How dangerous are short term hypos?

Why have you set your target level as low as you have? To me it seems very low and very narrow. The target level I've been set is 3.9 to 10.
As far as I understand the main risk from repeated hypos is loss of hypo awareness.

corbanwolf said:

Hey
My target for sugar was somewhere between 6 and 7. But I recently wanted to try to aim for 4.7-5.5mmol and noticed that this is much closer to the hypo border and anything below 5 is close to hypo too. So on daily basis, once a day, sometimes once in 2 days I got a mild hypo 3.8mmol for like 5min but very quickly treat it. Does those frequent short lasting hypos are gonna effect my health in long term? Is it better to aim for higher target around 6mmol and avoid hypos over lower target but more frequent hypos?

Edit. I have free style libre sensor so I can see my sugars in a graph

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Hi,

Do you confirm these Libra sensor lows using your meter?

corbanwolf said:

Sometimes and most of time they are correct however I noticed the libre tends to guess. As it checks glucose from some other liquid than blood it shows with delay so I think it guesses current glucose by checking whether it was raising or going down in last few mins. Anyway sometimes it shows low while my meter shows still 5. Why?

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Because, as has been mentioned on many threads, Libre is inaccurate at low and high readings.
It is not recommended to correct highs and lows indicated by Libre without first confirming with a finger prick test.

In other words, it is very possible that a 3.8 reported by a Libre May not be a true hypo. But the only way of knowing is to test with a finger prick.

corbanwolf said:

Ok I understand that I noticed myself but, the question prevails. Even if the hypo is real.

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Hypos have been real to me for nearly 44.5 years. I take these seriously try to avoid. Had many. (Too many to count at different stages.) But so far has not blighted my life or aspirations.

Edit to elabourate; I have never passed out, had seizures or coma.. Don't push it that close. & I "experimented" as a kid..

I'm not a T1 but a dear friend of mine is and experienced one yesterday so I'm familiar with treatments.

@miahara is right ... I'd avoid playing Russian roulette too

I have BEEN advised by DSNs to try and keep my bs between 5 and 7 sorry not happening anything under 5 I canny drive so I keep mine between 5 and 9 my consultant is happy after years of having blood sugars over 10 I am happy too , to keep my bs in that tight a range I would do nothing but look after my diabetes , I know it is important but I have a life to live as well ,

In the past I’ve kept my readings that tight when
I was using Libre, it’s very easy to lose hypo awareness. It happened to me.. I’ve also had seizures when I was 15 & 16, going out getting drunk and not waking up with hypo symptoms. Chewed half my tongue off one night and woke with a huge lump on my head and blood all over the floor. Certainly something I’d avoid. I’m perfectly happy running anywhere upto 10

corbanwolf said:

I checked the glucose levels for healthy people and wanted to adjust mine to those healthy people

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That's probably a mistake. Healthy people don't need to worry about hypos and that is why we are recommended to keep our levels higher.

If you are going to try this, I would suggest talking to your diabetic team first, but I suspect that they may not be happy with the idea.

corbanwolf said:

Hey
My target for sugar was somewhere between 6 and 7. But I recently wanted to try to aim for 4.7-5.5mmol and noticed that this is much closer to the hypo border and anything below 5 is close to hypo too. So on daily basis, once a day, sometimes once in 2 days I got a mild hypo 3.8mmol for like 5min but very quickly treat it. Does those frequent short lasting hypos are gonna effect my health in long term? Is it better to aim for higher target around 6mmol and avoid hypos over lower target but more frequent hypos?

Edit. I have free style libre sensor so I can see my sugars in a graph

Click to expand...

Diabetic eye disease can be worsened by hypoglycaemia. Unfortunately the eyes are extremely annoying in the fact that they prefer a certain level of glucose stability and less variability, high blood sugar causes eye damage but lowering your blood sugars too quickly also does damage too. I can’t seem to find the research paper but there are studies suggesting during hypoglycaemia the kidney and eyes are particularly sensitive to glucose variation and experience some damage.

Of course there are also hundreds of studies about how hypoglycaemia causes death to brain cells and overtime there may be a decline in memory and cognitive function.

Let’s also not forget that recurring frequent hypoglycaemic episodes actually normalise low blood sugars and in the future you may struggle with hypoglycaemia awareness as your body becomes used to hypos that it doesn’t see it as a threat anymore and therefore you don’t get symptoms and can potentially die.

Also the more hypos you get the more inaccurate your HbA1c will be because your doctors will look at it and say “wooow he’s managing his sugars okay” but in reality it could be that half the time you’re having hypos and the other half high blood sugar

Me personally found keeping a level between 5-7mmol extremely hard, I achieved it in pregnancy for my baby’s sake, but my god. I was having 4-5 hypos a day and felt dreadful for 6 months. In the end I lost my hypo awareness and was once sat in diabetic clinic after bloods and a nurse rushed over to me with a glucose drink telling me to drink quickly. I had absolutely no symptoms at a BS of 2.2. Aslong as your fasting rate is between 5-7mmol then I personally wouldn’t worry too much about the odd high. I really would rather a spike than I would a low. If you are truly hellbent on keeping levels really low, during pregnancy I would check levels more and as soon as my libre hit 4.7 with a downwards arrow i would put in 100ml Pepsi to avoid the low. Then check again 15 mins later to check the hypo was treated and 15 minutes after that to be double sure.