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Complications Of Hypo

A

azizdhl

Well-Known Member
Messages
64
hi guys

As I know there are many short and long term complication of high blood sugar in the diabetic person body but I never heard of low blood sugar complication, is there any long or short term for hypo?

And if there are what is the level of blood sugar that would cause the harm, is it bellow 80 or 60 or more?

Lastly how many years a person with a diabates would have a dangerous complication for high or low blood sugar, 20, 30 or more years?
 
Hello @azizdhl running low is not advisable for numerous reasons such as driving, affecting your ability to work, exercise and simply doing normal activities etc due to mental confusion. Running low is not advisable as it means your brain runs low in glucose and in rare cases this can be fatal, there are also links to cardiovascular disease too.

I haven’t come across any research which states how low or for how long as my team simply advise avoiding them at all costs, however as a type 1 diabetic this is an impossible task, so ensure you always carry a hypo treatment with you and next to your bed, treat with glucose first then test every 10 mins until you are above 4 mmol/l or in US money that’s above 72 and then treat with 10g of carb to avoid going low again, I find I am more likely to go low within 12 hours of a hypo too so take care to check and be prepared to treat again.
 
I believe some time ago, I read an article explaining that hypo kills brain cells.
As a result, many hypos can cause long term problems.
(Sorry can't find the article any more.)

I agree with @Juicyj when she says they should be avoided rather than working out how many is "safe" to have.

@azizdhl what is the reason for your question? Curiosity? Or are you planning to try to limit the number of hypos to a specific number?
 
http://diabetes.diabetesjournals.org/content/59/4/1055 Is an interesting paper where they did controlled experiments to find out the effects of hypoglycemia in rats and the effect it has on the brainm note is was in a controlled environment.

The interesting part of this is at the end of the paper "The results demonstrated that recurrent antecedent moderate hypoglycemia preconditioned the brain and protected it against neurological damage and cognitive defects induced by an episode of severe hypoglycemia"

However as pointed out Hypo's are not good espically when you are out or drving as quite often when having a really bad hypo the behaviour of the person can change and if those around you are unaware of this it can be very upsetting for them.
 

Plus there's the fact that hypos at their most severe result in death.....
 
EllieM said:
Plus there's the fact that hypos at their most severe result in death.....
Click to expand...

Very true, which I'm sure the OP is aware of however they did ask about the long term effects

Likewise very servere Hypers will also result in a shorter life span.
 
helensaramay said:
I believe some time ago, I read an article explaining that hypo kills brain cells.
As a result, many hypos can cause long term problems.
(Sorry can't find the article any more.)
Click to expand...

Let's be very clear here before publishing scare stories and the like. There is an almost international clinical agreement that until your glucose level is below roughly 54mg/dl / 3mmol/l, you are not suffering cognitive impairment. People with T1D generally get symptoms of hypoglycaemia at a higher glucose level than non-T1Ds due to their glucose levels on average being higher than non-T1Ds.

Below this, your cognitive function is reduced.

The research done on monkeys relating to Hypos shows that when you get down to very low levels (sub 18 mg/dl / 1mmol/l) then there is risk of loss of brain cells. Normally at this level you would also be unconscious.*

In addition, there have been no observed long term effects from normal hypoglycaemic episodes, indeed most studies are counter to this view:
The DCCT and EDIC studies showed no link between cognitive function and hypoglycaemia:



So I'd argue that at this stage, long term complications of hypoglycaemia have not been recognised, and we have plenty of data to look at.

*The image below demonstrates a view from the Journal of Clinical Investigation in 2007 of what happens in a non-T1D.

 
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@tim2000s that's really useful stuff mate especially the second image, so I have been around the 1.0 and may be lower mark a few times whilst on the old pre mixed insulin and still been able to treat myself and correct wasn't easy but I did manage it.
 

my cousin is having many hypo every week like three times a week ( 50 to 36 ) while he sleep and he was arguing with me that these hypos doesn't harm like blood increase according to his doctor
 

Type I for 38yrs. I continue to have reactions. I think it does effect the brain & memory. I have no short or long term memory. I have to write things down so I remember them. When I work, it has to be a repetitive learned behavior so I can remember the steps. I now have a CGM which helps but I went years having reactions where I sat for hours before anyone found me or scream myself to move & fall out of bed & work feverishly to my fridge. I have had over a thousand. But honestly, I prefer being low vs high. Most with high bs have all the complications (CAD, Nephropathy, etc). I feel my best at 50, but can still be lucid at 25. Love Levimer. I eat & drink whatever I want. 100lbs. Your brain depends on carbohydrates, it must have sugar to survive. I would rather have memory loss than all the other complications from running sugar.
 
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