Here it is: So, this weekend(Friday night), I went to see Transformers(great movie btw) & went shopping with my friends etc. I was really tired, & had an early dinner & when I got home I had some candy. I wasn’t thinking carefully, or clearly enough at all. I’m pretty sure I had too much insulin for the candy because I woke up around 7:18 A.M with a blood sugar at 39.
The scary thing is that checking my blood sugar at 7:18am was the last thing that I remembered until 8:00am. Because I woke up at 8:00am in a pool of blood on the bathroom floor with a gash in my head(dangerously close to my eye), bruises on my feet, & a disgusting tongue.
I had had a seizure in the restroom, but I don’t remember going into the bathroom. I’d been using the restroom(which I don’t remember even doing) & then I’d fell on a sharp edge of the bathroom door handle as I had went into my seizure.
My roommate was helping wipe the blood from my face when I came to,(I must had eaten something or maybe because of the dawn phenomenon my blood sugar came back up??) and said that she had heard me fall in the bathroom/groan/bump around.
I’m honestly scared out of my mind to sleep alone at nights. I’m going to run myself dry from my test strip usage. I’ve been doing so well with my diabetes(one of my doctors youngest & best patients), and one little slip up almost cost me my life… I could have bled to death or died from low blood sugar. I’m not sure if I’m scared of myself or what. I hate that I can’t be in control. The large majority of the time, I am in control of my diabetes. But experiences like this scare me. I’ve been trying SO hard and been doing so well; I hate this disease although I know for sure that it has made me a stronger person.
I was diagnosed at 18, and i’m now 20. I can’t believe that I’m going to have this the rest of my life. Lately i’ve been moping around and haven’t really gone anywhere… I think that it’s finally hit me that diabetes is here to stay… this is hard.
I guess, I just need some comfort or encouragement or just know that others are going through it too and that i’m not alone. I’ve been really discouraged whereas before I’ve been confident and happy that i’m a healthy diabetic.
Does anyone have a hypo story to share? If so, please post it and tell me how you reacted to it, and picked yourself back up (mentally and physically) after the incident.
I’m so sorry that this happened to you, Brea, and so glad you are ok! I’ll tell you my own experience and then share what ever words of wisdom I can come up with.
I was misdiagnosed as Type 2 and so my doctor started me off on too high dose of insulin. Between him and me we probably had 1/2 a clue. I was just on basal and was always low before meals and high after. He wanted me to start bolus but I was resisting. I had read somewhere about correction shots, but hadn’t really understood it. So I told him I would do a bolus “PRN” if I was high after meals. He said ok (though later admitted he shouldn’t have let me) and suggested 5 units. Today, 2 1/2 years later my ISF is 1:45 and it was probably more then, so even today that would lower me by 225 points! I was 209 at 9PM so took the 5 units. I took my blood sugar at 11:00 and was 109. Good! Then next thing I knew it was 11:39 and I found myself sitting on my bed (I’d been in the other room), soaked in sweat. I guessed what was happening and though it felt like moving under water and through molasses, I took my blood sugar and it was 38, so I guess it was lower, I’d passed out and my liver kicked in. I was able to take glucose tabs I kept in the night stand, though I was incapable of counting them or making sense out of the clock. I lived alone, so after I was scared to death thinking what could have happened. It took me awhile to stop being afraid, and another month before I’d agree to start bolusing, by then I knew I was LADA and needed less insulin.
So you’re scared now and no wonder! My experience scared me and I didn’t hit my head or have a seizure! But in time the fear will go away. When I’m scared I try and make sense of what happened to me and do what I can to control it not happening again. So, I’d suggest you think about what happened, not to blame yourself; it is NOT your fault, but to see what went wrong. Perhaps you need to work on your I:C ratio and make sure you bolus more accurately for what you eat. Then you might need to test more. It’s better to not bolus close to bedtime but be awake long enough to let the insulin run its course. Then always test at bedtime and if you’re a bit low, eat some glucose tabs or a snack. I normally don’t treat lows unless they are under 60, but last night for example I was at 74 at bedtime which is too low to chance going further down, so I had two glucose tabs. What about your roomate? Does she know what to do with a low? If she is willing you could get a glucogon kit and tell her to use it if you are unconscious, but to encourage you to eat glucose tabs or drink juice if you are responsive. Finally, consider getting a CGMS. I thought after my experience I’d get one, but I was able to make myself safe without it, and haven’t had any other experiences like that since.
