Similar experiences - suddenly dropping blood sugars

[sheepareevil]

I was just wondering if anyone has had any similar experiences?

Just over 6 months ago I lost my Mum, to be honest I have taken it pretty hard. Anyway my Diabetes is really hard to control at the moment, I go through phases where my blood sugar just drops dramatically. For example in the last week on average I have had 8 Hypo's a day (all in the low 2's, extremely uncommon for me). When this happens I stop taking insulin with meals and drop my basal insulin by over half to try and control this - On Thursday my blood sugar dropped from 11.8 to 2.1 in under an hour.

I'm doing all I can, talking to my doctor and nurse once a week. I'm just confused by it all - The only thing my Nurse and Doctor can suggest is that it is simply a combination of my honeymoon period (I was Diagnosed almost 18 months ago) and grief? I was wondering if anyone else has had problems with suddenly dropping blood sugar? Does it sound right that this is all connected to grief? How am I supposed to control my emotions to stop my hypo's?

Any suggestions would be most helpful - I have already ended up in hospital due to a particularly bad night hypo and have been close a couple of other times and I really want to control my diabets asap.

 

[CarbsRok]

Sorry to hear about the loss of your Mum (((((hugs)))))))).
Hypo's are caused mainly due to too much insulin or not enough cortisol. Have a look at Addison's disease and see if that fits in with your problems

 

[Indiana91]

Really sorry to hear about your mum.
Everyone is different, I've been through grief and didn't have hypos.
To be honest I'm not sure how much help that is to you as I didn't take care of myself or my diabetes and spent most of my time drunk. (NOT the right path to choose!)
I really feel for you and hope things get sorted really soon.

Indiana x


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[Spiker]

I would suggest both reducing your basal for the duration, and also reducing your insulin:carb ratio. It won't totally eliminate the problem as it sounds like your hormones are fluctuating as much as your pancreas is. But it should make it easier to manage, reducing the frequency and severity of hypos.

I am really sorry you have lost your mum. :-(

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[sheepareevil]

Thank you. To be honest My DSN is desperate to find a reason for my Hypos and so has been looking into everything possible but can't find a reasons.

Spiker - I literally take no insulin with my meals and am having to eat quite carb heavy meals, My basal has been reduced from 9 units every night to 5. For example I had about 120 grams of carbs with my dinner (about twice what I would normally have) No insulin and still find my blood sugar in the 2's a couple of hours later.

Just annoying that it was all going so well and now has gone a bit **** up ( for want of a better expression).

Thank you all for your kind words

 

[Spiker]

I guess you may want to reduce the basal even further. I take it you don't have any times of day when your BG goes high ever?

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[CarbsRok]

Thank you. To be honest My DSN is desperate to find a reason for my Hypos and so has been looking into everything possible but can't find a reasons.

Spiker - I literally take no insulin with my meals and am having to eat quite carb heavy meals, My basal has been reduced from 9 units every night to 5. For example I had about 120 grams of carbs with my dinner (about twice what I would normally have) No insulin and still find my blood sugar in the 2's a couple of hours later.

Just annoying that it was all going so well and now has gone a bit **** up ( for want of a better expression).

Thank you all for your kind words

Has your DSN or consultant considered Addison's disease?
I ask because from what you are describing is how I went. Even though I had had diabetes for over 40 years at the time I ended up not needing insulin on some day's. When you have a lack of cortisol in your body, no amount of carbs will raise your blood sugar. A DSN would probably not know about Addison's disease, you need a GP to discuss it with or an Endo.

 

[sheepareevil]

Thanks CarbsRok - good advice
Spiker - the highest it goes is 8ish (that's after a whole pack of Dextrose tablets and carb loading all day).

Well after a call from work explaining how they are not happy with me having the last few days off and want me to come back to work ASAP with no more days off at the risk of me being replaced, I will have to find a solution. Or just go into work and collapse in front of them?

It was not exactly the phone call I needed when already stressed about my health - makes me mad when I think that part of the reason I have not been going in is because I know how ineffectual I am as a teacher when like this and how scary it can be for my pupils

 

[Spiker]

That is awful news. :-(

There was a recent thread on here about T1 teachers and the problems that they face. You also do have some rights against disability discrimination at work, though they are limited, just a requirement for "reasonable consideration" I think.

