Thoughts on treating a hypo after a meal please?

[CMichael]

Hello, I'm researching an article on treating hypos that occur within two to three hours of a meal. I've read that treating a hypo when you are still feeling full is difficult. Is this right and if so, why is it difficult? Is it just not feeling like eating when you're not hungry, or is it more to do with not knowing how much carbohydrate to take when you might still be digesting your last meal?
Many thanks for any help!

 

[Lazybones]

At first when I read your posting I was confused as to why someone would go hypo after eating a meal and what your question is actually about.
The process of eating a meal (carbohydrates in the meal) will result in the blood glucose levels rising as a result of the carbohydrate being broken down into glucose that is then absorbed through the intestine into the bloodstream. The action of Insulin is to assist the take up of this glucose into the bodies cells and too much insulin can result in a drop in B/G levels to such that it then becomes too low (Hypo).
This is why a Type 1 needs to carefully balance what they eat as carbohydrates in their meal, with what Insulin they inject so that the balance is safely maintained.
Sometimes in the case of a Type 1 and 2, there is another effect commonly referred to as Reactive Hypoglycaemia, where after having eaten a heavy carbohydrate loaded meal (High GI/GL Loading) there is a delayed response where the Insulin available will over compensate and cause a rapid drop in B/G levels to below what was the initial B/G level prior to the meal being consumed.

I hope that this helps. though I'm still puzzled as to what you are actually asking.

 

[CMichael]

Many thanks for coming back to me! That's really helpful. My article is about when it might be a good idea to do a blood glucose test after as well as before a meal. As you say, this could be to check whether there is a mismatch between the insulin dose and amount of carbs eaten. Having regular hypos fairly soon after eating could mean the insulin regime might need tweaking. Does this make sense? Do you ever test after meals? And if you did have a hypo after a meal, would you treat it any differently from a hypo at any other time - for example, would you be concerned that you might still be digesting your last meal and that a carb boost might send your glucose too high?
I'm not going to quote you or anything - this is just for background, and I'm very grateful!

 

[Lazybones]

Alcohol and Fat within a meal is known to slow down the uptake of glucose. In the event of a serious Hypo there are a number of products available some simple sugar sweets to injecting directly into the bloodstream (hormone trigger) that stimulate the body into releasing stored glucose (Glycogen comes to mind).
I'm a Type 2 and we Type 2's don't generally suffer too much in regard to Hypo's but I dare say someone on here can help fill in the missing gaps and supply the info.

Best wishes Lazybones

 

[Lamont D]

The idea of getting your insulin right in T1s is part of the education for those T1s who have hypos.
The idea of having a hypo so soon after eating is very unusual. The natural bodies response especially with injecting is something that is not recommended.
T2s who have hypos, usually occur because of medication or exercise or being unwell or not eating but again unusual.

In most cases the hypo is treated by glucose either In tablet form or injection in emergencies. Patients carry jelly babies. Etc.

I have a condition called Reactive Hypoglycaemia. I flush insulin.
Reactive Hypoglycaemia is a non diabetic condition. Though a diabetic form of Hypoglycaemia does exist.
The way to treat these hypos is not to go hypo in the first place. If you do, a very low carb meal is suggested, as a glucose intervention would only cause more hypos.
The timing doesn't matter.
The testing of blood glucose levels does.
We recommend testing before eating and two hours later. This creates a baseline to determine what foods effect your blood glucose levels. If you are above 2mmols after eating , then it is recommended to eat less of that particular food or stop eating it altogether.

Hope this helps

 

[noblehead]

The idea of getting your insulin right in T1s is part of the education for those T1s who have hypos.
The idea of having a hypo so soon after eating is very unusual. The natural bodies response especially with injecting is something that is not recommended.

No that's not true nosher to say its very unusual to have postprandial hypo's, there are number of reasonsn why someone may go hypo, for example mis-calculating the carbs in the food, unplanned exercise/activity, fat delaying the absorption of the meal, injection site problems where there's a delay in the insulin being absorbed, injecting twice (yes this does happen) to name a few.

@CMichael, when the stomach is full and you need to get glucose into your system quick I was told that fizzy drinks (as in Coke or Lucozade) works fastest as the carbonated drink helps speed-up the digestion of the food, don't know if this is true or not, however I had a close call last year when my bg was falling fast after eating so drank a party size can of Coke and it did the trick, but then again I've eaten Jelly Babies and they've worked the same so any form of glucose is good.

I'm a type 1 btw.

 

[Lamont D]

I was implying it was intentional hypos, not because of the condition.
I'm not T1, so I shouldn't have tried to be clever!!!

Post prandial hypos across the board, a symptom of diabetes as a whole??

 

[noblehead]

I was implying it was intentional hypos, not because of the condition.
I'm not T1, so I shouldn't have tried to be clever!!!

Post prandial hypos across the board, a symptom of diabetes as a whole??

I wouldn't expect any type 1 intentionally goes hypo Nosher, they are something we all try to avoid but can never avoid them completely.

 

[Lamont D]

That's what I thought! Thanks mate.
I still don't get what she was after. She clearly doesn't understand the differences of the diabetes family of conditions and why hypos and what you do for them. That's normal medical practice, and available on the interweb anywhere.

Unless your weird like me??

 

[CMichael]

Thank you very much for your help everyone. Noblehead, that's exactly what I was getting at - the reasons why you might have a post-meal hypo and the best ways to treat it when your stomach is full (I should have said, my article is aimed at insulin users only. Reactive hypoglycaemia might be a topic for another article Nosher!) ). I'd like to think I do understand a bit about diabetes but I like to check what I read with people who know – hence posting here. I'm sure you would all approve of that. Thanks again.

 

[donnellysdogs]

Makes no difference at all to me .... Besides being annoying to go low after a meal because it means I have my bolus ratio wrong or I mis guestimated my meal.
Personally if I were you I would get a different angle... If we're hypo we have to treat-full stop. To me who really struggles to eat meals I know that I have to hypo treat no matter when...

 

[copepod]

If your stomach is full, it's obvious that it might be easy to tolerate solid sweets / sugar etc, rather than sugary drink such as Lucozade. But if you're hypo, you have to get sugar into yourself regardless of tastes.