What does your "low" feel like

1

Write the short story of a low that you've had!

Not "...the I was confused/sweaty and tested..."

Try and write a story that shares what's going on in your own head, what's happening around you when you are low/dropping hard... a story that OTHERS reading it (non diabetics) ... get to see a different side of the low. I'm trying to stretch my writing muscles a bit more AND maybe, just maybe convey what having a low is like from OUR perspective.

Hadn't seen this done here, thought it might be interesting... so here's my story

~...why isn't the test workkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkking.... I spillllllled the stripy things...... better put them back in the bottle..... how many do I have left... better count them..... ONE, TWOOOOOO THREE... I LIKE THREE.....hey, putting them in wrong.... better redo it.... again... wouldn't want em facing up, HI STRIPY THINGS......they should face down go "night-night"..........
Oh yeah, what was I doing....... hi kitty...... nice kitty..... no don't play with my stripys thingys.... BADD KITTTY..... you feel warm... I love you kitty...... HEY give them back..... Oh yeah..... I remember now....STRIP... tests..... ummmngh, am I low... LET'S SEE..........I stuck the stripy thing in, bled..... ooopsy pulled the stripy thing out by accident... better do that again.....
THUNK....

2

BG=60: Hum, why does everything look odd. Who knows, now what was I doing?

BG=50: I can't think....what I....should be doing something. Oh, yes, sugar. I need sugar. Where is sugar? What has sugar in it? I need that. My legs feel like lead. I want to say something but the words aren't really coming out right. They aren't what I'm thinking.

BG=40: JUICE! SUGAR! JUICE! SUGAR! Argh, so sweaty. Should test but can't figure out how to do that right now. Am I going to pass out. Please don't pass out.....

BG=30: JUICE...JUICE....REFRIGERATOR....JUICE....FOOD....ARGH!

3

Just got home from work...sweet hubby in kitchen cooking dinner... Test BG=105. Perfect. Think I'll go change clothes before dinner.

Wow, my head feels kind of funny but I just tested and it was fine...what's the deal, I better check my cgm... CGM BG=99... can't be bg then. hmmm now my stomach is growling, maybe I better go test again...something doesn't feel right

wait, what was I going to do again? cgm alarms beep beep beeppp...

Oh **** CGM says BG=65 with double down arrows!!! falling fast.. Need to test, Need to test! Oh **** BG=38 head feels fuzzy...oh no falling fast! what do I do...pop sweetarts

Am I going to pass out, better sit down

Call Hubby in kitchen "I need help! Fast!"

Oh Lord please help me BG=28 I'm scared, eyes blurry, heart pounding

Lord help me, I'm going to pass out...it feels like I'm in a tunnel...

wait there's the red glucagon kit wait how do you do this again... what am I supposed to do again?...oh yeah put syringe in vial...hands shaking can't do it...why can't I do it. fading fast.. Lord please don't let me pass out.

Hubby runs in with Coke...grabs syringe and vial..."Let me do it"...hubby injects my thigh

waiting, waiting, why is it taking so long to come up? please let it come up.. oh man, what just happened..

shaking, shaking, teeth chattering, it's so cold in here, I just can't get warm...

4

When I first started using insulin I didn't know what I was doing and did something really stupid that caused a hard and fast crash.

So....coming out of unconsciousness...What was I just doing? Why am I just sitting on the bed like this? I feel very strange...feeling as though I was outside myself looking in..."look at the Zoe; she's just sitting there on the bed, but she's drenched in sweat, what's wrong with her? I know! That sweat must mean her blood sugar's low;better test her. Reaching for the meter on the nightstand next to me feels like I am under water and my hand is moving slowly as if through molasses. Everything is slow motion. No fear; no feelings at all. Just focused on accomplishing this difficult task. I test, I'm 38. Ok, I know what that number means, I need to take glucose tabs. I should look at the clock - it's 11:38, but I'm not sure what that means. I start chewing tabs and realize that I am completely unable to keep track of how many I am taking so I just take a few. Look at the clock again and it still seems to be the same time. Better just to wait "awhile" then test again. Take a couple more glucose tabs because I don't know if I took enough. Sitting. Not thinking. Not feeling. Eventually the fog clears, I test and I'm 51. I look out the window and see my neighbor who is a Psychiatrist has her lights on so I gather my meter and logbook and go to her house. I think I'm ok now, but am starting to feel freaked out by what just happened. I still haven't accepted that when I "found myself sitting on the bed drenched in sweat" I'd been unconscious. That takes a few days.

