Critical Hypoglycemia Management: 7 Scary Stories & Survival Tips | Type 1 Diabetes Explained - Ep 3

Critical hypoglycemia is no joke — it’s the kind of low blood sugar where you can’t even treat yourself anymore. In this episode, Mike and Jack dive into what critical hypos are, how to spot the signs, and the emergency steps everyone with Type 1 (and their mates) should know.

We keep it real with our own scary experiences, plus some wild stories from Reddit, TikTok, and YouTube — from collapsing at weddings to hypo-zombies in nightclubs. You’ll laugh, you’ll cringe, and most importantly, you’ll learn how to stay safe when sugars crash hard.

💡 In this episode:

• What counts as critical hypoglycemia

• The red-flag symptoms you can’t ignore

• Glucagon, fast-acting sugar & when to call 999/911

• Scary but real hypo stories from the internet

• How to prevent and prepare for severe lows

  
  

📌 Quote of the week:
“Cheers for keeping me alive, mate — sorry about the sticky kitchen tiles.”

👉 Want more? We’ve put all the links, resources, and even extra hypo stories into a full blog post: wearet1d.com

📩 Email: [e-mail]🌍 Website: wearet1d.com📸 Instagram: @t1d_mike & @t1d_jack💬 Join our WhatsApp community: Click Here

🔗 Extra resource: JDRF – Severe Hypoglycemia

🎧 New episodes every Sunday (or every 2 weeks).

#Type1Diabetes #T1DLife #DiabetesPodcast #WeAreT1D #T1DCommunity #Hypoglycemia #Glucagon

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Welcome back to the We Are T1D podcast, the podcast where we
try and make sense of type 1 diabetes while also making fun
of ourselves along the way. And if you didn't know by now,
I'm Mike. And I'm Jack, and today's
episode is a big one. We're talking critical

(00:20):
hypoglycemia management. That was a mouthful.
Basically, what to do when your blood Sugar's got dangerous low
and your brain is not exactly firing on all cylinders.
Yeah, AKA the Oh Crap moments kind of hypo where you're
sweating, shaking, mumbling nonsense and everyone around you

(00:44):
thinks you're either drunk, possessed, or maybe even
auditioning for The Walking Dead.
Exactly. And because this is our
explained series, we're breakingdown what critical hype Hose
are, why they happen and how to deal with them.
Yeah, so let's get into Part 1. Part 1 is what is critical

(01:05):
hypoglycemia. So quick recap, a hypo is when
your blood sugar drops below 4 molar walls.
That's about 72 MG if you're in the states.
But critical hypoglycemia means you're so low that you actually
can't treat yourself properly anymore.
Right, so your your brain basically runs on glucose when

(01:27):
it doesn't have enough logic andcoordination completely go out
the window. It's gone.
That's when you might see someone else need to step in.
Yeah, and trust me, I've been there.
I once went so low I randomly brought a pack of Bakewell tarts
and left work and went home before my shift had even

(01:48):
finished. But at least I got the sugar.
I guess. The scary part is I didn't come
around until midway journey homeon the bus.
For me, I'll go into full zombiemode, remember just laying there
like snack Coke and the misses. She's had to get up and go and
get me stuff. I like.

(02:08):
I just can't move. I know for a fact of like, you
know the ones when your room is spinning so much and you think
like, I can't get up, can't movebecause it's not going to work.
No energy just can't. Do it literally, yeah.
No energy, right? And guys, these are serious
situations, so let's go on to the symptoms and the signs of

(02:28):
this. So what are the big red flags of
a severe hypo? Confusion, Slurred speech, Can't
focus, sweating buckets even though it's freezing, shaky
hands, can't hold anything properly.
Like the time when we was at working card factory and I'm
holding someone's cards and started throwing them

(02:49):
everywhere. Yeah, yeah, I've threw a couple
of. I've actually quite a few cups
of tea have been thrown across the front room floor.
And then you've got other symptoms like irrational
behaviour, like refusing treatment.
I remember when I was low I was really out of it and I wouldn't
take any dextrose at the time. My daughter had to force feed me

(03:12):
them. Oh wow.
But yeah, and in the worst cases, seizures or
unconsciousness can happen. And here is the topping on the
cake. Sometimes the person having the
hypo has no clue whatsoever or how bad they are, so it's often
the people around them who will spot you first.

