Is it possible - Low "Hangovers"??

[Val]

My son is almost 3 & has a hard time articulating how he feels. Sometimes when he is low he can tell me he "feels low", or is "not feeling dood". Today he had a low (66) after nap which we treated with juice & numbers came back up to normal. However, he has been really cranky/needy & keeps saying he feels low or doesn't feel good. For those of you that have D or have older kids, do they feel cruddy for a long time after the low? Will tylenol or ibuprofin help? How long does it take before they return to feeling Ok? Also, does this happen if they have been high as well? Any input is appreciated! Always wondering wether this is the age or the D!

[BrendaK]

My son doesn't complain too much from this. BUT, when I was pregnant with gestational diabetes, I was on a lot of insulin. A few times I went down into the low 40's/high 30's and it would wipe me out for the entire day. I could not recover until the next day. It's very possible that your son is just wiped out from it... I hope he feels better tomorrow.

[Treysmom]

Trey definatly feels bad when dropping low. It takes several hours most of the time before feeling better.

[hold48398]

Mia usually feels crummy when she

a) has big BG swings, especially when she goes from High to Low quickly. A quick/sudden drop tends to exhaust her and make her feel lousy. Even after correcting her BG, she tends to be very tired and low energy for a good couple of hours afterwards. She doesn't actually feel bad anymore, just exhausted from the swing. She will rest up or choose to do an activity that requires little energy.

b) stays high (>250) for too long. Mia becomes very moody and cranky when high. She tells me that she is feeling miserable, and often she has a headache. Once her BG comes down, those symptoms tend to resolve, and she is fine again.

It seems that she actually feels worst when she is high but she tends to recover quicker from a high than a low.

[Momof4gr8kids]

Julia is 6. If she has a lot of lows, or 1 bad one she will typically be tired, and mean, and emotional all day long. I hate to start the day with a low like that. That tells me I am probably going to be chasing numbers up, that something is changing, and that she will be in a bad mood all day. Most of the time she is a bright eyed optamist who loves adventure, but not when lows happen.........

[Yaaker]

Kristopher feels worse longer when he "swings"from a high (150-200) to a real low (50-60) Today he had his 2 units before supper,ate and dashed back out to the trampoline(put up today) and about a half hour late said he was feeling "woozie" (and he knows when he's feeling woozie) was down to 52,had some juice and 15 minutes later he was back on the tramp.........but from reading the posts on the forum,I'm starting to think either we're in the "honeymoon phase" (he was dx'd July 06) or we're VERY LUCKY! Lori

[LantusFiend]

If I stay high for a while it makes me feel bad even after I come down. Lows sometimes make me cranky for a while afterwards, especially if they're really bad. It doesn't matter what it is in absolute terms, if it's about as low as I've been in two weeks or so, it wipes me out for hours.

[Twinklet]

If it's a bad low, Emily feels tired for a couple of hours. She is worse with highs, though. Emotional and cranky. And if it's a day with wide swings, watch out! Horrible for all of us. :cwds:

Yaaker--I wanted to warn you about the trampoline! We got one last summer only 2 months after Emily's diagnosis. That thing made her drop like a rock! Even now we have to make sure she's in range and she gets 15 non-covered carbs for every 15 minutes she's on the thing! Later that night, she's low if we don't slice a few carbs off dinner or give an uncovered bedtime snack. :cool:

[Brensdad]

Obviously I'm not a child, but I do experience a "hangover" from a bad low. After treating the low, my BG shoots back up and I am absolutely exhausted for a couple of hours.

After dealing with this for years, what I seem to notice the most is that the faster my BG comes back up, the worse the hangover is. If I treat the low with a fast-acting product, then I definitely get that tired feeling. If I am less aggressive (with a milder low), then I don't seem to get that hangover.

That's my experience anyway.

[Val]

thanks everyone for your posts - it really helps to be able to bounce these thoughts on people with more experience!

[Boo]

huh...that's interesting. I have always noticed that Andy seems to sleep in on the mornings when he has had a low during the night. Usually he is up promptly with the sun, but on those mornings after lows, he tends to have more trouble getting up.

[cydnimom]

Lows will drag me out for a few hours. If its a succession of lows, then it will make me tired for the whole day, plus I usually get headaches with the constant lows.

With my 6 yr old son, he usually feels tired for awhile. If its a low where he has experienced a headache then it lasts for longer.

I also find if its a low thats happened during the night - the crummy feeling lasts the longest. Probably because when you catch the low you may not have caught it right away and your body is doing the glucagon thing...

[Noel]

My husband, although not a kid, (unless you count at heart) gets low "hangovers" Just had one yesterday as a matter of fact. Was low during the night, got up treated and was "Hungover" yesterday when he got up. My little guy seems to just keep going and going no matter how he feels!