Nicole Cleaver was diagnosed with gestational diabetes during all three of her pregnancies. After her last pregnancy, Nicole’s gestational diabetes became type 2 diabetes and now Nicole is one of 5.7 million Canadians living with diabetes.
People living with diabetes who are treated with medications can experience side effects such as hypoglycemia, which occurs when a person’s blood sugar levels drop below 3.9 mmol/L. Given her own experience over the past 17 years, Cleaver is speaking up about the signs of low blood sugar and why it’s important to start a conversation and see your doctor if anything is off.
“There is still a stigma around people having diabetes, especially type 2 diabetes,” she says. “A lot of people think it’s something you’ve done to yourself but it’s not—it’s your body’s resistance to insulin. Because of that many people don’t want to talk about it. But we should talk about it and people should know about it and what to look for in case you are having low blood sugar levels.”
We partner with Novo Nordisk to look at the signs of low blood sugar and what to do if you notice them.
Know the warning signs
According to endocrinologist Dr. Christine Ibrahim, the symptoms of low blood sugar can be mild, moderate or severe. Glucose is like fuel to the body, like gas to a car. When you don’t have enough glucose in your body, it starves the body and the brain,” she says.
Get breaking National news
“Symptoms vary from person to person and can progress to the point of having a loss of consciousness, a seizure or even worse. We’re always saying it’s important to get sugars under control, but we’re more concerned with low blood sugars because of these types of symptoms and the impact they can have on patients.”
Common symptoms of low blood sugar include sweating, hunger, headache, blurred vision, extreme tiredness and paleness, dizziness, trembling and mood change.
At night, some additional symptoms can include night sweats, tiredness, irritability upon waking and morning headaches.
The importance of communicating symptoms
Dr. Ibrahim reveals it’s not only important for those living with diabetes to know the warning signs of low blood sugar, but for co-workers, friends and family members as well. “If you have mild or general symptoms the first thing to do is test your blood sugar,” she says. “Not all things that feel like a low are a low. Ideally, we’d like to confirm it.”
She adds if you are living with diabetes and you haven’t discussed hypoglycemia with your physician, there are strategies available that can help lower your risk of hypoglycemia. Dr. Ibrahim advises you to see your doctor immediately.
“With awareness, understanding the risks and knowing how to monitor and manage, hopefully we can make hypoglycemia a lot more manageable, and we can remove the stigma related to it,” she says. “Then we can really help people living with diabetes to have long, healthy and fulfilling lives.”
For Cleaver, managing blood sugar levels is something she thinks about daily. However, the tools and technology have improved a lot over the past several years, making her life a lot more manageable. She now uses a monitor with a sensor that works with her cell phone rather than having to prick her fingers, which makes it easier for multiple daily checks or when she’s on the go.
Cleaver says her kids also know how to check her levels and help her in case she needs assistance, and she advocates that others in her situation ensure they have a proper support system in place in the event they need help, too.
“Tell your co-workers or family members how it affects you so they know what to look out for,” she says. “We need to talk and let people know what’s happening and let it be an open conversation. There are so many different things that can be done for diabetes. It’s not a terminal diagnosis. It’s something you can manage and excel at.”
This article was made possible with support from Novo Nordisk. For more information, visit hypoinfo.ca.
