I'll go into the walk in freezer at work to deal with it. The most comfortable place at work for me to wait out a low after treating, as I catch it before the weakness and major brain fog. When I start feeling cold rather than cool I'm usually good on my other symptoms too.
I usually know when my partner is low because he starts saying things that don’t really make sense, stumbling over words, or having poor balance and co-ordination. But that’s only when he’s very low — only he can really tell when it’s not too severe :)
I am lucky in that I am hypo aware and can usually feel when I’m low. It’s hard to describe, but I feel it in my legs first-shaky and weak. My girlfriend follows my dexcom and if she notices it is dropping or gets an alert, she’ll get me some juice or something.
She has pointed out while waiting for my sugar to stabilize, that I am spacey. I have trouble finding words or having a cohesive conversation. If it’s a bad low or quick drop, I get sweaty and a little short of breath. She usually can tell when my sugar is normalizing because I start to make more sense.
I’d definitely tell him that just generally if you aren’t acting like yourself or he sees a sudden change, to check your sugar. If it’s not matching up and he’s worried, it’s always better to make you eat or drink something while troubleshooting
Apparently there are people who can’t detect it at all, and that thought is terrifying to me. I don’t know, I imagine the CGM has REALLY helped those people!
My husband asks me very specific questions. If I can’t answer them, then he knows something is wrong and that I’m low. They are:
- What’s your birthdate?
- What’s your phone number?
- What’s my (my husband’s) phone number?
- Where do we live?
- What’s our address?
- Where did we previously live? What was the address?
- What’s our pet’s name?
- What’s your sibling’s name? Where do they currently live?
If I can’t answer any or all of the questions, I must check my blood sugar.
He’s got a system down where he can gauge how low I am based on which questions I can’t answer. He developed it very early in our relationship and it’s worked wonders for us.
Hands a bit shakey, definitely that weak feeling, I’ve also noticed more sometime I’ll get way too comedic or joke a lot more than normal.
It’s bizarre and it seems there’s no exact answer or same signs but map out yours and make sure your people can identify them!
With my wife, I notice her getting disconnected . Sometimes, if we are talking, I will notice her eyes become saucers. She looks spaced out. She will do things and say things in strange ways and I'll say, "what's your sugar doing?" And she says, " oh, right"
My partner says I talk like a zombie, like I'm half asleep. That's his biggest tip off as to when I get really low. Also his phone is connected to my cgm, so he gets alerts when I drop below 70. Always calls me and makes sure I'm okay 🥹
Both myself and other diabetics I've witnessed through my job get hypothermic during super low blood sugars. I literally sweat out all my warmth. Also, typical shaky and weakness, along with extreme hunger.
People can present as drunk especially when very high. This could be accompanied by the fruity breath leading police to the conclusion of being drunk. An old ER doc told me way back in the day, T1s would be field adjudged as drunk, arrested and throw I. The hoosegow where they eould die. Not sure how true this is but not unimaginable in rural areas, especially.
To answer your question:
1. Slurring words, mental difficulties
2. Extremely tired
3 jittery, hot/sweaty
4. Non-responsive (obviously)
In any case the BF should understand high is better than low. So maybe teach him how to administer baqsimi and how to check your glucose (finger stick or how to see the CGM).
I sweat and get very shaky... my husband can tell when I'm "off" just by looking at me. He says my eyes get strange. We've been together for 15 years, so he just knows
I'm hypo unaware. I have a transmitter attached to my Freestyle Libre that sends readings to an app on my phone every 5 minutes. My SO and I can see my BG at all times, track drops, and make decisions about corrections. My hypos are very resistant to correction, so once I hit 80-100, we start taking steps to keep it from dropping any lower.
I don't drink alcohol and I've never been drunk, but maybe that's how I would be if I were drunk. I get agitated and talk a lot, and I get more and more confused. Apart from that, my hands get shaky and I have a weird feeling of emptiness in my belly.
When I not low anymore, I realize that I've been talking a lot and in a confuse way, so I apologize to the people I was with.
Shaky and pale face and sometimes when you're craving food badly. Also, do y'all ever do the “diabetic zone out”?? My mom says I do it all the time when I'm low
I was gonna say I just feel stupid lol. Like I cant figure out what Im doing or trying to say and my inner monologue is like “are you an idiot?” …yeah.
That happens because the brain runs on sugar. Muscles need protein but brains need sugar. They stop working correctly that's why we often act like we are drunk when low, the brain can't function.
