I generally don’t have many hypos since a) I started using a glucose sensor and b) looping (DIY APS) but one Saturday last summer, I had a Mother-of-All hypo experience which shook me up quite a bit. However, I do want to assure family and friends reading this that I wasn’t in any real danger and that I am now completely fine.
** This happened in Summer 2021-I’m completely fine now!!!
In the middle of Saturday afternoon, I realised I had to go out to the grocery store to get a few “messages” that had been forgotten in the earlier “big food shop”. So I grabbed my car keys, and my purse, I already had my phone/glucose monitor in my pocket and ran out the door. I don’t think I’d gotten back into the habit of leaving the house much since the pandemic started in March 2020 because I didn’t remember to glance at my Smartwatch until I was walking into the store. I that my level was 5+ mmol, so I put a temporary basal on Loop even though it was probably already too late to do so.
15 minutes later my urgent low alarm sounded off as I was almost done with my shopping. My blood sugars dropped so fast that my CGM completely missed the Low alarm which should warn me when I’m 4.5 mmol and still in range to do something about it. Not only that but the screen was showing the two down-pointing arrows ⬇️⬇️ which meant that my levels were still dropping very fast. I immediately shoved 2 glucose tablets into my mouth through my mask, at least I had that much brain function, but I was already struggling to figure out if I had everything on my list and on a kind of autopilot to get to the checkout, pay for my groceries and just get outside where I could sit down and collect myself.
My second urgent, urgent low alarm went off as I was exiting the building and just for a split-split second everything went black. I had a moment where I thought, “Is this going to end with me looking up at paramedics”? This was the scary part but I stayed calm even though I was drenched in sweat. I was also reassured because I also knew I was going to get a phone call from my husband as he has my CGM’s Follow App on his phone with the urgent low alarm switched to ‘on’. We agreed to do this from a previous experience where I unintentionally ignored a low alarm. Sure enough, my phone rang just as I got outside and was trying to find a spot to rest and recover. I talked him through what was happening, thankfully I was coherent, and assured him I wasn’t going to drive until I was in the safe range again. My plan was to have two more glucose tabs, get to the car and wait with a can of 7-up free but also a tube of Pringles for the tabs to have an impact. I was going to try not to eat the whole container of Pringles but I also wasn’t making any promises to myself cos I was mad 😡 had the shakes, and mad.
About 30 very loooong minutes later I was on my way home with ½ a can of Pringles 🤨, annoyed with diabetes, annoyed that I didn’t remember in advance of my errand to take the required actions to avoid this very situation, but safe.
I haven’t had a scary low experience like this in a very long time. It’s left such a big imprint that I still remember it almost one year later.
Diabetes Australia recently ran their annual Lowdown campaign focusing on the cost and impact of hypoglycemia in people with diabetes. Please do check it out, its such a great campaign and really relatable. I’ve also just finished watching their Lowdown Community Forum Event on the topic where the takeaways for me were:
Hypos are a part of living with diabetes!
Most of the time, we can deal with them completely on our own but on the rare occasion where we need help, the help needs to know what to do.
We feel guilty when we have hypos for a number of reasons one of which is because we’ve been told for years that it’s our fault when they happen.
We don’t talk about them very much because we feel we might be judged or viewed as less competent than a person without diabetes.
The bad ones are really scary.
Hypos steal many, many, many minutes from our lives and of our time with loved ones because we have to stop what we’re doing to take care of them.
Please so watch Diabetes Australia’s Lowdown Community Forum; the first half is with Prof Simon Heller, a legend in Hypo research, and the second half is a panel of people with diabetes.
