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D.I.B. Syndrome.

  • Thread starter Thread starter catherinecherub
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catherinecherub

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A friend of mine with a 23 yr old Type 1 diabetic daughter recently lost her to possibly Dead in Bed syndrome. There are still investigations going on but this is a distinct possibilty she has been told. I thought I would see what I could find out about this and would urge all Type 1's to read up on it.

Hypoglycemia can change the electrical activity of the heart and it is thought that in susceptible individuals the change in electrical activity might cause lethal arrhythmias.

A study of 25 patients using CGM's and using electrocardiographic monitoring, found that cardio rhythm disturbances were occurring when the blood sugar was low.
The risk of D.I.B. syndrome cannot be excluded for anyone with Type 1 diabetes on tight control insulin programmes.
We often read on the forum about the dangers of hypoglycemic episodes and there are opposing views. This article might change some people's minds about the dangers.

http://www.diabetesmonitor.com/learning ... ndrome.htm
 
I have read through your link and there is no connection with the possibility of human insulin as she was on animal.
D.I.B. will not be shown on the death certificate as it is impossible to prove. Both links suggest tight controls may be part of the cause. There was nothing untoward that was diabetes related that happened to her that day.

This was a lovely girl, in the prime of her life. She took her diabetes seriously as did her parents. She was a keen sportswoman, swimming, hockey, running, adventure holidays and also loved ballroom dancing. Engaged to be married and loved by all who knew her. :( :(
 
I see from the link that DIB syndrome is linked to having diabetes and also a cardiac condition
Has anyone any experience of dealing with two issues in the same person ?
Any input appreciated.

thanks
Matt
 
How very sad it is to learn of someone dying so young and in the prime of her life, such a tragic case, and my condolences goes out to the family and friends who loved and adored this young lady.

I have heard about D.I.B syndrome, and I am sure this was discussed on the forum earlier last year, but in all honesty it is a subject that sends shivers down my spine. Whilst awake we can monitor and test for hypo's, but when sleeping we rely on our bodies to either wake us or to release glucose to counteract a hypo, so that self-control mechanism is lost during this time. As someone who tests around 10 times a day, I always ensure my levels are safe before bed, and should I wake in the early hours I always test again to be sure, I personally always prefer to be around 6, and if I wake and find I am in the 4's, I will eat a couple of gluco-tabs, always better to be sure.

I was reading a post on another diabetes forum recently, where someone suggested that the present advice about where hypo levels begin was rubbish, and said that having a blood glucose level of 4 was safe, and even dropping down to 3.5 wasn't dangerous even if you were on insulin! Needless to say these sort of posts do nothing to educate people of the dangers of hypoglycemia, this sort of advice is simply dangerous and inexcusable, posts like these should be removed and the person excluded from writing on diabetes forums again.

Therefore, for any new member who have been recently diagnosed, remember that a blood glucose reading of 4 is the start of a hypo, so do act upon this and take quick acting glucose.

Nigel
 
Hi

Yes i totally agree with what nigel said 4 is the start of a hypo and you have to react very quickly because from then on it seems to drop very quickly. If you can believe this going back 10 years when i fell pregnant with my daughter my G.P at the time told me that i should keep my sugar levels at 3.3 and being abit silly at the time thought his got to know what his talking about because his a doctor, but even a person without diabetes would feel abit light headed and shakey if there levels were that low.

Tracey167
 
catherinecherub said:
Hypoglycemia can change the electrical activity of the heart and it is thought that in susceptible individuals the change in electrical activity might cause lethal arrhythmias.
Click to expand...


Thats interesting Catherine, when I was diagnosed I got a call from the doctors to come and collect some drugs that would help to control it, I was prescribed metformin and told to take one every morning for a week and then increase it, nothing strange there.

I started on the met Friday AM and had a bad weekend, feeling light headed, dizzy and kind of not with it so my wife insisted that I went back to the docs on Monday. 3 times he tried to take my blood pressure and failed to get a reading he then tried to take my blood glucose level but the practices meter had a dead battery :roll:. At that point he said he thought I should go to A&E and give me a choc bar saying that if I felt 'funny' to eat it. I actually felt OK at this point :roll: :roll:

Arriving at A&E I was seen by the triage nurse who recorded my pulse at 188bpm and immediately sat me on a stretcher and wheeled me straight into the resuscitation unit!!!
It transpired that as well as a very fast pulse my two heart ventricles were beating out of step with each other and they were worried that I was about to suffer a heart attack.

The long and short of it was that I was given an injection that slowed/stopped my heart and returned it to a normal rhythm and beat. I was kept in for observation and seen by a proper diabetes nurse who put me straight on insulin as my bg was 29mmol/L. She put the supra ventricular tachycardia down to the high bg levels but the cardio consultant that came to see me was convinced that I had a heart problem and booked me in for all sorts of tests, echocardiogram, 24 hour ECG etc. All came back as normal :)

So I suspect a definite link between diabetes and arrhythmia.
 
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