Worst place....

mangobe

Active Member
Messages
33
Type of diabetes
Type 1
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Insulin
Hi @mangobe. Can I ask, what would you call a 'warning symptom' if you never had hypos before 1995? I personally think that when most people talk about 'warning' symptoms they are already in hypo territory but just not that bad. Very few of us can actually predict a hypo.

Hey @chrisopher who 'likes to be tagged in a post' - are you really chrisopher wihout a 't'?

Your question is liable to send me on a rant ;) - this issue has had a huge impact on my life so it is not just a question of semantics in differentiating between the vastly different experiences of hypos averted and severe hypos suffered. The difference between slight tingliness at BG of 4.0 and complete absence of physical symptoms at BG of 0.8 is an entire world (a life or death difference?). For me potential hypos' were all successfully averted (for 15 years) because I had very clear warning signs that came on before my blood sugar dropped into dangerous territory, with the result that once I lost my warning symptoms and suddenly began suffering severe hypos in which I lost touch with reality and or lost consciousness with no warning, I didn't recognise or understand what was happening to me. I had had no experience whatsoever of this - I simply hadn't ever had even a minor hypo before. From this point hypos necessarily became something different and much more dangerous.

There is a very big difference between 'warning' symptoms such as tingling lips or hands, that can signal an impending hypo while blood sugar is still in acceptable range, and symptoms that are side-effects of a full blown hypo attack with dangerously low blood sugar and which may only occur very late in an attack, once one has lost consciousness. The crucial difference lies in the timing of their effect, as only early symptoms can work as essential warnings, while obviously late side-effects can't. If you lose those early warning symptoms you will have severe hypos and then discover that even symptoms such as profuse sweating may now only happen so very late in the hypo process, when blood sugar has dropped below 1, that they can no longer count as warnings. As a result it is meaningless to talk about symptoms of hypoglycemia without differentiating between warning symptoms and late symptoms.

Unfortunately, since increasing numbers of diabetics started to become hypo-unaware, medical language hasn't been changed to accommodate this new reality. At every clinic appointment I'm still asked to fill in a form with a heading that declares it is interested in hypo-unawareness and is a questionnaire to establish what warnings I still have, but the questions are impossible for me to give accurate answers to. For example, my answer to 'Do you experience sweating as a warning symptom' would be No, but my answer to 'Do you experience sweating as a side effect very late in a hypo attack', would be Yes, but the question actually asked is only 'Do you experience sweating' which is quite meaningless in this context.

I have a similar issue with the new Hypo Awareness tool on this site as it too doesn't differentiate between early warning symptoms and late symptoms and is also misusing the word Hypo-Awareness, which could have dangerous consequences. For a long time after I lost all warning symptoms I didn't encounter any doctors or nurses who had experience with this and was struggling to understand what had happened to me on my own. Hospital clinics repeatedly gave me questionnaires that asked a series of questions on Diabetes including 'Are you hypo-aware?' I interpreted this question to mean 'Do you know and understand what the warnings/symptoms of hypos are?' So I always answered 'Yes' because I WAS aware of what the symptoms were supposed to be, even though I no longer experienced them. Consequently I wasn't identified as Hypo-Unaware' or needing help with hypo-unawareness and didn't receive any help. For a long time I didn't know that 'Hypo-Unawareness' was already recognised as a distinct separate condition that greatly impacts diabetic control. Today it is still poorly understood by those who don't have it, so misusing its name to describe a tool meant to educate people about the warning symptoms of hypo-attacks is a VERY bad idea. I can see all the confused diabetics who've used the tool and now think they are well-educated about hypos and fully hypo-aware, answering Yes to that very same question even when they lose all warning symptoms.

I should probably post this in a more appropriate place but didn't want to stop while the ranting bit was between my teeth ;)
 
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mangobe

Active Member
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33
Type of diabetes
Type 1
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Insulin
October 1981 me. What a great decade !

