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any tips for waking fully when having a hypo

Mep

Well-Known Member
Messages
1,461
Type of diabetes
Treatment type
Insulin
I was just pondering about this as I read something else about hypos on another site.

I miss some of my night time hypos when I get them simply because I either don't wake up or I half wake up during one and don't fully wake up. I know about it in the morning though as I always have the symptoms of hypo hangover and I remember I half woke up and I just simply dropped off back to sleep rather than get up and treat it. I do get up and treat at times of course. I do know the lower I go on my meter the longer it takes me to recover.

But what are your tips of getting yourself to fully wake up? I don't know if there is any? I guess if I had one of those trained dogs or something they'd just pester me to wake up. I really need to start testing when I am up at night for other reasons. But lately I've been so **** exhausted I don't even wake up during the night and wake up in pain in the morning with my other ailments.

Is it just me... or do others have issues with this and wonder how to fix?
 
Do you get them regularly? If you're on basal/bolus that suggests your Lantus basal is too high...

The only things I can suggest is http://hypoband.com/ or just set an alarm to check your blood sugar during the night. Usually if I get a hypo in the night I'm so pumped full of adrenaline it takes me a good hour to fall back to sleep. Make sure you have some fast acting carbs by the bed so you can just grab them if you need them.
 
I generally don't wake up to overnight hypos, unless I've a Dexcom sensor attached and the alarms set to make a racket. That's the only mechanism I've found.
 
Are you on a pump @tim2000s ? I'm on MDI. I don't know if I can get access to a CGM or something? Yes, I think the alarm may be the only thing I can think of as well. I just get a bit concerned about missing them because my endo and GP keep reminding me that the longer you have diabetes you face the risk of having your liver fail to dump glucose. I don't know how common that is, but they're always reminding me. It doesn't help... only so much I can do. I think my basal is Ok at the moment but I've been sick for weeks now so I don't know if I will have to adjust again soon.

@1abRat - yes I keep juice by my bed and usually grab that if I wake up. I probably need to set my alarm again to start doing the 3 am test. Lately I've not been having hypos thank goodness. I've had the opposite problem with high sugars because of infection. Today was a bad day with high numbers. I'm hoping my infection has gone... don't like high numbers as it usually indicates I've still got a problem.
 
Ugh, high sugars suck - so frustrating!

Something like a Dexcom G4 would be ideal because of the alarms. They do have a large initial cost though.

If price is too prohibitive you could look into a Freestyle Libre http://www.freestylelibre.com.au/

It doesn't have real time alarms unfortunately but you can see exactly what has happened during the night. Because it makes it easy to look at overall trends and patterns you're able to identify where things are misbehaving and adjust to suit.

I'd love a Dexcom in the future but for now the Libre is what I can afford and it's been a huge help.
 
When I used to hypo during the night, I would have to visit the loo and sort myself out from there, if I knew I was having one! Also it would probably be partnered by my weird dreams.
If I was really low, I would go down and make a cuppa and have something from the fridge low carb.
I also had to endure being awake from then on as I couldn't get back to sleep for quite a while.
I couldn't have anything on the bedside cabinet because it would be knocked off by my weird dream movement during them. So I would have to get up!

There are hypo bands, but dragging yourself out of bed was never a problem for me.
Bloody trips to the toilet every night! Grrrr!
 
Aye, but yours weren't induced by exogenous insulin, so your body had a better chance of reacting to it and fixing it via glucagon release. Under Exogenous insulin, the signalling is different and often times you simply don't wake up.
 
tim2000s said:
Aye, but yours weren't induced by exogenous insulin, so your body had a better chance of reacting to it and fixing it via glucagon release. Under Exogenous insulin, the signalling is different and often times you simply don't wake up.
Click to expand...

What do you mean by that? I hardly produce my own insulin and inject both bolus and basal. I have beta cell damage to my pancreas. I'm not on insulin by choice. I thought injected insulin is exogenous insulin?
 
oh oops sorry @tim2000s - I misread who that reply was directed to. Yes... I would think if you have your own insulin it isn't the same.
 
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