How To Know A Hypo Is Starting

[grandad]

I wonder if someone could tell me how to know symptoms of a Hypo starting or is it different for everyone. I have been Type 2 diabetic for 9 years the first 5yrs.diet only then Metformin , in April 2008 sitagliptin was added it didnt help so in march this year the sitagliptin was stopped and I was started on insulin (novamix 30) I think I must be lucky not having a hypo my lowest BS recorded was 4.4 mols. I would be very grateful if someone could help me with my fears of having a hypo.
Like being new to insulin I am Quite new to this forum.

Regards to All

George

 

[timewarp]

Hi

For me - I start to get feeling of hypo 4.3 and below, I shake, sweat, feel cold and drowsy/fatigued and want to eat BIG style anything sweet...sometimes I even have trouble speaking :shock:

Takes me 10-30mins to get back to normal and then I feel quite drained


Hope this helps :mrgreen:


I am type 2 btw

 

[hanadr]

I'm T2 and almost never get hypo, because i only use metformin, which doesn't cause it, but last week in the hot weather, I did twice. I thought the first time i had postural hypotension, which I suffer from. ( a fuzzy swimmy head on straightening up) I'd been bent over gardening. I checked BG 3.8. It happened again the next day, so I recognised it. 3.2 that time. Symptom was just a tired feeling and a swimming head.

 

[grandad]

Timewarp & Hanadr
Thankyou very much for sharing what happens when having a hypo the only thing Diabetes Consultant told me that my hands would sweat not much to go on. Thats why I would rather find out from someone who has experienced a Hypo
Thankyou Again

George

 

[sandymaynard]

Hi Grandad
i find my first signs of a hypo are the following in order that they ahppen
1) feel a little dizzy
2) start feeling shaky
3)hands feeling sweaty
4) full on sweats
5) sometimes like everything is moving
6) confusion
I usually get these from when i start dropping below 4.
At 4.5 to 4 i get the feeling like my whole bosy is shaking!
Through the good people here, I know carry my blood testing machine with me! And i have glucose tabs in the car with me at all times!
This is how i know a hypo is coming on!
I hope this helps in some ways
Sandy

 

[grandad]

Hi sandymaynard

Thank you for telling me how hypos affect you, I was given Gluco Tabs by my Diabetes Nurse I carry them with me all the times. The only information on hypos I got from the consultant was sweaty hands.

Thankyou very much

George

 

[sandymaynard]

Hi Grandad
That is where i am lucky
My Gp she talked me through hypo's and everything to watch out for! She has informed me and these last few months I have slowly learnt how to watch for the signs myself,
I have given my friends and family a list to watch out for! So they can spot one if i don't!
I hope the info helped you!
Once you learn the signs they are easier to deal with!
Sandy

 

[sandiegirl]

Hi George,

I have had a few hypos - I am on tablets and insulin - and they have always been when my levels have dropped to 3.1/3.0. On each occasion I can only desribe it as if I am putting on a very wet, cold, slimy wetsuit , starting at my toes and pulling it up my body. Luckily I have been able to correct it very quickly with either lucozade or glucotabs. I then ensure I follow this up with a proper snack/meal.

I dont seem to have any problems until my levels drop to the low 3's - I am quite often in the 4's with no side effects whatsover so I presume we are all different at what levels we are affected at.

Take care,
Sandie

 

[iHs]

Hello Grandad

As you have only just recently started using insulin you should have fairly good hypo awareness when your bg levels drop but this can change if you acidentally inject too much insulin or do any excercise or indeed find that your bg levels drop in very hot weather due to blood vessels dilating and insulin being used up at a fast rate. In these cases, your bg levels can literally drop like a stone meaning you can be ok one minute and then 20 mins later you are having a hypo.

Hypo awareness signals don't always go in stages; they can be much more subtle and you will at times just get a feeling of 'strangeness' to begin with and then as the feeling progresses get disorientated and have difficulty with concentration. I used to feel as though the pavement was going to come up and hit me Not nice.

It's best to quickly take some glucose tabs or sweets and not think I'll eat something in a minute as hypos can very quickly overcome you.

 

[chris1977]

As 'sandymaynard' mentioned most of the points, that pretty much covers it.

