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Do Type 2 diabetics have hypos or not?

C

Carol-P

Member
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24
Hi all,
I noticed someone said yesterday (or maybe the day before) that Type 2 diabetics don't have hypos. I have friends who are Type 2 who say they do. In fact one friend swings a lot and definitely has problems with very low sugars.

The first time I took my blood sugar reading alone, being petrified about pricking myself and very stressed in doing the process, I found myself shaking quite violently when I saw my sugar (for the first time) in a normal range. I got up and found myself still shaking. I concluded, although there were lots of emotions involved, that my sugar had dropped quite drastically from just a couple of days earlier and that this was a hypo.

I had a cuppa and my only sweet biscuit since diagnosis and eventually felt better.

So, is it documented that Type 2 don't have hypos, or not?

What do you Type 2 users think from your own experience?



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some type 2 take medication that can cause hypos, type2s on metformin or diet and exercise can get what they call false hypos when they first get their bloods down, basically our bodies get used to being high all the time so when we get them into normal range quickly our bodies interpret this as low blood sugar and gives us the warning signs to put them up quickly (hypo) but this is normal and passes once we get used to the correct levels
 
Even non diabetics can hypo. Difference is, their body recognises it and reacts to get them out of it. T2's can certainly hypo. Many are on insulin or Gluclazide for example.


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Some T2 medications can cause severe hypos.
Non diabetics can get low levels, especially if they are doing a lot of physical work and not eating, my OH can come in from hard physical work in the garden, hungry and shaking. The solution is simple, he eats something.

Some people who are pre diabetic may have hypos in the form of reactive hypoglycaemia. As this website says
' Low blood sugar levels after eating may also be an early sign of prediabetes (or diabetes) as the body may over-produce insulin in response to hyperglycemia after meals, leading to subsequent hypoglycemia'
http://www.dlife.com/diabetes/blood_sugar_management/blood_sugar_lows/reactive-hypoglycaemia
The cut offs between prediabetes and diabetes are a bit arbitrary, It could be possible for this to happen occasionally to someone who was the other side of the cut off. ( we've certainly had some previous T2 members, that have mentioned this type of thing happening)

edit to add that the big difference is once you've taken insulin or a hypo inducing medicine you can't stop it and it may lower levels very low indeed.
 
I certainly hypo. Didn't when I was on Metformin alone but once I was on Glipizide I started to experience all the symptoms. For me it's a case of eating enough carb to minimize those effects but not so much that my carb intake goes up unnecessarily. It's a balancing act but its worth while finding out by testing when my low BG's are and making sure I don't get into that state. A hypo will mostly hit me in the evening when I've had my full quota of meds but haven't had much carb during the day. I take my blood before my evening meal and adjust accordingly. These days, if I am low in the evening I don't take my Glipizide which works well for me. Everyone is different though and eat to your meter is the best advice I've had on here :)
 
I am a t2 on metformin only, so I am not supposed to go hypo but I believe I did manage to get one the other week. How? I took my lunchtime dosage of 850mg met and was about to go to lunch when I was prevented from doing so by an emergency I had to deal with. Ended up with blood sugars of 65mg/dl (3.7 mmol). Felt shaky, unable to concentrate and slightly off balance. Also gave me this desperate urge to eat just about the whole fridge, although this may have been psychological more than anything else.

I did enjoy the kit kat bar and glass of fresh orange juice that I took as glucose boosts; my first ones in ages.

I did have a bad headache for hours afterwards.

My doctor has since agreed to my request that I discontinue the lunchtime pill as it is not needed based on my general pattern of blood glucose levels, not on this isolated incident, which was probably caused by my own stupidity more than anything else.

I understand that very intensive physical exercise can lead to hypos, but I am probably too lazy to get one of those:-).


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Thanks for all the very useful replies.

I used to get some very low blood sugars years before I became diabetic. I also have noticed over the years that I can become very hungry quickly and have little patience to get a meal. Now I relax and slow down and try to get what I should be eating, rather than fishing for biscuits out of the tin etc. Only when I really get shaky I have decided (as mentioned at the start of this thread)I really am hypo and need to take action.

I understand the value of checking sugar levels both before and after food and probably before and after each meal. However, my nurse really didn't consider I needed to do this at all and I've had to persuade her, in order to get a bit of a better handle on the sugar in my blood, that I should do this. I still find this a very slow and laborious process with some considerable stress involved, as a totally blind person trying to cope with all this gadgetry efficiently and The process of taking my blood. It currently can take me half an hour to get sufficient blood from myself, get it on the right part of the strip and get a reading. I'll never do it as quickly as those Friends of mine who either learned when they could see or those of you who (thankfully) can see to do it. I therefore
do find i'm not yet managing things nearly as well as I'd like. At least I have some very useful and helpful suggestions here which I'm taking on as best I can.


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Andy12345 said:
some type 2 take medication that can cause hypos, type2s on metformin or diet and exercise can get what they call false hypos when they first get their bloods down, basically our bodies get used to being high all the time so when we get them into normal range quickly our bodies interpret this as low blood sugar and gives us the warning signs to put them up quickly (hypo) but this is normal and passes once we get used to the correct levels
Click to expand...

Andy - this make so much sense!! I have been only diagnosed 3 weeks and since on Metformin I have been experiencing drastic symptoms of hypos.

Now all this makes sense!!

