Lots of hypos, am I normal??

violet6763

Well-Known Member
Messages
79
Hello. The doctor was lovely and gave me an ecg to reassure me. My heart is fine. He thinks the pain is related to indigestion. Not sure but I'll drink the yucky drink just incase.
My children are eleven and twelve. My daughter calls me lazy and says I am pretending to be ill so I can sleep or rest and not do things with her. She was home when I had a hypo and laughed. I try not to get upset as I know its her age and I have been tired for so long but sometimes she makes me cry. Oops rant again.
Positive points...two days without a hypo :)
Sent from my GT-I9300 using DCUK Forum mobile app
 

donnellysdogs

Master
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Twinkle, you are being very hard on yourself. For anything that you feel you have to make up for today with your children... There is always tomorrow.

Children are resilient, lets not forget the child carer tv award programme where children who are full time carers and go to school etc are on tv. You will not need care like those parents, your children are adapting.. And well by the sound of it... Children will forget today by tomorrow or next week... But... They will remember the important things like their Mums 999 plan.
Violet and Mrs Mac .. Glad you got a few positives between you.
I havent got children, so I had not even given it a thought about telling them what to do incase if an emergency... So after 27+ years I have learnt simething new from ladies that are new to duabetes, so you all have given me a +++ with learning.
Honest ladies, dont fret about today as long as the kids (if any) have a kiss goodnight thry will wake up to a new day to enjoy.
 

Mrs Mac

Member
Messages
22
Hi Violet,
Thanks for asking, just the one yesterday so I'm trying to be positive today. Twinkle1980 has been fantastic and explained lots of things about adjusting my insulin dose and carb counting. I've been on a fixed dose and don't see the consultant until 7th Feb. I gave myself a lower dose at breakfast so we'll see! the DSN did say that I could play around with a unit or two but didn't explain how to decide! someone on here described the sled as a human laboratory which mad me smile, I definitely feel like that! 'Ve had a few days of work to try and give myself chance to suss out what's happening. Luckily work and been very supportive and told be not to worry about my absence score.
How are you? Still having chest pains? You were right to go to the GP and should again if it doesn't improve.
By the way, my kids are 5 and 8, they're very good about the diabetes, my youngest is happy that he gets to have a sip of lucazade every now and again! Your two are that age where they just get embarrassed by us parents,they almost don't see us as people, just "mom".You're right not to dwell knit, they're just kids, they'll grow to understand xx
 

twinkle1980

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Messages
106
How is your chest violet?

Dsn told me my racing heart could be due to my body adjusting to having available energy again!

Hope everyone is doing ok xx
 

violet6763

Well-Known Member
Messages
79
I think you are right. I embarrass her and annoy her most of the time. This evening we have one of her friends coming for a sleepover. She is the most popular girl at school apparently so I am therefore cleaning for her, have been told to wear normal clothes as opposed to vintage and to cook normal food. I dont know what she means by normal food. I have cleaned for an hour..just hoovering to go. I checked my blood and it's 4.9 so I have eaten and stopped. If it's not done, it's not done. I have given up cleaning purely for visitors. We have three dogs, three cats oh and a husband to mess up everywhere lol.
I went to see my occupational health doctor at work and I am to work three five hour shifts a week for a while. I am pleased with this as I went back to full time nine hour shifts soon after diagnosis and made myself ill again.
Since ecg and yucky peppermint drink my chest is better. I think I got myself worried x
 

violet6763

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79
You could be right, twinkle, its weird to have energy again isn't it? I spent a week tellingy husband I could feel muscles move as I walked lol
 

twinkle1980

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106
Hmm I'm sulking now.

Normal porridge doesn't spike me but we had run out so I had some of the kids plain reddy brek this morning, with my usual.brekky ratio of 1:7.5....2 hours later and sugars of 22!

So correction dose, snack and then out shopping. Now a hypo!

I forget how much even gentle exercise (shopping! ***!) effects the levels, so I'm sat in Tesco cafe dealing with the hypo.

Feeling quite angry right now with this flooking disease.
 

violet6763

Well-Known Member
Messages
79
Oh hug..its horrible. Its a bloody constant battle. I hope you recover fast and remember this is just because you're getting used to it. My sister and brother are both type one and never hypo. We'll all get there too. X
 

JontyW

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89
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Mrs Mac said:
I'll definitely ask about carb counting at my next app,

Hello Mrs Mac,

I've been a Type 1 for 43 years and have managed my BG control well and as a result have no complications so far. Only recently have I been looking into what reading matter is available to help T1s and I would strongly recommend that you download (free) and purchase (only £9) the following three basic books/documents which are VITAL for Type 1 diabetics to understand how to get good blood glucose control ..