Hypos start at varying levels, I find symptoms start more noticably if the blood sugar level drops rapidly. If it's a gradual decline I can feel ok down to 3 or below.

Crazy hunger really kicks in when it gets to 2 or below somtimes.

I woke up this morning with a blood sugar of 1.3 , It was high last night as if my insulin didn't absorb into the body properly before I had dinner, only happens once in a while and my blood sugar hit 17.4 at 2am last night, it was 4.2 at 18:30 yesterday. Ate a moderate amount of brown pasta and a few digestives, so that made no sense, might be because I injected slightly outside the recommended injection zones. Had that happen 4 weeks ago. Sort of overdosed on insulin to get it back down, I knew I should of ate a digestive or drank a glass of milk to balance it off. It was the extra 6 units of novorapid I took at 06:30, I guessed I needed more insulin but didn't test at that time.

That's a severe yo-yo effect that you don't want to often.

Hopefully you won't have anything as drastically low as that. Either way hypos don't feel all that great.

So I guess you may find out at somepoint how your body reacts to hypos. Just stay in as much control as possible, guess work on insulin doseage gave me one this morning, stupid me, doh!

 

[Dennis]

Hi Grandad,

Sandy has covered all the main points very well, but just one other symptom not yet mentioned. People becoming hypo can without warning become very irritable and snap at someone for no apparent reason.

 

[grandad]

Hi everyone
Thank you all for all the information on having a hypo this should help me understand when I have my first hypo. I have put lucozade, mars bar, richtea & test meter kit in the car.

Iam very grateful to all that explained how hypos affect them this will let me know if I have any of the symptoms I will know what to expect.

Thank you Again

George

 

[manxangel]

i find the very first sign is a tingle around my mouth,its almost like i am about to bite my tongue at any second, then a strange light feeling in my chest. then the usual, confusion dizzy, unable to concentrate, sweats etc.

it's different for every person but i find it helps to know what other ppl get as i had a tinlgeing mouth for a while but never twigged that it was a hypo symptom until i read someone else post about it.

 

[Dennis]

Hi George,

I suggest that you regard the Mars bar as a treat rather than a hypo treatment. With a hypo you need to raise your blood sugar very quickly, but the fat in chocolate slows down the absorbtion of the sugar, so chocolate is not a good hypo treatment.

 

[John506]

I feel an emptyness, go weak at the knees and my legs feel a bit like jelly, then its followed by shaking hands and a sweaty forehead and back. If left too long without getting some sugar I feel dizzy like I'm going to faint!

 

[gbtyke]

I suggest that you regard the Mars bar as a treat rather than a hypo treatment. With a hypo you need to raise your blood sugar very quickly, but the fat in chocolate slows down the absorbtion of the sugar, so chocolate is not a good hypo treatment.

Also it is going to be warm this weekend and that Mars bar in the car will become one big mess.

I should eat it now.

(I've had one in the fridge since first diagnosis)

 

[phoenix]

I agree that a mars bar isn't a good choice, but anecdotally a lot of people use it. :?
I looked it up and found its actually got a GI of 62, the same as table sugar. Its not so long ago that diabetics were told to carry lumps of sugar with them. With a Mars bar though, you're far more likely to eat a whole bar, eating far too many carbs and ending up with hyperglycemia and having to take insulin to bring it down. A dangerous yoyo.

Standard treatment is to take 15gms of very fast carbs (dextrose, lucozade, with glycemic indices of over 90) wait 15 minutes and then test again. If BS not rising re-treat. If its a long time to your next meal and you are going to be fairly active you may need to eat a small snack of low gi carbs (such as a small appple, yoghurt or low gi cereal bar)
Personally (and we're all different)I find 15gms too much and for levels in the 3s would only take 8-10.

 

[iHs]

Hi Everyone

Although the correct procedure for dealing with a hypo is to use glucose tablets, they taste absolutely awful so I can't recommend them being used on someone who has become a bit argumentative that they feel ok when in actual fact they are just really embarrassed that they have been caught out and have gone a whiter shade of pale

Chocolate is liked by most people and works fairly well in bringing low bg levels up. I eat a funsize Bounty and Mars Bar the other day cos I felt so flaked out. They took only a few mins to work. The fact that I enjoyed eating them also helped. If I had used glucose tablets, it would have taken me a while to eat them so defeats the object really.