by Alison
All change
8:05 am in Living with diabetes by Alison
I foolishly thought the one certainty in diabetes was the way I feel when I’m hypo. It appears I’m a fool to have thought that.
When I was little, a hypo was a “funny tummy”. That strange feeling I couldn’t quite put my finger on, but I knew wasn’t right.
As a teenager that progressed to an understanding of symptoms – feeling weak, sweating and feeling inexplicably confused and frustrated.
That’s been the norm for years, but recently it seems to be changing. Hypos have gone to my legs. The last few times I’ve been low my thighs have gone numb. My hips and above are fine, as are my knees and below, but for some reason my thighs are numb! That makes walking a little interesting.
My head is doing something different too. The last few times I’ve been low I’ve got halfway through a sentence and not been able to finish it. Or I’ve been trying to explain something really simple and my brain and my mouth won’t cooperate. Once I’ve had my sugar hit and I think back, I’m pretty sure I was talking rubbish for about 10 minutes before I started being unable to finish sentences. This is pretty embarrassing (especially when it happened when I met Tim and was unable to articulate the benefits of an artificial pancreas without the help of fruit pastilles!).
And then there’s the final weird thing. I never used to be able to remember hypos but now I can. Not 100% clearly, but much clearer than I ever could.
It appears that I’m blessed with good hypo warning signs, but because we wouldn’t want diabetes to be boring, they’re different to what they used to be. It all adds to the sense of adventure I suppose!
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When I get really, really low I find it takes my vision some time to “catch up” with where I’m actually looking. Very odd.
When less severe, I also have problems getting my words out – or finishing a train of thought. Very irritating to anyone who’s listening to me burble on…
I tend to find my warning signs are pretty similar to what you have mentioned Tim, but then most people that I interact with on a daily basis would say that I behave like that anyway!
@Tim
Me too, me too! I’d forgotten about the strange delayed vision thing. Its like I’ve panned round too quickly with a cheap video camera and the picture takes a while to become clear.
Yeah – freaky isn’t it? Who needs hallucinogenic drugs when you’ve got hypoglycaemia?
In other hypo-news, I had a wonderful night-time hypo last night. I started the evening with pizza, beer and Tori Amos live in Glasgow. The excitement shoved my BG stupidly high; I then completely over-corrected and came crashing down into the low 2s at 2am. What fun!
@Tim Oops, 2 at 2am sounds nasty, how was Tori?
@Alison Better than 1 at 1am I suppose.
Tori was great! As well as being a signed-up member of the Iron Maiden fan club, I’ve also been a huge Tori fan since her first album in 1992
She’s always good live and the whole playing-two-pianos-at-the-same-time thing is a great party trick!
My symptoms pre and post hypo have changed through the years.
As of late, I am not “feeling” my normal (as of the last 5 years or so) pre-symptoms. I do not like this, at all. The post has not changed though, once my bg is coming up I get little shivers, 3 in a row. Weird, I know, but I rely on them.
The constant in Diabetes is change. How fun.
Wow, I have not heard/read that name, Tori Amos, in a long time. Awesome! Excitement raises my bg too, so annoying.
@CALpumper aka Crystal What a complete pain – it would be utterly annoying to have hypo symptoms change. At the minute I can see them coming a mile off and stop them before they’re too bad (unless, of course, they happen in the night – which seems to be happening more and more often…)
As time goes by, tingling tongue has made way for tearful yawning (a “crying” me is probably in need of simple sugar, not sympathy). Other symptoms, like wobblies when walking (2 pairs of mended pants to prove it) & double vision while watching moving pictures on a flat screen, make occasional cameo appearances. When silly epiphanies, robust games of word association football and awful attacks of alliteration appear on the scene, I know glucose is upwardly mobile & adrenaline is doing its thing.
Overnight hypoglycaemic visitations leave me with vomit-inducing headaches in the morning: not that often, since changing from Protaphane to Lantus.
OK repeat after me:
Your Diabetes May Vary.
Your Diabetes May Vary.
Your Diabetes May Vary.
Your Diabetes May Vary.
Your Diabetes May Vary.
Your Diabetes May Vary.
Your Diabetes May Vary.
Your Diabetes May Vary.
Then, it may vary some more.
OK?
Ah, that explains it, thanks Bennet
You mean to say it varies, even in the absence/presence of 0 varies?
I think it is so confusing to have our low symptoms change over time! Can’t it just be consistent? Oh, waitaminute. Diabetes. ‘nuf said.
@Scott K. Johnson The worst was when I was first diagnosed. I was diagnosed quite early (before the comas had kicked in, etc.) and so my wonky pancreas was still sort of working. So I would get everything adjusted to suit it and then it would stop working a little bit more (if that makes sense) and I would have to adjust everything again. Rinse and repeat for 8 months or so.
Towards the end I was just wishing the damned pancreas would pack up completely so I could control everything properly! Which was odd.