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[ShellyC23]

Yes Addisons should be considered. I was diagnosed with it aged 19, and diagnosed with LADA in 2011 after a period of managing my diabetes with diet only. I often would have hypo type incidents if either my steroids were taken late or if I had been ill or under stress as in these instances I need to increase my steroids.


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[sheepareevil]

hmm, certainly something to consider. Well think I scared my GP this morning when speaking to him. I explained my symptoms and the fact that I had stopping taking my insulin with meals. When I then asked for a "fit note" for work so that they would stop pressuring me.
He was quite shocked when i explained that despite this I was still having Hypo's every 2-3 hours.

He then left the consultation room to talk with another of the GP's as she is diabetic herself. Don't think he realised that I could hear him through the door repeatedly stating that he "doesn't understand", and that he didn't know what to do/suggest. I have chosen to see the funny side as It could be quite worrying as he is the senior partner at my surgery.

I have decided to try and relax and use it as an excuse to do no housework and eat biscuits all day, at least until someone comes up with a better plan.

 

[Robinredbreast]

Hello, firstly I would like to pass on my sincere condolences for your loss.
Also your thread has brought back memories of two years ago. My daughters dad( she was 11) was very ill, I knew he was dying, but my daughter didn't know how serious it was. At the same time I started to become ill, with many symptoms and one of the symptoms was a sudden drop in BS. From work I went home for lunch, I ate and walked back( it takes 7 minutes). By the time I got into the shop and .started to work I felt low ( feeling awful), so I tested and in that very short time I had dropped to 2.3. and this happened again. Saw GP many times ( I thought I had an ulcer) and finally I was diagnosed with Coeliac disease. The villi in my stomach should be erect( upright) but in Coeliac they are flat( horizontal) and thus cannot absorb the nutrients from the food so basically I was giving myself Insulin virtually on an empty stomach!!
I do think the constant worry and stress over those 5 months before he died contributed to the Coeliac? because when we visited or a phone call came it had me on edge and distressed because of what our daughter would eventually have to be told.
It does sound like you have some underlying medical problem and I sincerely hope you can get a proper diagnosis soon with the correct treatment and medication. Please take care with my very best wishes.

 

[CarbsRok]

hmm, certainly something to consider. Well think I scared my GP this morning when speaking to him. I explained my symptoms and the fact that I had stopping taking my insulin with meals. When I then asked for a "fit note" for work so that they would stop pressuring me.
He was quite shocked when i explained that despite this I was still having Hypo's every 2-3 hours.

He then left the consultation room to talk with another of the GP's as she is diabetic herself. Don't think he realised that I could hear him through the door repeatedly stating that he "doesn't understand", and that he didn't know what to do/suggest. I have chosen to see the funny side as It could be quite worrying as he is the senior partner at my surgery.

I have decided to try and relax and use it as an excuse to do no housework and eat biscuits all day, at least until someone comes up with a better plan.

Did you actually ask him if there was a possibility that you might have Addison's disease? If you didn't you need to ask him directly as the condition is very rare only about 1 in 100.000 develop it so very few GP's ever see a case.

 

[Scoobyzoo]

Hi there, my daughter was diagnosed a T1 8 weeks ago on high blood sugar and thirst. In this time she has been taken off insulin due to daily hypos and told its a very extreme honeymoon period! A week after coming off insulin she struggles to keep her blood sugar over 4.0 and has at least 2 x hypo readings a day. Eats plenty of carbs but seems to drop her sugars after eating rather than increase them. She has been tested for Addison's it was negative.


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[Riri]

Hi - about three years ago I went through a similar period as you. Very stressful after my mum developed Alzheimer's and eventually died 12 months later. After this, and 13 years of being a fairly normal t1, my blood sugars reacted very much as you describe. I would drop from a bs of 10 to 3 in 20 minutes. They tested everything including cortisol levels but found nothing. In the end I did have to put it down to the stress I was under at the time. I was also referred for an insulin pump which helped as I'd developed such an anxiety over these low blood sugars and the way they seemed to happen so unexpectedly. Let's hope you get some answers soon.



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