An example of the body's reaction to a hypo...

[tim2000s]

Last night, at about 2am, I was awoken by the CGM telling me I was heading low following correcting for a high fairly late. Given the time delay, it's safe to assume that I was already at a level below 4, so I ate three Glucotabs, for 12g of carbs and went back to sleep again. You can see from the trace that they had the desired effect, although the increase was slightly higher than I expected.

What was then far more interesting, from my perspective, is the enhanced dawn phenomenon effect as a result of the night-time hypo. It looks as though there is an enhanced dawn phenomenon taking place, but I know that in normal circumstances, my basal level manages that pretty much perfectly. So what we have here is the effect of a glucagon dump that was triggered by the 2am hypo.

If you discuss with an Endo, they'll tell you that the body's response to a hypo lasts a significant number of hours after it has happened, typically five to eight hours, where additional glucagon is released and your liver continues to pour glucose in. Given my eating times yesterday, that's exactly what I saw, and it's taken a shedload of corrective insulin to manage it down.

I guess the point of this is simply to make it clear that if you have a hypo, the resultant glucagon effect is quite long lasting and a nuisance. Another reason to avoid hypos!

 

[AndyS]

The body really does have a tendency to go a bit crazy on the biochemical toolkit when it thinks it is going to die.

/A

 

[staffsmatt]

I would imagine the body, not knowing it's diabetic, is thinking something along the lines of "blimey, I must be being chased by a lot of sabre tooth tigers for my glucose levels to drop that low, better sort that out pronto..."

 

[Brunneria]

I'm curious @tim2000s how you felt for the rest of the day?
And whether you had any repercussions the next day? (today)
Any effect on insulin/carb sensitivity? I suppose you would see that in your ratios, while i would see it in unstable bg with normal 'trusted' foods.

 

[tim2000s]

I'm curious @tim2000s how you felt for the rest of the day?
And whether you had any repercussions the next day? (today)
Any effect on insulin/carb sensitivity? I suppose you would see that in your ratios, while i would see it in unstable bg with normal 'trusted' foods.

Didn't particularly feel anything. Hypos don't tend to make me feel bad.

The bigger issue is the extra glucose that you have to deal with and the extra insulin it requires for the 6-8 hours following the idid. In addition, there's a kind of accelerant effect so timing becomes even more critical related to eating and insulin.

 

[Lamont D]

My experience of hypos is way more extreme than your description.
I survived in a complete daze of numerous symptoms that had me in what I called my hypo hell. That was because of the yo yo effect on my blood glucose levels. Constant hypers then hypos.
However, since being in control anything in the mid to low threes, has an effect far worse than a mild hypo and can really make me feel rough for a couple of days later.
My hypo awareness has become so sharp, I know when a bump in my blood glucose levels happen.
When you have no hypo awareness it is not very nice!

 

[asyarlk]

Slightly off topic... But I believe previously you were on the Libre, what made you change to the dexcom? Do you prefer it?

 

[asyarlk]

Just found a link to it on another page!