I’ve had friends ask me ‘so what does it look like when you’re having a low?’ Honestly, it looks like you’re drunk. Inside you may think you are being very coherent and cool but it’s not coming across to others that way.
This can cause problems in itself if people don’t know you are diabetic – many a crashing diabetic has been mistaken for a drunken idiot, sometimes with terrible results. With increased awareness nowadays, paramedics and other emergency medical staff are trained to check BG levels as part of their initial assessment.
Fumbling, slurred speech, sweating, weakness… all hints that your BG is dropping – time to check your blood glucose levels. Sometimes, if it’s really low you may need help from another person to get a sugar source into your system.
Best practice when dealing with hypoglycemia is to check you BG (anything below 4mmol is considered hypoglycemic), do your initial sugar dose (15g of a simple sugar source- dextabs, juice, etc.) and wait 15 minutes to recheck. Let me tell you, that is the longest 15 minutes of your life. Keep doing this until your BG is above 4mmol and then if your next meal is more than an hour away have a carb with protein, my go-to is toast and peanut butter. It’s fast and easy and doesn’t take any real brain power at all.
That’s another part of it – lows, and fighting your way back from a low, are exhausting, you may feel worn out after, foggy-headed. That’s ok. You basically just stopped yourself from going into a coma so congratulations! Now go sit and relax for a few minutes.