Having experienced many lows in the last 16 years, I'd like some feedback on an experience I had this week. I am a type 2; controlled by oral meds, and humalog; exercise and diet. I take the time to get educated, ask the questions, and learn and practice as much as I can for controlling my diabetes. For this reason, I will have friends who are type 2's ask questions about their care, reminding them I am not a dr, CDE or even a nurse, I give them what works for me. A friend called and said she needed help she was experiencing a low, her bs' were 22, Now at 40 I am feeling unsteady, unable to move let alone carry on a conversation, etc.I told her she needed to get something in her that had sugar in it, and call the Dr,'s office. Her response was --- the clinic was closed. Call the ER or 911 then you are crashing I told her, Her son was home, he got her some sugar filled soda, and that helped a little. But she said she was still sweating and shakey, Since her son can't drive, I told her to call ER or 911 again,. No, she thought she could manage it, and hung up. FIVE minutes later, she called back, left me a text that it had gone up to 167. My question is, how is that possible in five minutes? The soda wasn't even out of her stomach yet....and she's at 167. Tell me what you think of this experience, because I am completely puzzled, Is that possible? Oh, by the way, I made sure she made an appt with her doc and our CDE to get her straightened out. She should have been on the floor IMHO
I have no idea how that is possible either. Fortunately, and what a relief, you received a message that her sugars were in a non-life-threatening range after what must have been a very alarming phone call for you to receive! You handled the situation the best you could by telling her to call 911. Thankfully her son was there to help treat her low. At a blood sugar of 22 I'm not sure anything said in a phone call is credible, but it certainly is possible to be functioning, of course not fully functioning!
The one and only time (knock on wood) I had EMTs come to my house for a low I was scared beyond *anything* I've ever experienced, yet I was able to tell my husband to call the ambulance. After drinking some sugary drink, I went and laid on the living room floor and waited in position for the EMTs to arrive. When they got there my blood sugar didn't register. They told my husband that I shouldn't even be coherent let alone be talking. They had me drink something clear in a tube (???) and a few minutes later my blood sugar registered at 26. Somehow I was able to do it - talk, drink it, position myself, and probably blubber things my husband did not tell me about in his recap of the story. I would not bet my life that I would be able to do it again.
Bottom line is, I do think it is possible to be at least somewhat coherent at a blood sugar of 22. Who knows? The brain is so complex. It can fail us or save us in the most unpredictable of situations.
P.S. Soda works faster for me. Not sure why? I'm not sure soda has ever worked that fast for me, but *fast* is what you want when crashing! And then it takes so long to feel "normal" again even after the crashing has stopped! Lows are my nemesis in this life.
Keep being well!
:)
Could be her liver finally kicked in, before the soda…
Just an idea, if she is T2 like you, she might have a pretty good working glucagon in her own body and some drugs prevented that, but liver could finally dump some sugar…