More recently: I wake up and reach for a tissue next to the bed as I often do during the night due to allergies. Tissue box is empty. Damn. I jump up and start to walk to the closet where I keep extra tissues. This is a narrow area in my funny round house with lots of closets and cabinets. I stop at one cabinet and realize it's one further along. Then I'm past the cabinets altogether and realize I'm lost. Lost?? In the house?? Hmmm....I think I might have low blood sugar! I stick my arms out to not bump into things I can't identify and after awhile I see the 20 foot (?) high black wood burning stove pipe looming in the distance like a lighthouse in a foggy sea...relief fills me as I now know where I am...oh, yes, definitely low blood sugar!

5

wait there's the red glucagon kit wait how do you do this again... what am I supposed to do again?...oh yeah put syringe in vial...hands shaking can't do it...why can't I do it. fading fast.. Lord please don't let me pass out.

This is EXACTLY why I can't wait for them to make a glucagon kit that is like an EpiPen. As someone who lives alone, I don't own a glucagon kit, but I would own one if it was as easy as pulling off the safety and jabbing it into my thigh, because that's something I could do even if I was on the verge of passing out.

6

This is such a good idea! Here is what normally runs through my head when I'm low:

Hmmm why is everything fuzzy?... meh maybe I'm low... probably not though so I will just finish this and then test, it will be fine nothing will happen... ok test now.. oh I feel shaky standing up.. ok so 3.6 (64).. now stairs they are big.. looooonnnggg way down... oh what a nice picture its realllyyy prettyy.. no juice I need juice!... I shouldn't use legs on stairs... I'll go down on my butt yes! good idea Danielle you are a genius... why am I in the kitchen now?? huh what do I need?... I will check this cupboard.. nope not in there.. how about his one? nope :/... how about the fridge?... ohhhh yehhh I'm low so I need juice!... mmmm juice is gooooddd... just keep drinking.. oh no its gone thats sad :(... now i shall just sit here forever!... when is someone going to rescue me... this is horrible its scary I don''t like it!.... but then its sooo comfy here ... I must just lie here and go to sleep... except I cant why cant I?.... wait what just happened?

7

This was one of my low BG excursions...

My pump alarm is going of …the screen says 120…OMG…my pump has just gave me a 120u death bolus…get up, get up, find Brenda (my wife)…heart trying to pound it’s way out of my chest…run, run, run, to the kitchen find Brenda... yelling Brenda help me my pump has given me 120u of insulin…call 911, take me to ER…Bam...I see a bright light what’s happening…wow my head hurts really bad and there something cold running down my face (blood)…calm down John you woke up in a panic jumped out of bead and ran into the door jam and knocked your self out …OMG where’s my pump let me see my pump…Hmmmmmm… my CGM says 124 and my last bolus was dinner...Hmmmmm ...wow my head hurts.

I have no idea how low my BG was when I woke up…but after all of the drama was over it tested 68 which is not what I would consider real low.

8

Woke up, must get up out of bed, baby crying, need to change baby's nappy, lift baby, go to living room, must hand baby to someone, can't speak, hand baby to mum, go to kitchen, fridge, bowl, cereal, sugar, sit, collapsed. Woke up feeling awful with two paramedics and my family around. At least the baby was safe. This happened years ago, only once. I often wonder what is that thing that wakes us up when we are sleeping while low. I would normally wake quicker but I believe I was exhausted after giving birth.

9

Nice descriptions, thank you!!!!

10

Man it's been a hard day at work, I'm sure glad to be at home can't wait to get in the house and sit down. Hey why am I seeing bright light blob thingys, Did you stare at the sun gary,,,no I don,t thinks so the sun is behind me. Numb, my lips are numb what's with this. Low that's right I must be low, man those steps were steep. Hey honey I home please help me.

11

Perhaps I have some insensitivity as I seem to not have too many really pronounced symptoms these days. A lot of times, if it's really crashing on my CGM, rather than burn a strip I'll treat and wait 20 minutes to see where it's at, keep moving forward, etc. I use the kitchen timer on the stove a lot to hit the 20 minutes as I sort of lose focus on numbers. It gets hard to read. It's sort of trippy but music doesn't sound good, unlike the other kinds. I can tell pretty readily that if I have trouble reading, my BG is low. The buzz is pronounced enough that I don't look at it as a problem, I can still tell.

Yesterday, I had sort of a runlowallday thing going on, we moved our desks @ work and I was busy while that was going on so it was a lot more up and down than usual. I also had a lighter lunch, as we seemed to have eaten all the yogurt. I had tossed a bag of microwave popcorn in, thinking "I will need stress eating" but just never got around to it and, over the course of the day, cleaned out 2x little bags of Smartie / Jelly bean mix. Not really downspikes, just pushing low all day. Cleans out the rusty pipes or something I hope? I was dragging and went for a run and ran down a bit from that too. Nachos and chicken wings gave it a bit of a boost but perhaps I'm getting a bit casual with my "gas pedal."