I Woke Up in a Pool of My Own Blood

For years I ran on one assumption: I'll know when I'm low.

Then one day, I didn't.

I was in my apartment. I felt something, and then I blacked out. When I came round, I was lying in a pool of blood.

My best guess is I collapsed and hit my head. I'd gashed it and nicked a vein above my eye. I've no idea how long I was out. But I knew straight away: hypo.

I went to the kitchen and ate. Then I did the worst thing possible. I went and lay down.

Luckily, I woke up. I took myself to the medical centre and came away with stitches and a black eye.

What hypo unawareness is

A hypo usually means blood sugar below 4 mmol/L. Normally your body sounds the alarm: shaking, sweating, a racing heart, hunger, confusion.

Hypo unawareness is when that alarm stops going off. You don't notice anything until you're already very low. You feel fine. Then you don't feel anything at all.

It's more common than people think. In a UK clinic study published in 2024, 17.4% of adults with Type 1 had impaired awareness. Other estimates go as high as 1 in 3. It's more likely if you've had diabetes a long time and have frequent hypos. I ticked both boxes.

Two things that day taught me

One: my body had stopped telling me. All those years of "I'll know" were gone, just like that.

Two: what I did afterwards was dangerous. I was alone, with a head wound, confused, and I went to sleep. I didn't recheck. I didn't tell anyone.

Please don't do what I did. If you come round from a hypo, get help, recheck your levels, and make sure someone knows.

What changed

I told my NHS diabetes team. That started the process that got me NHS funding for a Dexcom G6 CGM. From then on, the alarm on my phone told me what my body no longer would.

Then, on Day 48 of my 100-day challenge, something happened in the middle of a CrossFit session at 8:30 in the morning.

I felt my energy draining out. I was unsteady on my feet. I stepped to the side and tested: about 3.0. Ten minutes' rest, a banana, then back in.

I felt it. For the first time in a long time, I felt a low before it got me.

I'm not a doctor and I can't tell you exactly why. Diabetes UK says avoiding hypos for a few weeks may help your awareness come back, and a CGM can alarm before a low gets you. All I can tell you is what was different in my life: more structure, more training, better food, no alcohol, and the CGM watching my back.

Can you get it back?

Often, yes. The things that help:

• Avoiding hypos for a few weeks, with your team's help. Don't change your targets without them.
• A CGM, so the alarm warns you before your body does.
• Structured education. A major review found education courses improved awareness and cut severe hypos. Tech worked best alongside it.

Your hypo plan

Write it now, while you can think straight, and share it with the people you live and train with:

1. Below 4 mmol/L, have 15 to 20g of fast-acting carbs.
2. Recheck after 10 to 15 minutes. Still under 4? Treat again.
3. Never go to sleep alone after a bad one. Make sure someone knows.

And test yourself on purpose. Next time your CGM shows you heading low, stop and ask: do I feel anything? If the answer is no, or not reliably, tell your diabetes team.

A hypo once put me on the floor without warning. Now I feel it coming. That's progress you can't put a number on.