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Fake hypo

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Steelbert

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6
What do you do when you get fake hypos? I feel shaky and light headed just now and tested myself but it was just 5.8 mmol... Since i thought this was bad so i took some ice cream. Should i just ignore it next time and it will go away?
 
Welcome to the forum ! When that happens to me, I have a low carb snack, usually cheese and 100 grams of above-ground veggie. For me, it means I'm hungry and need to eat but I don't need carbs as 5.8 is a good reading.
 
Steelbert said:
Should i just ignore it next time and it will go away?
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Hi, I see you've just joined, so welcome to the forum.

The answer depends on a lot of things.

Am I right in thinking you're recently dx'd and still getting used to things?

Fake hypos can happen shortly after dx when your body has become accustomed to much higher levels and takes a bit of time getting used to lower levels, so 5.8 might give you the wobbles even though it's nowhere near true sub-4 hypoland.

How you treat it, though, depends on what caused it.

If you've eaten in the last few hours and still have a fair amount of active insulin on board from your last pre-meal injection, and if you've miscalculated that injection, a rapid drop when the excess insulin kicks in can easily give hypo feelings, so an ice-cream, as well as being tasty, can be a good call. Your average ice-cream is about 25 to 30 grams of carbs, which is probably overkill for most situations, but if you're newly dx'd, have lots of iob (active insulin on board) and are unsure about dosing and insulin activity, better safe than sorry.

If, though, the hypo is appearing more than 4 or 5 hours your last injection, when iob is reaching tail-end activity, a 25g ice-cream is probably way too much - a dextrotab or two, 3 to 6g, would be enough to take the edge of it.

Overtreating hypos with too much carbs is one of the main reasons why T1s end up on rollercoasters. Be cautious when starting out and overtreat, but when you get more experienced with it, play about a bit more with one or two dextrotabs, and you can sort out hypos without ending up above 10.
 
I’ve had «fake hypos» with blood sugar above 10, so well, obviously I do not do anything if I get a false hypo when my blood sugar either normal.

So what I do, if I get a false hypo, I always check. If it looks fine I do not do anything about it.

If I am too off to check my own blood sugar, I know it’s not a fake hypo, and treat it immediatly :)
 
I have been diagnosed since last year it's just that i change my diet with interminent fasting and now I am getting lower bs that usual.

So even though it is fake i still need to correct it then
 
I feel super hangry between 4-5mmol/l, I guess it's my body telling me it is hungry and it is time to eat something. After a small snack, I feel fine. If there is still insulin on board, it could possibly be heading into hypo area, so I still eat something small to prevent it.
 
Steelbert said:
I have been diagnosed since last year it's just that i change my diet with interminent fasting and now I am getting lower bs that usual.
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Sorry, intermittent fasting is very much a T2 thing which doesn't figure highly in T1 management so I have no views on this.
 
Steelbert said:
I am t2 i just wrongly set the thread to t1 when I opened this thread.
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Lol, oops, these things happen!

Still, though, don't overkill the hypo treatment - an average human has about 5g of glucose in their blood, so a single 3g dextrotab can be more than enough to nudge it up a bit.
 
Emile_the_rat said:
I’ve had «fake hypos» with blood sugar above 10, so well, obviously I do not do anything if I get a false hypo when my blood sugar either normal.

So what I do, if I get a false hypo, I always check. If it looks fine I do not do anything about it.

If I am too off to check my own blood sugar, I know it’s not a fake hypo, and treat it immediatly :)
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Sorry I'm still new to this forum and just saw your post.

Base on your reply I'm guessing it's safe to just ignore it?
 
Hopefully a Moderator can move this thread.
If you fill in your profile you can select t2 so people know what to advise/share about t2.

Meanwhile, when I first went low carb I had hypo symptoms when my blood sugar dropped before 5.5. My body was used to more sugar.
I didn't eat anything, just had a coffee with 1/3 full fat milk. About 4g carbs.
After a while the fake hypos stopped.
 
If you’re type 2 not on glucose lowering meds (no insulin etc) then its unlikely you’ll actually go hypo. Unless you feel so shaky that you are becoming a danger to yourself , eg falls or too distracted to safely drive, then I wouldn’t treat them. If I really needed to I’d do so as conservatively as possible.

In the early days of lowering levels your body can throw tantrums wanting its sugar back. If you give in you prolong the agony of dealing with more tantrums next time it happens.
 
Steelbert said:
Sorry I'm still new to this forum and just saw your post.

Base on your reply I'm guessing it's safe to just ignore it?
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Well, we are all different, so won’t say it is safe for everyone to just ignore it.

Some people have good hypo awareness, and therefor most of the times can tell a real hypo from a fake one. These people should always treat them, and don’t ignore it.

But well, not everyone has that ability, me included. I’m kind of hypo-unaware, so I usually never recognize the hypo before it gets real bad. So in my case I have to always check if I feel hypo, because I am not able to recognize a hypo unless it gets very bad, 2 mmol or lower.

So I just shared what helped in my case, but we are all different. But bottom note are: If you’re conscious, and unsure, but have time to check, always check blood sugar before you do something :)

Edit: I see know that you are type 2. I am not type 2, so not sure, but I think hypos are unlikely with just oral medication. But if unsure it is better to ask your GP or health care team :)
 
Steelbert, what you're experiencing is known a false hypo, having symptoms of hypos when you're actually not hypo. This means that you have ran high glucose level for a long time. Hence the symptoms at a lower level. Don't worry its normal, your body will adjust and the symptoms will fade.
 
Can anyone give me a sense of how long these false hypos can go on for once you’ve been diagnosed? I was diagnosed in April with a very high Hba1c (110) and started having them within two weeks of starting Metformin, and they are still going, despite now having a score in the 60s. My GP is referring me to an endocrinologist, so I’m just trying to treat them with a small amount of carbs in the meantime. It’s getting really tedious, though, because if I forget to have a mid-morning or mid-afternoon snack, we’re off to the races every single time...
 
sorchao said:
Can anyone give me a sense of how long these false hypos can go on for once you’ve been diagnosed? I was diagnosed in April with a very high Hba1c (110) and started having them within two weeks of starting Metformin, and they are still going, despite now having a score in the 60s. My GP is referring me to an endocrinologist, so I’m just trying to treat them with a small amount of carbs in the meantime. It’s getting really tedious, though, because if I forget to have a mid-morning or mid-afternoon snack, we’re off to the races every single time...
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What are your blood sugar readings when you get these feelings?
 
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