# how would you describe having a hypo..?



## leenevitt (May 23, 2010)

interested on how fellow diabetics would explain a hypo..want use it for my blog... and also for fellow diabetics to show how they feel isnt wrong....


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## shiv (May 23, 2010)

leenevitt said:


> interested on how fellow diabetics would explain a hypo..want use it for my blog... and also for fellow diabetics to show how they feel isnt wrong....



i get really annoyed with people and snap at them, i can't make decisions, my breath gets really shakey, i can't concentrate, my hands shake, my legs wobble if i'm low enough, i can't focus on anything (hence the lack of concentration and inability to make decisions)...


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## leenevitt (May 23, 2010)

the temper thing is key here for me...... i get exactly the same... i know i aint no saint... and had alittle temper anyway... and its no excuse.... but it takes over when in a hypo....


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## shiv (May 23, 2010)

leenevitt said:


> the temper thing is key here for me...... i get exactly the same... i know i aint no saint... and had alittle temper anyway... and its no excuse.... but it takes over when in a hypo....



i tend to get really matter of fact, state the obvious when i'm low. i don't have a temper, but i do snap at those around me. i obviously try not to, but sometimes my mouth works faster than my brain.


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## Monica (May 23, 2010)

As a parent I can only describe what I've witnessed.

C has several different symptoms, most of them I only know because she's said at the time how she felt.
 She has been shaky, dizzy, or just shaky hands, sweaty.
 She has also not had any symptoms and we only found out she was hypo because she did a routine test. Her lowest  was 1.7 with no signs at all.
 She can become quite unreasonable, has little outbursts, agressive (although sometimes we are wrong about being hypo when she's become a "little madam", maybe it's because she's a teenager  )

Almost always when I tell her to test whether she's hypo (on the rare occasions that I notice, that she might be), she'll refuse and go on and on. But I usually win that one and am right too.


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## leenevitt (May 23, 2010)

excellent monica... i think that there are more "MOMS" out there that need to here things like this...  x


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## AlisonM (May 23, 2010)

I don't seem to lose the rag, but I do get teary and confused. I'm told I don't respond immediately when I'm spoken to and that my answers don't always make sense. Afterwards when I'm coming back up again it feels like the worst hangover you can imagine, or the aftermath of a migraine. I'm cold, sweaty, dizzy and shaking. And very, very tired.


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## getcarter76 (May 23, 2010)

No two days are the same....

Sometimes i can't read, write or think and other times i can think "oh my blood sugars dropping"!

Sometimes i get clammy, dizzy, shaky and other times i can have a heavy head and think this 'doesn't feel right'.

Sometimes when really low I find my hand cramps or I can get a dead leg! Peripheral shutdown my husband says...

Sometimes i can't control myself rubbing my eyes (not a good look when wearing mascara) or doing silly things like that. People at work in particular are always blissfully unaware.

Sometimes i may get narky but only my hubby would be able to answer that as i can be in my own little world. I have been told i to do things that i can't remember...

And sometimes i find i get particularly thirsty. This sometimes can fool me as i can think my BG is high. 

Even though no 2 diabetics are the same, I can sometimes find my symptoms of low BG are different, just to confuse me and people around me even more. 

Hope this helps

Bernie xx


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## HelenM (May 23, 2010)

The physical signs vary, sometimes shaking, sometimes sweating,  sometimes a slight dizzynesss, a few times a supersensitivity and I feel the material from my clothes rubbing.  When exercising there is a loss of energy, but the physical symptoms aren't always there.   
The  biggest thing is mental, I tend to focus inwards, don't want to answer questions or alter my thought  patterns. If forced to answer I can be snappy. Quite often I know I'm hypo..but just want to finish what I'm doing ie  I'm reluctant to treat.
 Fortunately, (apart from a couple of times at night) I've always been able to treat quickly with just a couple of glucose tabs  and I don't have any after effects.


