I’m still new to this type 1, but today I had my first real low, where I felt like I’m very high (weed) and I was sure that I will faint…
I’m still in the honneymoon phase so I stopped taking long lasting insulin, and I’m only on fast acting insulin.
Today I took my 2 units of insulin for breakfast (25 g of carbs), and I usually have a very long pre-bolus around 35-45 minutes in the morning, but something super strange happen today; my dexcom started to alert me 15 minutes after I took my insulin that I’m going low. I didn’t believe it, so I checked my bs and it was 55. Super strange, I ate fast, and took additional carbs (total 50carbs) and 15 minutes later I checked and I was 45 super scary and didn’t make any sense. At this point I just felt awful and was sure that I’m going to faint, so ate another 60g of carbs.
10 minutes later I was fine, and my bs picked at 220… crazy, it should have been much higher given all the ■■■■ that I ate (more than 100 g of carbs.)
OK, so what did just happen? at first I was sure that I took more insulin than I should’ve, but I double checked the pen, and it seemed around the usage that I would expect (it’s a new pen, so I didn’t see any crazy skew that I wouldn’t expect), well maybe I took 5-6 units, who knows, but still, it shouldn’t impact me so fast (going from 95 to 45 in 20 minutes post injection)
Maybe I injected to some crazy spot that acts immediately? is it a real thing? I usually inject to my stomach in the morning, so not sure.
and now the crazy theory, I did a meditation today, I’m not used to it, and I felt amazing, calm and relax before my breakfast, did this thing somehow change my insulin sensitivity?
well it seems crazy, but it’s the first real low that I have, and I can’t really explain it
any ideas?
just to be clear I was 95 before I tool insulin, and 55 15 minutes later … crazy and I didn’t have any insulin on board (no long lasting for now…)
Every day can be a bg adventure when diabetic. It’s just the nature of the disease. just when u think you’ve found the proper dosage for a set of circumstances, another day with the same circumstances can turn out vastly different.
For safety, keep fast acting carbs with you wherever you go and I mean everwhere. I use Skittles–1 carb each. Wild Berry flavor floats my boat.
Yes, hypos that come at mealtime are super disconcerting.
Now hypos happen other times of day and night too.
But none are as disconcerting as the ones at mealtime BECAUSE I’M ALREADY EATING AND STILL MY BG IS GOING LOWER OMG WHY IS IT GOING LOW SO FAST AND I’M EATING AND IT’S NOT GOING UP YET.
Next thing you know, I ate everything in the fridge and my bg is 472
You probably hit some sort of blood vessel. That would make your BG tank very fast. I keep glucose tablets everywhere even though serious lows are uncommon for me nowadays but Murphy’s Law rules diabetes. There probably isn’t much difference in reaction time between skittles and apple juice but glucose is the fastest low treatment (since we don’t have to process it down from anything else i.e.,fructose or sucrose) with liquid glucose shots being a little bit faster than tablets.
both are fast. at home I use Hershey’s Choco syrup in about 4 oz of milk. THAT for me is the fastest. Glucotabs are disgusting to me and they are more expensive than other forms of carbs.
Maybe I am weird, but I would rather go low than have a high reading. I detest high readings, because I find them so frustrating. I use medjool dates for lows. I really hate to go too low and then rebound with a higher than expected reading.
Welcome to the complicated and frustrating world of type 1 diabetes. It is often like walking a tight rope.
Did you get any extra exercise yesterday evening or this morning? I don’t think that meditation would have made that much of a difference.
Honeymoon can be more of a PIA than a help because it isn’t necessarily a steady, predictable decline but can go by fits and starts. Having your pancreas suddenly kick back in can happen. Dunno if that’s the explanation but it’s a possibility. How long ago were you dx’d?
7 months ago… I’m probably in a slow type 1 onset. Honestly I’m just going to do low carb for a couple of weeks without insulin to just forget about today
any way to not hit a blood vessel? maybe with smaller needles or something like that? I’m also curious what happens if a long lasting insulin will hit a blood vessel… I don’t want to be in a position where 10 units of insulin acts immediately
Hitting a blood vessel is extremely rare. People purposely will try to inject in muscle because insulin works much faster injected there too.
I think if you go for a fatty area, it’s just not an issue. I did injections for about 10 years and I’m pretty sure I don’t ever remember hitting a vein? If you are skinny maybe someone can say if it’s more of an issue?
It can happen though with long acting to, that is where I first ran across a warning about the possibility.
It is hard to say for sure but this happens to me a lot. If your bg is low, shut off basal and drink some juice before eating and wait to do the meal bolus. If you feel you are dropping already before you eat try a smaller bolus also. I know it is hard but try not to take so much sugar so you don’t spike so high.
If you are worried always use glucose tabs or pure sugar first because they are pure glucose and will work faster. Another thing you can do is swirl juice or a glucose shot in your mouth before drinking. It goes straight to your brain through mucus membranes and works faster.
Ok for future generations - it looks like I found the issue and it was my own mistake… I injected too close to my bellybutton I just checked and it’s within the 2 inch range ;(
I’ve googled it and yeah it’s a real thing and it can cause an iv insulin type of reaction. Surprised that no once told me that it might happen
Huh. I always thought the problem there was bad absorption, but if true it’s actually quite handy. Might be a good thing to try when you’re trying to bring down a stubborn high!
This the related comment that I found about this topic in some nursing forum:
Or, alternatively, there is a group of veins near umbilicus which is directly connected with vena porta. The veins sit within these 2 inches around umbilicus, and accidental injection in any of them = insulin IV effect, with crushing hypoglycemia.
Insulin is very dangerous stuff especially when you throw in biochemistry. It was ok when I was a toddler (with type one) but occasionally at primary school I would be at school one minute and then wake up in hospital the next. Then I didnt have (bad) hypos for most of my adult life, then I developed hypo unawareness thats when things really started to terrify. me. Not to frighten you, I have had type one at every possible stage of life so YMMV.
I have had IV insulin and it doesnt work like IV drugs. It still must undergo all metabolic processes. Additionally the half life drops almost to zero thus making the insulin wear off before it can even take effect. In a hospital setting IV insulin is given on a drip to mitigate this factor. I have never found IV insulin to work any faster than IM in practice. I have been hospitalised from SC insulin and have failed to have IV work at all. Of course ANY use of insulin can cause massive hypoglycemia making it a very dangerous substance if not treated with respect, although I dont recommend anyone give IV anything if they can help it as it bypasses a very strong and natural defense mechanism for the body. The reason I’m writing this is to correct the notion that IV insulin works like heroin. Many hypos I have had, and Ive had some rippers, are from the insulin lasting for hours on end. Sometimes I wish I could have a shortened duration of IV insulin in our SC insulin, you would have the cleanliness of SC with the efficiency of IV.
