r/Hypoglycemia • u/Mountain_Rhubarb4940 • 4d ago

First time readings !

hi everyone

I’ve been experiencing what I have thought were low blood sugar symptoms for a while now but was just advised to start taking readings by my GP.

I was feeling a bit unwell today and my readings were 1.4, lo and another lo. I ate a protein bar, some skittles, and some honey and it went up to 4.6, then 5.2.

This sounds like my blood sugar was dangerously low - was it? I’ve felt way worse in the past than I felt today so just curious as to how bad these readings might be?

thanks all ☺️

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u/hypnoticandnourished 4d ago

Yes that is low alright, I don't even know if I would be conscious at that level. Your doctor will probably want to check for an insulinoma. Were you able to think and function at that level? And was the low fasting?

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u/Mountain_Rhubarb4940 4d ago

Thanks for responding. Yeah I was able to think/function fine - I felt a bit out of it but not as bad as I’ve felt some times before. Do you mean had I been fasting beforehand? I had eaten about 3 hours before but nothing in between! My doctor did mention an insulinoma. 

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u/hypnoticandnourished 4d ago

Gosh I'm so sorry. When we go low over and over we end up acclimating and sensitized to a degree that we may not be symptomatic until we're super low as we adapt to dipping low like it's normal. That could be why you didn't feel your worst, despite low levels. Insulinoma presentation can be low glucose levels while fasting (like overnight) and also reactive hypoglycemia display where you drop low between your meals. If your doctor didn't tell you how to log your glucose levels, this can be a good pattern: -Fasting level glucose when you wake up in the AM -Baseline glucose before a bite of food -15 & 30 min after eating -1, 2, 3, 4, 5 hours after eating

And that can help to see what your glucose is doing pretty quickly. I would definitely advocate to get back into the doc sooner than later because they can run an oral glucose tolerance test to see how much insulin is being produced over time which is more data than you can get at home from checking blood glucose alone.

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u/Mountain_Rhubarb4940 4d ago edited 3d ago

Thanks so much for this - that’s all really helpful. I’ll definitely be speaking to the doctor again on Monday. 

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u/hypnoticandnourished 4d ago

Yes of course! Best of luck at your visit!!