Just wondering how everyone feels when their sugar gets high and low, if they feel it at all and at what level they start to realise there’s something not quite right.
When I’m high my head gets really really heavy like there’s something pulling it down…
Anything over 11mmol/l makes me (and my teachers) fairly frustrated 'cause I have to pee like every 10 minutes - fairly disruptive to my learning, especially if I have to walk miles to get to a loo. And refill my 750ml bottle of water about every half hour…
When I’m low, basically I don’t talk much. People can tell there is something seriously wrong. If we get lunch late I can have pretty big reactions to quite minor hypoglycaemia.
Today before lunch my whole body was shaking like a lot and I kept falling against my friend… I kid you not, she was holding me up. Now that is fun for NOBODY.
Well, for me, it is harder for me to detect my highs than it is my lows. I really can’t tell when I am a little out of range but when I get low, the most dominant sign is when simple tasks are difficult or I have a more difficult time answering simple questions. When I get high, depending how high, my fingers can start to tingle and I get a funny taste in my mouth.
These are the symptoms that stick out the most for me.
I have no idea when I have a high versus a low. So, when I start to sweat, see dots before my eyes, I check my blood sugar. Sometimes it is near 250 and sometimes, it is below 60. I feel miserable either way and am usually surprised by the reading.
When I am low (70s) I get cold. When I am really low 30-40s, my hands and arms shake and my legs get wobbly. I get a bit loopy and thinking is difficult.
When I am high (200s) I get warm and sleepy.
For lows, it depends on how far I’ve dropped and how fast - but usually, just the “can’t quite think straight” spaciness. Also, if I’m walking, the feeling that the sidewalk is moving under my feet. If it’s a bad hypo during the night, I’ll wake up soaked with sweat. And, the blotches in front of my eyes is also a signal - sometimes they’re so bad I can’t see the meter.
For highs, it seems that the older I get, the more sensitive my body is to highs. I think that a middle-aged body cannot tolerate the imbalance like I did when I was in my 20’s. My legs start to feel very heavy, like they’re cement. I don’t get the frequent urination unless I’ve been high for at least 12 hours or so, but, I do get the dry mouth.
When I’m low I’m usually shaky and tired, sometimes very irritable, but shaking is my most sensitive sign. If I start to drop really low, which for me is into the low 60’s mg/dl (3mmol/l), I get very sweaty, weak and trembly.
If I am high, which again for me is over 190mg/dl up to about 280mg/dl (or 10mmol/dl - 15mmol/dl) my signs are varied and paradoxical. I can be either tired, or be full of energy. I can also get very irritable if I am high. I’ve been lucky in a sense that I’ve never (knowingly) been either below 55mg/dl or over about 290mg/dl since my diagnosis 3 years ago. At diagnosis I was almost 600mg/dl but it felt “normal” at the time.
Highs are hard for me detect, which is why I have to check my bloodsugar so often. The only symptom I get is thirst/dry mouth and that’s only when it has hit really high numbers…as in 400 mg/dl. Lows are more common for me though. Normally I start to feel weak and hungry. I sweat really easily, but normally I’m freezing cold. I also get a weird tingly feeling in my mouth. The lower my bloodsugar gets the worse it gets. I also get very pale, and usually irritable. People normally notice a change in my attitude, and that is how they know that I should check my bloodsugar.
My family can tell that I’m high or low before I do… By the time it hits me, I don’t feel so well… whe I’m high, I feel like I have the flu… when I’m, low I want to sleep…
I feel tired with both highs and lows. If my sugar is dropping to fast, i can normally tell when it hits 120. It is hard to explain but I can feel the drop coming before it comes if it is a fast drop. My first response to anything anymore if I don’t feel right is check my blood sugar and rule that out.
I really don’t have any warning system at all any more so the time I feel that’s it really low is when it’s about really around 40 and I have to eat THEN or it will fall lower fast!!! As for high it’s around 450 or so when I get that feeling! Had that problem again today and have figured out this pump is crazy!!! HA! I REALLY hate the lows worse than highs but for today and last week I have found out how much I hate the highs too!!! Throwing up is really not my cup of tea! HA!
For me when its low i feel like i am floating and very weak. Then i have to stumble over to some food, then i end up chowing down m any food around.
My lows are VERY hard to detect. I’m fine with a BS of 35-50 and show no signs except I may be a slight bit hungry. When I get down to 30 I have a hard time reading my watch (all the numbers seem to mess up) but my friends say when they ask if I’m ok and I keep saying “I’m OK” they start to worry. When I get down to 25 or so then I just stop responding and sleep or I start to not be able to control my legs, but I’ll still say “I’m OK”.
If I’m just slightly low I don’t feel anything except maybe hunger and a ‘buzz’ - I feel energetic and will suddenly be very keen to vacuum, or do the gardening, or go join a gym… SO the wrong things to do!
If I’m lower than around 3mmol (54) then I start getting a strange tunnel vision thing happening. Colours are more intense, light is bright, and my eyes just can’t focus on any one thing. I have no peripheral vision. Sound is weird too - I can be totally concentrating on some noise that’s actually ages away, and yet can’t really hear what the person next to me is saying. I wont be too good at walking straight and I’ll start to get moody if there’s anything in my way - not necessarily a bad mood, I can be all buzzy and happy when I’m getting really low too. I always get thirsty and need a desperate toilet trip with a low - yes, I said low! I get some weird low symptoms that come & go - for a few months I’ll have a bit of nausea, then I’ll go to heavy yawning for a month, then it’ll be some recurring mad thought… I don’t know where these come from or why they change! It’s weird… but then so am I 
When I’m vaguely high (in the 8s) for a short time I’m fine - like a slight dinner peak. Wont even feel it, but I’ll get a little delayed thirst when my body has caught up with my BG reading. Nothing major. If I’m high for a longer time - even slightly high - even just 7.8 or so dragged on for an hour - I’m tired, dry mouthed & feeling groggy.
If I’m really high, anywhere over 9mmol, my symptoms keep getting worse with the length of time I’m high. Hunger & tiredness as usual, grumpiness sometimes, complete lethargy, depression (sometimes a fairly deep depression even if it’s just for 45 minutes!). Constant trips to the toilet and big guzz sessions with water. Unable to concentrate on anything and just want to hide from the world with a big collection of naughty munchies.
What does it feel like to be normal? Bloomin’ brilliant! I only wish it lasted. I think the only time I feel good is when I’ve been sitting nicely around 5 - 5.5 for hours. Never lasts long enough though!
Someone else who has desperate toilet trips with lows as well as highs! That so happens to me. No idea why… I’m not generally thirsty or anything but yeah. Generally I feel PERFECT at 6-7. Wish I was there more!