apparently, I am hypoglycemic.

Originally Posted by whodini

Click to expand...

I'm kind of surprised Jumbie didn't steal my diagnostic thunder on this one but have you or your doctor tried checking your liver function?
My brain. He no work so gud. To be honest, I kind of fixated on the whole lab error aspect (to the exclusion of all else) because I'd really think that someone with a blood glucose that low would be symptomatic.

Originally Posted by Jumbie

Click to expand...

My brain. He no work so gud.

To be honest, I kind of fixated on the whole lab error aspect (to the exclusion of all else) because I'd really think that someone with a blood glucose that low would be symptomatic.

Can you really even survive on a level this low, much less be asymptomatic?

I'm not sure what I have, hyperglycemia or hypoglycemia. I saw a doctor about it a couple years ago and he listened to my symptoms and what I do to prevent it and he said basically that I'm treating it correctly and running a sugar test on me would only do harm, and to just continue what I'm doing.

My symptoms are I when I eat sugar, say a package of skittles with having had no protein food before it I'll nearly instantly get shaky, nauseaus etc. If I eat protein (chicken/cheese/milk seems to work the best/fastest) I'll nearly instantly feel better. I can have a soda a day, or a dessert a day after a meal and stay balanced, but if I just eat sugar in between meals I get that horrible feeling. Basically protein makes me feel better, sugar ***** me up.

Whichever it is, I can tell you hypo/hyperglycemia forces you to control your eating, you'll invariably get on a better diet then you were currently on and your body will thank you for it. It's almost nice having a bad reaction with sugar sometimes, my pigging out would be the equivalent of 2 donuts, or a candy bar and a soda (which I'd better have a block of cheese on standby for), it doesn't leave you much opportunity to get fat.

I have to also assert that this must be some sort of error. I have had type 1 diabetes since I was 12. I have had some scary moments in my life. The worst about lows for me is that the more lows I experienced over the years, the less and less symptomatic I became (not good!). At my worst, I can remember hitting 27 mg/dl (and falling, because I still had fast-acting insulin in my body -- I just didn't test it after this to see how low it really got). This induced seizure-like convulsions, trembling, vomiting (meaning I couldn't eat food to bring my sugar back up!), and semi-blindness; it merited an immediate ambulance ride to the hospital.

For a typical person (including many hypoglycemics), once they start heading below 80 mg/dl, they start getting the shakes and cold sweats.

I'm not saying you are not hitting 15 mg/dl, but I would definitely check it out again because it is doubtful that you would be able to walk and talk and function while at that level. And if you are truly pulling numbers like that, your doctor needs to attend to you immediately. Your brain runs on glucose in your blood, and sustained levels in the range you have described can cause permanent damage as well as induce coma. Please do not put this off.

I'm not an endocrinologist (or even used to US units) but I'm also thinking that a reading of 15mg/dL does seem too low to remain asymptomatic. I think it would be difficult to sustain verticality.

I'm guessing there's a lab error. Sometimes for example, if the blood tube isn't spun down immediately, the white blood cells consume the glucose resulting in a low number.

Originally Posted by capnpyro

Click to expand...

I'm not sure what I have, hyperglycemia or hypoglycemia. I saw a doctor about it a couple years ago and he listened to my symptoms and what I do to prevent it and he said basically that I'm treating it correctly and running a sugar test on me would only do harm, and to just continue what I'm doing.


Hyperglycemic?

Originally Posted by fkl118

Click to expand...

I'm not an endocrinologist (or even used to US units) but I'm also thinking that a reading of 15mg/dL does seem too low to remain asymptomatic.

Well, to put it in perspective, 15 mg/dl of glucose is equal to 0.83 mmol/L -- terrifyingly low!

got it retaken:

glucose 20 mg/dl

reference range is listed as 70 mg/dl-125 mg/dl

edit: creatinine was very low, too. 10 mg/dl

Jesus christ, 20? Your body must have amazing tolerance for this, I honestly don't know how you aren't on the floor in a coma at 40, let alone 20.

i don't know either, unless i just have piss poor glycogen stores. it was after a 12 hour fast.

..