hypo at night worries

[mrsb2b]

I had my first hypo at work yesterday which was quite worrying as I am a teacher, luckily I felt it coming on and did glucose tablets and carbs to recover. Suppose it is probably the best place as we have quite a few kids with diabetes so the medical room was well equipped.... with tissues for my tears mostly!

However, it made me quite worried and as the fiance was away that night I was worried about having one in my sleep - I had to text alot of people the next day to tell them I was alive - they were obviously worried too. I set the alarm for 4 to test blood sugars didn't take as much of the levemir andhad a little bit of chocolate just in case at 4 o' clock as blood sugars had dropped from 8 nightime reading to 5.2 (I know I prob didn't need to but I was scared)! Is it normal to worry like this. Felt like I was just getting to grips with the insulin thing and now feel like I'm back to basics feeling like I would rather play it safe and be slightly higher. Also have lost confidence in not eating so many carbs - I had a prawn salad that day before the hypo.

Did I do the right thing lowering levemir or am I not supposed to do this ?
Do you know if you have a hypo at night ?
I really do not have the energy to wake up to test at night .. do I need to?

Also here was I panicking about alcohol on my hen night causing a hypo and it happened for no apparent reason at work.

Thanks x

 

[donnamum]

Cant answer question about Levemir.

But as far as hypos at night. I think its perfectly normal to worry. We all worry at times about them. When daughter was first diagnosed I moved her bed into our room. After a few weeks I felt a bit more confident and she moved back into her own room. Now a few months later we are back to worrying again.....There is no way shes not moving back into our room. She snores much loader than her dad.
From time to time we do 2am BG test but only 1 night. Nothing worse than trying to get an over tired stroppy child ready for school.

As far has having something hand incase of hypo. Small can of coke, or few jelly babies. Plus a starchy snack after. A buscuit or two... I'm sure you have a few packets in the staff room.

Good Luck

Donna

 

[l0vaduck]

I'm a teacher too. I always make sure I've got dextrosol tablets in my bag with me in my classroom.

If you've looked at all the possible causes of this one, and ruled them all out, then it's probably a good idea to test at the nearest time to when it happened for a few days so you can find out whether it's a pattern or just a one off.

I understand why you reduced the Levemir but if you hadn't previously any reason to suspect it was too high, then I wouldn't be in such a rush to reduce it. After all Levemir is long acting so it doesn't only affect your levels in the night.

If I'm going to be on my own at night, I put a straw into a ribena carton and put it on my bedside table. This is a lesson I've learned from the experience of trying to get across the room to where I used to keep the ribena, and trying to insert the straw with hypo fingers! When I wake up hypo in the night I don't have much muscle coordination. However it's not a big problem now - the worst ones were when I was on huge doses of insulin because I was eating too many carbs.

 

[totsy]

i too suffered alot from night time hypos and when a single mum it was horrible trying to sort myself out as i wasnt waking till i was about 2.1 and couldnt function,i always keep gluco tabs nxt to my bed now and ive always woke up with the hypos so try to not worry

 

[WatsonsGates.co.uk]

I was worried that my son would have hypo's in the night, and mentioned it to his nurse, she told me not to worry too much about having a severe hypo as it is highly unlikly, She said if he was to have a hypo in the night, the first thing the body does it to wake you up !
So as other have said, keep something near the bed, so you don't have to get up and walk round the house looking for something to treat with.

I hope this is the answer you were looking for so try not to worry too much. :wink:

 

[mrsb2b]

Thanks that made me feel better. Guess I was just worried as it was my first hypo and just happened to be on my own that night.

Haven't been taught to carb count yet think they want to get wedding out of the way , must admit I am now playing it on the safe side and eating carbs which I know will be a mistake. I only reduced the levemir as my night time reading was low (compared to previous ones) so I reduced it just for that night as I was worried. Didn't know if you couldjust change one nights dose like that ?
I have only been on insulin for 2 weeks so its a steep .... no STEEP .... learning curve.

Must also confess that I took the opportunity to eat a chocolate cookie that had been staring at me in the staffroom all week after the hypo !

Mrs b2b
PS do you get spots on insulin ? ... or is it just the stress ... I seem to have regressed to my teenage years with regards to spots ... not so good for the wedding photos :lol:

 

[donnamum]

The spots could be insulin or just stress of the wedding.

