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Hello need guidance please

M

Mumerbear

Member
Messages
11
Hi,

I'm lesley, a female of 57 years young, married with 3 big sons.

I was diagnosed 4 years ago and given metformine, then later glixazide, then byetta and finally after 2 years of high readings of between 30 to 40 they put me on humulog 25 insulin three weeks ago.

I was going great until saturday, i got up had a reading of 11, took my injection of 40 and went shopping at tesco, the next thing i knew was awakening at the hospital 3 hours later.

I had forgotten to eat and had no warnings to what might happen, i just collapsed and i am and my family, now very afraid to go out the door in case it happens again.

Any advise or pointers is much appreciated. I'am also looking to get some form of alarm if anyone uses one from the UK which they can recommend.

I'm a homemaker and pc iliterate, so please excuse any further grammar erros as my son has helped me join here and make my first post. I will try and proof read and learn quicky in order to make legible posts.

I look forward to chatting on here, and i will try and use the search function but at the moment i dont know what exactly to search for, or how to do it but will endeavour to learn asap.

Thanks again, :)

yours

Lesley.
 
Hi Lesley and welcome to the forum. It sounds like you have learned the hard way that the biggest influence on your diabetes is not the medication but what you eat - or in your case what you didn't eat!

Blood sugar is created by the carbohydrates that you eat. Your digestive system converts these into glucose which is stored in the blood as what we commonly call "blood sugar". The more carbs you eat then the higher will be your blood sugar. With less carbs then you have lower blood sugar. In your case your insulin dose would have rapidly used all the sugar in your blood, and as you didn't eat anything to replace that blood sugar, your body just shut down - what is called a hypo - and you passed out.

So the lesson is that you do need to eat in order to avoid hypos, but what you eat needs to contain a lower amount of carbs to prevent the blood sugar levels going too high. It is a case of finding a balance and the best thing I can suggest is for you to have a read of the various topics in the forum about food and diet and you will soon get an idea of the sorts of things that are safe to eat and those you may need to avoid.
 
I'm sorry to hear of your big hypo,
as Dennis says it was caused because you didn't eat. The type of insulin you've been given is a mix 25% is fast acting, this is to cover your food, the rest is basal which will help keep your levels stable during the day.
This graph shows that the onset is within 15 mins so by the time that you got to Tescos ithe insulin was probably at peak action but didn't have any glucose from your meal to deal with.

As long as you eat after taking your insulin this type of hypo should not happen again. You should include some carbohydrate in your meal as the insulin and dose prescribed is designed to deal with it. I would suggest that whilst you are getting used to using this insulin you should keep your diet either as it is or the diet that your team (nurse?) have suggested. If you ever decide to make changes, it might be necessary to adjust your insulin dose and at the moment you need to work with the professionals to gain confidence in its use. If you are on a twice daily insulin regime eating meals at regular times, even the meal when insulin is not taken, is much better for good control.

It iis posssible that you will have other, much milder hypos and you feel a bit shaky, lightheaded or begin to sweat. (not like your recent experience). If this happens, they really are comparatively easy to deal with so try not to worry. If you can (and don't feel to woozy), check your bg first but if thats difficult, treat anyway. The standard advice is to take 15g fast acting carbs ( some dextrose tablets or glucozade are very fast acting) wait 15 min and retest your levels .If they have risen and you are going to eat a meal soon thats fine. If you have more than an hour before the next meal eat a small amount (15g carb) of more longer acting carbs/protein (1/2 a sandwich, a small cereal bar). If after 15 mins your BG is still hypo (below 4mmol... or at least doesn't seem to be rising) you should take another 15g of fast acting carbs.
 

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Thank you all so very much for all your help you have explained it so much better than anybody i have spoken to ,have to see diet nurse next week . Levels have been 6,8 today so feeling better still checking levels all day get scared when they drop to 5 but only time will show me how to do it properly and learn to use the insulin ,speak to you soon once again thank you


LESLEY :P

( Please do not post in all capitals!)
 
hier,

Got up this morning and my level was 7, had insulin 40 .. had breakfast /(porridge) , coffee 1 sugar, then i painted slowly some wooden doors for an hour. Then i took my levels again, 6.4 - then an hour later before leaving the house my level was 4.3.

Phoned the nurse and she advised to have a banana and a glucose tablet, which i did so... level 5.9.

Went to town, walked round for an hour and check levels 3.9 ... was scared ... brought a lucozade drink and a sandwich ... levels then 6.9 .....

Now i am about 3 stones overweight, and i want to go for walks wiht my son and his dog ... i dont know whether i should be taking less insulin (nurse said reduce by about 4 ) and i don't want to do the dog walking until i get this levels sorted.

Any further advise much appreciated .. this place is a god send ...

ta yours lesley
 
hi lesley have had anoyher hypo this time in asda taken to hospital yet again this time they said that i have another chest infection and the steriods im taking are affecting
my insulin spoke to the nurse and she says that i will have to adjust accordingly any other advise as im to scared to go out and my family are to afraid to leave me alone because what happens if i have hypo at home will i just come round or worse, will not drive just in case it happens while at wheel bs was 10 when i went out 2hours later had the hypo
 
Mums not with it reall atm, last post she said hi to herself !!

I need to know if she has a hypo alone what are the consquences and timeframe for treatment needed, as were calling her on the phone all the time atm to be safe...

I was with her in asda, two ailes down after asking if she was ok , she said fine and two mins later shes on the floor, keep getting flashbacks of the event ... bleeding mouth, bump on head, a fit and major worry and upset ... life is hard and rewarding at the same time ...

Any help again much appreciated, were all determined to learn and manage her diabeties although at present with all her ill health she has been advised to keep levels higher for the moment....

thanks

concerned son .. steve
 
Hi, I'm sorry about all the problems.
It does seem that your Mother is having serious problems starting insulin which are outside my (and I expect others )experience.

The first dramatic hypo was explainable...no food (carbs) coupled with insulin.
Most of us have hypos from time to time...very few are like that.

If it happened a second time in spite of eating then the insulin dose is still too much for the carbs eaten, insulin has been injected twice (by mistake) or there is something else going on.

Obviously whatever is happening needs sorting out quickly.

This is something that has to be discussed with the nurse and/or doctor.

If you feel that the advice from the nurse ihas not been clear ordetailed enough, go back. It might be a good idea to visit her together. Write down your questions in advance, so that you make sure all your worries are dealt with. In particular, let her know your concerns about Mum being alone. Does the nurse in fact realise the seriousness of the incidents ?

You need advice about when to eat, what to eat, and perhaps a check on injection technique... ie that the correct dose is being injected.

Sorry to not be more help, but you need proper medical advice.
 
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