I have recently been diagnosed with type 1, and so far I have been fairly ok with it. I have good control, and am coping quite well with the change in lifestyle. I have just been thinking about how the biggest thing is learning how my body reacts at different things. Anyway, yesterday I had a really significant hypo in the local mall. I was at 2.2 (I'm in Australia, but I think this equates to about 39), which I have dealt with before, but this one wouldn't go away. I treated ALOT for it, but I still felt really crap. I ended up walking around the mall for about 10 minutes, searching for anyone that I knew who I could ask to help me. I was disorientated and couldn't get myself together.
The stupid thing is, I had had the same lunch that I always have, which usually sends me a little bit high. Why would there be such a dramatic change?
This is the first time I have ever felt like an actual sick person. I was scared, and if I hadn't found a person I could trust it could have been really awful. I'm sititng here now, and I can't help but feel frustrated and a bit weak. I never normally feel like this.
Has this happened to anyone else? How have you dealt with it?
Were you walking around the mall to begin with? Same thing happened to me in 2010 when I was newly diagnosed. I thought things are starting to come into control and felt more comfortable doing things away from home. I went to the mall with my wife, just strolling around, and then got hit with a bad low. Going for a walk, especially shortly after you inject, will bring your blood sugar down a lot. Now I know if I'm going to be walking to take a bottle of gatorade or some other sugary beverage with me and take a small sip every 10 minutes or so to keep me from going low. I also keep some glucose tabs in my pocket at all times. If you're already low, those are the fastest things to bring your blood sugar back up.
Have you seen the blog "six until me" Kerri had a nice post this week that summed up a similar frustration. She had the exact same food, did the exact same thing and still got a different result. Unfortunately this happens sometimes. Not always though. Just keep your snacks with you and try to be patient with yourself.
(I know you said that you just arrived but for future reference, I also always go low at the mall...long duration very low intensity activity just creeps up on me. I just find a bench. Eat snacks and take a breather.)
Yeah, I've been newly diagnosed with type 1 too. Almost 3 months. When I read your post, I felt like, 'Woah, and I thought I was the only one!' Don't worry, this happened to me a couple of times, but I always keep hard candy with me so I was okay. When I was diagnosed and my BS was 550 I'd never thought of myself as weak, but these hypo swings left me feeling awful too. I felt so powerless! Diabetes was all I could think about for weeks. I decided to distract myself from this and I started pursuing my hobbies again, going for walks, talking to my friends, and believe me, it helped A LOT. Just find something to distract yourself and you'll be fine :)
A few days before my 20th birthday. Uni's a really good distraction, plus it keeps me on my toes all the time. I'll graduate next year. How old were you when you got diagnosed? And speaking of dramatic changes in BS, once I went from 229 to 80 in two hours, so I totally get what you mean :D
It's a good thing you went to your endo about it. When I was diagnosed, first of all it was by my obgyn, and secondly I couldn't get in to see an endo for more than a year. My primary care dr only had experience with type 2 and had me on long acting ONLY. I was down and out almost all the time. I would soar up to 300 easy after a meal and drop back down below 80 a couple of hours later. I was soooo tired. I would have to plan a trip to the mall to make sure I wouldn't be there too long. By the time I would get home I'd basically be in a stupor. After seeing my endo everything turned around. They're really good about helping me manage everything. And your body will change every so often so keeping the habit of going to them when something is out of whack is essential. They'll always be able to help you sort it out.
As everyone's already said, keep something sugary with you. Gatorade is a good thing to have on hand because it'll act quickly and if I'm low sometimes it's a chore to chew something. You can usually find it when you're out and about too if you forget to bring some with you. Depending on your will power candy works well too. I don't know what you have available down under but I love peppermint patties and the small ones (I think they're the fun size?) are a perfect 10 grams of carbs per patty. You'll slowly learn the best practice for yourself. Just hang in there.
I once had a hypo at 2.5 on a bus journey that lasted an hour. i checked my bag for the snacks that i usually carry with me to find i had none. In a panic, i phoned my grandpa who told me to search for the friendliest looking person and ask them for help. I spotted a friendly looking lady at the front of the bus and with encouragement from my grandpa, i reluctantly got up and sat next to her. I said "Sorry to bother you, but i have diabetes and my blood sugar levels are low and i need something to eat, do you happen to have anything?" Unfortunately she didnt but she got up and walked up and down the whole bus asking everyone for snacks and sugary drinks. Everyone was extremely helpful and i was able to have full sugar lemonade, a packet of crisps and and chocolate bar thanks to that helpful lady and those sympathetic and understanding passengers :)
I had something similar like this happen to me. My endo said that if you are newly diagnosed, your pancreas might very well be still working.. sometimes it might fire and you will have a influx of self-made insulin in your system which would result in a hypo.. She called this the "Honeymoon" phase.
I havent heard of this outside of what my endo told me.. perhaps this is what happened to you?
Hi, I have had T1 for almost 8 years and still have issues with lows and highs. I wake up almost all the time with lows in the am. I find even though I can tell when I am low and high that it still makes me super tired and sometimes disoriented. Its hard and annoying. The best thing you can do is listen to your body and figure out what signs mean what and try and prevent the worst or correct it before it gets really bad. For example when I am running low, around the 80s I will start to get a temporal headache, when Im running lower I usually have the headache worse, start to sweat and feel confused. Anything around 180 I get angry for no reason and above 300 my muscles start to hurt really badly like ive been running a marathon for days. Ive had that sustaining low a few times myself with no explanation sometimes its just that slight increase in activity that can do it.I would drink tons of juice and soda and not be able to get it up and if it did go up it wouldnt stay there long and then once it stuck it would send me threw the roof and i would be battling with trying to get it back into a normal range. This happened when I was newly diagnosed and when Ive been really sick with either bronchitis or pneumonia, but not recently to be honest. It took me time after being diagnosed to not be afraid to go and live normally. Like I said, I still go through this, listen to your body and be prepared. Try different foods and juices when you are a little low to see what sends you up enough and what will spike you and for how long. I find that gatorade, cereal or granola bars and fruit snacks work the best for me. Trial, error and patience is the key to success. 8 years later, I still have days where I feel alone and irritated and sick and I have no one to vent to. You will get the hang of it. ;)
