There should be an asterisk after this blog title…because this is going to be about the lowest bg that I can really remember and have an actual blood sugar to associate with it.

Let me elaborate…

My real lowest low happened when I was in high school – I got out of bed one morning, stumbled down the stairs, and slurred to my mom that I wanted a bowl of Special K cereal for breakfast (she couldn’t understand what I said and promptly panicked before realizing I must be low). I don’t know what my blood sugar level was that morning because I neglected to do a fingerstick check, but I do know that it was a downright freaky incident that’s cemented in my memory.

But another new incident recently occurred that shook me in a similar way.

It was 1:30 A.M. I was nodding off when I heard my Dexcom alarming. I checked it and was somewhat surprised to see that I was 92 with two double down arrows. (I say “somewhat surprised” because in the earlier evening hours, I spent 3-4 hours chasing a stubborn high blood sugar and definitely wound up stacking insulin doses.)

Even though I wasn’t feeling any low symptoms, I decided to start treating the low. I ate two boxes of mini raisins, equaling about 20 carbs…

…and swiftly grew worried when I saw the number on my Dexcom app to continue to drop.

Below 55.

Okay, let’s have another box of raisins.

Below 50.

Alright, let’s do a fingerstick check.

42.

Sheesh, I’m fumbling around in the dark, trying to locate my meter…

LOW.

By the time my Dexcom said “LOW”, it was confirmed on my meter that I was, indeed, quite low. 35, to be exact.

And that was a number that frightened me.

Thank goodness I wasn’t alone when I was dealing with this 35 (that wound up lingering for a solid 15-20 minutes before slowly creeping up about 45 minutes after I ate my first box of raisins).

Thank goodness I had someone there to make sure I had plenty of sugar in my system before I fell asleep.

Thank goodness I had a can of regular ginger ale, some Reese’s, Dove chocolates, and popcorn all within arm’s reach (yes, I really did need to eat all those carbs in order to treat this one low).

Obviously, I recovered from this scary low, but it taught me that now that I’m living alone and won’t always have someone around me in the middle of the night, I should start thinking about inviting someone to follow me on the Dexcom app.

The next day, I talked to my parents about what happened and the three of us agreed that my dad will receive notifications if/when my blood sugar drops below 55. I feel a lot better knowing that he has access to my levels and that he knows to contact me if I’m low.

I’m not exactly grateful that I experienced this very low blood sugar…but I do appreciate that it’s reinforced the importance of having a nightstand fully stocked with low treatments as well as making sure that my family has a way of checking in on me when I may need their support.