Type 1: Are night time hypo watches/bands any good??

[bazzakerr1]

Hello my six year old daughter sienna got diagnosed with type 1 on monday morning. After 4 sleepless nights and a few changed ratios she got out on friday afternoon. Would like to know if anyone could/would recommend a hypo watch/band for our piece of mind through the night. We still have to check between 2/3am for the first week or so as recommended by the lovely staff at the hospital. She had quite a few hypos through the nights in hospital but so far so good with her ratios. 6 jags a day plus pricking finger is still a bit rough for her,but were getting there.

 

[catapillar]

Hypo bands don't detect hypos, they detect cold sweats. So if cold sweat is a symptom of your daughters hypos it might work for you.

You might consider a continuous glucose monitor if your looking for something to alert you to hypos in the night. Have a look for the dexcom system, it is expensive but it does actually monitor blood sugar levels and alarm if they drop below a pre determined level.

I would hope night time hypos would be reduced as doses settle

 

[azure]

Welcome @bazzakerr1 Sorry to hear about your daughter's diagnosis. It does sound like you've made a confident start though.

As @catapillar says, a CGM may be a better option (but more expensive). If you're considering an insulin pump for your daughter in the future, some pumps support CGMs

Let me tag some parents for you @mahola @mcpound @Ellie's mum @EmmaRW0811 just off the top of my head. If you look round the Parents section, aswell as Type 1, of course, you'll see posts from other parents that may be helpful.

If you'd like a general book on Type 1, Think Like A Pancreas is extremely helpful.

 

[bazzakerr1]

Thanks for the reply catapillar. Will look into the monitor, just worried that it happens while were asleep. First night at home last night. Still being educated as its a big change and a lot to learn for us all. Appreciate your feedback

 

[bazzakerr1]

Thanks azure we're trying to meet this head on and try to fully educate ourselves, our daughter (as much as we can a six year old) and family and friends. Thanks for the tags still getting used to the app just now. Will definitely hit up the book. Looking for more good carbs to cals books too maybe a pocket size for out and about until we get our heads round portions and calories. We got one in the hospital but we're going to buy a few for family and friends houses so she can still have sleepover etc eventually. Appreciate your time to reply to me

 

[azure]

It does get easier. It's a huge amount to take in, so give yourself time. I recommend keeping records - not just of blood sugar, but things like meals that work well with a certain insulin dose, what worked when your daughter did PE, etc, etc.

I have a little Collins Carb book which is useful. But, to be honest, after a while you tend to have your own carb value library in your brain

If you'd like a book specifically about children, I've been told Type 1 Diabetes in Children and Young Adults is worth a look.

 

[bazzakerr1]

Will check it out, i just ordered Think like a pancreas from amazon. We've started a daily diary on bloods, foods, classes and doses etc as she goes to taekwondo 4 times a week plus swimming class and gymnastics. Like you said though it will take time. Collins carbs book sound good too.

 

[Scott-C]

Google Hypoband and Gluconightwatch. I bought the Hypoband a few months ago, but ironically enough haven't actually had any cold sweat hypos since then so can't actually say if it works or not! Was half tempted to induce one just to test it but then thought - no. You can set it up to just alarm or also ring three other phones. Of course, the obvious problem with it is that because it detects cold sweats by measuring temperature and humidity on the wrist, the user will by definition already be hypoing by the time it alarms, but I decided to fork out for one anyway on the basis that if I'm sleeping it'll hopefully wake me early on in the hypo rather than me just dropping further.

I'd second other poster's reommrndations of either Dexcom or Medtronic's CGMs for the simple reason that they alarm and I think notify others. They are though quite pricey, although I think the Dexcom price had dropped recently. There's a sticky thread in the monitoring section by tim200 comparing prices.

I decided not to fork out for one of those because I can manage hypos well enough with Freestyle Libre which is relatively cheaper at £100 per month. You don't get alarms with those , but have a look at Gluconightwatch. Download the programme to a phone with NFC capability, wear it over the Libre sensor and it will ring/notify others below a set level. Of course, the downside is you have to wear a phone in your arm! Haven't tried it yet. Others have hacked Sony Smartwatches (librealarm) and built their own (transmitter) to make the libre alarm.

 

[bazzakerr1]

Sounds typical that scott you order it then don't have one. My kinda luck.
Will google it thanks. Just need piece of mind as i'm worried something happens through the night. Cant really get up every 2/3 hours and prick her finger to test her blood. No good for either of us tbh. Hopefully things will even out through time. Thanks for the info though. Invaluable this kind of information from people on here with experience.

 

[Jaylee]

Hi @bazzakerr1 ,
I empathise with the dangers of nocturnal hypoglycemia..
But.
If it's any reassurance? Some kids can be fully hypo aware. (if allowed to be?) even waking in the night if low..

Hey I can still do it now 41 years later without even waking my wife!

Is your daughter on Lantus perchance? If so? 2/3am is one zone to check the other is around 5 or 6am..

