The Saturday Morning Type 2 Hypo Experiment

[xyzzy]

So I'm a relatively newly diagnosed Type 2 who is on 2 x 500g Metformin. This morning gave me the ideal opportunity to experiment on myself regarding the argument of Type 2 "Hypos" and "Too low sugars".

Woke up BS levels pretty good for me at 5.4

Had normal brekkie 30g of frozen fruit (today was Summer Fruits mix) in 50g of plain yoghurt 6g of carbs and 58 calories. Hadn't eaten since my main meal at 6.00pm yesterday evening.

Off to walk the dogs with the wife with our friends and her dogs as we do most Saturdays. B****y cold in my part of the world temp on my phone showing as -3 with a small amount of snow blowing round in a bitterly cold wind.

Eh eh I thought as I was walking got that brilliant "you've woken up" feeling again, senses very keen and my brain is working. A beautiful day! Last time this happened I had a 4.6 BS reading so I knew my levels must be pretty low.

Our Saturday morning walk usually takes around one and a half hours so I'm guessing its around 3 miles or so. Near the end is a hill running up through some woods. Lets go for it, lets see how far I can drive my levels down! Jogged (well waddled is probably a better word) up to the top.

Managed it, felt smug! 5 minutes later my 2 hour after brekkie reading alarm on my phone sounds. Do the test....

3.6

Beat my all time low record by a whole 1 mmol/l. Txt my Type 1 son. "3.6 out walking the dogs!". His reply "Great! just measure yourself again in a bit". Still feeling great so I ran another 50 metres or so. Dog not happy about that by this stage!

Back at our friends house some 20 minutes later, haven't had anything to eat or drink yet. Measured again

7.1

So my liver works and I self correct as I should which is nice to know!

 

[peteratsrinagar]

You're burning fat if it goes up! :crazy:

 

[xyzzy]

You're burning fat if it goes up! :crazy:

No in my opinion my liver dumped a load of glucose to raise my BG back up which is what its supposed to do and that was the whole point of the exercise. It shows that even as a Type 2 diabetic on Metformin I behave in a similar fashion to a non diabetic and that there are systems inside me and anyone else that kick in to self correct low BG's and hence avoid a Hypo. Within an hour of the 7.1 reading I was back down to 5.5.

Even if you are right then it stills shows that burning fat is just another means the body will use to self correct. I would not be unpleased with that either as I would have lost some fat which I need to do! At no stage did I feel in the slightest bit dizzy or woozy or whatever. I felt great! If I had felt even the slightest bit bad I would have stopped not just because my brain would would instinctively recognise the danger and told me but because under any kind of "woozy, dizzy hypo like state" I would HAVE to.

I was in an environment of walking with my wife and friends so in a case where I had become even remotely delusional about feeling great they would have spotted it and told me to stop.

Every time I get my BS sub around 5.2 I progressively feel far far better not worse, I wake up, my brain functions and I feel good. Not surprising as 4 to 5.5 is a non diabetic range.

If as a Type 2 you are taking insulin or drugs that promote insulin production then its another matter as they could take your BG's lower than 3.6 and in a faster time but Metformin is a passive drug and does not do that.

My point is just because you are Type 2 on Metformin it does not make your body behave in a substantially different way to a non diabetic. Look at this way if I as Type 2 and a non diabetic had BS levels at 3.6 and we both did a load of strenuous exercise and dropped our BS levels more and more then both of us at some point would SLOWLY begin to hypo and notice it. We would both then self correct. We would have needed to do a lot of exercise to achieve it and start out with very low BS readings to even do that.

 

[slimtony]

Hi,

Don't forget that some meters (possibly all meters) can be sensitive to temperature. A test taken outdoors in sub-zero temps may not be as reliable as one taken at room temperature. roblem:

 

[xyzzy]

Yes thought of that but mine cuts out with a lo temp warning and wont let you take a reading if the temps to low but have seen that my meter can be +/- 0.4 ish. I doubt when I did the reading it was really 3.2 though! Could have been a 4 but that soon after running up the hill I think it was pretty accurate but maybe should have really done a second reading to confirm.

