Awareness of Unawareness

This morning I woke up to my CGM vibrating- LOW- flashing on the screen. It was 6:22am, and it read that my blood sugar was 55, I got anxious because I didn't feel like 55. And I thought I knew what 55 felt like- a little shaky, sweaty, and a little out of it; but aside from it just being early, I felt fine. With a LOW staring back at me I didn't like this, hoping I wasn't having hypoglycemia unawareness. I tested and my meter read 97- the CGM just needed to be calibrated.

Low blood sugars hit us all differently, and all lows are different. There are times where I have been 90 and shaky- maybe I dropped quickly from over 200. There have been times when I have woken up at 60 and been soaked by my own sweat- had to shower and change during the middle of the night. There was a time on vacation when I woke up and tested at 36 walked into my friends bedroom and told her not to worry if she heard me I had low blood sugar, I was going to take care of it now... Low blood sugar is dangerous, especially overnight, but unawareness can be tragic.

Hypoglycemia unawareness is something I have learned and heard more about since I started working at JDRF, because I myself don't have a history of experiencing it- unfortunately many do.
Normally when a person's blood sugar drop low, the body relaseses glucagon and epinephrine (adrenaline). Glucagon is the body's natural hormone that raises blood sugar and epinephrine causes the response in our system. People with Type 1 diabetes have low (or no) levels of glucagon and sometimes have lost the response symptoms that would make them feel it.

The unawareness can be very dangerous at any time, but especially during the night and sleeping. Almost 20% of people living with T1 experience unawareness. It may be brought on by having diabetes for many years, having really tight control of your diabetes, stress or depression, alcohol- There is no single cause, but the effects can be dangerous and life-threatening.

We can be careful and aware with our numbers- sometimes it isn't enough, but for now even though I am usually very aware, I still like my CGM waking me at LOW, even if it is a false alarm.