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## SilentAssassin1642 (May 23, 2010)

why is it when i say i'm going on a forum break all the interesting things pop up? 

me? At the moment I have very very poor hypo awareness and sometimes don't notice if levels are very low. My other half notices however.

Short tempered and snappy
My eyes go fuzzy and things start jumping around
I get really thirsty and sometimes feel my BGs are high...when they're actually not
I've started getting the shakes back sometimes too
Get very teary and emotional


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## PhilT (May 23, 2010)

I normally get the shakes and start sweating, then feel really hungry.

If I'm very low I start to lose co-ordination and feel like everything is slowing down (like I'm in slow motion) and find it hard to think what I'm doing. I also find that everything sounds far away like you get when you're going to faint.


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## leenevitt (May 23, 2010)

get carter... i was thinking the same... some hypos are different to others... sometimes it really hits me sometimes it dont.. and it depends on what type of hypo... either too  much insulin... or not enough food that day.. or too much exercise... or for not bloody reason at all lol!!!1... does anyone mind if i use these comments... i want to try and explain to others how hypos are so diff.. and how its not all about just eating sugar and its all ok lol.xx


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## xxlou_lxx (May 23, 2010)

I agree all hypos are different, well they are for me.. sometimes im like an obssesive compulsive person in that everything has to be in a specific order before I realise what is happening, it feels like dementia sometimes (how id imagine i seem to others if they didnt know what was happening)
The other night before bed I went low but had fell asleep on couch so when my oh woke me up he told me to test, and although I wasnt too bad i felt it necessary to take everything around me up to bed, including an ice cream lolly stick  i convinced myself in my dream like state that i needed it for something!! 
then i get the common crying hypos or the ones when im sarcastic and not too nice to people lol


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## SilentAssassin1642 (May 23, 2010)

lee i'm currently 2.2 - and I have wierd spots in front of my eyes...its like a bit of a wierd jumpy sensation too.


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## gail1 (May 23, 2010)

hot sweaty cold at the same time, chest pain, agession extremely so i once had the police called when i was in a bar and had had a hypo, if it wasnt for one of the police reconising a hypo i would have been in a lot of trouble as it was i was taken to a+e and from wot i have been told they had to pin me down as i was being so agressive, threatning people and wanted to walk out, feeling like everything was coming from far away, feeling like there was nothing wrong with me and people were just making it up feeling like i was going to die this was when my bs was to low to read a friend called abulance i can rember paramedic coming into my house then i woke up in a hospital bed. I think the worse thing for me is the total lack of control. The most embarassing was when I wet myself when i had a fit as well


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## Monica (May 23, 2010)

Today's hypo was simply "I'm hungry". Well, she's been hungry for at least 1 1/2 hour, so I told her to do a blood test. What for I'm only hungry!!!! Result: 2.7.


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## Laura22 (May 23, 2010)

Typically I get these:

1) Shakey hands
2) Wobbly legs
3) Sweaty
4) Heavy breathing
5) I find I can't hold my head up
6) Can't make decisions
7) Get very emotional (like today I just burst into tears earlier)
8) Sometimes feel queasy/sick
9) I also can't speak properly sometimes and jumble words up

As I've said in other posts, I have had hypos pretty much ALL day today and some I've not felt


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## topcat123 (May 23, 2010)

i think over the past few weeks the hypos have changed

having the shakes
feeling disorianted
not been able to take any thing in
feeling very tired afterwords 
feeling sick

a new one today b s low and not aware of any signs


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## Lizzzie (May 23, 2010)

It's exactly like being drunk. When I used to get drunk, I used to do different things and when i have hypos, I experience different things, too.

If i'm reading, a white slodge flashes up in front of the words I'm trying to read.

If I'm talking to someone, I repeat myself over and over again, trying to get the words out, but it keeps sticking, and I try again.... (asked a colleague for a black coffee with some milk in about 4 times in a row t'oher week - kept thinking 'no, that's not right' and trying again....)

If I'm walking, I take a step and one leg seems to buckle from underneath me. First couple of times, I usually catch myself. Third or fourth, I end up on the floor.