June 1981 for me.
Yes, please post your hypo-stories. I'm still waiting to hear about the police and the tree!
You must have been busy - I see you've gone from being a newbie to being a regular while I was offline :)
 

iHs

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4,595
@mangobe

Hi........dont be offended but have you considered changing from Lantus to Levemir? I will never take Lantus again if I can help it. You would need to bribe me with money which would need to be ££££s
 
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kevinfitzgerald

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692
Type of diabetes
Type 1
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Insulin
Dislikes
All things that hurt (emotional and physical)
June 1981 for me.
Yes, please post your hypo-stories. I'm still waiting to hear about the police and the tree!
You must have been busy - I see you've gone from being a newbie to being a regular while I was offline :)

That makes you 4 years my senior !

Oh for the love of trees !

Yeah I think I'm like a kid with a new toy. Like when I got my first glass and metal syringe and chasing the people I didn't like on the estate around with it !

Novelty will probably wear off soon and I'll end up on a forum for Dutch Elm !
 
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mangobe

Active Member
Messages
33
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Insulin
@mangobe

Hi........dont be offended but have you considered changing from Lantus to Levemir? I will never take Lantus again if I can help it. You would need to bribe me with money which would need to be ££££s
Hiya
that's not an offensive suggestion :) but I still haven't ever considered it because Lantus seems to work very well for me. If I'm not eating anything at all and don't bolus but just take my usual Lantus dose, my BG is perfectly stable all day. So my dosage must be right & I haven't noticed any other problems I can blame on Lantus. My problems only arise because sooner or later I have to eat, and bolus!
 

iHs

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4,595
Hiya
that's not an offensive suggestion :) but I still haven't ever considered it because Lantus seems to work very well for me. If I'm not eating anything at all and don't bolus but just take my usual Lantus dose, my BG is perfectly stable all day. So my dosage must be right & I haven't noticed any other problems I can blame on Lantus. My problems only arise because sooner or later I have to eat, and bolus!

Often, the basal on its own doesnt do much to bg levels to cause much change but when combined with the action of a bolus, Lantus becomes dynamite for some with hypos that are fairly severe. Levemir is a bit more gentle so they hypos are a bit easier to deal with. Other than that, think about a pump or cgm
 
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JRW

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Messages
275
Type of diabetes
Type 1
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Insulin
Worst was after too many beers watching the football in brazil this summer, had to walk several miles to and from the match, mixed with the alcohol plunged me into a hypo 1.9 when we got back to the hotel. Had to leave the hotel shortly after to catch a flight and forgot to take my insulin from the fridge, so left a stack of levermir and nova rapid in a fridge in a hotel in Manaus,
 
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mangobe

Active Member
Messages
33
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Insulin
Often, the basal on its own doesnt do much to bg levels to cause much change but when combined with the action of a bolus, Lantus becomes dynamite for some with hypos that are fairly severe. Levemir is a bit more gentle so they hypos are a bit easier to deal with. Other than that, think about a pump or cgm

Lantus doesn't seem to be involved at all in my hypos, but I'd agree to try Levemir or maybe even a pump if you sent me all of those £££££££££££ !
I do think hard and often about how very nice it'd be to have a cgm as I've trialed one and loved it, but unfortunately my consultant / pct wouldn't give me one when I last asked unless I at least tried a pump and I'm very reluctant to have a wired one (I hated the cumbersome old wired cgms). I will rethink later on in the year if I'm in a more receptive state by then, but have actually had all diabetic control happening on autopilot for the past year while having cancer treatment so I didn't have the head space to cope with any new gadgets while I was having chemo etc. A lucky side effect of all the dreadful cancer therapy was that my BG's improved radically simply because I hardly ate - dropped 2 dress sizes! :), but sadly had to start eating again once that was over :sour:

Maybe, if I'm lucky, by the time I finally give in and agree to try a pump, a wonderful new tiny, wireless patch-pump with cgm incorporated will be available :woot::)

