hi; a couple of days ago; i felt lightheaded, eyes flashing; so instinctivly drank o.j. and it brought me around ok. i'm not sure how to phrase this; but had i not had something to drink etc; would i have passed out? and does your blood sugar rise on its own. how close is someone to a diabetic coma when these episodes happen. i live alone so i need to know things like this; and i thank you all for any input.

Hi! I also live alone. You have to be very careful about lows. I too get the flashing in my eyes and right away I know I am going low so I test right away, you should do it too. If I need a fast pick up I always have glucose tablets handy, they usually take only 15 minutes to bring me up. I have been close to passing out also, if you know the signs of a low, test and eat or drink something to bring you up immediately.

P.S. No under no circumstances will your bs rise on it,s own, you have to treat a low immediately or you will pass out if it,s dangerously low.

How low is too low? Well, that depends. If you are diabetic and on medication or insulin, the usual advice is to treat yourself with a fast-acting carbohydrate (such as 4 oz. juice, 6 life savers, 3-4 glucose tablets, etc.) when your blood sugar goes below 70.

Most people will start becoming confused when their blood sugar goes down to around the 30's and 40's, and most people won't actually lose consciousness until their blood glucose goes down to the mid to low 20's.

And, in many cases, the blood sugar will actually come back up by itself (not that you should wait for it to do so!). When the body experiences a seriously low blood glucose level, the liver (which stores a sugar-like substance called glycogen) will start releasing glycogen to raise the blood sugar. In fact, many diabetics will experience a rebound high, due to the release of too much glycogen by the liver, following a low.

If you are diabetic, you should be testing your blood sugars frequently, and especially if you feel symptoms that may indicate a low. If you are low, treat immediately with approximately 12-15 grams of a fast acting carbohydrate (see above suggestions), wait 15 minutes and test again to make sure you're blood sugar has risen sufficiently. Usually, if your blood glucose is lower than 65, you will need to treat it to bring it up, and then eat something more substantial (like a half sandwich) to keep it up (unless you're going to have a meal anyway within half hour).

[This message has been edited by SamQKitty (edited 07-03-2003).]

[This message has been edited by SamQKitty (edited 07-03-2003).]

thank you very much for the info. i learned alot just from the replies. my blood sugar levels are rarely above 100 and i'm on amaryl and glucophage. i cheked my levels 2 times today and had a reading that was 59 and after supper 2 hours later it was only 105. i have no real doctor per se. i get medications from a health clinic from nurse practioners. being home bound prevents me from doing all i need to do in many areas. anyway thank you for your replies and they did shed light on what i was asking. happy holiday to all of you.

It is different in US to UK, maybe I am still a little Nieve, but my husband gets low blood sugar which goes to 1.7 and sometimes the medisense softsense machine does not pick up the reading as it is lower than 1.7
Other times he can be 25.0 this is extremely high which caused him damage to his kidneys.
They are just about to change his insulin to LANTUS from human mixatard 30
Sounds lots better, any one else use it? http://www.lantus.com/information/Home.jsp
Kate x

Hi Donner! I,m still pretty new to this diabetes, but if you experience too many lows, could it be that you are taking too much medication and that it could be lowered?


Hi Donner! I am fairly new to this diabetes thing but I was just wondering, if you have a lot of lows could it be you are taking too much medication? Perhaps you could bring this up to the nurse who treats you and see what she says.

when my sugar is low I become very tense and anxious, theres an old medical saying
hypoglycemia on tablets is mild but hypos on insulin can be wild