Thank you x


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Some people still get hypos after taking metformin and when their levels have dropped....it can happen
I believe it is wise to be aware that it could or can happen.... Kat
 
there is hypo and hypo though, everyone can go hypo if they dont eat for a long period but then there are medication induced hypos which as far as i understand things is the dangerous kind, not that not eating isnt dangerous....eventually :)
 
No matter what a hypo is dangerous for anyone. I quite often see it that a type 1 hypo is more dangerous than a type 2 hypo but they are both dangerous, I have even seen a comment today where a doctor has given the impression that a type 2 should never have a hypo unless they are not controlling their diabetes properly. And I think the so called health care professionals should be put on courses to teach them properly so as they can give proper information


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Diabetes doesn't make you hypo it's insulin and the stronger insulin stimulating drugs that can cause it.

There was a large UK study on hypos done a few years ago. For hypos that have been serious enough to require medical attention the rate was one person in one thousand people for diet only controlled diabetics which rose to three people in a thousand for those just on Metformin.

The fact that the chances of a serious hypo on Metformin are only slightly higher than diet only or non diabetics is why you don't need to advise the dvla as they deem the risks are nigh on the sane.

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Last edited by a moderator:
My non diabetic friend used to have very low levels and as a builder was often up ladders. He was so worried about feeling odd at times from low levels, (despite always eating healthily and well) that he stopped going up ladders and working at heights, employing somebody else to do it instead. So if that is for a normal person, then hypo's that are induced by non pancreas's are going to be worse. The thing is our bodies with artificial insulin in us -we don't really know how fast it is dropping, or how far it could drop.... So it is so important to recognise the symptoms of hypo's


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pavlosn said:
I am a t2 on metformin only, so I am not supposed to go hypo but I believe I did manage to get one the other week. How? I took my lunchtime dosage of 850mg met and was about to go to lunch when I was prevented from doing so by an emergency I had to deal with. Ended up with blood sugars of 65mg/dl (3.7 mmol). Felt shaky, unable to concentrate and slightly off balance. Also gave me this desperate urge to eat just about the whole fridge, although this may have been psychological more than anything else.

I did enjoy the kit kat bar and glass of fresh orange juice that I took as glucose boosts; my first ones in ages.

I did have a bad headache for hours afterwards.

My doctor has since agreed to my request that I discontinue the lunchtime pill as it is not needed based on my general pattern of blood glucose levels, not on this isolated incident, which was probably caused by my own stupidity more than anything else.

I understand that very intensive physical exercise can lead to hypos, but I am probably too lazy to get one of those:-).


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Click to expand...

I always take my Metformin AFTER lunch and insulin AFTER my evening meal. This avoid your type of incident when for some reason you don't eat or don't eat enough after taking medication


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In 2012 I was put on Glimipiride and as a result was issued with a meter. Later I learned that the meter was supposed to be used to check whether or not I was hypo before driving or doing anything dangerous. I actually used the meter to continue my investigation into what I could eat and carried on as I did before.

Coming home from shopping one day I got a vague headache. When I arrived home I was shaking. Not the nervous kind of shake but a low frequency uncontrollable and quite noticeable shake. I had low blood sugar but I can't remember the numbers on that occasion. After that I paid more attention and found that after my walk or exercise I was regularly in the 3's and just the once spot on 3.

Whether or not they are classed as hypo's I certainly had them.

I now manage my type 2 diabetes more carefully and have been taken off medication so I rarely go that low now.
 
I've been training for my first 5k run, and with the run coming up this weekend, I've been pushing it further. I've also gained much better diabetic control over the last few weeks. When I'm out running I hypo around 40 minutes in. Prior to a couple of weeks ago, my liver would kick out some glucose and bring my levels back up. I'm guessing that my liver is no longer panicking, so I don't get that glucose surge.
Yesterday I tried pushing past the low, but it didn't work.
I'm on metformin only, low carb diet.

I'm guessing that the possibility to hypo is dependant on what is going on in the body at the time. I'm also guessing that even if I wasn't diabetic I would still hypo at 40 mins into a run.



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Carol-P said:
Hi all,
I noticed someone said yesterday (or maybe the day before) that Type 2 diabetics don't have hypos. I have friends who are Type 2 who say they do. In fact one friend swings a lot and definitely has problems with very low sugars.

The first time I took my blood sugar reading alone, being petrified about pricking myself and very stressed in doing the process, I found myself shaking quite violently when I saw my sugar (for the first time) in a normal range. I got up and found myself still shaking. I concluded, although there were lots of emotions involved, that my sugar had dropped quite drastically from just a couple of days earlier and that this was a hypo.

I had a cuppa and my only sweet biscuit since diagnosis and eventually felt better.

So, is it documented that Type 2 don't have hypos, or not?

What do you Type 2 users think from your own experience?



Sent from the Diabetes Forum App
Click to expand...
Yes it was me that said that as that is what I had read that T2`s BS would never get low enough for a hypo as they do produce some insulin so that would prevent it I take it though that this was T2`s on tablets or diet only not insulin
I can`t remember where I read it but it was some time ago when I was told I was prediabetic and I was looking for information about diabetes and before I joined this forum
 
I'm a t2 on insulin and it is 100% possible to hypo the other day I was at 2.9mmol

For tablet/diet controlled it's less likely but still possible.. But if you are a t2 that has been high for a long time, or swings a lot it's possible to have phantom hypos the only way to tell for sure is with a blood test. But when I started insulin i had hypo symptoms and did a test to find a was 6.8 but my body wasn't used to being that low.

Another thing to remember a healthy non diabetic can still have a hypo if they under eat on that basis alone it's possible for a T2 to have a hypo




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As a T2 on D&E I can vouch for having hypos, in that my BG will fall below 4.0 but this is a temporary measure as my body dumps glucose back into my blood fairly soon, so dips, yes below 3 , not me!
 
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