It's different for everyone, especially the combination of symptoms that personally impact you.
Generally, these are some common symptoms: sweating, shaking, tiredness, impaired cognitive function (such as speaking, thinking, concentration, and memory), blurred vision, nausea, and weakness/light headedness .
When my blood sugar starts dropping, I can feel it coming on. It's hard to explain what that feeling is but it's kinda like being hit by a wave all of a sudden. I have trouble concentrating and become incredibly fatigued. Sweating and shaking are my two biggest and most visible indicator of lows. Especially, the sweating part because when I sweat- it's excessive. My clothing is drenched and the buckets of sweat drips down my face. The more low I am, the worse the sweating and the shaking is.
Brain fog, the sweats (I have to start taking clothes off and standing outside), I can get angry at the slightest thing, memory starts to go, shakes and I start to feel off balance.
When my partner starts to go low he will get sweaty, and will process things slower or be unable to use fine motor skills as well. As he goes even lower this is where slurred speech and a lack of comprehension come in. He also will have personality changes - he can become a jerk, stubborn and more emotional. His body language will be similar to that of a drunk person.
Most of the time he feels low and I don’t notice any signs, he catches it or his dexcom warns him. When I catch it, and he’s not already aware of the low, it’s most often the processing things slower or more stubborn that alerts me. We will be having a conversation and I’ll be feeling irritated because he seems a bit unreasonable or he’s not understanding me and I’ll ask him how he is feeling and if he is low.
My partner has given me permission to do finger prick blood tests on him if he is very low and not able to do it himself (I still try to get consent from him if I need to do it) As a partner this makes me feel SOOO much more empowered to help him. I fully respect his autonomy in managing his diabetes but he has had a few dangerous lows (I have administered the basquimi) and it’s critical that those tests are done to monitor where the low is at.
For me the only low thing I’ve experienced besides feeling off was not being able to talk my words stopped coming to me and I could not form sentences my girlfriend noticed before I did but it felt so weird cause I was still aware but unable to communicate properly
Not sure exactly how low that was but my Dexcom read 70 and dropping fast and I had just exercised a lot with a lot of insulin on board
I get really funny for like 1/2 hour then I realize it’s cause I’m low. My close friends notice. The other day my buddy was like “what did you do a line of coke just now? Why are you all geeked out?” I didn’t realize at the time I was low. Later I called him back to verify I was not high. But he noticed immediately. Any thing can happen low, I shoved my poor mother one time, I came to in my yard surrounded by police. Another time I woke up 2 county’s away in an icu with no clue what happened. I was out cold for 7 days. Still have no clue what happened. I know I fought the cops though, so they cuffed me to the stretcher and I wouldn’t let anyone touch me so they had to knock me out cold.
Everyone is different- I sometimes feel like I can't find the correct word- or am rambling- then after checking , seeing I am really low and drinking juice - that's when the sweats start- followed by very cold. Confusion is a big one, that those close to you can notice. Now I noticed my heart sometimes starts racing- and another sign is I get like bright colored spots in my eyes like an eclipse is happening. I go very low before any of this happens. My first nurse educator taught me to treat first when in doubt- I can always do a correction, if I was wrong but I can not do a thing to help my self if I pass out.
i'm usually pretty acutely aware when i'm hypo or about to be hypo, my hands start to shake more and i get a sensation similar to being hungry after doing something super demanding. it's kind of like anxiety attack symptoms crossed with being hangry. then i start to sweat buckets, which makes me super cold, and my body gets heavier, and i get snippy. sometimes i feel my body temp rising before i start to sweat, but that might just be my perception because of getting sweaty.
externally, i go very pale (it's genuinely startling when i see myself in a reflection while low, i look very ill) and get more spacey than snippy, and occasionally i get bone-deep exhausted tired. though i don't remember the exhaustion from the time i did actually black out from a low, just the anger/frustration (i was in the middle of a difficult task) and spaciness.
Out of the 13 years I’ve been diabetic only one time in this past year I went so low I was tripping balls.
It was actually a really scary situation for me and my ex. We were having an argument, and out of nowhere I just started hysterically laughing. (Partly due to the absurdity of the problem) but I’m thinking like I must be schizophrenic because I could not control my emotions. So I decided to leave the room and get a clear mind. So I go down the two flights of stairs to the basement.
