Severe low symptoms with no low blood sugar?
I am wondering if anybody here ever has symptoms of extremely low blood sugar without actually having the low blood sugar? Is there something else that you know of that could have the same symptoms as low blood sugar?
Last week my 8 year old T1D suddenly said she felt really low. We tested and her blood sugar was in the 140's. Then she ran in the bathroom and emptied her bowels quickly (sorry if this is TMI). When she came out of the bathroom she was pale and crying and collapsed on the floor, insisting that she was low. She is very good about knowing the signs so I quickly got a juice box. She did not lose consciousness and after two juice boxes she felt better. Within 5 minutes after giving her the juice boxes I tested her to see if she had been dropping quick. She was in the 170's and about 20 minutes later was well over 200. There was maybe 5 minutes between the time that I tested her the first time to the time I gave her juice, so I really don't think she was ever low or even dropping fast.
We made sure to wash before testing and on top of it all she had ate a small snack about an hour before so I do not see any reason why she would have been dropping fast. I have tried control solution on the tester and it is reading fine.
These symptoms were bad ones for her (one of her top 4 low blood sugar moments in her 5 years with diabetes). Should I chalk it up to low blood sugar or should I be asking her doctor if something else could be going on?
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Aimee on -
Could be; but since this was a week ago and resolved itself entirely after a few minutes I would be surprised. Although the body never fails to surprise me from time to time!
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Permalink Reply by JohnG on -
Sometimes our body just makes a mistake, it just misinterprets a feeling or hunger. Just like Some indaviduls with heart trouble will have panic attacks that are brought on by a misinterpreted heart attack.
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Permalink Reply by Aimee on
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Yeah, I agree that it could just be a weird mistake of her body; hopefully her body has learned from it's mistake!
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Permalink Reply by Aimee on
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Thanks for the response Jim! I had thought of this, too, becuase it has happened to us before; but it was not the case this time.
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Permalink Reply by TimmyMac on -
When I broke my collarbone, I felt extremely low (I felt like I was about to pass out) but my bloodsugar was only 110. My friend's mom (who was a nurse) told my the symptoms I was having was probably a vagus reaction from the stress.
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Permalink Reply by Aimee on
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Thanks for the link TimmyMac. This seems like a reasonable explanation. I didn't know the name for it, but thought it could be that she just momentarily passed out for whatever reason (although I cannot really point to any of the reasons listed that seem probable). When I was a child I passed out several different times, but in my case it was always related to being overheated. I remember my symptoms being similar to low blood sugar. I am thinking that if she has symptoms again without the low blood sugar I could have her lie down (or maybe put her head between her knees) to see if it passes.
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Permalink Reply by HPNpilot on -
Another thing that can cause this is if you have been running a high average for a long time....then your body can adapt and think a value like 140 feels low and react the same way. But I don't get the impression that is the case here....
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Permalink Reply by christy on -
I had some problems for months with constant diarrhea, doctors thought I had Crohn's and I can tell you one thing, severe stomach pains, etc made me feel just awful, shakey, cool, lightheaded, etc. Maybe that was all it was.
Timmymac, that is correct about a vagus reaction, the vagus nerve can be easily stimuated sometimes, and u do get those feelings liek breaking out in a cold sweat, like you are going to pass out, and just feel miserable.
How is her control?
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Permalink Reply by Aimee on
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I hope that you are feeling better! I thought the sudden need to use the restroom in the middle of this could have also been a symptom of whatever was going on at the time.
Her control is pretty good. She has high blood sugars occasionally, but we test frequently so we are able to catch them and correct them fairly quickly. She dips to the 60's every few days, but we almost always catch it before it gets any lower.
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