Don't wory about carb counting. Its much easier than you think. In the beginning it is time consuming, but I soon got the grip of it and I'm sure you will too. I got a really good, carb counting book and a set of nutiscales ( something to add to wedding list).
If you are brave enough to eat school dinners, contact your local childrens diabetic team they may have a list of carb contents for school meals. Most do.

Hope you have a better week than last.
Good luck with wedding preparations.

 

[mrsb2b]

Certainly will NOT be eating school dinners ..... prisoners get more money spent on their dinners ! :lol:

 

[millie]

I had a hypo at home and luckily my mom was with me at the time, it was really scary, i had just built my confidence up but when it hapened i was really scared and i am still scared now.

:| :?

 

[miss e j]

I blame the Levemir for night hypos.

Night hypos used to be a regular feature of my life. i used a CGMS and found dreadful dips in my BGs around 4 hours after taking my levemir. I did some research and found that if you're on a small dose of levemir ( I was on 12 units) it has quite a peak after 4 hours (although it's designed to provide steady coverage , in reality it doesn't).

I tried splitting my dose - made matters worse.

But as far as dealing with night hypos goes, I always woke up with them, because of the adrenaline. But I couldn't always take any action - night hypos can cause a kind of paralysis, which is very frightening, especially when sleeping alone. Glucose had to be under the pillow, as reaching as far as my bedside table was impossible. On the occasions I wasn't able to grab the glucose, my liver obviously kicked in with a glycogen release, and the next day woke up with high BG and felt pretty dreadful, but alive!

I'm now on a pump, which has solved the night time lows completely, and therefore taken that anxiety away - I don't believe I'll ever wake up sweating and shaking and paralysed at 4am again. Hurrah! However, being a new pump user, i have plenty of other things to worry about instead!

 

[TROUBR]

PS do you get spots on insulin ? ... or is it just the stress ... I seem to have regressed to my teenage years with regards to spots ... not so good for the wedding photos :lol:

Hi mrs B2b

I asked the same thing of my diabetic nurse and she laughed at me and said "not that she knew of" but my skin has always been pretty good (even during my teenage years) but now I am T1 my chin resembles the moon! I am trying all sorts of clean skin type things to get rid of the spots / blackheads. I can't understand it considering I am not eating any junk - not that I ate huge amounts before but I must be eating better now! I had assumed it was just a transition thing but 3 months on and still bumpy. Sorry

Incidentally I have not yet had a night time hypo (on glargine at bedtime) but was like you worried about having them and have been told as others state here you usually wake up. I was told not to change my night time one without discussion with my Diabetic nurse but to change the daytime ones by a couple of units or so as I feel the need. I gather as time goes on (and once we have been on the DAFNE course) that we will learn to run a finer line to get better BG results and that we will be brave enough to do it. I was actually almost relieved when I had my first hypo as I was quite fearful of them, it was a relief to know what to expect and how my body reacted.

Take care

 

[mrsb2b]

I am convinced the spots are to do with the diabetes my skin type has completely changed and when I went for my hair trial the hairdresser commented that my hair was starting to get greasy - this never used to happen. Fiance suggested it may be because i drink less water now that I am on insulin - so I am repacing tea with water for the time being.

Went to the nurse yesterday and even though she didn't think it was diabetes related she gave me some spot cream designed to dry the skin so fingers crossed ! Think she felt sorry for me !

 

[TROUBR]

Let me know if the cream works and if so which sort and I shall try to get some myself. My hair has also become a bit greasy - how bizaare!
When do you get married by the way (what bad timing for this to come along now!)

Lou x

 

[mrsb2b]

Spot cream has worked well so far (touch wood) the only draw back is that it really dries up your skin.

It was prescribed for under the skin spots that aren't inflamed, I have used it sparingly and one part at a time just in case. It does start to itch but that I have taken as a cue to stop - think it takes the top layer of skin off - but hey if it works !

Dr suggested using moisturiser if it gets too dry, but it is soo much better than before.

PanOxyl Aquagel 2.5 contains Benzoyl Peroxide

Let me know how you get on - now if we can sort a sunny day for next Thursday I will be sorted !
9 Days to go

Hope it helps
x