Diabetes & Hypos

Wayne Scales

Long time lurker - First time poster in LTI :

Just wondering how different people deal with hypos. What works best in quickly bringing the sugar levels back to normal without going over the top. I have had a few incidents recently where I hypo'ed in the middle of the night , is this common ?

Also when do you feel the hypo coming on ? usually when I am close to 4 I start to feel very fuzzy but once I went as low as 2 :eek: before I realised what was happening...

Thanks...

robinph

At the moment I'd be starting to feel it at about 4 I think, but I've not been keeping the overall control very good for the last while. When I do behave myself I'd normally notice nearer 3, but am still in control enough to sort myself out until the 2's although it is far from fun at that stage.

If your getting hypos during the night then definitely have a word with the nurse/ doctor about that. I was getting them too often years ago and the next morning was like a really bad hangover, but without the fun night beforehand. A change to a couple of the insulin dosages and when I was taking them and I've hardly had any night-time hypos since.

Wayne Scales

ok Thanks , will have a chat with the consultant on my next visit...

justplainme

Wayne Scales wrote: »

Long time lurker - First time poster in LTI :

Just wondering how different people deal with hypos. What works best in quickly bringing the sugar levels back to normal without going over the top. I have had a few incidents recently where I hypo'ed in the middle of the night , is this common ?

Also when do you feel the hypo coming on ? usually when I am close to 4 I start to feel very fuzzy but once I went as low as 2 :eek: before I realised what was happening...

Thanks...

I'm assuming you are type 1? Try 1 small carton of Orange Juice/Fruit Juice. brings up levels & prevents overdoing hypo treatment which resulting in levels going opposite direction which is a pain! :mad: If you drink luzocade drink approx 100ml of it - good luck measuring that in middle of night so cartons of juice are handy. you know the one's I'm on about?
You shouldn't hypo in night.. I don't really know if I'm supposed to give insulin dose adjusting advice here so I can't really comment but you should ring your doc/diabetic nurse & they can tell you over phone how best to stop hypo's at night. are you on long & short acting insulin?

mike65

Hypos at night are easily fixed if you are on a 24 hour insulin by dialing it back a few units (say 10& of total) and of course make sure you test before bed. Monitor the bedtime readings and see if they rise a bit. If not reduce a bit more.

While the above is advice, the effect will certainly not reduce suger levels so is safe to try.

tbh

have you ever tried gluogel? Its like a tube of sugary hairgel - each tube is 10g of Cho. The good news is that it's so disgusting, you only ever have one - my problem with hypos is that I always feel the urge to eat until I feel my levels coming back up, which means they carry on rising well past me stopping eating.

lucernarian

I would get the hypos at night thing looked at quickly, unless you're very certain as to what's causing the hypos and that they are of an exceptional nature. I know of one person who had to be hospitalised from a hypo in his sleep. He was found having a fit by his wife.

It's probably a rare ocurrence but that's no reason to ignore it either.

graflynn

I find that the 100ml of Lucozade (I use the same size glass each time) or if I'm out and about the 3 dextrose or lucozade sweets does the trick.

For night time hypos I just keep the glucose sweets on the bedside table, but I don't have many of those.

We were just talking about this at the last support group I go to. Some of the "mammies" had problems keeping the "sweets" in the house with the kids. And the glucogel came up as a possible solution to that too:)

Those other guys are right about adjusting your long acting insulin. If you have a hypo 2 nights in a row then call the Diabetes Nurse for advice on how much to drop it for the 2rd night.

robinph

When I was having issues with nighttime hypos it took a few changes before we solved it and needed the long acting to be split into two dosages a day to fix things properly as I was getting hypers at other times of the day otherwise. Give the diabetes nurse a call though and they will have better theory's as to what to do.

Wayne Scales

Yes I am T1 , My Levimir was split into 2 dosages about 6 months ago. The Hypos at night thing only happens occassionally , thinking about it its probably related to doing exercise and not adjusting the previous dose of Novorapid by the correct amount.

robinph

What time of day are you doing the exercise?