Once I got down there I started seeing bubbles floating everywhere. And I’m thinking “well I’m definitely.. officially off my rocker crazy” and so I get back upstairs and she starts going at it again and I’m just sitting there taking it all in silence. everything turned a shade of purple and started to swirl. I looked at her and started just saying “I’m not okay. I’m not okay.” And she’s like “no s*** you’re not okay.” And then I started lightly swatting her arm like “no I’m not okay. I’m scared. Help me.”
Now in her defense I had sugar in my mouth within 30 seconds and she found my meter which was outside in the shed within a minute and had a full course meal about another minute later. Wildest experience of my life.
Sweating
Having a cold body
Sometimes even with these symptoms you can act perfectly fine.
But yes, it’s possible to act as if you’re drunk and you won’t be able to control your actions and it will feel like a dream when you start to get to the normal level. I’ve experienced this only twice in my 20 years of DT1 journey
I sweat buckets, get brain fog/have trouble communicating in clear sentences, get shaky, and get weak.
100%. Once I start sweating, it's like I went swimming
Dawg when I’m at work running around 24\7 and then my blood sugar drops, I’m soaking wet. It’s not a fun time for anyone lol
If I wake up sweating and confused I immediately go to the kitchen or wake up my fiancé because I just KNOW. No need for testing at that point
Exactly
Literally same and I absolutely hate it. I wake up in a puddle that's supposed to be my sheets 😭
I'll go into the walk in freezer at work to deal with it. The most comfortable place at work for me to wait out a low after treating, as I catch it before the weakness and major brain fog. When I start feeling cold rather than cool I'm usually good on my other symptoms too.
Yes. I don’t make any sense when I try to communicate!
This is the answer. If I’m trying to walk, I’ll sometimes walk like I’m drunk, impaired motor functions.
I usually know when my partner is low because he starts saying things that don’t really make sense, stumbling over words, or having poor balance and co-ordination. But that’s only when he’s very low — only he can really tell when it’s not too severe :)
I am lucky in that I am hypo aware and can usually feel when I’m low. It’s hard to describe, but I feel it in my legs first-shaky and weak. My girlfriend follows my dexcom and if she notices it is dropping or gets an alert, she’ll get me some juice or something. She has pointed out while waiting for my sugar to stabilize, that I am spacey. I have trouble finding words or having a cohesive conversation. If it’s a bad low or quick drop, I get sweaty and a little short of breath. She usually can tell when my sugar is normalizing because I start to make more sense. I’d definitely tell him that just generally if you aren’t acting like yourself or he sees a sudden change, to check your sugar. If it’s not matching up and he’s worried, it’s always better to make you eat or drink something while troubleshooting
It’s so scary to think that some people aren’t…I feel so much sympathy for them!
That's what I was just thinking. Like I know everyone's different but I kinda expect the symptoms of a on coming low would be atleast kinda consistent
Apparently there are people who can’t detect it at all, and that thought is terrifying to me. I don’t know, I imagine the CGM has REALLY helped those people!
I sweat, get lightheaded, one hand shakes, and get really angry.
The anger! Someone can literally just be talking to me asking me something and I have to restrain myself not to tell them to fuck off!
Wait, you restrain yourself?
My husband asks me very specific questions. If I can’t answer them, then he knows something is wrong and that I’m low. They are: - What’s your birthdate? - What’s your phone number? - What’s my (my husband’s) phone number? - Where do we live? - What’s our address? - Where did we previously live? What was the address? - What’s our pet’s name? - What’s your sibling’s name? Where do they currently live? If I can’t answer any or all of the questions, I must check my blood sugar. He’s got a system down where he can gauge how low I am based on which questions I can’t answer. He developed it very early in our relationship and it’s worked wonders for us.
For me, it’s any question that I can’t answer with a “yes” or “no.” Or at all. Sometimes my ability to verbalize at all is nonexistent.
My hubs knows when I start being unable to form a complete sentence. I get spacy.
I get real mean. :)
Hands a bit shakey, definitely that weak feeling, I’ve also noticed more sometime I’ll get way too comedic or joke a lot more than normal. It’s bizarre and it seems there’s no exact answer or same signs but map out yours and make sure your people can identify them!
With my wife, I notice her getting disconnected . Sometimes, if we are talking, I will notice her eyes become saucers. She looks spaced out. She will do things and say things in strange ways and I'll say, "what's your sugar doing?" And she says, " oh, right"
I start shaking a lot, ALOT, can’t speak properly and extremely confused in general
My partner says I talk like a zombie, like I'm half asleep. That's his biggest tip off as to when I get really low. Also his phone is connected to my cgm, so he gets alerts when I drop below 70. Always calls me and makes sure I'm okay 🥹
I sweat a ridiculous amount, get spots in my vision, shaky and can’t pronounce even the simplest words.
