How dangerous are Hypos ?

i have the medtronic mini med and i have just got the medronic contour next link, which sends my gugclose reading direct to my pump, which is great technology but to be honest nothing is helping enough, don't want to sound like a cry baby or self pity but am so so down at the mo feel like i battle everyday but am losing the war; am in so much pain cant think straight; so so very tired cant eat properly if i eat to much i bloat so bad and feel ill for hours; tried to speak to the diabetes nurse yesterday about how i feel and how scared i am at the min, because am having so many hpyo,s in my sleep and hav nt much awareness i dont have a partner and cant expect my girls to sleep with me; although they do sometimes they are my life; also having very high levels with ketone's, i am having 6 teeth out next week because of the abscesses just so down am sorry the nurse just looked at me like i had to heads and said come back in sept, i hav nt seen a doctor for 10 months they have given up on me because they don't know why am so ill and brittle, thank god i have my children other wise i would give up too; i have changed so much used to be so much more fun and postive

michelle lilly said:

i went to the hospital for a routine check up, i have brittle diabetes and use a medtronic pump, i have never had good control for 18 years i can have hi reading then 1hour later low readings, i have a mouth infection at the moment so the nurse asked me to speak to the dental dept after speaking to me they told me to go to A/E which i did i was feeling really poorly so they checked my sugars which were unreadable and i had ketones and in DKA so they treated me for this insulin drip guclose drip ect, they montored me every hour i think, i remember the last time they checked my sugars they were only 3 SO I asked them to stop the insulin but they said no, also they would not allow me to eat or drink not even a little water i thought this was strange i had nothing for over 24 Hours they told me this is normal practice for treating DKA in FRANCE i am still very unwell today had 4 hypos yesterday and also very high readings 40plus: sorry for all the spelling mistakes my head is just so fussy in loads of pain and still confused quite worried which is not like me normally i can cope with the highs and lows i have everyday but i cant cope at the moment and feel so alone and need some answers so happy i found this forum thank you.[/QUOTE

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I'm very wary of the French hospitals. 15 years ago while on holiday in France I had a hypo, was taken to one to a French hospital.
Despite being told I was diabetic and needed glucose, they thought I had Menangitas,
kept me in an induced coma for 4 days and called my parents over because they thought I was dying.

Read recently that there is a higher risk percentage of Memory probs /Alziemers in diabetics maybe Hypos which affect the brain, may be an associated factor along with poor circulation.That may be why my memory has become tired.

@michelle lilly. My sister was diagnosed in France, put straight on a pump and had excellent treatment, so her control far exceeded mine under the adorable NHS. It was her splendid experience in France that persuaded me I needed a pump. The NHS wouldn't give me one, so after I moved to Turkey I got one. I am like Shaolindan, my experience with the pump has been splendid.

I think that you need to buy Pumping Insulin and also Think Like a Pancreas. you have a nurse's training, you can get it under control. Your gastorpare sis may be making things more difficult, but the control you get with a pump may help to reverse any neurological damage.

Get those books, then work your way through gaining control step by step. Come on here for help.

Get your night time basal right first. That is a huge relief and a great help. Then your morning. Then your afternoon to evening.

Here's how:

http://www.salforddiabetescare.co.uk/index2.php?nav_id=1007

Then, even with gastroparesis, your blood sugars will be better, and you can gradually work out the rest of the knots. Honestly, before the books even arrive from Amazon you can be feeling better and more in control.

On hypos, I was told that in a non-diabetic a hypo is 2.2 or below. The reason they give numbers like 3.8 or 4.0 to diabetics is that at that point you may still have insulin on board and MAY be heading for a hypo. I regularly wake up in the threes, but I am not hypo and I have no IOB so I don't panic. (Strictly speaking, it isn't a hypo. I also have my night-time basal well worked out, plus I check every night just before bed, just before dawn, and just when I get up. )

And yes, I still have hypo awareness, but because I test so frequently I know which direction I'm going.

I find my doc and nurse seem to get twitchy at anything below 4, yet my non diabetic boyfriend will regularly test out in the 3s after a long cycle (regularly as in most times he does long rides and I decide to test him, not each day) I test him for interest from time to time.

I know when my BS is below about 4.2, but I don't panic about it if dinner is going to be on my plate in 20 mins and I end up finally eating dinner at 3.8/9. I just reduce my meal bolus by a unit or so and I've found no adverse effects in terms of going hypo again after. I've never lost consciousness in 16 years. And I can't remember a time I've gone below 3 as the sweating, shaking and ravenous hunger has already set in and been seen off with some sweets. I'd rather be 3.8 than 12 as my meal arrives even though my GP seems to prefer the other way round. It's probably less than once a week though.

Hypos, are worse as they become more severe obvs. A low down to about 3.1mmol/L if handled fairly quickly should be negligible. Below that you are risk of unconsciousness, which is the most obvious danger.

I was told by my doctor that when we loose our hypo awareness by having to many lows it is because of a type of neuropathy that occurs in those pathways in the brain do to extended or frequent periods of low blood sugar. The complications from this type of neuropathy are still fairly unknown, but so far are not nearly as bad as the kind we are all aware of.

There have also been studies published that having a hypo that causes unconsciousness can triple a persons risk of a cardiac event within the next 0-5 days, and that risk stays elevated for the remaining year. The test data showed a correlation with adults having a unconscious hypo event and within a year also had a cardiac arrest, usually within a few days and trailing off as further from the hypo.

I remember the paper stating that when the body goes that low that it go unconcious the body pumps out different hormones and different levels of hormones in an attempt to stay conscious, and these hormones cause the plaque the arteries to unsitck from the walls and become free in the body, which can then clump and cause strokes and heart attacks.

That has been my understanding of lows - Avoid <3.1 like the plague, down to 3.1-4 isn't a good place to be so get out as fast as you notice it.

That all being said, i go into the 3's probably once a day, never has it been scary, or impacted my thinking or motor skills and as such i usually just eat 5-10g of carbs and carry on.

Lampet77 said:

I find my doc and nurse seem to get twitchy at anything below 4, yet my non diabetic boyfriend will regularly test out in the 3s after a long cycle (regularly as in most times he does long rides and I decide to test him, not each day) I test him for interest from time to time.

I know when my BS is below about 4.2, but I don't panic about it if dinner is going to be on my plate in 20 mins and I end up finally eating dinner at 3.8/9. I just reduce my meal bolus by a unit or so and I've found no adverse effects in terms of going hypo again after. I've never lost consciousness in 16 years. And I can't remember a time I've gone below 3 as the sweating, shaking and ravenous hunger has already set in and been seen off with some sweets. I'd rather be 3.8 than 12 as my meal arrives even though my GP seems to prefer the other way round. It's probably less than once a week though.

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In non-diabetics the lower end of the normal range is 2.2. Type 1 Diabetics should never go that low because we usually have insulin on board. So clinical guidelines for hypos are set to take that into account. But your boyfriend's BSs are totally normal.

Our hypo symptoms reflect what our body is accustomed too. Because most Type 1s keep their blood sugar at the high end of normal or higher than normal, they feel hypo symptoms even when they are in the normal range (around 4, for example). Clinically speaking, this may be a good thing!

Personally, I tend to feel best in the high 3s. But I don't try to stay there because it gives me no margin for error.