At the moment I'm generally going for runs in the middle of the afternoon and then eating the evening meal afterwards. If it is in the evening that your exercising though then it is probably be the effect of that still reducing the sugar levels at an increased rate into the night, and if your not eating sufficiently again afterwards that could be part of the solution/ cause.

Wayne Scales

The exercising (1/2 hour walks - if that can be classified as exercise) is always in the evening just after my evening meal , I usually adjust the dose by a few units. The readings seemed normal enough 6.5 before meal , 8 going to bed and then dropped to 3.8 at 3am..

Bloody Diabetes can be a head wreaker sometimes !

robinph

I think half an hour of any exercise is enough to make a difference to the way your body will be dealing with the food that evening but the exact timings might be worth getting the diabetes nurse to have a look at and get their opinion.

I have not quite got it figured out yet, but have been experimenting with making changes to my Lantus shots on the day before I know I'm going to be doing a long run as part of marathon training (2-3hrs + of running, or at least it should be). It will be a while again before I'm back up to that mileage again though so I still have to test some things out and how exactly it works for me, but it might be that reducing one of your Levimars by just a small amount and then compensating for that with the fast acting if needed is the way to go. My overall total number of units has dropped quite a bit though since upping the exercise levels though, and doing just 30minutes a day would probably be enough to also make a change to what you need.

Although I'd know that I may need to change a dosage to deal with a certain recurring situation, it's not always the one I expect that the nurse suggests though.

Wayne Scales wrote: »

Bloody Diabetes can be a head wreaker sometimes !

+1 on that.

Wayne Scales

Many thanks for that info.....

tbh

Wayne Scales wrote: »

Bloody Diabetes can be a head wreaker sometimes !

they say the first forty years are the hardest

DrIndy

Keep a good food/Blood sugar diary for a while and then get onto your diabetic nurse/GP who manages the condition with you.

Hypos when asleep can be dangerous if they don't force you to wake up because you can not only have a seizure but prolonged hypoglycaemia can cause brain damage.

With diabetes, its a very individual disease and something you should get very involved in with your diabetic nurse until you get a good handle on it and how to control it yourself. You will be able to figure out better then exactly what amount of exercise causes X drop in blood sugar and target carbohydrate/reduce insulin accordingly. But you should always do this under guidance of a diabetic nurse and as you get more confident with it - simply give him/her an update on what you're doing.

Tight glucose control is good long term, but hypos are very bad when severe and getting the balance right is key - hence getting help is good. On the short term - keep them higher to be safe and arrange a meet sooner rather than later to get them under control again

Keep us posted!

Acapella

I have an aul drink of Lucozade to bring the sugars back up if I am at home and then have some carbs or If I am out then 2-3 Luco Tabs.

I would usually have a hypo at night if I had an intense training session the previous evening or a match (soccer) but always have a bottle of Lucozade and gluco gel in my bed side locker just in case. I normally take 14 units of Lantus as standard procedure at night and would reduce it by 2 if I had a exercised that night. (Its so standard sometimes I forget hence the hypos!)

The lowest I hit without realising was 1.7 and it was pretty scary seeing it on the monitor!! For a sec I thought it said 17 :pac: But I have only realised in the last few weeks how good exercise is for control. I was out injured for 6 months and the sugars were all over the place but since I am back they have turned around! So don't give up the exercise...just lower the doses til you get it right!:)

1967

Have to say i have been poxed so far i was diagnosed nearly two and a half years ago and i have kept my bloods fairly tight between 4-5.9 i have not experienced a hypo although i was diagnosed initially at 96.4 completely off the scale and dont know how i am still alive.

eilo1

1967 are you a type one diabetic?

justplainme

1967 - are you sure you are a diabetic!!! That control is amazing!! Tips please!!

Wayne Scales - any luck sorting the hypos at night?

Wayne Scales

justplainme wrote: »

Wayne Scales - any luck sorting the hypos at night?

Doing ok thanks have not had them for a few weeks , in with the consultant this week so will have a chat with him about it...