1) Download and read carefully & understand this document from Diabetes UK ..
"An introduction to carbohydrate counting and insulin dose adjustment"
https://shop.diabetes.org.uk/store/lite ... -book.aspx

2) Buy this Carb Counting book:
Carbs & Cals: A Visual Guide to Carbohydrate & Calorie Counting for People with Diabetes
(http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/0956 ... 01_s00_i01)

3) Adjusting your Insulin when results are too high or too low:
An excellent detailed document, with plenty of examples, to assist you in making required insulin adjustments. Download it and print it out so it is readily at hand after blood sugars have been made & recorded.
http://www.diabetes-scotland.org/ggc/do ... Change.pdf

So once you know the carbs for the next meal, plus your Insulin Carb Ratio for each time of the day, then you should know fairly precisely how much Novarapid is needed to cover the carbs. It will take some time to get all this data, by trial and error, but make sure you record everything so when reviewing the past few days BG readings it will become clearer what small changes are needed to reach optimum balance. You need to be patient and not make more than one change at a time.

Too many hypos means too much insulin for the carbs you are eating, so if you don't want to eat more, obviously you have to reduce the insulin, possibly both lantus and novarapid.

Good luck and I hope you find these documents useful ..

Jonty
 

Mrs Mac

Member
Messages
22
Thank you so much Jonty! It is a real boost to read that you've managed this condition well and suffered no complications. It's all a bit depressing when you start doing research. Glad to know that it's not a foregone conclusion that I'll end up with lots of other problems.

It feels like I'll never get to a position where I'll be confident enough to mess around withy doses but these articles have been a great help. I got the book a few days ago, now I just need to get organised.

Thanks for taking the time to help, I hope to cheer someone up like this one day. X
 

JontyW

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I only found this site a few months ago, and although an experienced T1 and thought I knew it all, I've been very impressed with these useful forum postings and I have learnt quite a lot myself.

So I felt the need to join in and help others where I could.

Jonty
 

willogs

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Messages
97
All I can say is it does get better with time. I was diagnosed type 1, 5 years ago after having gestational diabetes. I am now 32. I only use small amounts of insulin and still after 5 years I can't always get it right. Once you have done the carb counting course, things become clearer. I used to hate regular eating, I ate more than I did before diagnosis. I now eat 3 meals a day. I have educated myself as much as I can about food and its affects on my bs. 2-3 months after diagnosis is such a short time to try and get it right. Give yourself time, keep in contact with your DSN and use forums like this to get correct information, there is a lot of confusing stuff out there. You will get to a stage where things do start to feel normal again.
 

learntopogo

Member
Messages
7
Hi Mrs Mac, hi all.

Just wanted to add my own experiences to this thread.

I was diagnosed T1 8 months ago at the age of 24 and, similarly to yourself Mrs Mac, was put on rigid doses of insulin to combat my high blood sugars - 10 units Novo Rapid before each meal, 16 units Lantus before bed.

Things settled down after the first month / six weeks but soon after I found I was hypoing 2 to 3 times a day, specifically after meals that I thought were supposed to be great for those of us with T1. Your brown rice story rings very true Mrs Mac, the same thing happened to me, had a really bad hypo after a heathy meal and then find myself gorging on sugar to try and balance things out. This was one of my lowest moments as a diabetic as I was just so confused.

I called my nurse and she suggested dropping to 8 units of Novo Rapid, 14 of Lantus and, if things persisted, drop an additional 2 units which I did almost immediately. I even got to a stage where I became afraid of injecting as it felt like I was giving myself a hypo every time I ate, sometimes as low as 2.3; and weirdly, as a few people have mentioned, I've had some really low hypos, but sometimes the hypos at 4.1/4.0/3.9 feel the worst!

I've come to find over the past months that I'm actually really sensitive to insulin and have to put quite a lot of thought into carb counting to get my doses right. It's quite common for me to inject no more than 2 units of NR before breakfast (this being porridge, muesli, toast etc), 3 or 4 units at lunch and then dinner can be anywhere from 4 units to 12 units depending on what I'm eating. Hypos are always a worry and in the back of my mind, so I find carrying a pack of Glucotabs around in my pocket the most reassuring thing to do.

