Samantha Walsh
Samantha Walsh has lived with type 1 diabetes for over five years since 2017. After her T1D diagnosis, she was eager to give back to the diabetes community. She is the Community and Partner Manager for T1D Exchange and helps to manage the Online Community and recruit for the T1D Exchange Registry. Prior to T1D Exchange, Samantha fundraised at Joslin Diabetes Center. She graduated from the University of Massachusetts with a Bachelors degree in sociology and early childhood education.
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If hyperglycemia is above 200, I never feel any of the symptoms mentioned and am completely unaware. I only ever feel these symptoms when my BG is above 350 which is a rare occurrence.
My blood sugar quickly soars and falls. I use @7 units of basal insulin daily with a correction factor of 90-120mg/dL.
It depends on how high I am. Low 200’s – no symptoms, but as it rises, I get thirsty and tired.
… and hypo as well. I can be at 40 or 300 and not feel a thing.
When my blood sugars rise above 240, I generally feel irritable; above 300 exhausted. But, is my awareness, exhaustion, lethargy, irritability, thirst. I said sometimes. There are times when I can work right through it. Generally, I know when I’m going high because I am constantly looking at the numbers on my insulin pump, or it’s beeping. I also go high after most meals, especially breakfast.
My CGM will alert at 180. I rarely go over 200.
I would have to say always. I think anything above about 90 would be the onset of hyperglycaemia in a non diabetic. I rely on my cgm to head off elevated glucose levels.
I would doubt that anything above 90 in a non-diabetic would set off hyperglycemia. Anything under 100 is fine in a fasting state in a non-diabetic. From what I have read, non-diabetics can easily go to 130-140 after eating but their systems quickly get their blood sugar back under control.
I’ve messed up and forgotten insulin a few times. I can get up to 350 without symptoms. Dexcom lets me know.
I think I only really start noticing anything if I’m over 400 for a while, and even then, it’s just having to pee often. I bet I could probably push well into the 600 range before physically feeling anything.
I am SUPER aware of lows though, so I am almost never low. If I could feel my highs like my lows, I’d most likely do whatever I could to avoid that feeling and I’d stay in better range. It sucks.
I’ve always felt that symptoms of hyperglycemia are not obvious. Maybe that’s why I lived for six months of being thirsty, peeing all time. It wasn’t until I had unexplained weight loss that I finally thought something was wrong. Even then I didn’t realize how utterly exhausted I was. Today I don’t feel the symptoms and my pump alerts me when I’m arising above 170.
As others have mentioned, if it wasn’t for my CGM, I would hardly know when my bg went up. I rarely feel any of the symptoms.
I answered, “yes, sometimes”. I must say that is probably the same answer my Dexcom would give if asked. 🙂
separate thought, I only get hungry when my blood sugar rises, which was my tip off before I had CGM. Otherwise, I wouldn’t know my sugar is raising.
Thank God for my Dexcom Sensors and TandemX2 Pump. Sure, takes the worry out of UNAWARENESS!
My bg levels can creep up unnoticed to 200-250 when I begin to feel lethargic. Higher, I’d feel sleepy. BUT I have CGM alarm set at 140 when home and 160 when out and about.
It depends what you call high or hyper.
I mean, I dunno if I’d call it “unawareness.” I rarely peak over 200, and then only for a limited time, and that doesn’t feel like anything. Is it supposed to? I do seem to recall feeling yucky and peeing a lot back on the old insulins when hitting 300 and staying up there for hours was occasionally a thing, but that was decades ago, back on the old R/NPH regimen. With modern insulins, pump and above all CGM I’d freak if I saw those kinds of numbers now.
My “pre-CGM” system worked very well – I get horrid heartburn at 130+ bg. So, no – especially with my Dexcom/Tandem system.
Whole lot
For sure. The symptoms of high BG don’t show up until much later than they used to!
It is weird, but I seem use the bathroom more often at 150 than I do if I happen to hit 180 or higher.