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Feel Hypo Below 9

Spacebadger

Spacebadger

Member
Messages
23
Location
Manchester
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Insulin
I mentioned on a previous post another medical condition that leaves me with reduced Hypo awarnesss.

I went many years without testing, thinking I knew how my body felt... But I was more than likely over compensating and running high all the time.

Taking control and trying to keep the sugar level down... But I feel weak, and on the verge of a hypo with anything below 9... Will this change?

Sam
 
Would think that as youraverage BG fallls, the point at which you feel "hypo" will also fall, as "false hypo"s tend to be due to the drop in BG rather than the absolute BG.
 
Spacebadger said:
I mentioned on a previous post another medical condition that leaves me with reduced Hypo awarnesss.

I went many years without testing, thinking I knew how my body felt... But I was more than likely over compensating and running high all the time.

Taking control and trying to keep the sugar level down... But I feel weak, and on the verge of a hypo with anything below 9... Will this change?

Sam
Click to expand...
Hi Sam, yes your hypo feeling should after a while get back to normal. As you have already worked out for yourself your body is used to running high, so needs to be retrained into accepting lower reading. This will take a little time so have patience and don't panic. Perhaps consider something carb free to eat so your body is tricked into fuel mode.
 
It will change.. Give it time. Are you gradually changing things to reduce levels? Just don't slude down to quick...
 
donnellysdogs said:
It will change.. Give it time. Are you gradually changing things to reduce levels? Just don't slude down to quick...
Click to expand...

HI,

Well I've increased my insulin dose by two units... I'm finding that it's always high in the mornings.... I wake up and it's between 4.2 - 9.0 but then it creeps up to about 12 before I eat breakfast.. And then it peaks 2 hours after breakfast at about 14 and then by lunch it comes to 10ish.. then between lunch and tea it seems to drop again... That's when I probably feel 'lowest'

I didn't test for a while, so I have nothing to compare it to really...
 
Spacebadger said:
Well I've increased my insulin dose by two units... I'm finding that it's always high in the mornings.... I wake up and it's between 4.2 - 9.0 but then it creeps up to about 12 before I eat breakfast.. And then it peaks 2 hours after breakfast at about 14 and then by lunch it comes to 10ish.. then between lunch and tea it seems to drop again... That's when I probably feel 'lowest'
Click to expand...

Sounds to me as if you need to inject your bolus on rising and have a higher dose for breakfast ie instead of a 1:10 ratio then try say just as an example 1:7 Obviously discuss your ratio with your DSN . How long before a meal do you inject? Perhaps consider a bolus at 20 - 30 mins before you eat and see how it goes.
Have you been given any medication for your medical condition and does this affect your blood sugars?
 
Agree with Carbsrok. Maybe that you need a small bolus as soon as you wake. I do this, it feels wrong as in my day you were always told not to inject without food or correction... I take 6, 7 or 8 units of levemir in the morning depending whether I'm working, but always 2.5 units of bolus to stop my levels rising when I clamber out of bed. I just do both injections as soon as I wake up, (whilst hubby makes me a cup of coffee). Normally this keeps me good. If (can only remember 2 occasions in 6 months) my levels are above 6.0 my meter will recommend slightly more bolus which I do, so could be 3 units).

You need to decide what size waking bolus to give but I would do by say starting off with a 1 unit and test, test, test. If still rising, the next day do a 1.5 bolus and test, test test.

If changing bolus, I would personally only change by a gram I.e changing from 1 to 10 to 1 to 9 or 1 to 9 to 1 to 8..

I think this is the sudden decline in levels after lunch that is affecting you and once you get more level in the mornings you will be fine.

Incidentally if your levels do come down for mornings by lunchtime. You may well need less insulin for lunch because otherwise you will be dropping too much and certainly will go hypo... Not just having the feelings of hypo.
 
How about doing all your tests again and being very consistent in what you eat and when you eat it for a few days? Your range in your FB is too wide. The lower end is perfect but the upper end is not too good. First sort that out by paying attention to your evening/nighttime bloods. Then get up and eat breakfast with a proper bolus. Don't give your blood sugar time to "creep up." Get up, bolus and eat. And if you get that bolus right, you won't see a constant creep up throughout the day.

Something interesting here on what you eat and the order of eating and how it affects your post-prandial bloods.

http://care.diabetesjournals.org/content/38/7/e98.full.pdf

I am Type 1, I always eat in this "order" and it works for me.

And yes, your false hypo feeling will go away.
 
Some people get waking phenomenen though.. So please don't exclude that you may just need a small bolus before even getting out of bed!
 
I sometimes find my hyper and hypo symptoms are similar. I've been accidentally over 9 mmol recently when I forgot to inject and felt like I was having a mild hypo. I then ate some carbs without checking and went higher , still feeling like i was hypo.

Try a small bolus on waking , I need to do this as I typically cycle to work on an empty stomach and without the bolus I start going high.
 
RuthW said:
For that post-prandial high, and how to kill it and dramatically improve your HbA1c read "Strike the Spike". It made a huge difference for me.

http://www.diabetesselfmanagement.com/managing-diabetes/blood-glucose-management/strike-the-spike/
Click to expand...

180 mg/dl is a massive spike in my book ! I allow myself no more than 10 - 20 mg/dl maximum increase as a post prandial high ! I don't understand why children should be allowed a post-prandial high of 225 mg/dl. What a load of b*******t
 
Yes, I keep my post-prandial below 140mg/dl or a rise of no more than 30mg/dl, though I don't worry if pre-prandial is 70 and post is below 140. But managing it still lies in the timing.

You may not like his actual targets, but his methodology works. The text is about the methodology. Once you have got the timing issue, you can tighten up your targets very easily. He also suggests a number of other steps to take, all of which are useful.
 
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