Hi, I've just joined. I have just had my yearly MOT and I asked some questions and got the reply, "Ask next time." So, they did not know! Useless diabetic nurse.. I am a type 1 diabetic and I keep my sugars running too high because I fear people seeing me have a hype, especially my children. I have a child with autistic problems and I cannot afford to be ill. He now has fainting spells with the mention of needles and the doctor said this fear of needles is his trigger. I thought I had kept it from him, I do play it down as the condition runs in families. I have three questions as I need to make more of an effort to bring my sugars down. 1. Just before lunch today I had a hypo so I ate two digestives and waited then ate my lunch. I felt it was too soon to inject and I still felt nervy and shaky and confused, and these are some of my hypo symptoms. How long would anybody else wait to inject out there? Question 2 I told the diabetic nurse today that my night time insulin burns and stings and so I tend to put it off and eventually do it. Anyone else had this and did you change to a better slow acting insulin and if so what was it. I asked her and she did not know! Again, useless!! Question 3 Has anybody done the DAPHNE course at the hospital as I have been on a waiting list for over a year and wonder if it is still worth reminding them about? I did ask again this morning and she said, "remind me next time as I don't know about it, I am new." she should have added useless! I have never joined one of these sites before and I have been diabetic 10 years now and need to do better. Thanks if you can help. :mrgreen:
Type 1 Diabetic hypo HELP
- Thread starter himum
- Start Date
Hi himum. (that's a tongue twister ??) 
Welcome to the forum.
Have a good look around and ask questions. I am sure their will be some T1's around soon to offer advice.
Ken.
Welcome to the forum.
Have a good look around and ask questions. I am sure their will be some T1's around soon to offer advice.
Ken.
himum said:
Hello
Reading your message; I did really feel for you abit and understand how you feel about not having a hypo because of your children. However, as you have now been diabetic for 10 years, complications will probably start to manifest if you are not controlling your bg levels all that well. As awful as it might sound, try to make friends with your bg meter and do about 6-7 tests a day. I too used to have hypos that needed my OH to sort me out. It was only when he got a job and was on the phone 3 times a day asking me if I was ok that I decided to up my bg tests from 4 a day to 6 and you will be amazed on what you can learn. I experimented a bit and altered my carb intake to suit what my bg levels were and what I wanted them to be 2.5hrs later. This more or less improved my control no end. I do though eat about 6 times a day but use smaller amounts of carb depending on what my bg levels are.
I would say that if you are low before you do a bolus, then eat and wait about 20 mins before injecting. Probably eating 1 biscuit would be ok to raise you up as long as you weren't down on 2 (needing some lucozade) and then your lunch.
Regarding your nightime insulin (is it Lantus?) if you inject into your backside area, the insulin will only sting a tiny bit. Also pushing the pen plunger down slowly helps. The other background insulin to ask about is Levemir which works a bit slower, doesn't sting and might help in preventing some of the hypos. It usually needs to be used twice a day though.
As for DAFNE, I've not done the course but hopefully others on the forum will post their experiences.
If I were you I would phone your clinic and ask about the DAFNE course again - it would be the best place to get your questions answered. I know that some areas it can take a while to get on the course - I was pushy and got on it within the year bit I was on it with people who had been type one for years. It is very useful because you get other peoples real experiences as well as the DSN / dieticians "what you should do" type answers.
Re your first question I was told to treat the hypo with fast acting (ie dextro) about 15 cho - the test again after 10-15 mins if over 4 then either eat your meal if you are about to eat or have some slow acting ie your biscuits. I would inject at that point but only to cover the carbs in the meal. Insulin usually takes a while it get in yourt system (it takes about 3 housr for me but most people it is 1-2 hours) so it should not send you into hypo again or make you feel any worse than if you had not done it and just eaten.
Re the Lantus - I have found it can sting. DSN said not to use it straight from the fridge as this can make it worse ie use at room temp remembering that it only lasts about 1 month out of the fridge. I usually get a new one out when my existing one looks low. Also you may find switching pen helps, myself and another lady from my DAFNE course switched to AUTOPEN 24 (I was previously using a solostar disposable) and we both commented how much better it was with this pen. This is another good thing about the DAFNE courses you learn what other BG meters / pens and methods there are and can try and find something that may suit you better - it is not just carb counting.
HTH
Louise
Re your first question I was told to treat the hypo with fast acting (ie dextro) about 15 cho - the test again after 10-15 mins if over 4 then either eat your meal if you are about to eat or have some slow acting ie your biscuits. I would inject at that point but only to cover the carbs in the meal. Insulin usually takes a while it get in yourt system (it takes about 3 housr for me but most people it is 1-2 hours) so it should not send you into hypo again or make you feel any worse than if you had not done it and just eaten.
Re the Lantus - I have found it can sting. DSN said not to use it straight from the fridge as this can make it worse ie use at room temp remembering that it only lasts about 1 month out of the fridge. I usually get a new one out when my existing one looks low. Also you may find switching pen helps, myself and another lady from my DAFNE course switched to AUTOPEN 24 (I was previously using a solostar disposable) and we both commented how much better it was with this pen. This is another good thing about the DAFNE courses you learn what other BG meters / pens and methods there are and can try and find something that may suit you better - it is not just carb counting.