I suppose the point of this post is to say try not to worry too much - there are others like you out there and if you need to talk this wonderful community is here to help. I see a lot of similarities in our experiences Mrs Mac so my advise to you would be to try and stay positive, take control and don't be afraid to experiment with your doses in these early weeks and months. Yes you might inject a dose that's too low and end up with a BS of 20, but hopefully that will be a one off and all part of the learning curve we each have to go through.

Good luck!
 

Mrs Mac

Member
Messages
22
Thanks learntopogo, all these positive stories are a great help, especially when I'm feeling sorry for myself. Reading through these posts encourages me to pull myself together! The hypos seemed to have stopped after my DSN lowered my dose, but then I had three yesterday, grrrr! I know what you mean being afraid to inject but I know I'll get there over time.

Quick question to all of you:- yesterday I had a hypo (only mild 3.6) around lunchtime. I wasn't hungry but decided it would probably be wise to have lunch. I had a sip or two of lucazade to and then made lunch. I was confused about whether I should take my novo rapid. I didn't on the end as I thought it would defeat the object of eating the food. Was this the right or the wrong thing to do? BG not too bad afterwards so I guess I got away with it? This may sound like a really stupid question!!

Thanks again for your input.
 

JontyW

Well-Known Member
Messages
89
Type of diabetes
Type 1
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Ignorance & Arrogance.
Mrs Mac said:
Quick question to all of you:- yesterday I had a hypo (only mild 3.6) around lunchtime. I wasn't hungry but decided it would probably be wise to have lunch. I had a sip or two of lucazade to and then made lunch. I was confused about whether I should take my novo rapid. I didn't on the end as I thought it would defeat the object of eating the food. Was this the right or the wrong thing to do? BG not too bad afterwards so I guess I got away with it? This may sound like a really stupid question!!
Thanks again for your input.

Before each meal these are the basic steps and calculations you need to do, but you must first know what your particular insulin-carb ratios and sensitivity values are in order to get good control. Note that my comments assume your basal dose has been established as being correct.

Insulin-Carb Ratio (how many carbs does 1u bolus cover), and you need to know this for each meal since it will be different. Most adults tend to start with a ratio of around 1u of bolus for every 10g of carbs (1:10). My values below are very non-typical since I am insensitive to insulin.

The correct ratio can only be worked out by carefully recording the carbs, bolus dose given and resulting BG after 3.5 to 4 hours, assuming no further carb or bolus taken. You should review the data from last 3 days before making an adjustment so that a clear trend can be observed. You MUST record every bit of data needed to make a good judgement i.e. BG pre-meal, bolus given, carbs eaten and then BG after 3.5 or 4 hours. If you have access to an Excel spreadsheet this is ideal, but I believe there are smartphone apps that can be used also.

My IC Ratios:- breakfast: 1:1 (35g carbs needs 35u bolus)
lunch: I don't have any lunch carbs to keep weight in check)
dinner: 1:3 (45g carbs needs 15u bolus)

Correction Dose (how many mmol/l your BG will fall for each unit bolus given). Most people have a ratio of 1 unit of bolus to reduce BG by 2– 3 mmol/l.

My Correction Dose: 1u reduces my BG by 1 mmol/l (once again very non-typical, since I need a lot more insulin than most)

Carb count of next meal: this is absolutely vital, since if you don't know fairly accurately the carb content of the next meal, how can you know how much bolus to inject? Establish a food database for the meals that you usually eat which clearly shows the carbs per portion size (weight), so you can refer back when ever you need to. In the early days don't worry about what type of carb you are eating, but just concentrate on total carb content in order to establish the IC Ratios

I have established a detailed Excel spreadsheet with all my meals and can quickly work out the total carb count for the next meal. Eating out is not so easy and requires a certain amount of guesswork. It also predicts what bolus dose I should have for next meal based on results of previous day and also average results of previous 3 days .. very powerful!

Basic Steps before meal:-
1) Measure BG. If too high, work out bolus Correction Dose required to reduce BG to target e.g. 6 mmol/l
2) Work out carbs in next meal.
3) What IC Ratio should I use to ensure BG returns to 4 - 6 mmol/l after about 3.5 to 4 hours?
4) Bolus insulin dose = correction dose (if needed) + carbs/IC Ratio
5) Note: I have not included any adjustment for planned exercise, but will be needed if required.

