Unconcious after hypo

baby_angel

Well-Known Member
Messages
46
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Insulin
hi all,

On saturday about lunchtime i passed out in the shower from a hypo. Fortunately my boyfriend came rushing to the rescue and gave me sugar. We didnt call an ambulance because i woke up in about 20 seconds and was able to have sugar. However im still exhausted and having headaches is this normal for a bad hypo?

x
 

sugar2

Well-Known Member
Messages
833
yes, I think so. Did you test your blood after you ate the sugar? Are you sure it was a hypo? The reason I ask is because (in my limited experience...limited to me really!) if I have ever oassed out through a hypo, then I don't come round until I get intravenous glucose or that injectable hypo stop stuff.

If you are convinced it was a hypo, then yes, you can feel pretty grotty for a few days.

If you had no idea you were going low...please make sure hatyou test your blood before driving etc...as you may have lost hypo awareness...you really should get this sirted, and not drive until you get your awareness back.


Sorry, I know this sounds a bit doom and gloom, but it is far better to proactively sort this out, than lose your licence (or worse!!) becasue you have had a hypi behind the wheel. Even of you don't drive, it is still worth getting in touch with your care team for advice.

Best of luck.
 

baby_angel

Well-Known Member
Messages
46
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Insulin
Been to the docs today and i have been referred to a diabetic nurse to try and suss out my hypo unawareness. Fortunately i don't drive and i dont think i will be for a good while after this. Thanks for the reply :)
 

cugila

Master
Messages
10,272
Dislikes
People who are touchy.......feign indignation at the slightest thing. Hypocrites, bullies and cowards.
Here's a 'heads up' on reversing Hypo unawareness.........

Methods for Reducing Hypoglycemia Unawareness
Raise blood sugar targets for two to three weeks in order to avoid low blood sugar.

Test blood sugar more often, providing more data to make more rapid adjustments.

Increase protein intake and reduce carbohydrate intake, reducing insulin requirements.

Use the data from additional blood sugar tests to note the different symptoms experienced at specific blood sugar levels.

Source: Diabetes1)
 

tom79

Well-Known Member
Messages
54
Is passing out common? I just had my 1st hypo, not nice! I was at work and just had some food and starting to feel ok, but I live alone and dont want to pass out there!
 

totsy

Well-Known Member
Messages
3,041
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Insulin
Dislikes
liars, animal cruelty
hya tom,
i have never passed out, ive felt pretty ****** tho and twice i have been very close to going to sleep, i always have gluco tabs nxt to the bed so i can remedy a hypo alone and then go get some carbs when i feel better :D
 

tom79

Well-Known Member
Messages
54
totsy said:
hya tom,
i have never passed out, ive felt pretty ****** tho and twice i have been very close to going to sleep, i always have gluco tabs nxt to the bed so i can remedy a hypo alone and then go get some carbs when i feel better :D

Well I have some lucozade by my bed, in my car, in my desk also hehe, I might get some of these tablets! my sugar was 2.8 and I felt something was wrong, but it came on very very very fast.

Wellim glad you havnt passed out, hope I dont also, its my biggest worry with all this, my BG has never been that low at this time before, hope not a honeymoon thing

Hope u feel better also baby_angel
 

Pef

Member
Messages
12
Ive been diabetic for over 20 years now and have found I always get a bit of a warning of hypo so have never passed out. Harder if you go hypo at night though, so always keep some glucose nearby.
 

tom79

Well-Known Member
Messages
54
what happens then if it happens while asleep? does your kidney sort it out? or are you in serious bother
 

Pef

Member
Messages
12
I think it can be serious, I suppose how deep the hypo is and how fast asleep you are both matter. On the few occaisions ive had hypos and woke myself up I find im much more confused at night than in the day so glucose of some form closeby is a good idea. On the other occaisions my partner has woken me up (she seems to have a sixth sense when im going low). But by far the best method is do your best to make sure you dont go hypo while asleep. It is quite a rare thing for me to hypo at night.
 

totsy

Well-Known Member
Messages
3,041
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Insulin
Dislikes
liars, animal cruelty
tom,
ive always woken when hypo, my worst hypos have been at night, the lowest ive been is 1.2 but did wake up :D try not to worry, hopefully it will never happen
 

sugar2

Well-Known Member
Messages
833
Tom, I have lost consciousness twice...and both times were when I was pregnant...so I giess this will not be a concern for you :D

I once had a serious hypo overnight...but did wake up. Stupidly, I din't have any glucose next to teh bed, and had to drag myself to teh kitchen. It took ages, I was hanging on to the wall shaking...but I got there, and I was ok after about an hour. I believe that your liver reacts to the low blood sugar, (something to do with glycogen?) and will help bring your BG back up.

It is scary, and feels awful, but it sounds like you are doing everything youcan to avoid it. When I lived alone, I made sure my colleaugues knew if I wasn'tgoing to be in...and if I didn't show up unexpectedly, they were to rush round with a mars bar...never needed them to do this though!