If I'm with my hubby, I usually snap, am rude, pour out something he's doing that is annoying me.... once tried to bang my head against a brick wall repeatedly, mid-conversation with my mother. I did all this with the detachment of being drunk: I knew i was doing it and it wasn't appropriate, but just let myself get on with it.

If I'm asleep, I wake up (phew) but just lie there, often thinking really morbid thoughts, before I realise....



Enjoyed reading everyone's responses, btw. Really interesting....


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## aymes (May 23, 2010)

For me, things tend to just go a bit 'foggy', everything slows down, in particular my brain! If someone talks to me for example, there'll be a very long pause while I try to make sense of what they said, almost as if I'm translating it from another language. I'll go very hot and feel extremely hungry. 

I've also noticed a very strong personal narrative going on in my head when I'm hypo, almost as if I'm someone else talking myself through it, like ' ok Amy, I think you're hypo....you need to test...right now you need to get some juice...' etc etc, I don't say anything out loud though!

If I wake up on the night hypo it will take me ages to register what I'm doing. I just sit there trying to work out what possibly could have woken me up!


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## sofaraway (May 24, 2010)

My heart will start to race, I will feel shaky mostly my hands and I will sometimes get a bit confused and get things mixed up.

my worst hypos have resulted in palpitations and chest pain


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## krysia (May 24, 2010)

*Hi All*

Just read all your posts, as I am newly diagnosed  with type 2. but have fibro as well, just to make matters worse. Hopefully thank you to you all, you have explained a lot to me. With fibro (which your wouldnt want trust me) you get many of the same symptons as with a hypo, fogetting things, weeps and mood swings, clothes sensativity plus many more. Since being diagnosed these seem to have multiplied 10 times more.  Can anyone offer any advice please. .com.....

Many thanks

hugs to all


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## getcarter76 (May 24, 2010)

leenevitt said:


> get carter... i was thinking the same... some hypos are different to others... sometimes it really hits me sometimes it dont.. and it depends on what type of hypo... either too  much insulin... or not enough food that day.. or too much exercise... or for not bloody reason at all lol!!!1... does anyone mind if i use these comments... i want to try and explain to others how hypos are so diff.. and how its not all about just eating sugar and its all ok lol.xx



Yes yes no problemo with using my comments....if it helps others and all those things.... 

Bernie xx


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## Vicsetter (May 24, 2010)

I've had very few and they were all at 3am.  Woke up with cold sweats.  Never been below 3.5 though so don;t know if the lower readings give different symptoms.


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## Garthion (May 24, 2010)

"when" I get hypos, I become increasingly irritable, snapping at all and sundry. I also start feeling light headed and confused, my mind seems to start racing and making ideas about various topics (none relevant to what I was doing at the time though) my extremities start tingling followed soon after by my lips going numb. I get a cold sweat and the shakes and start losing vision for short spells. Never gone so low as to fully black out but come close with a BM of 1.2m/mol 
When I recover I do have to appologise to my friends/family/work mates for anything I may have said, as I very rarely remember anything I've said.


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## Flutterby (May 25, 2010)

If you've ever read the harry potter books and the bits about the "dementors" you will know what a hypo is like.  Dementors suck all the good away and everything is cold and hopeless.  That's how I'd describe a hypo plus all the shakiness, confusion, thirst, need to go to the loo, weakness, blurred vision, sweatiness etc etc.  Not nice!  But sometimes the cure is nice!!!!!


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## Emmal31 (May 25, 2010)

Good thread Lee 

It does depend on the level of hypo and sometimes It can be a high hypo and feel really bad or a low one and feel not too bad (for a hypo anyway!) 

I usually get very confused, I can get quite angry, I mix my words up and slur them a bit, shaky, light headed and dizzy.


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## ilovekandi (May 25, 2010)

My boyf says i get the Freaky Stare haha 

I just look straight through him and just can't answer properly, making either no sense coz of rambling or just no words at all.

