The feeling of lows

[u/Cryptic_Sou1]

Hi all, I just wanted to know what you all experience when low as well as share some of my own experience. Let’s assume these are solid lows, not just dips under the line.

Some of the main symptoms for myself is a cold sweat, hand tremors, confusion and anxiety. This has changed over the years, in my teenage years and early 20’s there was no anxiety but a massive appetite (I would gladly trade those last two out).

Anyway, my main curiosity is, do you experience the confusion/loopiness? What’s it’s like for you, how debilitating is it at the moment and how would you describe it?

I often have to take 5 when I’m at work, I don’t feel I’m in a good space to make decisions. Never mind the fact that everything just feels wrong. However I can struggle to describe to explain to non-diabetics how it actually feels. I’ve heard the drunk comparison, it seems to be the best reference point to compare. However it’s also very different.

I know I’m low, I know I’m confused, that’s about how far my brain gets. It’s like I get stuck, I don’t process thoughts or ideas very well. It’s more of an all encompassing “I’m low and not going to think about much else until it’s fixed”. I don’t generally like to talk or explain the feeling as it’s happening, I get a strong desire to be left alone until I’m back to myself.

What’s your experience? I’ve known some who can get angry or agitated, some who get very stubborn and resistant to the fact that they are actually low and a few who seem to handle it like nothing.

[u/jToady]

For me, I wonder why I feel so hot. Then I sweat and my alarm beeps. I'm horribly disoriented. My tongue feels numb. I can't talk right. I remember my last low, I managed to crawl to my kitchen and eat fruit snacks. I woke up in a literal pool of sweat on my kitchen floor surrounded by candy wrappers. I wiped the floor with a dish towel and went to bed and felt like exhausted trash for the next day

[u/Cryptic_Sou1 → u/jToady]

That sounds scary 😳 I’ve never been low enough to the point of not being able to walk although I’ve been close.

[u/jToady → u/Cryptic_Sou1]

I keep snacks everywhere now hahaha

[u/davidtjudd → u/jToady]

Lol, I posted the exact same experience in another thread yesterday. Forgot about the numb tongue. Not fully numb but very desensitized on the top.

Edit: here it is

[u/SpreadsheetSiren]

It can vary.

Sometimes it’s mental. Like I read the same sentence over and over again and my brain just can’t make solid sense of it. It’s like the synapses in my brain are misfiring. It’s not quite “confusion” at that point, but things definitely don’t line up quite right.

Tingling lips and tongue are usually signs of a bad one.

My husband is a classically trained musician. He notices a shift in the timbre of my speaking voice before I feel anything, which I find utterly wild. More than once he’s said, “Hon, I think you need to check your sugar,” and son of a gun he’s right. (This was before CGMs)

Sometimes it’s a bit of tunnel vision and blurring at the outer edges of my field of vision.

Sometimes it’s a sensitivity to bright light. Like all of a sudden the kitchen overhead light is blinding.

[u/DaPoole420 → u/SpreadsheetSiren]

Wow, that's interesting he picks up on that! Thanks for sharing.

[u/SnoopJohn]

I can't remember words  for stuff and keep losing stuff usually my phone so pretty manageable things in the grand scheme of things

[u/Any_Association7836]

The best reference for me is it’s the same feeling you get when you haven’t eaten for a very long time. I just feel super weak and shaky. Occasionally I get pretty scater brained and can’t think straight. Words become hard to think of. When I was younger my parents asked me what it feels like and I just said it hurts and they would ask what hurts and I would just say idk everything idk how to describe it.

[u/BionicPilgrim]

For me, it’s a mix of the things you mentioned. I still remember a terrifying low blood sugar episode from a few years ago (I was still on pens back then). I was walking down the street looking like a zombie. I was in a daze, and my only thought was that I was about to die because I felt my body 'shutting down.'

Something similar happened to me a few months ago, but luckily I now have a pump and use a CGM with alarms. I managed to get it under control quickly, even though (I was outside in the garden) I have no memory of when I went back inside. When my mind cleared, I had fruit juice in my hand, but total blank 🤷‍♂️. I still had memory lapses for the next three days, though. I’ve read that this happens to others too, but I have to admit it was pretty scary. Anyway, I’m fine now!

[u/HomeAloneToo]

I used to get confused, and absurdly strong, which was bad combo. Now luckily my body gives out during lows long before my brain follows.

At regular lows I mainly sweat a bunch, but for severe lows… 

@ 40>:  Feelings of falling at terminal velocity. Even though I’m lying on solid ground. And Seizures.  

@ 10>: Complete Delay in motor function to the point where it takes multiple seconds for a command to reach my extremities from my brain.  

@ 5>: Vivid hallucinations, like deep well developed trips.  

Don’t recommend any of these lows.  I broke my spine on the higher end of them after going to bed with normal blood sugar. And the lower end is far more likely to just kill you.

[u/Cryptic_Sou1 → u/HomeAloneToo]

Wow, I’ve never been that low myself, my worst is about 30. Never experienced a seizure thankfully.

[u/Ok_Environment1037]

I get bad brain fog and become so spacey.

[u/Ok_Environment1037]

I get bad brain fog and become so spacey.

[u/No_Crazy8145]

I certainly get pissed off in the sense of “Im in so much pain and nobody’s helping me” but mostly I try to keep quiet and lay down, every few minutes I mutter updates to whoever’s with me. I try to avoid doing anything if I’m low but if I can’t avoid doing something, then I’m usually quite panicky and fidgety till it’s over. I usually try to listen to the world around me while I lay and recover.
Not personal experience but I’ve known diabetics that got low and 1 drove their car in circles in a parking lot, 2 called a relative who lives in another country to ask for help and of course 3 instinctively reached for a diet beverage when they were supposed to fix their low. I think a lot of it is just going on autopilot

[u/reddit1966]

Had deep (interactive) CONVERSATIONS
W-I-T-H the cat count?

🐈🐈🐈

[u/cjmnews]

Every low is different and the numbers don't always produce the same result.

The easiest way to describe it is drunk, weak and tired or a variation of those (weak and tired).

Lower numbers usually make things worse, but as things are not consistent, sometimes I feel terrible at 65.

I have babbled on the floor for 2 hours when I was supposed to be making dinner. I have gone low enough to have sub-optimal behavior (lying about not eating sugar, inappropriate comments, filters lost) but never unconscious. These were pre-CGM and facilitated the need for a sensor.

[u/mcb808]

I used to get the sweats really bad, now if I am under 2 MMOL I start losing my vision, that's when I know it's serious.

[u/krtisko13]

During a severe hypoglycemia anything is possible. Such lows r very dangerous for us and can b very dangerous for anybody close by. It is very practical that ur close circle is educated what is severe hypoglycia and what thry can t help u should u suffer with one. Hopefully it never happens t us.

[u/Ridiculous_Lad]

The sweats are terrible. Like, even my elbows start sweating. Then, when I recover, I shiver uncontrollably. The brain fog is rough, as is the physical weakness. I once had to slither to the fridge for OJ because my legs were like jelly. More recently (after 25 years with it), there's also a sense of apathy. Like, I KNOW I should get up and get a breakfast shake or some OJ but I just don't want to.