I think it is very rare, take extra care if you have had a drink though (alcohol) as this can drop your BG sometimes.
 

jopar

Well-Known Member
Messages
2,222
Diabetics probably sleep through mild night time hypo's than they realise, where the blood glucose levels drop just below the 4mmoml/l mark but return quickly without harm the change in liver out put...

And yes your liver can pull you out of an hypo you sleeping through, I used to do this the indicator that you've had tad more than an very mild hypo during your sleep and your liver has bailed you out of it... Is when you wake your BG is higher than bedtime normally by quite a lot, and you feel like you have a major hangover, in my case it used to blitz my eyesight, it would be like I was looking through a very dark, thick dirty net curtains and this would take up to several hours to ware off..

In most diabetics the liver will adventually kick in and dump the liver into the blood stream, but the longer you are out the worse you feel when you start to come around, but is one of the very last safety nets, not really a good idea to rely opon,as it is dependant on several factors.. The balance between the excess insulin in your body, what the liver is deliverying, and what stores of glucogen it has...

If the amount of excess insulin far out weighs the amount of glucose, it could be fatal before the liver decides to dump..

If you've had hypo's previous 24 hours, your glucogen stores may not have been replemished enough to be effective..

If you still have alcohol in your system, you won't have a glucogen store to dump and no glucose being delivered to constantly top up your BG... Liver can't process alcohol and maitain glucogen storage and delivery at the same time.. So concetrates of processing the alcohol, which it does at about 1 unit per hour on adverage...

Me I am very lucky now, not only having a pump but hypo back up, with 2 dogs that we wake me if they sense my sugar levels getting low..
 

tom79

Well-Known Member
Messages
54
Oh I hope this never happens! what I do as I take novamix is find out how long it lasts (6 hours) and make sure I do not go to bed till 6 hours after I took it, I then take my BG test and if <7 I eat a bit more than usual, I hope this is enought to never have too much in my system at night! so far it has been ok, not sure what happened today.. I had the same to eat but at a time my levels are about 11, i was under 3 Oo ill keep an eye on this to make sure its not a honeymoon period, I have my manager armed with all sorts of sweets for me haha, suppose least it is a great time to eat cake!
 

tom79

Well-Known Member
Messages
54
Had another Hypo today :shock: I injected at 6pm and had food then also, I tested blood at 8:30 pm and i was at 12, then at about 10pm/10:30 ish I re tested as felt shaky and I was 3.6, wow that went down fast! least I got to enjoy some Lucozade and Jelly Beans, i have missed those! I might need to reduce my evening dose or eat more.

As im still new to this im still new to how mush to eat to correct a hypo, and so i have adopted a panic and eat/drink everything I can find style, I think it is better to eat too much and slowly start to eat less and less after a hypo, than not enough... I hope.
 

the_anticarb

Well-Known Member
Messages
1,045
Dislikes
Spiders, winter, bills, ignorance, prejudice
tom79 said:
As im still new to this im still new to how mush to eat to correct a hypo, and so i have adopted a panic and eat/drink everything I can find style, I think it is better to eat too much and slowly start to eat less and less after a hypo, than not enough... I hope.

Hiya - I know that 'wanna stuff my face with everything made of carbs' feeling when you're hypo although they say to only have 15g fast acting and 15g slow acting sometimes that's just not enough, so what I do is just inject for the excess carbs, i know it can feel like the most illogical thing in the world to inject insulin when you are just coming out of a hypo but by the time the insulin kicks in you will be well out of hypoland and heading into upwards territory if you've had more than just the 15 + 15. Remember to subtract the carbs for the hypo though and only inject for the excess
 

totsy

Well-Known Member
Messages
3,041
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Insulin
Dislikes
liars, animal cruelty
hya tom,
if im between 3 and 4 i have 2 glucotabs , if im under i have 3 or 4 and once well enough i have a small slice of bread and a drink of milk, i used to overdo it when first diagnosed and you dont want to be doing that as you rollercoaster n feel ****,
after 5 mins recheck your blood and it should have started to slowly rise,
hope this helps :D
 

sugar2

Well-Known Member
Messages
833
jopar said:
And yes your liver can pull you out of an hypo you sleeping through, I used to do this the indicator that you've had tad more than an very mild hypo during your sleep and your liver has bailed you out of it... Is when you wake your BG is higher than bedtime normally by quite a lot, and you feel like you have a major hangover, in my case it used to blitz my eyesight, it would be like I was looking through a very dark, thick dirty net curtains and this would take up to several hours to ware off..

.


Wow! Thank you for that....I had wondered why sometimes, if my BG was high, it didn't effect my eyesight so much, and other times, it was awful. thinking back, I agree, the dirty curtains feeling was on waking.

Thank you Jopar. I don't know the science etc behind this, but in my own experience, this theory fits the evidence perfectly. :D