Blood Glucose at 5 - Hypo?

[EveryCloud]

Woke up today and checked my blood and it was at 10.5, no surprise, I had been struggling with this since starting on Metformin. I had my toast in the morning and I had an egg and some mushrooms for lunch. I decided I was going to have a clear out and started filling bin bags. I started feeling dizzy and my heart was racing. I had to go and lay on my bed for 20 minutes until I felt 'normal' again. after it was over I checked my blood and it was a solid 5. I was delighted! It is the lowest it has been, but what I am asking is even though it never dropped under 4, could the fact that I was physically active and my BG had dropped. Would that bring about these symptoms? I am kind of assuming that because my body was used to my BG being high it might give me hypo-like symptoms? Still getting used to all the weird sensations that seem to be all related to BG - still feel a little shaky now.

 

[jack412]

BG from 3.5 and up is normal people's BG ..as you said it was your first 5, to me it sounds like your body isn't use to 5's and had what is called a false hypo
I've had low 3's, I wasn't eating properly. just metformin is unlikely to have a real hypo, but it can happen

 

[Sancho panza]

Hi everycloud
Yes I believe that if you have had high numbers consitantly your body needs time to adjust to the new lower levels I think it's called a false hypo.




Ha jack beat me to it lol

 

[EveryCloud]

Thanks. It gave me quite a fright. I think I might have to go for a nap. Obviously the Metformin is working, That is me on 2 a day I have to gradually work up to 4.

 

[Brunneria]

Hi, as I understand it, you get 'false hypos' for two reasons.

The first is, as others have said, if your BG has been running high, and takes a step down.
The second is if your BG drops sharply, due to something like exercise, leaving you with suddenly lower than usual BG.

Sounds like both of these may have happened with you.

You can get hypo symptoms (which can be very unpleasant) even if your BG stays above 5.

You can also not get hypo symptoms at lower than 4 (non diabetics often go under 4 with no problems at all).

Personally, I dislike the term 'false hypo' because it suggests that the experience isn't genuine.
I much prefer a phrase I have seen used in American terminology; 'relative hypoglycaemia' which actually describes it much better.

 

[Nyxks]

5 is a great number but ya if you are not use to normal numbers then ya your body will make you think your lower then you really are because its not use to it, but the closer to normal you get the better for your body.

I know I was becoming unaware of going low (mmol 2 range) so I had to run myself high for almost a week just so I can feel that I'm gong low when I hit anything around 4 or slightly under - but its not perfect, went for a walk yesterday left the house at 7 got home and was at 2.7 was a little weak in the knee but that was about the only symptom I had = not pleased/happy since we actually had planned on going for a longer walk to get our 10k of steps in but because i'd forgotten something we'd gone home to get it (good thing we did as well).

 

[andcol]

Don't worry you will be used to a 5 by the time your get your first 4 Well done and keep the exercise up as it really can drop my levels by 4 mmol in about 15 mins. Additionally the effect lasts most of the day from a simple 20 minute brisk walk.

You could try a simple experiment and do some exercise just prior to going to bed and see if your fasting number is different the next morning.