Makes you want to just *squeeze* him, doesn't it?
Good thoughts, bsc, & I appreciate them. I do need to get my head examined. Know you're good friends when someone suggests that & you agree:) I'm hypothyroid (Hashimoto's) & that places great stress on the adrenals which overcompensates for lack of thyroid hormone. Quite difficult to get thyroid supplementation correct for a variety of reasons. I've asked my doctor (he's not an endo)several times for cortisol saliva testing to uncover my adrenal state. Typical doctor, he refused. Maybe now he'll be more receptive. If he continues to refuse, I'm going to pay for the test myself. Excellent suggestion about pituitary.
I have gastroparesis. It typically causes highs, of course, when food finally digests & usually after insulin is gone. What I thought was a stubborn case of dawn phenomenon, turned out to be gastroparesis. I didn't know that could cause a hypo, other than what happens when bolus is too early to match delayed digestion (which I dealt with early on). I bolus several hours after eating.
Other than thyroid supplementation, I don't take any drugs. Not even aspirin. Grateful I grew up with a mother who didn't believe pills were the answer for minor things.
Thanks. You've given me wonderful info to investigate further.
Really terrifying to be that incapacitated. It was like a nightmare when you want to scream or run & nothing happens. Frozen in time & scared. I was a submissive EMS patient because I couldn't talk or do anything. I've had some very cranky lows, where I insisted I was fine despite all evidence to the contrary. Had other lows where profuse apologies were in order for snapping at people out of the blue. Sure can be a Jekyll & Hyde thing that friends & family don't deserve. Had a good T1 friend before I was diagnosed. He went through a complete personality change. Sweetest, most easygoing guy, but impossibly belligerent when low.
Diabetes should come with a super computer or crystal ball. I'm putting in a request for both!
Thanks, lots.
Hello Gerri:
Take a breath. You are alive.
The fact its happening in the same time frame consistently suggests it is one issue. Consider cutting back on the short acting coverage PRIOR to that specific time frame?
Eat far more than usual in that time frame. Fat, protein AND carbs. Should extend the breakdown better. All you want is for it not to happen for a couple days, and in time not for a week, then longer. Buy you some time to figure out...
The insulin is probably double covering, overlapping somehow. For right now, consider cutting back meningfully in that time frame. Redundant safety measures.
Stuart
It's the two in a row that has me quite scared. The first one wasn't as severe, but I was loopy in public & knew I was out of control of my body. People around me must have thought I was mentally impaired or on drugs. I really was mentally handicapped. Such brain fog that I couldn't test. That's bad. I kept eating jelly beans & they had little effect. The first was a warning that I didn't heed & just chalked it up to a freak occurence. I'm taking it seriously after yesterday's event.
So many factors to rule out or in. Appreciate your help.
I don't have a glucagon kit, but am getting it refilled. I always had one & threw them away unused when they expired.
The gremlin! You got a pic of him! Cool! (I think)
Thanks, Holger. Always learn something new.
Breathing is good advice. Both days, I hadn't taken Apidra close to the time of the lows. It was about 7 hours prior. You're right. The consistency of the time is a big clue. I believe there must have been an overlap & I need to spread out Levemir doses more. Thanks!
Its kind of weird, but we found out one of my husband's lows was once caused by the insulin going directly into a blood vessel instead of into fat layer once. Its real hard to tell for sure if thats happening. He went into a quick low. Most diabetics don't check when injecting to see if when you pull the plunger back, any blood comes up into the needle. My husband was once still talking with a low of 22 before paramedics arrived. He was actually unconsious, but seemed to be talking, just not able to think clearly. Before they showed up and while I was still on the phone talking to 911, he started gasping for air and I gave him mouth to mouth breaths waiting for the paramedics to arrive. Glad EMS was able to help you!
Sharon
He got away before I could get my hands on the machete :(
Hi Gerri,
I'm very late to this discussion but in the interest of thorough brainstorming I will toss in a comment or two.
Dr. B never tires, correctly, of harping on the fact that everything in our equation is variable, not only from person to person but from day to day -- food, meds, mood, etc., etc., etc. So as you inch your way slowly back to a "normal" regime, you'll want to test a lot -- and frequently -- to make sure your "everyday" pattern is still what it was, or should I say, what you think it is and are basing your decisions on.