Sacred_git

Can i ask how you guys were diagnosed with diabetes and how long it took? thanks

eilo1

Sacred_git wrote: »

Can i ask how you guys were diagnosed with diabetes and how long it took? thanks

Hiya,
I had extreme thirst, the kind of thirst that you would nearly attach someone to get a drink of water!
I had also started to get the shakes once a week when I would stay late after school to do extra German lessons. The extra hour in school was causing me to have hypo's. I would leave school shaking and just knowing that I needed to have some food.

My Dad has diabetes so the last symptom b4 doing a blood test on me was one night when I drank 2 litres of milk in about 6 hours and was still thirsty. He then tested my blood and called our gp who sent us straight into Hardcourt street hospital.

freeworld777

My gf is type 1 and has a bad hypo on average at least once a week, sometimes more. Most of the time its while she's asleep but sometimes during the day too. Not really sure what to do, she puts it down to stress but I doubt it. She's on humulin and novarapid but i guess she's doing something wrong.

She's usually to far gone to do anything about it herself and readings of 1.4 - LO are quite common. Hypo unawareness sucks. Luckily enough i'm a light sleeper and I always wake up to sort her out, but it takes its toll on both of us.

On the flip side her blood is never too high but I guess constant hypos can be just as dangerous. I'm tyring to persuade her to get a pump....

CathyMoran

I am a type 1 over 25 years and I do have a problem with hypos (another condition makes them worse) - I test more often but it is still tough - I just had a baby and the control for and before that is very extreme but I found it easier than having the montly cycle as well which I found made mine worse. I also find that stress is a factor for me. I did consider the pump but being attached to something all the time would not feel right for me - now if they had a small continous glucose monitor I might consider it then.

graflynn

freeworld777 wrote: »

My gf is type 1 and has a bad hypo on average at least once a week, sometimes more. Most of the time its while she's asleep but sometimes during the day too.

It would be best to talk to her diabetes team about the hypos. And keeping good records of your bg readings, insulin doses and any physical activity is essential to helping the Diabetes team figure out the best approach. It's not her fault that she gets hypos.

Do get her to mention it to her diabetes nurse specialist.

graflynn

CathyMoran wrote: »

I did consider the pump but being attached to something all the time would not feel right for me - now if they had a small continous glucose monitor I might consider it then.

Cathy,
Congrats on the baby!!!!

I was at the Diabetes Ireland Research meeting in Galway at the end of March and one of the speakers had a glucose sensor. It was about the size of a small egg (everyone thought it was a pump).

Prof. Srennan said he had never seen one like that before.

My point is that they are availible in the US so it's just a matter of (a long time) time before the come here.

I'm a type 1 for 17 years and after 8 years of hearing about them and thinking about it; I got pumped this morning!!!!

Wayne Scales

graflynn wrote: »

I got pumped this morning!!!!

I know its early days but please let us know how you fare with the pump, best of luck with it

eilo1

Hey Graflynn,

I started the insulin on Friday and its amazing!! Its just so much easier Im sure you will love it.

Although do be aware I change from novarapid and had about 5 hypos the first day! its getting better though.

Good luck!

1967

eilo1 wrote: »

1967 are you a type one diabetic?

No i am type 2

justplainme wrote: »

1967 - are you sure you are a diabetic!!! That control is amazing!! Tips please!!

I have asked myself the same question, but as i said with blood sugars of 96.4 i came round in intensive care after three days to be told i died twice and had about 40 mins before i went into a diabetic coma and that was the end for me,i basically had to change my whole lifestyle as i was a total slob but basically exercise and healthy eating seem to do it for me,i have not been with my endocrinologist in a year (at his request) and i am due back in a couple of weeks so i hope my results are good like last year my hbA1c was 5.1.

eilo1

I have asked myself the same question, but as i said with blood sugars of 96.4 i came round in intensive care after three days to be told i died twice and had about 40 mins before i went into a diabetic coma and that was the end for me,i basically had to change my whole lifestyle as i was a total slob but basically exercise and healthy eating seem to do it for me,i have not been with my endocrinologist in a year (at his request) and i am due back in a couple of weeks so i hope my results are good like last year my hbA1c was 5.1.

well done 1967! Fair play to you for making the change and improving your health!!