World 4-1
Hungry Hungry Hippos
Different Hypo Animals
A spine-chilling fall…
…down…
…down…
…down into a pit of bottomless hunger.
Also known as a hypo.
The 1st time I felt one was about 3 weeks after first injecting insulin. I treated it with some barley sugars and soft drink. I’ve noticed there are different types since that 1st one.
O hypos, let me count the ways
1. Undramatic/Under Control
My favourite (or ‘least-worst’) by far.
I feel mildly weird; I test my BGL and see it’s low; I calmly drink glucose + water.
The whole time, I’m completely in control of things and feel fine after… great!
2. Feel the Shakes
Not too bad a hypo, but here the effects are obvious.
I feel the shakes and/or vision gets spotty; no real need to test BGL here; I grab whatever sugar’s nearest quickly!
3. Crazy Hunger
The bottom of the pit of hunger and despair. Poor brain begging for carbohydrates.
It’s very hard not to eat 5x what I normally would. It’s even worse if it happens after eating a big meal – no-one wants to eat again when they’re full.
I do 1 of 2 things here:
- Eat like crazy. Shovel half the pantry into mouth; inject some insulin for the food.
- Iron willpower. Drink glucose + water; wait a few minutes to feel better then eat.