An example:
BG was 12, correction ratio is 1:3, so correction dose = (12 - 6)/3 = 2u
Carb count for meal is 45g, ICR is 1:5, so carb bolus dose = 45/5 = 9u
Total bolus to inject = 2u + 9u = 11u
Note that it is the IC Ratio that is the key to working out the Bolus dose, and so it is this ratio that needs to be changed if resulting BG are not in the target range. This is because you may have different carb levels, for the same meal, but on different days.

If you regularly experience hypos shortly after your meals, you may want to consider increasing the ICR for those meals the next day. So a ratio of 1:5 may need to be changed to 1:7 (in example above this would mean the bolus was (45/5) 9u needs to be reduced to (45/7) 6u, assuming the same carb count).

I hope this helps, and remember to keep reading the books and documents I referred to earlier .... knowledge is real power in controlling diabetes. It takes time, but gradually you will get a good understanding of what needs to be done, and if in doubt always check with your DSN.

Jonty
 
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I would say that when you get to see your DSN or consultant next push and push hard to get yourself on a DAFNE coarse. By doing this you will gain the knowledge and support needed to eat normally as you please. It also covers exercise and what to do when you are sick.

I am a bit of an athlete and eat lots when building up to an event but generally eat quite light at other times. Before I did the coarse I was totally clueless and actually gave up my competing and exercise as I just couldn't get to grips with it as one minute was sky high the next hypo. Now it all makes sense and only hypo once or twice every couple of months as I have the knowledge and understanding needed. I am now confident to carb up when needed knowing exactly what dose I need whilst running hard so that my sugars stay stable.

Good luck

Andy
 

JontyW

Well-Known Member
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89
Type of diabetes
Type 1
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Ignorance & Arrogance.
Mrs Mac said:
Quick question to all of you:- yesterday I had a hypo (only mild 3.6) around lunchtime. I wasn't hungry but decided it would probably be wise to have lunch. I had a sip or two of lucazade to and then made lunch. I was confused about whether I should take my novo rapid. I didn't on the end as I thought it would defeat the object of eating the food. Was this the right or the wrong thing to do?
Hi Mrs Mac,

Although I previously replied with my "mini training course" regarding carb counting and insulin adjustment, I never actually answered the question you asked, so here goes ....
1) "yesterday I had a hypo (only mild 3.6) around lunchtime" - having a sip or two of lucozade was correct thing to do to get your BG back up to normal
2) "I wasn't hungry but decided it would probably be wise to have lunch." - the choice here is to decide whether you want to have a lunch with enough carbs to need a Novorapid injection, or just a carb free lunch e.g. salad, that requires no Novorapid. So what was the carbs of the lunch you had on that day? Since your BG was OK afterwards then there obviously wasn't many carbs in it, otherwise normal carbs + NO Novorapid means high BG (that is what diabetes is!)
3) "I didn't in the end as I thought it would defeat the object of eating the food" - I think this clearly shows that you need urgently to get yourself on a DAFNE course as suggested by Andy, since you don't appear to understand the basics of counting carbs and then working out how much Novorapid is required, for YOUR body, for that time of day MEAL (breakfast, lunch or dinner). To know what insulin is needed you just divide the carbs by the insulin-carb ratio (for that meal). So for 40g carbs if your ratio is 1:5, would need 40/5 = 8u insulin to cover it.

So your words of "..as I thought it would defeat the object of eating the food", are totally meaningless since, as I've explained above, it is all about BALANCING the Novorapid needed to cover the carbs you plan to eat.

Please, please look again at the posting I made on 28 Jan regarding some suggested reading matter. Whist you wait to get put on a DAFNE course, just reading, understanding and then implementing this information will give you much, much better control than you seem to have now. I have never been on a DAFNE course but from reading the contents of the Diabetes UK booklet, I would think that is what is covered in a DAFNE course, but with the added benefit of being done over an extended classroom group setting to help practise and reinforce the message.

JontyW said:
1) Download and read carefully & understand this document from Diabetes UK ..
"An introduction to carbohydrate counting and insulin dose adjustment"
https://shop.diabetes.org.uk/store/lite ... -book.aspx

2) Buy this Carb Counting book:
Carbs & Cals: A Visual Guide to Carbohydrate & Calorie Counting for People with Diabetes
(http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/0956 ... 01_s00_i01)
We are only trying to help ...

Jonty