The last thing I want to say is you said “I was doing so well”. As you said in your other post, you still ARE doing so well. This was just a bump in the road. I know it’s hard to see that now, but in time you will. Take care of yourself for now, and let yourself heal physically and emotionally. Do something nice for yourself. It will get better.
Oh Brea, I feel your pain. I have so many stories about low sugars when I first started. Some are funny, like the one that happened in a nudist club, and some are more serious, like wrecking my truck on the entrance to the Philly airport. They thought I was a terroist and had swat and the bomb squad. Didn’t know all that until I was in the ambulance on the way to the hospital. When I say I wrecked the truck I mean I took everything off on the drivers side from the front vender to the rear fender. I was fortuantely not hurt. I drove more than 12 miles and don’t remember an inch of it. That was my wake up call.
I had seveal at home with my wife there to hit me with a gluc shot. I also had one in an apaartment I was in where I woke up between the two beds wrapped up in sweat soaked sheets and blankets and remembers nothing. The OJ was out of the fridge on the counter so I obviously drank some of that. How much…God knows?
There are so many more stories of close calls at home and at work. Ambulance trips and hospital stays where the doctors and nurses could never get my sugar under control. Spent two weeks in a hospital once with my sugar close to 300 the entire time.
Some how, the boss upstairs has seen fit to have both of us survive these scares. Just praise him and go forward.
Did you mean that you were misdiagnosed as Type 1?
And thanks for the encouragement, you’re right i’m still doing well… I just need this fear to dissipate. This is some great advice that you gave: “It’s better to not bolus close to bedtime but be awake long enough to let the insulin run its course.”… I’m definitely going to start doing this. I usually do this, but I don’t always. I’m going to always do this.
I have had a CGMS, but it broke my skin out in a pretty bad rash. I may try it again because I don’t think that it was the CGMS single handedly doing it.
Thanks for the advice, it helped me more than you know that you’d take the time out to reply
No, I was misdiagnosed as Type 2, I’m Type 1. I was 58 years old at diagnosis and they just assumed due to my age I was Type 2. But I am, in fact, something called LADA which is a slower onset form of Type 1 that happens to adults. So I did fine on oral meds for 15 months, then my numbers went up and up. My doctor knew I needed insulin but not why. Type 2’s usually take significantly higher doses of insulin when they’re on it than we do because of insulin resistance. So he gave me Type 2 doses. I figured out I was LADA on my own, in part from coming on here!
I’m glad it helps to “talk”. You might want to check out a Type 1 Support Group in your area. I started a Type 1 Women’s Group here in the Bay Area and it means a lot to talk with others who have the same experiences.
I was diagnosed at 18 also, I’m now 68 so I’ve had T1 for 50 years, so you can get through it & live a normal life, I’ve never let diabetes stop me doing anything.
My worst hypo was long ago in the 60s, before BG meters, I’d recently recovered from pneumonia ( a hyper story) & 1 morning I woke up, got up made a cup of tea, peed on a stick, took my once daily insulin injection, went back to bed to drink my tea, thought “I feel awful. I wont go to work today” Went back to sleep. I woke at about 2pm, I woke myself because I was screaming & thrashing around the bed, it took me a while to realize what was wrong, as I had nothing sweet in the bedroom I dragged myself to the kitchen & ate spoonfuls of sugar. I was OK in about 30 minutes, but I had soaked the mattress with sweat & had several bruises. As you said, it is very scary, & it happens. It is especially scary when you are alone. It leaves you feeling totally drained, but you go on because you have to.
I mean it when I said I didn’t let diabetes stop me doing things. I went to university worked designing computer software until I retired, took time off. I hitched across Europe with friends, spent a summer hitching around Israel, & with a boyfriend & his family sailed across the Atlantic, always with my syringes & insulin. I always told my friends & colleagues that if I started acting weird or slurring my speech they should give me a sweet drink. So don’t give up, you’ll win, diabetes can’t beat you.
