Does anybody else experience hallucinogenic-type reactions when their blood sugars are really low? I get ones that are in hyper speed, jumping from one thing to another, going backward and forward. I can ask myself whether I'm awake or not, but when I come out of them I still ask myself if I'm still in it. They're really scary.
I experience time distortion for sure...sometimes, it's the only symptom I have. It's certainly a disorienting experience.
If I get lower than 60 mg/dL I don't feel like I'm in my body sometimes. It's really scary :(. It's not every hypo. All of my hypos so far have been very different or something.
The brain can do all kind of strange things when it's deprived of glucose. Yes, I've had hallucinogenic symptoms when my glucose was very low, probably less than 35 mg/dl. I've had two such episodes in 30 years. I agree, they are scary.
Have you addressed the root cause of these episodes? You especially need to guard against them happening when you drive.
Sorry if my tone appears pedantic; it's not intended. I see you've been at this 10 years longer than me. Good luck. Most of us have a few battle scars!Lately, I've had a few hallucinogenic reactions that were horrific. I'm waiting for my next Endo appointment to let my doc know about it. What was strange was that I knew it wasn't real but, it was still terrifying.
Sometimes I feel like I'm spilling out of myself and I have to focus very hard to keep myself all together...
Sometimes yes. Tend to find it often relates to what I was/am doing mostly. In the past I've been watching a Bond film, gone low and boom won't eat anything as I'm now a spy and everyone's trying to poison me. Or I need to go do the shopping now, mass urgent so go do my weekly shop...during my lunch and go missing for a few hours. I've argued with myself about if I'm awake or not. Even seen or sensed myself almost in a third person kind of thing not really clicking.
Anyhow, not had one in a good five years and don't want one again. Only thing I'm guessing is now I have better control mostly due to getting a pump which never had before. Can be low now but not lose control low, even down to 16 and such, I've actually got off a bike now and been compos mentus enough to get food and fix myself. Not sure though why I'm now able to not get the visions or the silliness. Is it connected to better levels usually? is it due to more exercise and better blood flow? is it due to having no long acting insulins in me now? I've no idea but quiet happy I don't have them as they didn't half used to cause issues.
Yup. Once my family (at a reunion so there were cousins, aunts, uncles, etc...) turned into space aliens. Another time, plaid people had orange hair, or maybe it was orange people with plaid hair? The out of body thing too.
When I was a kid and teenager I used to have severe lows where I would feel like I was in a dream. Things happening around me and my thoughts made no sense. During these times I was never able to communicate to others that I was low or to help myself. I think during these times I was probably semi-conscious although I was sometimes able to walk around. Definitely scary experiences.
Thankfully, I haven't had a low like this in a long time. Severe lows now can make me feel lightheaded and weak and sometimes on the verge of passing out, but I'm always able to help myself. I did have some lows a few years ago where I woke up in the middle of the night and thought I tested (though there was no record on my meter) and wandered around the house, ate some food, and then went back to bed, and woke up low the next morning. In the morning the memory of it is all very vague and dream-like (like I'm unsure whether I was awake or dreaming). I think these were probably similar experiences, but I've never had them during the day.
I've been T1 for almost 30 years and I get all kinds of different lows.
Can't concentrate____40-70range
Paranoid____30-50range but when discovered from sleep
Euphoria and feel super smart with amazing insight____40-50range
Time distortion___50range
Weird____30-50range things aren't real and just random
My lows always seem to be associated with one of the "groups" above. It would be interesting to get a brain scan during various lows to see where there was heightened and reduced activity.
I get crazy anxiety, so much so that it's like I'm aware if things seem totally messed up, I'm probably low. I don't think I've had hallucinations, but definitely some distortion of reality, like looking through a fish-eye lens. Probably time for me to consider a CGM again. I tried one a few years ago and it wasn't as accurate as I'd have liked.