How many more times on this Forum do we have to go through the business of Diabetic's and Hypoglycaemia....Low Blood Sugar.
I posted this in an answer to someone in another Forum. I have edited to remove the other posters name. I think it is relevant. The information from a certain poster regarding numbers and a T1's can be dangerous and I will not leave this unsaid.......AGAIN ! Nobody posting dangerous information on this Forum will remain unchallenged !
Here is my post:
No problem *****. My pleasure. Nothing much else to do at the moment. Always willing to help a fellow Diabetic. This information is specifically about Diabetic's, not non Diabetic's, although there is references to ND's.
I notice you say " never knowingly suferred from a hypo." That's just it **** sometimes the individual is the last person to notice, others might though. Your wife never told you that you are a miserable 'git, akward, argumentative ?' Mine used to sometimes....was that because I was in hypo land.....? Could just have been me I suppose...
I as you know am a Type 2. I start to get hypo symptoms at around 4.5 mmol/l, feeling shaky, when typing posts my spelling gets atrocious, (noticed that in other posters and wondered about them ?), feeling generally c**p ! That is basically what should happen. The beginnings of hypoglycaemia, low blood sugars.
Now my hypo awareness is good so that is about right. I have, if I have ignored or been somewhere I can't address those symptoms quickly dropped as low as 2.3 mmol/l. I may have dropped lower, I don't know. I would need a CGM to tell me that. I can assure you you don't want to be there....not a nice place. So, I always carry GlucoTabs, jelly Baby's and Full Strength Coke to remedy, then a small 'carby' snack to stabilise once my level is back to near normal.
If your Bg levels are consistentently very low, as in close to 4 mmol/l or even lower then what usually happens is you lose the hypo awareness. The warning signs. This, I presume is what some low carbers and others have done as they insist they NEVER feel anything. They obviously believe that. As I have stated with the list of symptoms, can anybody, truthfully, hand on heart honestly say, I have never had any one of those symptoms. If you answer No, never, I'm sorry, but that is just rubbish ! They may or may not be due to a hypo, but never....I don't think so !
Joking apart about a Saturday night out, you cannot possibly have gone through life without having at least one of those symptoms at some time. You ever ranted at one of my posts ****..... .
That's not to say that they are always because of low Bg levels, only testing at the time would show that. It doesn't in any way shape or form make it a sensible thing to be doing ! Low Bg at those levels can and does impair your cognitive ability, I know from my own experience. There have been studies which confirm this. People who ignore them are doing themselves no favours. It is not sensible to be running very low numbers all the time, it has a cause and an effect !
We have many T1's who say they feel great at 1.9 or some similar figure. Now for a T1 as I am sure you are aware that can be life threatening....they can suddenly go into a sleep, a coma and simply never wake up again unless they get some assistance. The numbers need to be slightly higher for a few weeks so that they get back the awareness.
For a T2, it isn't life threatening, as the body will dump Glucose into the system and elevate your levels again, 'liver dump.' However it COULD be life threatening to you or someone else if you are driving and your ability is impaired, in effect some people can behave as if they were drunk.
I have been on the phone sometimes and been asked if I was OK, checked my Bg and it was 2 - 3 mmol/l....Eeek ! I sometimes don't notice the effect it is having, other people might though and probably thought I had had one too many ! So that is why I refuse to accept anybody telling me that those low levels are safe.
I am not alone, speak to any Endocrinologist worth the name and they will concur with the argument. It is dangerous to go too low. It is unhealthy for the body. As for those who say I know better, well you ignore Medical advice about this subject and you are storing up trouble for yourself. This is nothing whatsoever to do with diet advice. That is wrong in some cases, this isn't.
As for Bg testing, not sure how many times a day you test ? I am testing at the moment something like 10 times a day, I have to for the reasons I stated earlier. Now that level of testing is showing me all sorts of numbers I never realised I was having, so the frequency will have great effect on you knowing just what your actual levels are. Test, test, test !
Here are some links just picked at random from my database. There are many more, some unfortunately are suscription only so I will not post them, mainly from true Endocrinology websites. Rssearch is where the information comes from Now, it is up to you whether you believe them or not, I am just the messenger.....
http://diabetes.niddk.nih.gov/dm/pubs/hypoglycemia/
http://www.diabetes1.org/news/Reversing ... nawareness
http://www.netdoctor.co.uk/diseases/fac ... garlow.htm
There are many many more, you can cross reference any of them, they all say the same or similar.
If you or anybody else still insists they have not been in hypo land......well, who am I to argue !
Cheers ****. Must go, people to help......
Ken.