 

[Scott-C]

Sure, no problem. I noticed you mentioned you're getting a pocket sized Carbs and Cals. Good book, but you can also download a version as an app on phone which doesn't get dog eared -the cover on my paper one fell off after a week.

You are perfectly correct to be concerned about hypos. I do as much as I can to avoid them. But, if it's any small comfort to you as a parent, I have never found them to be physically painful and I suspect that's the case with most T1Ds and your wee one.It's more the confusion of thought which is difficult. Bear in mind also that unless an absolutely crazy amount of insulin has been taken, usually what happens if you miss a night hypo is that the last insulin bolus will wear out, the liver will release glucose naturally and she'll wake up feeling rotten.


Edited by a mod

 

[bazzakerr1]

Novorapid and levemir jaylee, been on them since disgnosed on monday. Levemir in the leg in the morning with novorapid before brekkie then novo before lunch and dinner then levemir and novo before supper and bed. Hopefully with time she will be aware of hypos and tell us until then we can all only learn day by day.

 

[bazzakerr1]

Thanks scot, hospital did tell us abt the liver and tbh i am going to read up on a lot if this. I will check the appstore for the carbs and cals, good shout that. I probably should've thought abt that but theres loads going through my head just now.

 

[Scott-C]

Well, how spooky is this? As if by magic, poster spendercat in the Type 1 Diabetes section has just posted that she's got a Hypoband for sale on ebay for 50 quid.Sorry, new to forum so haven't figured out how to link to it. She says her daughter was using it, so maybe they can tell you whether it worked.

By the way, when I became diabetic 28 years ago aged 21, both me and my parents went through a riot of emotions. So will you and Sienna. Short period of thinking I was "disabled" in some way, but after that, dispelled it by just getting on with things, been backpacking in Asia for six months, long cycle trips with a tent on the back of the bike, carried on doing pretty much everything I did before, uhm, D-day. She'll be fine.

 

[bazzakerr1]

New on here to scott i'll check the type 1 section for it. Thanks.
I can handle the type 1 news as it could happen to anyone, there's worse that could've happened to sienna tbh. While in hospital in the bed next to sienna there was a 6 month old little boy who had just been diagnosed with type 1. Such as shame for the lad.
For me its what she thinks that hurts me most abt it she's very young and will find it hard to understand. I can only be honest and open with her and answer her questions as best i can. Hopefully with time and as much knowledge on this that i can amass i can help her understand more. I will need to study my **** off like i'm back at school though.
Btw downloaded the carbs and cals app, cost me a fiver
Worth it though til i get my head round portions. Cheers scott

 

[azure]

You may find a good quality set of digital scales helpful too, if you haven't got any. I can't live without mine : D I weigh cereal, pasta, poatoes, etc, etc, and it's a huge help and much better than doing it by eye.

 

[bazzakerr1]

Thanks azure, my wife was talking to our db keyworker about that especially for her cereals in the morning. Pasta too tbh as my wifes half italian and pasta is a staple in our house so we never used to measure it, just cook a big pot and get stuck in as its siennas favourite. She can quite easily put an adult to shame with what she can put away. Needs counting now though lol.

 

[kimrooney89]

That's the link to the ebay page spendercat has listed the hypoband on
http://m.ebay.co.uk/itm/Hypoband-fo...%3Ae744144b1590a357d6488c9cffa598d2%7Ciid%3A1

 

[T1Dad]

My 5yo girl was diagnosed last July and we spent the first few months doing the whole night time routine...exhausting!!! The key to moving out of that is the long acting insulin dose (levemir in your case). It takes some experimenting but once you have that dose correct you can sleep through with some confidence. We probably sleep through 5 nights out of 7 now. I know that with a Lantus dose of 2.5 units that there is little risk of it going low overnight as long as bloods are stable at bedtime.

Have also found it a lot easier to give a correction at night rather than wake her up and get her to eat something. So, if bloods are a little low at bedtime, we give a small long acting snack and monitor with Libre till we go bed. If it goes over 9 then a cheeky half unit novo is given.

The Libre has also shown that she can go to 3.5 at night but then somehow it goes back up on its own to a safe level. This is not very often though. You will need some form of CGM to get to a point where you know how this thing behaves overnight, remember that you can get DLA to cover the cost of CGM.

 

[bazzakerr1]

Sorry to hear about your daughters diagnosis t1dad. Thanks very much for the advice. Sienna was very consistent yesterday even through and after p.e and taekwondo. We left her all night last night after a 3 unit levimir and a 1.5 novo before bed with crackers and ham for supper. Woke up this morning to an 8.9. Yay. Dla forms printed off and i will fill them out this morning. Shes back at school now but my wife has to go to school twice a day for lunchtime shots and testing. The teachers wont be trained to give her shots until the middle of this month which is a real pain as my wife has had to go on the sick from work til this time. Thanks again for your advice, it really helps. one more question though, how do you follow people on here?