(03:32):
Yeah, which is why it's important to tell family,
friends, flatmates, colleagues, basically anyone who might
witness you in your hypo zombie mode what to do if you can't
help yourself. Sugar.
Yeah, exactly. Which brings us to the next
subject, which is immediate treatment.

(03:54):
Yeah, come on. Right, Let's get practical.
All right. If someone with that one is
having a critical hypo and they're still conscious but not
quite right, the rule is simple.Fast acting glucose now.
Yeah. Things like glucose tablets,
juice, Jelly, babies, whatever works fast.
And importantly, don't give themfood they have to chew if they

(04:18):
can't swallow safely. No one wants the Heimlich on top
of a hypo. Exactly.
But now if the person is unconscious or having a seizure,
never ever try to feed them. That is when the emergency tools
come in. Yeah, like Glucagon, the hormone

(04:40):
shot that basically tells your liver to dump sugar into the
bloodstream. That's the old school powder mix
injection kits. That and the newer pens and
nasal sprays that are the easierway.
And of course, all the emergencyservices if things aren't
improving quickly. Yeah, that's that's a good one

(05:01):
too. Like now?
Yeah, call them. I mean, I remember Amber done
that for me. Oh, scary, right?
Yeah. Yeah, right.
So now we're going to jump into some real life scary stories
from people just like you guys. We did a bit of digging on
Reddit, TikTok, YouTube. Some of these are quite wild.

(05:24):
Yeah, here's one from Reddit. I woke up at 3:00 AM sweating
and shaking, couldn't see properly so I tried to get to
the fridge. Next thing I know, I'm on the
kitchen floor, my flatmate pouring orange juice into my
mouth like some kind of DIY fountain.
That is terrifying, but quite slightly hilarious.

(05:47):
Yeah. Well imagine explaining that to
your flatmate the next day. Cheers for keeping me alive
mate. Sorry about the sticky kitchen
styles. Here's another one, someone on
TikTok said they were at a club,went hypo and their friends
thought they were just drunk. Bouncers tried to kick them out

(06:09):
until one mate screamed it's diabetes not tequila and
basically shove Jelly babies into their mouth at the door.
Do you know what? That's the thing though, Because
in public people often think that you're just armored when
you're actually low. Yeah.
Honestly, it's a miracle that more of us don't end up banned
from night clubs from being too diabetic.

(06:34):
Nah, stumbling too much, mate, get out.
It's. Not my fault.
All right, let's do another one.This one's from YouTube.
This guy said his Dexcom alarm went off at 2:00 AM.
He ignored it for it was a dream.
His dog, yes, his dog literally dragged him out of bed until his

(06:55):
partner woke up and realized he was one point.
Eight. Wow.
Dog deserves a medal. Forget glucose type, just get
yourself a hypo detecting Labrador.
But seriously, these stories arescary because they are actually
real and they prove why planningahead matters.

(07:18):
Wait, should we? Should we throw in some extra
stories? We have got quite a few to pick
from. Yeah, pick a number between 1:00
and 6:00, Jack. 3/3 right? This one's from TikTok.
Best man at my mate's wedding. Halfway through my speech my
voice went all slurry and my hand started shaking so bad I

(07:38):
dropped the cards. People thought I'd nick 6 points
before lunch. Nope, just 2.1.
The bride's mum had to run me a bottle of Lucas Zaid mid speech.
Speech ended with to love, laughter and Lucas Zaid.
Right, Jack, I'm going to give you #2. 2 Where is it on the

(08:05):
list? There we go just after one the
hypo driving failed. This was a YouTube story we
found and it went and once went hypo driving from work, pulled
over to the be safe and thought all right I'll just wait it up.
The next thing I know I wake up to a random bloke knocking on my

(08:27):
window with my engine still running asking if I'm OK.
Apparently the mate he was parked up halfway on the
pavement mumbling at the steering wheel.
He said he's never been so embarrassed in his life.
Oh my God, you know what? That's actually happened to me.
I can actually relate to this. So, Well, I finished, right.
I got into my car after work and, you know, I usually sit in