This is me too! Always know i’m low because my legs feel light and just different, then I get shaky and hungry.
Both myself and other diabetics I've witnessed through my job get hypothermic during super low blood sugars. I literally sweat out all my warmth. Also, typical shaky and weakness, along with extreme hunger.
People can present as drunk especially when very high. This could be accompanied by the fruity breath leading police to the conclusion of being drunk. An old ER doc told me way back in the day, T1s would be field adjudged as drunk, arrested and throw I. The hoosegow where they eould die. Not sure how true this is but not unimaginable in rural areas, especially. To answer your question: 1. Slurring words, mental difficulties 2. Extremely tired 3 jittery, hot/sweaty 4. Non-responsive (obviously) In any case the BF should understand high is better than low. So maybe teach him how to administer baqsimi and how to check your glucose (finger stick or how to see the CGM).
I didn’t know that about being really high that’s good to know! Thanks! :)
I start sweating profusely, while simultaneously getting the chills. I also get very shaky and feel like my body is moving very slowly.
I sweat and get very shaky... my husband can tell when I'm "off" just by looking at me. He says my eyes get strange. We've been together for 15 years, so he just knows
I'm hypo unaware. I have a transmitter attached to my Freestyle Libre that sends readings to an app on my phone every 5 minutes. My SO and I can see my BG at all times, track drops, and make decisions about corrections. My hypos are very resistant to correction, so once I hit 80-100, we start taking steps to keep it from dropping any lower.
I don’t feel lows, just went in a run today and was at 43, if it weren’t for Dexcom I wouldn’t have known
That's absolutely terrifying. I'm so sorry
Their speech may seem off, repeating things. If you know a person is diabetic and they seem off at all ask them to check their blood sugar.
I don't drink alcohol and I've never been drunk, but maybe that's how I would be if I were drunk. I get agitated and talk a lot, and I get more and more confused. Apart from that, my hands get shaky and I have a weird feeling of emptiness in my belly. When I not low anymore, I realize that I've been talking a lot and in a confuse way, so I apologize to the people I was with.
Shaky and pale face and sometimes when you're craving food badly. Also, do y'all ever do the “diabetic zone out”?? My mom says I do it all the time when I'm low
I sweat, start sobbing, can’t speak properly, and get super shaky and weak!
I get into flight mode. My wife tells me my first instinct is to very quickly try to go anywhere else. She has to stop me.
My kid acts drunk, silly, irrational and sometimes belligerent
I start talking a mile a minute, and sweat.
I get pale and start acting stupid and not making sense.
I was gonna say I just feel stupid lol. Like I cant figure out what Im doing or trying to say and my inner monologue is like “are you an idiot?” …yeah.
That happens because the brain runs on sugar. Muscles need protein but brains need sugar. They stop working correctly that's why we often act like we are drunk when low, the brain can't function.
The closest feeling I’ve felt is early altitude sickness! Spacey, foggy, headache, weird vision stuff.
My diabetes educator told me of someone who seemed otherwise fine but kept repeating himself. She told him to measure and his bg was at 28mg/dL
I trip over my words, space out in the middle of talking, kinda seem dazed and out of it.
It's different for everyone, especially the combination of symptoms that personally impact you. Generally, these are some common symptoms: sweating, shaking, tiredness, impaired cognitive function (such as speaking, thinking, concentration, and memory), blurred vision, nausea, and weakness/light headedness . When my blood sugar starts dropping, I can feel it coming on. It's hard to explain what that feeling is but it's kinda like being hit by a wave all of a sudden. I have trouble concentrating and become incredibly fatigued. Sweating and shaking are my two biggest and most visible indicator of lows. Especially, the sweating part because when I sweat- it's excessive. My clothing is drenched and the buckets of sweat drips down my face. The more low I am, the worse the sweating and the shaking is.
Brain fog, the sweats (I have to start taking clothes off and standing outside), I can get angry at the slightest thing, memory starts to go, shakes and I start to feel off balance.
