flat and then you get the food/ bolus#s set. It probably seems tedious to “calculate” everything and I’m not 100% there yet either. The only other caveat I can add, and I graduated from college in 1989, is that the tossing a unit in here and there is an easy way to end up eating more than you need to eat and has some potential to be unhealthy in a completely, or mostly, undiabetes manner?
I hit 275 lbs @ age 37 (after getting as low as 120 lbs at 5’ 10" when I was DX’ed in 1984!!) before I decided to try a different approach. The pump made me more precise and I’ve stuck with it because I like the smoother numbers that happen when I count, etc. I also have noticed some flucttuation in my insulin needs, sometimes it goes up and sometimes it goes down. I feel better knowing. When I was 20 something, I didn’t think I’d last too much beyond 40 but, now that I’m 43, I have a slightly different perspective?
In my plan for my diabetes at college, I test before an exam. If it is way too low for me to function at all, then my professor and I make the decision as to whether or not I take the exam. (Usually this is anything <70) Otherwise, I write my BG number at the beginning of the test, as well as the time on the top right corner of my exam. If I feel like I’m going low OR too high at any point during the exam, I’m allowed to test, either in the classroom or outside of the room, and I write that number as well as the time next to the question on which I was working when I tested my BG. This may happen more than once during the exam. Then when my professor is grading my exam, if there were really big mistakes, especially with those questions, it won’t necessarily count against me. My professor and I can work something out about the exam, and everyone knows why the mistakes were made. I had to register through the Office of Disability Services to have this in my accommodation plan to get this accommodation for exams.
My BG is usually very off because only sometimes will my body give insulin for a meal, others not so much but I can never tell. Usually I’m on the lower side. Like I just woke up right now and felt low and was less than 60…I didn’t even bolus for my dinner 10 hours ago (its 4am) which was a veggie burger and some fries and raspberry iced tea lemonade.
I’m not tossing around units. Its just that if I carb count, I’m low. NEVER will I give myself the right amount always. Its because like I said in the first sentence of my post. So usually I will just do a low amount like I would have only bolused .5 units of insulin for that last meal had I decided to, but luckily I didnt because I would have been even more low.
When my body flatlines and I make no more insulin I will be in a better place to control because it will be a little more consistent I think. I’m doing everything I can but I still go low often. I don’t know, I’ve been told I’m possibly MODY or LADA by some passing by doctors (at diabetes camp when I was chatting with them as a volunteer, etc). I have an appointment with my endo when I come home in DEC so hopefully that will get some blood work done and get some questions answered.
Nice to know! I registered through them too, and although I think my teachers would be accommodating anyway it is great to know its there if I need it.
I will be doing that, if I feel low or am below 75 I will decide to test at a later date
The “usually” sounds like it’s not the carb counting itself but the ratio that’s off? If you are “never” using the suggested amount, you are sort of correcting the ratio but, if you are still running low when you carb count, further adjusting the ratio may get you where you want to be? It doesn’t sound like running high is a problem but perhaps running even slightly higher would leave you feeling more in control for tests, etc. Even if you aren’t counting the carbs precisely, there’s still a ratio there? If it’s moving around because of “home grown” production, I guess there’s not a whole lot that can be done to make it more precise but anytime I am getting an “always” and “off”, whether it’s high or low, I will just change it around and the endo can loo at it when I see her in a few months?