Low blood sugar levels

[dave j-64]

Hi, I'm a new member and would like some advice. My blood glucose levels some times drop to less than 3mmol yet I am functioning "normally" and feel absolutely fine. Can anybody tell me why this is as I don't understand it

 

[Kaylz]

Seems like you've lost you've lost your hypo awareness, it often happens when we spend quite a while with lower numbers, is this the case with yourself? Usually they advise to run your levels a little higher than normal to try and regain hypo awareness, it worked for me but some aren't so lucky, there are a couple of members at least that have no hypo awareness at all now xx

 

[dave j-64]

Hi, I'm a new member and would like some advice. My blood glucose levels some times drop to less than 3mmol yet I am functioning "normally" and feel absolutely fine. Can anybody tell me why this is as I don't understand it

Seems like you've lost you've lost your hypo awareness, it often happens when we spend quite a while with lower numbers, is this the case with yourself? Usually they advise to run your levels a little higher than normal to try and regain hypo awareness, it worked for me but some aren't so lucky, there are a couple of members at least that have no hypo awareness at all now xx

Thanks for that but I still don't understand how I am still able to function without anybody noticing a difference in me

 

[Kaylz]

Thanks for that but I still don't understand how I am still able to function without anybody noticing a difference in me

unfortunately it happens with loss of hypo awareness, your body gets too used to being low which can be very dangerous, I was hypoing in my sleep without waking up, my consultant and DSN were very concerned and put it out as 'we don't want our next call to be Kayleigh is lying here gone as she hypo'd in her sleep and didn't recover' that put the fear of god in me and I ran my numbers higher, I burst into tears when they said that to me xx

 

[dave j-64]

Kayleigh, thank you so much for replying. I will try your advice and hopefully things will improve 🙂.
Take care x

 

[TheClockworkDodo]

Hi @dave j-64 and welcome to the forum 🙂

My hypo awareness is pretty minimal and I'm often perfectly functional when my blood sugar's in the 3s, sometimes even when it's in the 2s - my body is so used to being hypo it only tells me I'm hypo if my blood sugar is dropping rapidly. As Kaylz says, though, loss of hypo awareness is really dangerous, so I hope you are able to get your readings up a bit and things do improve for you.

 

[TheClockworkDodo]

By the way, if you don't already have a Libre, it sounds as though you might qualify, so it might be worth asking your diabetes team about the possiblity of getting one on prescription.

 

[dave j-64]

By the way, if you don't already have a Libre, it sounds as though you might qualify, so it might be worth asking your diabetes team about the possiblity of getting one on prescription.

Thanks for your reply Juliet, I will talk to my GP about it 🙂
Dave J

 

[Flower]

Hello and welcome @dave j-64 🙂

Please do talk to your diabetes team/gp as a priority about the lack of hypo symptoms, also be aware of the need to inform the DVLA if you drive and are unable to tell when you are going hypo.

There are some ways to try and restore signals. Running your levels higher for a while to try and get your brain used to signalling falling glucose also looking out for any tiny signals that happen each time- these are much more subtle and harder to spot than sweating and shaking. I used to be able to see the dot pattern of laser burns in my vision from retinopathy and that gave me just enough time to react but over time that faded. For about the last 15 years I have no early warning clues from my own body when my levels are low and rely on a cgm. I don't get any panic or need to rush to deal with a low number and have to make myself react.

It is a dangerous situation and does need help asap to try and improve your awareness by whatever means available. I hope things improve for you.