P.S. If you've read all the different stories I've posted about hypos on this thread and are imagining me having hypo adventures daily, remember that these stories have been accumulated over many years, and I do have periods when I manage to be relatively free of hypos. Anyway, I'm so used to it now and have been so distracted by being diagnosed with something far worse, that I'm not really worrying about my hypo-unawar state at the moment and just started posting my hypo-stories because they're amusing - or that's the way I feel about them these days :)
 
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ChrisMaleType1

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115
Type of diabetes
Type 1
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Insulin
@mangobe, thank you very much for clearing that up for me. I suppose I was being a little dismissive when I asked you that question and I realise I shouldn't have been because it's not a question of semantics at all in your case. I also understand the difficulty you have in filling in questionnaires because clearly some people can't be pigeonholed and I also have trouble filling them out sometimes. Lastly, I understand how your cancer treatment has taken priority recently so I hope that continues to go well :) My name is Christopher by the way! I've put that in my signature but I have to check again that it's appearing - you might not see it if you're on a mobile.
 
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mangobe

Active Member
Messages
33
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Insulin
@mangobe, thank you very much for clearing that up for me. I suppose I was being a little dismissive when I asked you that question and I realise I shouldn't have been because it's not a question of semantics at all in your case. I also understand the difficulty you have in filling in questionnaires because clearly some people can't be pigeonholed and I also have trouble filling them out sometimes. Lastly, I understand how your cancer treatment has taken priority recently so I hope that continues to go well :) My name is Christopher by the way! I've put that in my signature but I have to check again that it's appearing - you might not see it if you're on a mobile.

Am using a pc at the moment and I see your name Christopher! Boldly stated in your signature, but the name under your photo beside each post remains Chrisopher - you must still be registered on the forum without a t. Not to worry, just as it welcomes those who've lost their beta cells, I'm sure this forum will remain accommodating to people who've lost their 't's ;)
 
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Spiker

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4,685
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Type 1
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Pump
Driving through motorway repairs negotiating bollarded lanes with a BG of 1.8 is... "interesting".
Not as "interesting" as losing your licence. Can you pull over and treat or are there no hard shoulders?
 
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bri281295

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Messages
56
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Insulin
I once had a hypo during my endo appointment and my specialist noticed before I did haha.
 
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HaroldC

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Messages
98
That's embarrassing! Oh yes, there was this time when I was in a rush for blood-tests, didn't finish eating ("Oh I'll grab something at the train station on the way", thinks I having lit the bolus-bobshell fuse. 45 minutes later, walking away from the nice nurses at the phlebotomy depth, "ooh, feel a bit low, I'll have a sticky cake and hit choccie at the hospital Costa. Cake consumed, hypo fixed, return home.
2 days later... Telephone call from hospital. Very concerned nurse, who I know quite well.
"Are you alright? We've just got your results back. We're not sure if you need some help, but it's probably too late anyway. You blood glucose is 1.8mmol/l. You seemed to be talking alright, I remember our conversation about cake-baking, and you were walking OK the other day though. But I just needed to check."
Bless them. Lovely bunch.
 
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LittleFragge

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25
I have a few I shops like others, a few during sex they are a mood killer lol. When I was in bed tho I was having a hypo, my husband was next to me and he knew what was happening, but I just kept picking the clock up shouting at it to call for help as I was having my hypo, then telling my hubby to go away because I need to call for help and couldn't work out why my phone (clock) wasn't working lol funny now you look back but if you didn't laugh you would cry x
 
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TonySleigh

Member
Messages
11
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Insulin
Dislikes
Celery, Wine bars, snazzy restaurants,
Oh dear, of all the times it should happen :(

Not sure about the worst place, for some reason supermarkets have a bg lowering effect on me.


Good luck with the job btw Debloubed :)
What is it about supermarkets that give you a hypo? It happens to me quite often..is it the walking, the stress, the smell of food?? I grabbed some jelly babies in a supermarket while shopping once and got a funny look off the cashier when she noticed they were opened!!