I had it in an inside coat pocket so should have been snug and warm from body heat.

Anyway the test as far as I was concerned was not to try for unconsciousness but to prove that my body regardless of being a Type 2 diabetic on Metformin avoids hypo's quite happily by self correction, the rise up seems to show this quite conclusively imo.

 

[floridagal]

xyzzy , What an interesting post and so nice to know that our bodies will still "kick in" when needed to recover us from hypo glycaemia.
I was beginning to think my poor old body was letting me down but perhaps it is rather me that has let it down from years of no exercise and poor diet.....

For a newly diagnosed type 2 you sound well in control of your diabetes

 

[lukkymik]

OK so its over a year from your original post but ive just read it and i'm HORRIFIED!!!! What muppet told you to carb count as a medication only Type 2???? I was originally diagnosed as T2 13 years ago and carb counting was much less "Fashionable". This is what I was told by my specialist.... The recent fad for carb counting has been proven to help "some" Type 1 diabetics but is potentially dangerous long term for Type 2 diabetics as T1 & T2 should be treated as 2 totally different diseases with different treatment regimes!!!! I took this on board and have stuck to her advice ever since..... However..... It has become apparent to me in the intervening 13 years that not only are T1&T2 very different but that EVERY diabetic person is different and needs different ways to deal/cope with their particular version. With me if I drop below 7/8 during the day I feel ****!!! Likewise if I go over 12/13 I get lightheaded and cant concentrate... If I go stupid high 20+ I go "Swedish" ie I sound like the Swedish Chef off the Muppets. I'd be really intetested to hear how you are coping 15 months on as your regime struck me as totally alien to me but if its still OK then its another case of "We're all Different" so please dont treat us as all having the same disease!!!

Thanks Mike

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[SpaceChick]

Hi Mike,

Would be interested to see the evidence of why carb counting in Type 2 is dangerous. Seems an outlandish statement to make without providing some additional reading.

My GP who is also a type 2 has certainly encouraged me to be "carb aware" and even on day 1 of diagnosis told me to only have 1 obvious carb based meal a day (pasta, rice, bread etc). This seems to make perfect sense to me, as I haven't been a sugar eater (and don't say about hidden sugars as I make everything from scratch) so the only issue my body can have with sugar is through converting carbohydrate to sugar.

I know that medical opinion has progressed, my late Mum was Type 2 as was my Grandfather. They were both told not to have sugar and that was it. Yet my poor Mum couldn't work out why her BS was so high all the time..... With toast for breakfast, sandwich and some fruit for lunch, then fish/meat with potato and veg for tea. The occasional bag of crisps as a snack. The carb load she was taking on was incredible and carbs at every meal. No wonder she struggled. But understanding of the condition has moved on incredibly in the last decade.

I acknowledge that the body needs some carbohydrate, but keeping it under check must surely be a good thing.

 

[GetUnconscious]

People overeat carbs. Like 90% of people.


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[lukkymik]

Hi SpaceChick.... Sorry my point was that 13 years ago the Government Specialists suggested regime for T2s was based on sizable portions of carbs with every meal ... Nowadays advice from them has changed but "some" GPs still hold by the old advice!!! I get horrendously bloated if I have too many carbs at one meal... However if I have too few I feel lethargic and nauseous??? Apparently this is partly due to my other ailments as much as being insulin dependent T2 diabetic. Unfortunately I take 24 tablets a day plus large doses of painkilles just to get me through the day and "apparently" the carbs help to buffer my systems against the medications. So the main point I was making is that from what I have been advised by my Consultant....... No 1...Every Diabetic is different but the fundamental point is Carb Counting IS helpfull in controlling BS & other levels for most Type 1s and some Type 2s (I believe Diet Controlled & those on smaller amounts of medication) but its effectiveness is not as pronounced the more medication/insulin you need.

So the recent comment that most Diabetics eat 90% too much carbohydrate is such a sweeping missinformed statement and makes absolutely no sense whatsoever. In fact to a Newbie it could be positively dangerous. We are laymen/women trying to help others by passing on our experiences. Very few of us are qualified to give any medical advice SO Please People DON'T

Rant over lol!!!
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