(08:49):
my car. Yeah.
So basically I started the engine and my sugars, I remember
that. I didn't actually check them
before I drove, which is naughty.
I crashed out and I remember, I remember Ray at work knocked on
the window. So Michael.
Michael. And I was like, oh, oh, sorry.
I fell asleep. Like not realizing what I've

(09:09):
made me fall asleep. I was just like.
Wow. You think I could have like
killed myself in the exhaust fumes or where?
I don't know how it works, but yeah.
Yeah, yeah, that's crazy. Oh it is mad.
But anyways I just want to do this first date one right?
First date, fancy restaurant. I will.

(09:31):
Went low halfway through, couldn't string a sentence
together, sweating like I'd run a marathon.
They asked if I was nervous. I just nodded.
When the waiter come over I slurred apple juice please, like
it was code for a secret drink. She thought I was quirky.
I thought I was dying. We did actually go on a second

(09:51):
date though. Oh well, they were great.
That was quite fun looking for them as well.
Yeah, Oh, there were so many to pick from.
Yeah, there was loads. There was loads.
But yeah, that is the stories wefound.
So let's get into our next part of the episode, which is

(10:13):
prevention and preparation. Right, so how do we stop it
getting to that point? A few tips.
Always carry your hyper treatments.
I've I've always got lifts in mycar.
I've got them in my bag and yes,sometimes even my hoodie pocket.
You know what I'm like my I can't take a mini hand luggage

(10:36):
with me everywhere I go. Oh yeah, yeah.
Snapper, Jack. I'd I'd tell people if I go
weird keep give me sugar becauseit can literally save my life.
Yeah you can wear a medical ID like a bracelet, a necklace,
phone lock screen. It makes it obvious to strangers

(10:56):
what's going on. When I was younger I used to
have like a army tag necklace and it used to say type 1
insulin dependent when I was I've never.
Ever thought sorry I was it's never actually come to mind.
Like a lock screen on your phonebecause you think people are
always going to check your phone.
My lock screens we are T1D podcast.

(11:16):
I'm quite sad. Mine's me and Zoe stood outside
Camden Lock, so it's not going to help me, it's all, is it?
No, not really. And make sure you're closest
people to you know how to use Glucocon.
You can actually get training atthe hospital if needed.

(11:36):
Yes, you can. My wife had training when I was
first diagnosed. Yeah, just don't.
Don't shove the glucogon in a drawer and forget about it.
It does expire, as I found out very recently, so I need to
order some more. And in a crisis, no one wants to
be reading a tidy instruction lethally in a panic mode.
So like I say, make sure. Yeah, yeah, that's true.

(11:59):
And as I said before, train, train your partner, your mum,
your mate, whoever's likely to be there to use it before you
need it. Exactly that.
So that's it. That's it.
That is it. So that's it for episode 3 of
our Type 1 Diabetes Explained series, and hopefully now you

(12:19):
feel a bit more confident about what to do if your sugars crash
hard. Yeah, and if you want all the
links, resources, even some extra scary story hyper stories
we didn't get to share here, we'll put them all in the blog
on our website. Just head to wert1d.com.
Exactly that. Just think of it like the show

(12:40):
notes but with more detail and less of Mike bullying me.
Oh, lovely. Yeah, right.
So so check it out. You'll find emergency steps,
Glucagon info, and links to official diabetes resources
there. Yeah, and as always, you can
find us on Instagram at C1D under score Mac and at C1D under

(13:04):
score Jack, or you can drop us an e-mail.
We are T1D [e-mail]. Yeah, so thanks for listening.
Keep your sugar handy, your gluecould gone ready and we'll catch
you in the next episode. Which we might be switching to
an episode every two weeks, we don't know yet.

(13:27):
Nah, we ain't got a clue what's going to happen, to be fair.
Nah, we're. Winging it like our Tae Wanda, I
beat his management. Yeah.
Yes, right. That's it.
Thank you very much. See you back again.
Same time, same place, all that,all of that.
Bye bye. Love you.
And if it ain't next week, it'llbe another one for the Explain

(13:48):
series. All right.
Yeah, exactly. Bye bye.