Okay I understand now… wow I’ve never heard of late onset Type 1 in such specifics until now…
& I want to definitely find a group in my area. It really does help me though. It feels good to tell a story & have the other person know how you feel w/o tons of explanation
Wow,
the 12 mile trip blows my mind! Matter of fact, they all do. I haven’t really had any funny ones. But how was the one in the nudist club? It’d be nice to hear something lighthearted in regards to diabetes.
But yes, I will praise him & go forward & not dwell on it.
I’m only human anyways…
Thanks for the encouragement. I haven’t let diabetes beat me yet! Matter of fact, it’s my motto whenever my mom worries over me & doesn’t want me to go places or do things that normally she wouldn’t have a problem with… Motto is to pretty much not let diabetes hold me back.
I feel like it’s just this recent one that threw me for a loop because I was alone(my roomie was there but she was sleep & hadn’t really helped me until it was over with) and I don’t really remember much until I woke in blood. It’s just
scary. But you’re right, I can’t let it hold me back. Have to be strong… the diabetes isn’t going anywhere, so neither will my will to go on!
I went out dancing with my girlfriends and I and brought candy with me just in case. We had dinner before we went out and we were out 'till 1 am. I went home and had given my lantis(basal) late (this was when I was still giving shots) and I woke up in the hospital. I had switched my lantis and novolog(bolus)thast night and gave 44 units of novolog. I dropped quickly and seized right next to my friend. Good thing she was learning to be a nurse so she handled it very well. Don’t let this get you down I had the same problem, I just couldn’t stop asking myself why This happened to me?? I did that for too many years and resulted in bad diabetes control. I just recently turned myself around and figured I need to look at this a gift not a curse, because all I did was hurt myself. Now I feel happy, am excited to have great numbers and I worry less about the little mistakes, they happen and its okay. I make a more consious effort to what I do before I go to bed. I recently got the CGMS (continuous glucose monitoring system) which warns me when Im on track to going low. Its wonderful!! I am 20 and I know how hard it is to be young and have this disease, Ive had it sense I was 8. High school sucked with it and college is hard but I learned how to work my life around it so that it doesn’t affect me. If you have any questions don’t hesitate to ask me I love talking with people my age, it makes me feel like im not alone! : )
You poor thing. I remember one of my hypo experiences. I recall consciously taking 2 juice boxes and then falling back asleep and waking up to my mother standing over the bed and about 7 paramedics in my room. And yes, my tongue hurt and was ugly, just like you. My word of advice to you is this: GET A DEXCOM. That way you will know when your sugar is dropping. I have a dex and I have not had a seizure since. it is well worth it! Oh also, if your tongue hurts you should try “kank+a” it numbs your tongue/cheek really well so you can talk. Good luck.
At one time my wife and I were in what was termed “the lifestyle”. We were members of a nudist resort not far from our nations capital. One summer we were spending the weekend there. I was in the pool swimming on a rather hot day. Of course the pool was out in the sun and the pool itself was rather warm. Now I have no idea exactly what happened but my wife told me that I got out of the pool and put my glasses on and got back in the pool. I NEVER swim with my glasses on. She was watching me as I was standig in the water and just feel over. They got me out of the pool and my wife went and got the gluc shot and gave it to me. By this time the park had already called 911.
Now imagine yourself sitting in a fire house, police station or ambulance unit and hearing that there is a medical emergency at the nudist resort. In total there were two fire trucks, 3 state police cars, 2 county police cars, 1 municipal police car, a paramedic unit and an ambulance. All that for the beached whale…lol.
I was told by my wife, and others, that it was a royal three ring circus of who had jurisdiction all the while my wife was tell the paramedics and other members of the resort who were “medically” trained to leave me alone for 15 minutes and the shot would bring me back. One of the members was an emergency room nurse and I guess she and my wife really got into it.
