11 days ago I got sick with COVID (twice vaxxed and once boosted). For the past three days I’ve been feeling much better. However, when I got symptomatic, my hypo awareness all but disappeared. I’ve had T1D for two years and three months. I always feel my glucose dropping regardless of number (unless it’s a more steady drop), and I start feeling hypo in the 80s, or at least 70s. I try to stay over 100. If I feel low at all overnight, I don’t even need to check my numbers, I know I’m in the 60s or, more rarely, 50s, and just eat sugar by my bed. But that feeling no longer happens.
I’m on MDI, and particularly careful about my numbers overnight. I woke up last night at 2:50 a.m., felt a little weird, decided to check my glucose, it was 46. I can’t remember the last time I was even in the 50s. 40s have happened only a handful of times. My heart was beating faster and I was a little shaky, but it was hard for me to tell even at that number that I was that low. I also have no idea how that happened. I almost always can know, in hindsight, why my blood sugar did what it did. Not that, at all, which is worrisome.
Has anyone else lost hypo awareness with infections? Does it come back? Could my trying to recover from illness explain the bizarre low number?
I’m afraid I don’t have any knowledge about being sick and losing hypo awareness. It certainly seems plausible that if your body is recovering from illness, you would have dampened sensations from either fatigue or other sensations getting in the way.
I’m replying, though, to urge you to get a CGM if that’s a possibility for you. Much better than relying on sensations to know when you’re low or high.
The symptoms and side effects of covid vary so much from person to person, it seems as if anything goes here. We know it causes neurological damage, so I would think it can definitely throw off our perception of things, and lead to hypo unawareness. We’re a pretty small subset of the population, though, so I doubt there’s any supporting evidence of this.
While being sick in general makes me insulin resistant, I find that fevers specifically have the exact opposite effect. I always go terribly low when fighting a fever, like my body needs to burn all my glucose to feed that fire. So I would probably just assume the random low went along with a fever.
I hope this is a short-term side effect for you and things return to normal quickly! And if not, CGMs are great for addressing this, if you have access to one. Even if you have restrictive insurance, hypo unawareness is a valid medical excuse for one.
Thanks so much for your reply. Yeah it must be something to do with the infection. I was extra careful last night and bolstered my sugar to 160, something I’d never normally do. Early morning I was 130, so it did go down a fair amount, but not extradorinarily dramatic. So hopefully that low was a fluke, related to my body maybe trying to replenish its liver glucose reserves or something.
I used a CGM for a while. Unfortunately it just doesn’t work for me–constantly off, by a lot, even giving frequent wrong trend directions. I had to finger stick more using that then I do without it! Not being able to trust the number was really stressful.
Have you tried placing the Dexcom 6 on different parts of your body? I am small 5’ 107 lbs but not underweight at all. When I was only using my abdomen, my Dexcom readings were not good. It was normal for me to be off by 40 points or more. I was calling the Dexcom representatives fairly frequently. Once I started using the front to inner upper arm, my readings improved drastically. Often times my glucose readings and my Dexcom readings match.
I also found that if I soak my new sensor at least 8 hrs, my readings come close to matching as soon as the 2 hour warm up period is over. No more waiting for 24 hrs to get matching readings. I am so happy.
Hypo unawareness comes from having frequent swings in glucose levels. So while you were sick it seems you were having those large swings.
Our bodies become aware to lows and highs because they are not normal, but if we constantly move up and down, our bodies begin to accept that as normal and the usual symptoms go away
Once you get back to normal for a while your ability to feel it should return to normal.
Are you doing MDI using a CGM device? From your post about waking up and feeling wierd, then checking glucose, it appears you are not using CGM right now, otherwise your CGM would have awakened you when you went below the low limit, often set to 75.
Having been a T1D for 55 years, most of that time I also had no CGM and going low while asleep was always a concern. When I got a Dexcom CGM, managing T1D became much easier.
With other posters, I hope your hypo awareness returns. But I would still recommend getting a CGM if your doctor and insurance will support that. Not only does it make it much easier to manage BG and stay in range, it is there to alert you if your hypo awareness gets thrown off again by another infection. And it can alert you whenever you are busy, distracted or asleep and not picking up those natural indications.
I have had TD1 for 50 years and lost my sense of highs or lows a long time ago. I can get into the 200s or down below 50 without having any awareness. That’s why I depend on my CGM so much. I had thought it was explained to me that we lose that awareness over time.
I think all senses become dulled as we age. Blood sugar awareness is closely ties to your delta. Meaning the changes in blood sugar.
We are creatures of habit. And blood sugar is no different.
A lot of times type 2 s will have high sugars for years and not know it. A 200 becomes their baseline and when they bring it down to 100, they feel hypo.
I used to have somewhat decent control somewhere around 7% a1c but my sugars varied wildly. I allowed my sugar to run high at night to avoid going low. I lost all sensation lol low and high sugars and it was kind of dangerous so I would let my sugars go even higher as a safety measure.
Once I got cgm, I was able to tighten things. My a1c is running 5.9 right now. But even better, my delta is low. I’m usually between 80 and 150. Not always but my baseline is there.
After several months of tight control, I started feeling my highs and lows again.
I have been a type 1 for 63 yrs. MDI. My A1c is 4.6. I feel all of my lows, but have never felt my highs. I love my CGM and try my best to stay between 65-140.
Wow I was 4.9 now 5.2 and my Dr. was very worried about me being low with an a1c that low. I’ve nver seen 4.6! Personally I feel sharper with such tight control.
It is possible to have normal A1c’s without having a lot of lows, but doctors just don’t see that very often. I would be very happy with a 5.2. Time in range is the most important statistic.
Hello good evening.its my first time in this forum.actually my daughter 5 yrs old have a T1 .im noy yet familiar for this so i search some link to help me and. Having and idea how to handle T1 coz sometimes if her sugar is getting low i felt so nervous .i cannot sleep totally at night coz i watching her coz sometimes her sugar is getting low.indont know how much the dexcom g6 and how it works and how long do weed to change that and how many months .and also anyone try to disability tax or try the north disability service.thank you and have a wonderful day.
Hi Aliyah, I don’t have kids (let alone any w/ T1D), and was diagnosed well into adulthood, but I can only imagine how challenging it is to care for a child with this disease. I would suggest talking about all your concerns, and asking questions about CGMs and the best way to pay for diabetes treatment, with your endocrinologist. I would also suggest seeking out parts of this forum dedicated specifically to parents of kids w/ T1D, and any topics/subforums related to paying for supplies. Best, Becky
Thank you so much becky.i felt like i found a family in this forum.coz its hard if your alone in this country without your family to confort you.i dont know what to do.atleast her i can find any ideas when reading all your comments.
None of that may be helpful for your situation. I am not familiar with ways to pay for other supplies like CGM, but I’m sure if you searched the forum and other forums and Google, and reached out to CGM companies like Dexcom themselves, you can get more info about this.
Regarding management, community forums like this one are really great. My main thing personally is just to err on the side of not going low when dosing insulin–you want to avoid highs, but it’s so difficult to manage/predict sometimes, and so, especially at night, better to try more to avoid lows, especially w/ a kid. Hopefully she’s becoming more aware of her body and how lows feel, if she’s not already. I wish you the best of luck!! Great job managing for your daughter :).
Is it bad or affect the insulin if there’s a tiny drop after pulling off the needle cozmost of the time when i pulling of the needle theres a tiny drops.i dont know if there’s a technique for pulling off i just alao count 1-10 even it’s already 10
I didn’t pull it off yet to make sure that no tiny drops but still and sometimes it’s bleeding if i remove the needle
:).