The usual, shaky, really sweaty, if i'm in bed the duvet goes across the room. No energy, heavy arms and legs.

If i'm reading a book the words start to kinda feel like they are moving round the page or jump out the way of my focus, thats strange.

Again depending on how bad it is, but it can feel quite drug like, bit spacy, euphoric state type thing, but with a underlying horribleness lol


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## krysia (May 25, 2010)

Flutterby said:


> If you've ever read the harry potter books and the bits about the "dementors" you will know what a hypo is like.  Dementors suck all the good away and everything is cold and hopeless.  That's how I'd describe a hypo plus all the shakiness, confusion, thirst, need to go to the loo, weakness, blurred vision, sweatiness etc etc.  Not nice!  But sometimes the cure is nice!!!!!


Hi flutterby
thank you for posting that, so does that mean when I get a hypo and a fibro bad day..may I please have double the cure??<s> what ever it is..
many thanks
hugs krysia


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## leenevitt (May 25, 2010)

*brill*

thanks for all these,... i am going to put them together.. and try and do somethiing with them.... trying to get people to understand a little more about hypos...


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## Northerner (May 25, 2010)

My poem on the subject 'Thirty Words for Snow'

The weather comes in many forms,
We have a name for each,
And Eskimos have words for ?snow? ?
Too numerous to teach!

In Manchester, I?ve heard it said,
So many kinds of rain
Can fall upon a single day,
It permeates the brain!

But what about low sugar?
So many terms we lack?
There?s ?hypo? or its bigger friend,
The hypoglycaemic attack!

What about the ?slowpo?
That takes an hour to fall?
We might not even know
That we are having one at all!

Then there is the ?plummet?
That falls at such a rate
We panic and we fret and sweat
That we may be too late!

Let?s not forget ?rebounder?
That strikes just like a viper,
But when you treat it, rockets up
And leaves you feeling hyper!

The ?raging ocean? is the worst
With peaks and troughs so wide
That plunge you down, then up, then down,
And floundering in the tide?

So, ?hypo? isn?t quite enough,
We need some other way
To let you know when we go low,
Just what we mean to say!


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## topcat123 (May 25, 2010)

i love the poem northerner its everything to a tee


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## getcarter76 (May 26, 2010)

topcat123 said:


> i love the poem northerner its everything to a tee



Yes i agree, very clever indeedy...did you write this poem Northe?
Bernie x


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## Northerner (May 26, 2010)

getcarter76 said:


> Yes i agree, very clever indeedy...did you write this poem Northe?
> Bernie x



Yes I did - lots more dotted around here and on my blog  All sorts of topics and I try to keep them light hearted.


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## getcarter76 (May 26, 2010)

Northerner said:


> Yes I did - lots more dotted around here and on my blog  All sorts of topics and I try to keep them light hearted.



Wowweee, inspirational. Have you tried approaching others about this as it really is superb? 

I remember being given a book when i was about 7 years old about having T1 diabetes and i remember a line in it that said: 

"you can catch a cold and catch a plane, but diabetes is not the same"

As a child at school i used to actually reiterate this to others who thought diabetes was catching 

I am thinking that others may benefit from such poems which simplifies such things if you know what i mean. More so others that aren't aware of sites such as this 

Bernie x


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## Northerner (May 26, 2010)

Thanks Bernie  I had a poem published in Balance last month and am included in an anthology coming out in America soon. One of these days I'll get round to polishing up some of the best ones and putting them together in a book of my own.


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## leenevitt (May 27, 2010)

can i put this on my blog... not saying it is from me of course...


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## Northerner (May 27, 2010)

leenevitt said:


> can i put this on my blog... not saying it is from me of course...



Course you can Lee


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## getcarter76 (May 27, 2010)

Northerner said:


> Thanks Bernie  I had a poem published in Balance last month and am included in an anthology coming out in America soon. One of these days I'll get round to polishing up some of the best ones and putting them together in a book of my own.



Nice one....i'd buy it 

Bernie x


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