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feeling very strange

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charliejack

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hello everyone, please can you put my mind at rest. today i have been feeling very strange. At about 3 oclock i started to get the shakes and felt dizzy and hot then cold. my hubby told me to take a reading even though i dont usually bother. It was 3.7. I had a hot chocolate and a small piece of carrot cake and then started to feel better. I have just taken another reading and i am 6.7 , what do you think, was this ok or should i be concerned.
thank you
 
Hi charliejack , you've had a "hypo" (hypoglycemia), that happens when your blood sugar goes below 4.0mmol. It happened probably because either you didn't eat enough or you left too long a time between meals.

You did the right thing by eating/drinking something sugary and carbohydrates but you do need to be careful not to eat/drink too much so that you don't above the recommended BG level.

If you tested your BG 2 hrs after you ate/drunk than 6.7 is very good. If not test again after two hours since you ate/drunk and you'll know if the amount you ate/drunk was ok for you.
 
thank you ka-mon for your help. I am type 2 and trying to adjust my diet and exercise as instructed. I have been feeling ill for the last couple of weeks and may go and see my nurse next week.
 
Hi Charliejack

It sounds as if you dipped low enough to have hypo warning signs, which is good because you now know what to watch for. You did the right thing by testing when you felt strange, and also the right thing by eating something sugary - fast-acting carbs to get your levels up.

6.7 is a very respectable reading to go up to after feeling hypo, and (I agree with Ka-mon) test again as usual to make sure you level out.

There is a saying on here that "4 is the floor". That is, if you go below 4 you should take action to get your levels up a bit. If I go below 4 and feel hypo symptoms, I will eat a couple of glucose tabs which hit my blood almost instantly, and test again after 15 minutes. If I'm up in the 5s or 6s, that's fine, and I carry on as usual. If I was still below 4, I'd eat another glucose tab and test again in another 15 minutes. I've never had to eat a third - it's never not worked for me.

I carry glucose tabs in the car, in my handbag, and (well-wrapped in plastic) in my meter cases. I have 1 meter at home and 1 in my bag, so I'm almost never without one. I seldom need to test when I'm out, but knowing it's there is reassuring.

You did the right thing, and you now know what to look out for, as I said before. Well done to you and your hubby! When you go to see the nurse, remember to tell her about this episode.

Viv 8)
 
thank you very much viv. I have just been reading up on type 2 and they say I should not get a hypo if I am type 2 - is that right? Hubby has now got a big smirk on his face :D
 
charliejack said:
thank you very much viv. I have just been reading up on type 2 and they say I should not get a hypo if I am type 2 - is that right? Hubby has now got a big smirk on his face :D
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My GP told me the same when he put me on Metformin but a few weeks later I had a hypo and didn't know what was happening. Ever since then I eat about every 4 hours and haven't had another hypo. If for some reason I do go below 5, I start to get hypo signs and eat or drink something to bring my BG levels above 5 but try not to go above 8.

ditto regarding the glucose tabs viv mentioned, always a good idea to carry some with you just in case.
 
Anyone can get a hypo, diabetes or not. I used to get night-time hypo symptoms after too much alcohol, well before I was diabetic - woke up in the middle of the night pouring with sweat and heart pounding almost so the bed shook!

They are much rarer in non-diabetics and in Type 2s, and I'm not sure that Type 2s can go low enough to go into a diabetic coma (someone else may know) - but the symptoms are unpleasant enough to want to keep away from them.

Some people get symptoms at higher readings than others, and if your bg readings are coming down from a long time of being too high, you might be getting the symptoms slightly higher, though it doesn't sound as if you are. Anyway, much better to have sensitive hypo-awareness than not to have any awareness of them - if you feel ill, shaky and sweaty, take a reading and then some glucose if you're low. You can get the tabs at any chemist and in supermarkets, usually.

Hubby is allowed a smirk or two - he gave you the correct advice! A supportive partner is a great thing.

Viv 8)
 
When I had hypos I just used to have a square of bitter chocolate and would test about 5 minutes later. If it was still low I would have another one and that would usually be enough to bring me back up. I would then go an have some protein which would help keep my BG levels stable.

The problem often is that people panic and start to throw loads of sugar or sweet stuff down their throat and that is one of the worst thing to do as you can then send it into orbit.

The trick is to recognise the signs of a hypo. As soon as you feel a bit spacy or shaky it's time to take something.

Personally I haven't had any hypos for well over a year since going very low carb. My BG is so stable now it's not something I have to worry about.
 
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