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Anyone else have those rare horrific hypos that last hours?

C

Catsymoo

Well-Known Member
Messages
301
Location
Portsmouth, United Kingdom
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Insulin
Dislikes
Having diabetes
I am in the midst of one right now and I am in tears because it's 5:15AM and I want to sleep. It started at 2AM. I've had an entire litre of Apple juice, a whole pack of jelly babies and I've tried munching on bread for starch but I am so nauseous I am almost throwing up when I put anything more in my mouth. It should not take 200g of sugar to correct this. I also had dinner around 1AM so the last thing I wanna do is eat. I bolused pretty correctly. I'm getting scared because I will be sick if I eat or drink anything more which is gonna make me drop even lower.

I absolutely cannot stand these hypos. I'm constantly going up and down, I can't get above 6 so I can safely sleep. (I would rather be high at this point for peace of mind). I've felt like I'm dying for the last 3 hours, shivering and shaking, sitting next to the toilet, etc. I get up to 5 and then it starts to go down again and I'm still feeling super low.

At what point do you dial 999 and ask for a shot of glucose? I don't want to waste their time but I also don't want to fall asleep and not wake up. I should really keep one in the house but no nurse or GP has ever prescribed me one.
 
No suggestions just bumping you up. X
 
@Catsymoo

It sounds like your levels of insulin are too high. If you are below 3.9 you are in a hypo state, and if you can't get control of it you should definitely call for help, and let the medics get you stable again. If you have taken on a huge amount of QA sugar such as a bag of jelly babies without any change, then something is badly out of sync and needs monitored correction.
 
How awful for you @Catsymoo , hopefully by now your bg levels have stabilised and your catching up with some sleep.

Wonder if it was possible that you'd mistakenly given your basal or bolus dose twice and this is the reason why your bg was dropping so fast, I once injected my basal insulin twice and had an awful time keeping my levels up, it's easy done believe me............
 
I think what has happened to me is to due with the fact I have weird insulin resistance since Christmas when I was on steroids for 4 days. Ever since then my doses have tripled. I think they're slowly weaning down but I still need about 20 units of bolus for a standard meal with a few carbs. (Up from about 7-8) I am OK now. I feel awful but my BG is about 13 now, and never thought I would say I'm really happy it's high so I can sleep without it crashing.

I don't have these types of hypos often, but they are awful. Normally it's just munch some jelly babies or a cereal bar and I'm fine after 15 mins. I had a couple like this last October when I drank so much Lucozade I was vomiting. They would often occur at night.

I definitely didn't dose twice, for sure. I was working during my basal time so I know I only did that once, then bolused when I came in while I was cooking. I think my body just randomly decided to be sensitive to insulin last night... Come to think of it, all day yesterday my levels were lower than usual!

Thank you guys for all your advice and support, it means so much.
 
Thank goodness you are feeling a bit better this morning!
Take it easy, eh? A night like that is hard, and takes a while to properly recover from.

Can you make an appt and get a prescription for the treatment injection?
 
I am going to get a glucose/glucogen kit since hypos like that I really need it. There comes a point where you may be conscious and coherent, but physically you can't get any more sugar down you which is dangerous in my opinion.

I'm so sad today now because I am so exhausted I can't get out of bed, I've slept maybe an hour. And my boyfriend and I were supposed to be going out for the day today. I feel so guilty and angry at myself. :(
 
Catsymoo said:
I am going to get a glucose/glucogen kit since hypos like that I really need it. There comes a point where you may be conscious and coherent, but physically you can't get any more sugar down you which is dangerous in my opinion.

I'm so sad today now because I am so exhausted I can't get out of bed, I've slept maybe an hour. And my boyfriend and I were supposed to be going out for the day today. I feel so guilty and angry at myself. :(
Click to expand...

Hey @Catsymoo Please do not feel guilty, after a night like this it's easy for you to feel down, so try to ignore these negative feelings. My advice is to contact your DSN asap and review this incident with them, you need some support and reassurance that there won't be a repeat episode of this, i've had similar but not so bad and it helps to have a rational brain to work through this with so speaking to your DSN will allow you the chance to see if you can pinpoint exactly why it occurred and if it's a case of adjusting say your bolus ratio at night or reviewing your basal insulin, whatever the outcome you can at least get some support. Hope you're feeling better soon :)
 
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