Confusion is absolutely a symptom for me, but it’s not confusion like not understanding the way confusion… is. I’m demonstrating confusion with this very bad response.
For me, it’s the inability to focus my thinking. It can start off just scattered, but it progresses to an overwhelming flood of thoughts that are absolutely useless and incredibly distracting. I always tell my family how alarming it is to see my brain actually abandon the rest of me and distract me from the necessary task at hand. I can have the antidote right there in my hand, but if I’m continuing to drop, especially in a chaotic environment, I still need someone to help me make the connection that I actually need to eat it.
I once had a Johns Hopkins doctor tell me that there’s an actual breakdown for symptoms at different blood sugar levels. I believe it started in the 70s, and the symptoms started with shaking and maybe a little sweating. Now, obviously, every diabetic will have their own unique version of things, but I remember her list was pretty spot on for me. I also have a whole rack of symptoms that were not listed, so maybe you start with some simple observations of him and try to capture what you see at those numbers…
As far as nighttime lows, those are really, very tricky. I used to keep small bags of Welch’s fruit snacks next to the bed, but I had a few lows where I couldn’t figure out how to open them. I do think it’s a powerful combination of the effects of a low blood sugar on TOP of the being between asleep and awake. Just out of curiosity, do you turn on the light??
My symptoms of lows are (in descending order): shakiness, sweating, becoming pale, panicky feelings/speech, inability to focus or remain on task, depressive thoughts (yes, and thank goodness these are in such short spurts!), weakness, loss of coordination (feeling like I can’t walk right), numbness in lips, numbness in face and throat, absolutely awful chemical/burnt onion taste, and black squares in vision (inability to look at things).
My symptoms of highs are (in ascending order): tightness or tingly feeling in skin (ketones??), tightness in jaw, cotton mouth, crankiness or irritability, headache, lethargy, and nausea.
I hope none of that was scary… I don’t want to scare you.