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Does anybody with T1 not get hypos

Bertyboy

Well-Known Member
Messages
215
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Since diagnosis in November, I've used split Levemir and Novorapid.
I had one episode where I was running around India like an eejit and had bolused for something that was barely a snack let alone the meal I expected. Even then, it was a very mild hypo at about 3.7mmol (and I only really barely noticed feeling a bit light).

Since then, I've managed to keep my BG at somewhere between 4 and 7.5 (generally). I've reduced my units to keep this state of affairs. I am not carb counting - still haven't been booked onto anything and told to stick to fixed bolus. I have not yet experienced a full hypo (which is just as well, I don't want one).

Is this to be expected - am I just awesome at being diabetic? Or am I straying onto a trajectory that's too high? Or could it be insulin resistance?
 
Hey @Bertyboy Personally I think you're awesome at doing this, you've struck a good balance with maintaining your control but would of also had the benefit of being in the honeymoon period, so you're taking smaller doses and limiting the room for error with going high/low. It does take vigilance so well done on being able to stay out of the range for a hypo as much as you have done.

Keeping this up is going to help hugely in terms of prolonging the honeymoon as well as staying on reduced units, perhaps even get yourself a half unit pen too, your DSN can provide you with one.
 
Yeah keep it up man, that's excellent. If you are indeed still making some insulin of your own it will smooth out your peaks and valleys compared to we who probably don't make any anymore. You can probably make your own glucagon too which will convert glycogen stored in the liver to glucose if you get low.
 
Well, thank you. I'm just surprised that's all. Reading these forums had given me an impression that hypos were an unavoidable consequence of using insulin. I'll be honest in saying I was quite worried about hypos; I live on my own and have constant thoughts that I'll go to sleep and not wake up any day.
As long as I err on the side of caution, I guess I'm fine.
 
I've had a few lower ones but less so recently. I maintain a target range of 5-8 for driving so I tend to have good awareness and catch them as I get shaky before dropping sub 4.0mmol.
 

Don't worry. You will not sleep through a night time hypo !
 
Hi,
Same fore me. I was diagnosed in Aug and I've had a few number 3.4-3.7 but didn't notice a thing, it was just a coincidence that I found out as it was time to do basal
 
Totally, totally agree. Feel the same
 
I can't answer the question because I don't really know what we're talking about.

Is it a hypo when I feel all shivery and sweaty and start talking total nonsense, in which case yes every few days. Or are we talking about when you lie there with the world turning a purple blue colour and unable to speak at all? (Only once ever, easily the worst) Or just when you feel all exhausted for no reason, test, it says 3.9 and you neck some lucozade and spend the rest of the afternoon terrified you've overdone it and will end up back in hospital? (Once a week maybe) Or does it only count when you wake up in the middle of the night and you can't even really remember what's going on or what to do about it. (Three times to date, really nasty)

Also is it not likely that you aren't feeling bad because you're not trying to match carbs to insulin and probably running really high the whole time?

Also nobody ever tells me I'm awesome so I'd take em where you can get em.
 
I feel like I was fishing for "awesomes" now...I was being tongue-in-cheek.
NoKindOfSusie - I guess any of those things. Maybe as you say, I'm riding high between testing? If I don't inject my basal insulin I will run high, so I just don't miss them. Another thing is that, despite changing my diet to remove the vast majority of carbs, I don't seem to be losing weight (which I was doing before diagnosis).
 

Hey well done. Would love to know what you’re eating! Also, I’ll keep my eyes peeled for your major hypo post in a few weeks!
Are you exercising a fair bit as well?
 
mountaintom said:
Hey well done. Would love to know what you’re eating! Also, I’ll keep my eyes peeled for your major hypo post in a few weeks!
Are you exercising a fair bit as well?
Click to expand...
Well, that's the thing; I'm not even eating anything too out of the ordinary. I have soup/broth or salad for lunch (maybe with a Pepperami) and range of meals in the evening (sometimes even with brown rice or pea pasta), along with a glass or two of red wine. Snacks are Pepperami, pistachios, almonds and full-fat Fage/Skyr yoghurt with raspberries. Reasonably low carb, but not as much as some on here.
I do next to no exercise during the week as I'm a 10+ hours a day office dweller. A1C is 40.
I think the earlier poster may be correct that I have a trigger level after which the liver will kick in to prevent a hypo?
 

Poor you, if you have all of those things, it must be hard. Only 7 months in myself and you paint a really bleak future. I'm POSITIVE I'm not going to let my BG get me into any of the things you describe if they are manifestations of a hypo.
Everyone is awesome in their own way.
 
Keep going, bit by bit. I lost 17k before T1 and gained 8k post but now I'm doing tiddly bits... 1.9k lost in 6weeks. It's slow but the right direction. You CAN do it
 
I will say up front that I'm LADA, and other LADAs' posts suggest to me that we seem to be able to control our levels better, and experience fewer and less disabling hypos. I'm weeks away from two years on basal/bolus, and only very rarely had a hypo. 3.6 was my lowest, and merely needed jelly babies and biccies to head off. I've never felt any after-effects described by some here, and never woken in the night with a hypo. All my HbA1cs have been in the 30s.
I feel sure that if I weren't low carbing, my control would be worse, possibly increasing the risk of hypos.
I think you have to factor in every person's individual body and individual health to fully understand 'their' struggle with T1D.
Geoff
 

Without sounding too pessimistic, I hardly tested and injected whatever I felt like during my first few years of diabetes and still had very good control. I also didn't have a low sugar level for months after diagnosis.

That all changed a few years in.
 
This.

In my experience once your honeymoon ends - mine was nearly two years - it gets tougher. Bigger doses lead to more variation, glucagon is not there to get you out of lows, etc...

It certainly doesn't become impossible, so don't worry, but do make the most of these current freedoms.
 
Given that you are recently diagnosed, I think this is almost certainly the honeymoon - but no reason not to be pleased about it! Enjoy while it lasts. I guess I fit your title question of a T1 who doesn't have hypos. I had a particularly scary one last year (2.6) and decided that was it, no more hypos for me no matter what. Since then I have only had very mild ones (nothing below 3.6) and they are quite infrequent. I'm in my honeymoon too according to my endo, but probably my pancreas is in worse condition than yours! Anyway when the honeymoon ends it will be harder for you, but if you put in the effort you can keep up your current avoidance of (major) hypos. High 3's are not particularly dangerous, and also just about impossible to avoid completely if you want good control, but rest assured you won't suddenly be getting 2's when the honeymoon is over! Enjoy your hypo-free existence and keep it up!
 
urbanracer said:
Don't worry. You will not sleep through a night time hypo !
Click to expand...
I think that's fake news. Nocturnal hypoglycemia happens and can be serious. Took the life of a female softball star at the University I attended, and a high school senior when my daughter went there. I've "awakened" probably 4-6 times with paramedics in my bedroom giving me D50 intravenous. I figured out a way to avoid/prevent it but it is a danger we all have the potential to face.
 
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