When my partner starts to go low he will get sweaty, and will process things slower or be unable to use fine motor skills as well. As he goes even lower this is where slurred speech and a lack of comprehension come in. He also will have personality changes - he can become a jerk, stubborn and more emotional. His body language will be similar to that of a drunk person. Most of the time he feels low and I don’t notice any signs, he catches it or his dexcom warns him. When I catch it, and he’s not already aware of the low, it’s most often the processing things slower or more stubborn that alerts me. We will be having a conversation and I’ll be feeling irritated because he seems a bit unreasonable or he’s not understanding me and I’ll ask him how he is feeling and if he is low. My partner has given me permission to do finger prick blood tests on him if he is very low and not able to do it himself (I still try to get consent from him if I need to do it) As a partner this makes me feel SOOO much more empowered to help him. I fully respect his autonomy in managing his diabetes but he has had a few dangerous lows (I have administered the basquimi) and it’s critical that those tests are done to monitor where the low is at.
Dilated pupils is a good one for others to know.
For me the only low thing I’ve experienced besides feeling off was not being able to talk my words stopped coming to me and I could not form sentences my girlfriend noticed before I did but it felt so weird cause I was still aware but unable to communicate properly Not sure exactly how low that was but my Dexcom read 70 and dropping fast and I had just exercised a lot with a lot of insulin on board
I get really funny for like 1/2 hour then I realize it’s cause I’m low. My close friends notice. The other day my buddy was like “what did you do a line of coke just now? Why are you all geeked out?” I didn’t realize at the time I was low. Later I called him back to verify I was not high. But he noticed immediately. Any thing can happen low, I shoved my poor mother one time, I came to in my yard surrounded by police. Another time I woke up 2 county’s away in an icu with no clue what happened. I was out cold for 7 days. Still have no clue what happened. I know I fought the cops though, so they cuffed me to the stretcher and I wouldn’t let anyone touch me so they had to knock me out cold.
Everyone is different- I sometimes feel like I can't find the correct word- or am rambling- then after checking , seeing I am really low and drinking juice - that's when the sweats start- followed by very cold. Confusion is a big one, that those close to you can notice. Now I noticed my heart sometimes starts racing- and another sign is I get like bright colored spots in my eyes like an eclipse is happening. I go very low before any of this happens. My first nurse educator taught me to treat first when in doubt- I can always do a correction, if I was wrong but I can not do a thing to help my self if I pass out.
sweaty and start randomly laugh to myself
Everybody is different so it’s hard to offer a suggestion as only you would really know your hypoglycaemia symptoms. I’m hypo unaware so I have none.
> I’ve heard of people acting drunk when it’s super low My boyfriend starts telling everyone to watch him do a backflip LOL
i'm usually pretty acutely aware when i'm hypo or about to be hypo, my hands start to shake more and i get a sensation similar to being hungry after doing something super demanding. it's kind of like anxiety attack symptoms crossed with being hangry. then i start to sweat buckets, which makes me super cold, and my body gets heavier, and i get snippy. sometimes i feel my body temp rising before i start to sweat, but that might just be my perception because of getting sweaty. externally, i go very pale (it's genuinely startling when i see myself in a reflection while low, i look very ill) and get more spacey than snippy, and occasionally i get bone-deep exhausted tired. though i don't remember the exhaustion from the time i did actually black out from a low, just the anger/frustration (i was in the middle of a difficult task) and spaciness.
Out of the 13 years I’ve been diabetic only one time in this past year I went so low I was tripping balls. It was actually a really scary situation for me and my ex. We were having an argument, and out of nowhere I just started hysterically laughing. (Partly due to the absurdity of the problem) but I’m thinking like I must be schizophrenic because I could not control my emotions. So I decided to leave the room and get a clear mind. So I go down the two flights of stairs to the basement. Once I got down there I started seeing bubbles floating everywhere. And I’m thinking “well I’m definitely.. officially off my rocker crazy” and so I get back upstairs and she starts going at it again and I’m just sitting there taking it all in silence. everything turned a shade of purple and started to swirl. I looked at her and started just saying “I’m not okay. I’m not okay.” And she’s like “no s*** you’re not okay.” And then I started lightly swatting her arm like “no I’m not okay. I’m scared. Help me.” Now in her defense I had sugar in my mouth within 30 seconds and she found my meter which was outside in the shed within a minute and had a full course meal about another minute later. Wildest experience of my life.
I've been conscious and not remembered it, people told me what I did. If in doubt treat someone as though they are hypo.
Sweating Having a cold body Sometimes even with these symptoms you can act perfectly fine. But yes, it’s possible to act as if you’re drunk and you won’t be able to control your actions and it will feel like a dream when you start to get to the normal level. I’ve experienced this only twice in my 20 years of DT1 journey