In the last month or so, I have had a couple instances where I have had the symptoms of low blood sugar (shakiness, etc) but when I tested my sugar levels, I wasn’t low at all. The first time it happened, my levels were very high (300-325) which really threw me off, but this last time they were near perfect (100-125). I’ve tried researching this but all I can find is it being linked to pre-diabetes which simply couldn’t be considering I’ve been living with this for 14 years. Has anyone with T1 experienced this before? It’s rather annoying.
I’ve had this happen to me twice…
I’ve felt low, tested, got maybe a 60. Eaten a bunch of carbs. 20-30 minutes later, my lips and mouth feel numb as if I’m horribly low. Tested again, got 100 or so. Not exactly the same scenario as you, but odd that I’m still feeling severely low with a normal blood sugar.
My son feels highs and lows, with similar effect of shakiness. Good that you can feel both. He has been T1 for 7 years and only in the past year has he been able to feel highs as routinely ias he has always felt lows. It really helps to keep on track of things, so jump on those feelings as they happen and test!
Cheryl
I feel really awful when my bg is super high – it feels different than a low to me but I could imagine it being confused for one. I have gotten symptoms of a low when I wasn’t actually low if I do a fast crash. For example, I could be up pretty high before exercise and let myself stay there because I know I usually drop with exercise. Every now and then though – I don’t drop right away but rather kind of abruptly about 10 or 15 minutes after exercise. I can have low symptoms then. It doesn’t happen often but it has happened. It makes sense to me that one would feel a fast change like that.
For me, Highs and lows feel different. Highs I am tired and lethargic, where as lows, I’m spacy and a little off-balance. I get the same thing sometimes though, I think that maybe I feel low, but then I test and see I am in the normal range. Funny thing is, usually my “low feeling” goes away after I confirm I am in the right range.
Also, as Kristen said, you can feel low at 100 if your body has been used to higher numbers.
Jason
that happens to me and i have a pretty good a1c. i just started the pump 3 weeks ago and before that my a1c was always around 7.2. i’ve been experiencing it a lot more with the pump now. i think i’m getting to a point where i’m so much steadier, hugging around 100-120 most of the time, on the pump that if i hit the high 80’s i’m feeling low. i’ve noticed it’s worse in the morning when i first wake up. i just try to ignore it and tell myself that 88 is not low, in fact it’s great, and usually the feeling goes away. if it doesn’t i retest like 15 minutes later to make sure i’m not dropping fast and most of the time i’m not. i normally drink a juicy juice when i’m low and i’ve noticed if i’m feeling low but i’m not really low if i take a few sips from the juice box and not drink the whole thing i feel better instantly without hurting my sugar…must be a mind thing…and yes it is annoying!!
I’ve notice that somtimes, not always, if my bg drops too quickly, I might feel the low symptoms.
I’m not really sure, but I can say that ever since that first time when I felt low but tested and clearly wasn’t, I’ve become sort of obsessed with being adamant about testing as soon as I start feeling anything.
Yeah, I’ve always been able to decipher whether I’m high or low. But I think that when I felt low, tested and I was really high it freaked me out and I’ve become a little more aware of my levels and what my body is telling me,
Yeah it’s the same with me. A lot of it is mental. I can’t agree more.
I have to say, it’s a relief for me to know that you guys have experienced this. It was beginning to worry me. It has opened my eyes though and I’ve become a lot more cautious of my levels. It’s even make me consider the pump after years of denying it. But we’ll see. Thanks.
Made me consider*
Hi JG,
Sometimes I notice the symptoms when I’m having a rapid drop in BG (i.e. large bolus or post exercise). Most of the time the symptoms don’t appear until I’m sub 140. I’ve been on the Omnipod for about 2 months and I initially noticed being in the normal 80/90 -120 felt like a low much of the time (my previous A1c was 9.1) As I’ve gotten more used to being in that range, I’m noticing the symptoms are much less severe.
I’m currently using insulin shots to control it but the pros of using a pump are definitely making me reconsider. Thanks
I was about to say the same thing. My 5 year old T1 daughter gets this sometimes and it really freaks me out. She’ll be playing or whatever and suddenly she’s confused and tired. I give her some juice first thing then check her and she’s in the mid 100’s. Not believing that result I check her again and get the same result. But then in a few minutes she’s okay again. I’ve also found that if her BG drops too slowly she won’t feel it at all until she’s really low. That actually scares me worse.
Yes, this actually happens to me quite a bit. However, I spend most of my day low, so frequently I’m just feeling the aftereffects of a low. However, sometimes I’ve been fine all day, but I feel low, and I keep testing and testing every few minutes, because I’m certain I must be dropping, when I’m actually level or going up. My guess about the cause is that I’m probably just tired or I’m coming down from a caffeine high, and I associate the weak, dizzy feeling of the tiredness with low blood sugars, but I’m actually feeling that way for a different reason.
Yes. This very thing has happened to me a lot lately. Usually when my blood sugar is nose-diving. I hate it.
I cannot explain the first reading except that your muscles etc were wanting glucose to work - and it was all stuck in your blood. I get that sometimes, I get ravenously hungry and shaky, check my sugars and I can be higher than I should. I asked my diabetes nurse about it and that was the explanaition she gave.
I also get low feelings when I am not, when I have near perfect scores, and the explanaition for that is that my body is used to being high and therefore normal means low to it. Or, that my blood sugars are dropping quite quickly.
I wonder if this is happening to you? It’s a thought. I know we are all individuals, but …
I get this sometimes if I’ve dropped very suddenly. So if I was 300 and dropped to 100 in an hour, I’d feel very low.
I agree it’s the change or “delta” in bg that will make the symptoms. I used to take IV R shots when my bg would run high and they’d get me from 300+ to 50-70 in about 1/2 hour but the symptoms would start in about 15 minutes into it, although my BG would still be maybe 150 or so?