Well, sure enough 15 minutes later they had me sitting up drinking OJ and eating a sandwich. The emergency was averted. But the paramedics wanted to stay to make sure I was alright. Since the paramedics were staying the cops thought they should stay. The only ones that left were the fireman and their trucks.
It was quite exciting for the members and guests. Probably even more exciting for the emergency responders who got to take a look inside the fence of that private resort.
Okay, so i’ve had the Dexcom before and I loved it. But, I stopped using it because I was using it while I was still using the Omnipod that had broken my skin out into a rash.
But, hopefully it was just the Omnipod that broke me out and not the Dexcom because i’m going to start using the Dexcom once more. Wearing the Dexcom really made me feel close to feeling that I didn’t have diabetes because I knew(to great accuracy) what my blood sugar was pretty much at all times.
But actually, I had just talked to my dad last night about getting back on the DEXCOM. I think that I will definitely be able to sleep better at nights too because i’m CONSTANTLY checking my blood sugar with every “odd” feeling now. Also, the Dexcom used to wake me up at nights whenever I got below 80 (I’m not sure if this is the majority of diabetics, but I suffer from the “Dawn Phenomenon” effect.
But, yes, DEXCOM it is… say no more LOL. I’m SO excited now because I had forgotten all about the DEXCOM and how self assured that I felt when I had it.
Lol that was quite an entertaining story…
and i’m glad that it turned out well. That gives me an idea though, that maybe I should get a glucagon shot to keep with me for emergencies. I keep snacks on me, but sometimes I may not be able to actually eat snacks, or contact paramedics.
Honey your NOT alone in that. I got a bunch of stories to tell about hypo’s and sleeping. (way to many to pick out the worst one) After I had my 1st experience with having a seizure in the night and waking up with the paramedics here I didn’t trust myself to sleep at all after a few months of staying up all the time I went to my dr and it must have showed that I hadn’t been sleeping b/c he told me to go to sleep when I told him why I wasn’t he told me to take these pills and hope for the best (yeah words of comfort there) The sleeping pills did work though and I didn’t have a seizure so I guess (all in all it was over a year doing this) I got back to semi sleep although I still don’t sleep like I did before. I have told myself and many other that YOU CAN DO THIS!!! Mark that in your book and never let yourself think you can’t! It’s just life as I see it.
You will need a prescription to get one. Just like insulin you have to keep a close eye on the expiration dates. They sit in my desk at home and work and I hardly ever look at them. Had to add that to my BG list to remind me to look at the dates
I was diagnosed back in 84. Although I had lows (even down in the teens), the bad ones really did not start until a couple years ago. Last summer after starting the pump, I had 2 bad ones two days in a row. The first one was my fault. A bunch of people where I live got together for pizza late Friday night. My Dexcom woke me up about 4:30 that I was high. I wasn’t thinking about the pump and took a correction dose like I normally would – I forgot that I had my basal going up for DP. About 5:30, the low alarms started going off but I did not hear them. At some point, I woke up on the floor. I couldn’t move or scream & thought I had a stroke - my doctor said it was because of the lack of glucose to my brain for so long. It took me awhile to even get turned over. My feet were near the nightstand so I had to get totally turned around to get to the phone. I don’t know how long it took me to get there, but I know 20 minutes passed between my first and second attempts at the phone. It was also after 10 and I was worried about someplace I was supposed to be at 10, so I had been under 40 for 4 hours. When I finally got the phone pulled off the nightstand, I had pulled it out of the wall so it was useless. God was looking out for me that morning because I managed to get the window open and get help.
Two days later, I woke up on the floor with an EMT over me. I kept hearing people say “Kelly are you still with us” but I didn’t know who they were and was afraid to say anything. I wasn’t even sure where I was. At one point when the EMT was bending over, I could see my bedskirt and realized I was in my bedroom. When I heard her say something about my BS, I realized why they were there and finally spoke up. I had apparently been screaming & banging on the walls so my neighbors called the police. My neighbor told me I stopped screaming right after she called. When the cop came, he knocked on my door and I didn’t answer so he was going to leave. He gave his card to my neighbors & told them to call if it started up again. My neighbor convinced him to get the manager and they found me unconscious when they came in.
