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constant hypos

B

baz2107

Active Member
Messages
32
Type of diabetes
Type 1
I was diagnosed with type 1 on the 6th August, having suffered weight loss, fatigue, constant thirst and was put straight onto insulin as my reading was 16.2 after a fasting blood test, then a reading of 18.5 at the clinic when diagnosed (non fasting) I am a 29 year old male

I was put onto Apidra, 4 breakfast, 4 lunch, 6 evening and then 10 Lantus. Having had several hypos I was then reduced to 2,4,3,6 after just 4 days, and since went to 1,2,3,5 (except for on days when I play football where they said not to have morning insulin for a Sunday morning game, and not to have evening insulin after evening training on a Thursday-the hypos reduced to roughly every other day and I then had lantus cut to 4 units back on the 23rd August. The aim was to get my blood sugar between 6 and 8 for the time being to eliminate possibility of hypos as they believed I was going through honeymoon period and my body is still producing some insulin, so would rather I was slightly high rather than low

After this I didn't have another hypo until Saturday 31st (8 days) but then had 1 first thing, 1 mid morning and then another late afternoon-the last 1 I could explain as I was at A and E with my 10 month old daughter and didn't snack or drink for several hours, however the other 2 were unexplained, I then had 2 more on Sunday (1st and last thing) followed by 2 yesterday (mid morning and last thing)

The clinic has now had my lantus taken out completely and also advised a thyroid function test for next week (although my one in early august was clear) this morning woke at 7.5, and did a mid morning test which was 7.6 (as I wanted to see the effect)

Has anyone else had similar when first diagnosed and have any advice, the injecting doesn't bother me really but I am worried about going too high and whether I still need to skip Apidra when playing football whilst not taking Lantus as that could mean as little as 3 units of insulin a day
 
Hello Baz2107,

Sorry to hear of your diagnosis and plight... it sounds as though you're still in the 'honeymoon' period - your body may still be producing its own insulin, hence the low insulin dosage and hypos.

However, as I'm an old-timer (37 years this Halloween), I'm not best placed to respond, but have done so in the hope that others with more recent diagnosis and similar circumstance will do so... there are so many new posts that they can get 'lost'.

One piece of advice: buy and always carry a supply of fast-acting glucose: Dextrose, GlucoTabs, Lucozade tablets / drink are prime examples. Any good chemist will sell a range.

If you discover that you are going hypo, take 5 Dextrose or similar (i.e. 20grammes of glucose) and drink some water - this should combat the hypo, but if you're still below 4.5mmol 15 minutes later, take another 20g.

There are lots of hints and tips about hypo management on this site; do check it out.

Best wishes - and good luck.

Conrad
 
Hi baz,

I was diagnosed with slow onset type 1 diabetes in december and my consultant wont put me on to insulin because of the trouble ur currently facing. He says my levels are not high enuff to go onto insulin and it would result in me having too many hypos. They were high enough at diagnosis and I even had ketones but he wanted me to try tablets and diet first and at the moment im ok with those as im still producing some insulin myself.

Ur gp obviously took a different course of action and put u straight onto insulin. If the hypos continue I would maybe ask ur gp to do a c-peptide blood test to find out if ur producing insulin and how much. This might lead to him reviewing ur current treatment. It might not but at least its a little bit more knowledge :-)

Sent from the Diabetes Forum App
 
Thanks Elaine

The diabetic clinic I go to said to go straight onto Insulin at start as my levels were high and Ketones were present. I have just had another hypo (first since stopping the Lantus) and called them and they have now reduced me to 1,1,1 units of Apidra, they want me to check at the weekend but unless levels go through the roof they are going to stop Apidra all together for time being until my levels get too high which she says could be months or could even be years.
 
Yep that sounds just like me. I would still ask for the blood tests done though just to get a better overall picture insteadv constantly worrying ur guna go massively high at any moment - it might make u feel a bit better seeing how much insulin ur producing urself. I find metformin and a low GI diet is good enough for my beta cells to cope with at the moment....until more are killed obviously :-(

Sent from the Diabetes Forum App
 
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