HTH
Louise
LittleSue
Well-Known Member
- Messages
- 647
- Type of diabetes
- Type 1
- Treatment type
- Pump
I think DAFNE will help you a lot. Since doing DAFNE I find hypos are far milder, more 'slightly low' than hypo enough to need help from, or be scary to, other people. They'll show you how to set your basal so it keeps you stable, which in itself reduces the risk of hypo because it doesn't matter if meals are delayed. You'll also learn exactly how much you need to treat a hypo, avoiding over-treating and then going high. It really puts you in control.
As a side-effect, you'll be able to chat away about ratios, CPs, QA, BI etc and that hopeless nurse won't have a clue what you're on about. I'm sure my practice nurse can't even identify which numbers in my book are the blood sugar readings. :lol:
As a side-effect, you'll be able to chat away about ratios, CPs, QA, BI etc and that hopeless nurse won't have a clue what you're on about. I'm sure my practice nurse can't even identify which numbers in my book are the blood sugar readings. :lol:
jopar
Well-Known Member
- Messages
- 2,222
To your hypo question
You might get a better experience if you change tactics a bit, and change the method of used to counter act a hypo, the problem with using foods such as a biscute or chocolate is the fat content tends to slow the asorbtion down, and your BG's properly dip a bit before they come back up to normal so this can effect how long it takes to recover from the side effects..I would try some fast acting carbs, such as jelly babies (4 or 5) or luccozae or gluctabs...
As to injecting when in this situation, I will wait untill the end of my meal then inject..
As to the DAFNE course, yes it is worth the wait, as you learn so much not only about the carb insulin side of it... But all the other factors about control and how it may affect control tips on tackling this... I don't only highly reccomend it, but see it as a must for a diabetic
You could ask to change to Levimer, as this has a slight different PH balance to it, and most people find that it doesn't sting when injecting... It doesn't have to be injected twice daily, but a high percentage of people find that because it lends itself to spiltting a lot better than Lantus, that they can get better control of the Basal (background) levels a lot better...
It seems that some of your problems might be caused by the timing of the background insulin, as all background insulin is a timed injection and should really be taken as timed, as constantly changing the timing can effect its effectivness...
If your son is having problems and fainting fits at the mention of needles etc, perhaps getting the professionals to help with a disencitation of his fear might be helpfull, but if this is going to be a major problem for you and your son, perhaps considering insulin pump therapy might have help, as he would have to deal with injections or mention of needles.. The pump would also help in your control and over come your fear of hypos as well
You might get a better experience if you change tactics a bit, and change the method of used to counter act a hypo, the problem with using foods such as a biscute or chocolate is the fat content tends to slow the asorbtion down, and your BG's properly dip a bit before they come back up to normal so this can effect how long it takes to recover from the side effects..I would try some fast acting carbs, such as jelly babies (4 or 5) or luccozae or gluctabs...
As to injecting when in this situation, I will wait untill the end of my meal then inject..
As to the DAFNE course, yes it is worth the wait, as you learn so much not only about the carb insulin side of it... But all the other factors about control and how it may affect control tips on tackling this... I don't only highly reccomend it, but see it as a must for a diabetic
You could ask to change to Levimer, as this has a slight different PH balance to it, and most people find that it doesn't sting when injecting... It doesn't have to be injected twice daily, but a high percentage of people find that because it lends itself to spiltting a lot better than Lantus, that they can get better control of the Basal (background) levels a lot better...
It seems that some of your problems might be caused by the timing of the background insulin, as all background insulin is a timed injection and should really be taken as timed, as constantly changing the timing can effect its effectivness...
If your son is having problems and fainting fits at the mention of needles etc, perhaps getting the professionals to help with a disencitation of his fear might be helpfull, but if this is going to be a major problem for you and your son, perhaps considering insulin pump therapy might have help, as he would have to deal with injections or mention of needles.. The pump would also help in your control and over come your fear of hypos as well
Thanks for replying. It helped me and I have now been asked to go on The Daphne course and am going in two weeks time. I hope it helps and many of you have said it would. Really this help should have been available when I first became Diabetic. Better late than never though. Love Becky
himum said:
hi there, i'm new here and really felt for you reading your post as i completely understand how you feel. i think fear though comes a lot from not knowing and it is important that you try and establish what foods do what to your bs levels. testing regularly will help while you work that out. to treat a hypo i always have a carton of orange juice (counts as one of your five a day!). i always test first to see how bad the hypo is and to make sure i eat enough to treat it. if it's bad, then two biscuits may not be enough. orange juice will get into your blood quickly and provided you have treated your hypo sufficiently you should be ok then to have a biscuit or something and then eat up to an hour later as usual.
i keep a diary of what i eat so i get used to knowing what i can and can't eat and when i can eat it. i try to control my blood with food as much as possible. for example if i was running low but wasn't due to eat for an hour i'd have an apple. this works for me. if i ate a bananna it would send my bs really high and then i'd have to adjust with insulin when i ate and i don't want to do that.
it must be very hard managing all this but if you can try these things until you get on the dafne course then it might help. i'm waiting to get on the course and understand it's about a 2 year wait from diagnosis but you should chase it up and try and get on.
keep us posted.
x
i keep a diary of what i eat so i get used to knowing what i can and can't eat and when i can eat it. i try to control my blood with food as much as possible. for example if i was running low but wasn't due to eat for an hour i'd have an apple. this works for me. if i ate a bananna it would send my bs really high and then i'd have to adjust with insulin when i ate and i don't want to do that.
it must be very hard managing all this but if you can try these things until you get on the dafne course then it might help. i'm waiting to get on the course and understand it's about a 2 year wait from diagnosis but you should chase it up and try and get on.
keep us posted.
x