One thing I know about you for sure is that you practice tight portion control, so food itself almost certainly isn't the culprit.
All the suggestions given here are great and worth following up, but add this to your thought process too: don't overlook the possibility that there is not just a single cause -- in other words, that more than one variable may have changed in such a way that one alone wouldn't have done this to you but all of them together ended up pushing you in the wrong direction too hard and too fast for you to keep up with. In other words, don't automatically take it for granted that there is one and only one culprit; consider the possibility of a synergistic blend of things that went wrong in precisely the right combination and in just the right order to send you off the edge of the cliff.
That said, I would also reinforce Sam Iam's point about mental stress. The mind can affect the body more profoundly than we often care to believe or admit. Here is an example: when I read the descriptions in hot sauce catalogs -- simply read them -- I eventually break out in a pronounced sweat. Forgive me for the apparent triviality of that; just trying to make the point about how powerfully a mental state can control a physical process.
Glad you are okay! Take it slow and easy and be well.
David
Hi Gerri- I'm so relieved you made it through this ordeal although it sounds so frightening! That is always my fear, too! Thank God your husband was there. I don't know all of the ins and outs of the underlying cause and I know you are trying to figure it out. I just wanted to say glad you're okay and will be able to sort through all of this to find a reason and a solution soon : ) Whew! I hate, hate the blood sugar demon! Hugs to you!!!
I so agree with what David said so well , hence my comment :.the " golden rules " do not always apply ,it seems ...I believe , that living with diabetes since 1983 taught me this ( ..living without complications ) ...
I'd say too that my general rule is that if I'm running low regularly, I turn down the offending time period on my pump a bit or, if it's a big shift, I'll drop basal down like 10% to see what happens. I was a lot less planned when I was on MDI but maybe just cut the basal 10% to figure it out might help?
Hi Gerri: :)
Oh, I can so image how you felt. :( Talk about Panic mode!! Too bad we were both sleeping when our "time outs" occurred. Not unusual. Otherwise, we would have been awake and probably checking our blood sugars to catch it. I'm Thankful for your Husband and the EMS Guys also and that we are both doing better. :)
I'm happy that you opened this discussion Gerri. There are many other Diabetics who have had or will have bad and unexplained lows and seizures. This at least may help them figure out why. There is a lot of Good info and ideas here that they will not get from their Drs.
Thank you! I haven't had a seizure in a long time, so it certainly gave us a jolt. I am aware that I stacked things badly against myself at that time which probably explains why my blood sugar stayed low longer.
I asked Phil for the details before I posted my other post. He repeated that I was given 2 Glucagon shots 15 minutes apart then the Dextrose IV since my sugar wasn't rising fast enough and they wanted me out of the seizure. My heart rate was 160.
My head was a little buzzy and I was tired when I came out of it. The Paramedics wouldn't leave until I ate something. Phil fed me a bowl of low-carb oatmeal. One Paramedic said, "You sure have a Good Man there". "Yes, I know" I said. "I keep saying that". (Okay, he does have a few faults like the rest of us. :) ) I do appreciate him and the Paramedics.
This is only the second time that I've had a bothersome injury from a seizure. The other one was brain damage/memory loss when I was severely overdosed at the hospital. I already have the strength back in my hand. Now for the numbness. Sorry, too much talking.
Sorry that was 10 minutes apart.
I as an almost age 72 -er pumper(since 2001 )run " higher " than most here ..and this has served me well ...kept me out of hospital, diabetes related , since 1983 ...we are all different !
Thanks, Trudy. I use less in the summer also. Wow, you don't use much basal.
Hi smokinbeaver,
How frightening that must have been! Thank heavens you were there. At one point, I couldn't tell if I was awake or dreaming. Must have been similar to twilight meds I've heard about. I'm one of the diabetics who've never checked to see if I've hit a blood vessel. Good thing to be aware of. Thanks for sharing that. I'm very lucky that the EMS station is only two blocks from our house. They walked in carrying a syringe filled with dextrose & shot me up instantly (after checking BG).
Hi Char,
Not an experience I'd recommend. Thanks for your good thoughts & hugs. I feel really vulnerable & gun shy.