Does anyone other than me have pain when you have a low?
This evening was very painful and was much worse than having the flu. I have the usual discomfort and energy drain, confusion and slurred speech if I go too low but the pain varies. I do not experience the pain every time but when it comes on strong the only thing that stops the pain is getting back into the proper BG range (or above).
On a side note my service dog (Medical Alert) has helped me stay out of the hospital several times, however tonight he was acting a somewhat anxious.
Just curious about how common it is to experience a painful low.
Hi @Composed you mean your lows hurt? I guess everyone is different. My lows are like anxiety attacks: sweats shakes, fast heartbeat. I get numb mouth, tongue, and/or face. When I close my eyes I see greenish glowing donuts. One low I forgot who I was. I’ve only had type 1 for 45 years but I never experienced pain before. The headache after can be very painful but not typically while low or even recovering from a low. Good luck
Glenn @Composed, occasionally when my BGL drops I will feel an ache at the back of my scull, and I almost never experience “headache” under other conditions. What I mainly experience when low is blurry vision and a feeling of getting mentally stuck - most often appears as reading the same page over and over.
What do you mean by low? when your BGM/CGM reads 75?, or 45?, or “LOW”?
I wondered whether this was common or whether it is just another unusual thing to fight. I’m talking about low Blood Glucose (BG) in the range of 40 to <70 mg/dL. Typically, I do not experience any symptoms above 70 mg/dL. The pain does not happen during every low but when it does it’s worse than the flu.
A low is never enjoyable and I have experienced many of the symptoms mentioned above (sweating, shaking, numb face, and elevated heartbeat) but the symptoms often vary from one low to another. I often become very weak and start sweating, then other symptoms may start. I do not remember having blurry vision with a low BG, but I have experienced blurry vision when my BG is elevated.
Last October I was on vacation (guys trip with my sons) and the first day I had a bad low that caused me to sweat and become weak then slow thinking hit and I started slurring my speech. To an observer I could easily have been mistaken for someone that was drunk except that I did not have the ketones (nor alcohol) on my breath.
Between the four of us we were able to turn the low around rather quickly (one son ran for a Coca-Cola, another ran for a candy bar while the third watched me. Obviously, this was an undesirable experience to have on vacation especially while out of the country.
I see my Endocrinologist in a few weeks and will bring it up during my visit.
Just a quick note to follow up on my the pain I occasionally have when my Blood Glucose runs low.
My Endocrinologist believes that the pain is caused by an extremly low amount of glucose and nutrients moving through the cell membranes. This problem is exacerbated by the fact that I am also fighting EPI (Exocrine Pancreatic Insufficiency). My pancreas not only quit making insulin, it also stopped making digestive enzymes. I am now on PERT (Pancreatic Enzyme Replacement Therapy). If I forget to take the Replacement Enzymes I do not absorb the vitamins/nutrients that are fat soluble meaning that I have malabsorption and malnutrition. This answer has helped me focus (or perhaps I should say refocus) on taking my insulin and the PERT medication prior to eating..
To sum it up, I am like many of us on this Forum, I am fighting more than one issue, but life goes on so I find ways to enjoy life.
If anyone has questions for me I will try to answer, but please remember that I am not a doctor therefore I do not have all the answers but I can share what I am doing in my own life.
That is exactly what I mean. Sometimes I have the “standard textbook symptoms” and sometime the pain is added to those. Because I had never read anything about it on this Forum I thought I would ask to try and determine whether this was common.
I have since spoken with my Endocrinologist and the information is posted in this string.
(Medical Alert) has helped me stay out of the hospital several times, however tonight he was acting a somewhat anxious.
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