How many Hypos

[Brendon.Dean]

Does your consultant know about this?

Telling my diabetes team would do provide no benefit to me. All of my success has come from me knowing my body and doing what I feel is right for me. Our health care practitioners provide generic information and see us 1-2 times a year so imho they are not qualified to tell me what I should be doing based on information I give them compiled over 6 months in a 60 minute meeting.

As for the lows, I catch them on the down and nip it in the bud. I almost never get sever lows anymore that take my energy and take 20-30 minutes to recover. If I ever get a low now I may feel a little wonky for 5 minutes and then its back to normal

 

[mytype1.life]

It varies for me but generally I can link my lows to delayed exercise induced hypos (24-48 hours later) or time of the month. I’m also prone to hypoing when brisk walking or doing the chores!
I do try to be proactive and reduce my basal rate but sometimes it just doesn’t work out.
My HbA1c is the lowest it’s ever been, using insight from the Libre and adopting a low carb approach but I wouldn’t mind if it increased slightly if I was having less hypos.
I’m soon to be getting the MiaoMiao reader which will alert me so I would expect the number of hypos to reduce, especially during the night following intense exercise.

 

[Glucobabu]

When you are controlling your BG artificially with insulin you are bound to suffer highs and lows. Anybody who claims not to have more than 1 or 2 hypos a week is probably running too high! If I am doing extreme physical work, despite lowering my insulin dose I am almost continually hypo which results in me consuming large amounts of carbs to keep me going. This carries on for up to 12 hours after the activity. The real killer is when you go hypo (or hyper) for no apparent reason. That is what drives me nuts!

 

[ExtremelyW0rried]

Since the libre maybe one a week? Mainly because if I’m at 5 but have a downward arrow I will have 5/10g carbs and it just heads it off.

My consultant suggested one a year was a reasonable amount. One. A year.

 

[jlarsson]

Since the libre maybe one a week? Mainly because if I’m at 5 but have a downward arrow I will have 5/10g carbs and it just heads it off.

My consultant suggested one a year was a reasonable amount. One. A year.

Your consultant knows that we live in reality and not Hollywood, right?

 

[Antje77]

Anybody who claims not to have more than 1 or 2 hypos a week is probably running too high!

Not true for everyone!

despite lowering my insulin dose I am almost continually hypo

This doesn't sound good. Why not lower your dose more?

 

[Antje77]

My consultant suggested one a year was a reasonable amount. One. A year.

Did they mean a hypo as in being a little below four or a hypo as in ambulance and stuff or needing a glucagon injection?

 

[ExtremelyW0rried]

Did they mean a hypo as in being a little below four or a hypo as in ambulance and stuff or needing a glucagon injection?

Well I thought that so I asked did she mean one a year that required assistance (in which case I’ve had none) or one a year below 4mmol.
One a year below 4mmol. In the end she put me down for one a month. Still unrealistic but I felt she might hyperventilate if it was any more than that!

 

[Antje77]

Well I thought that so I asked did she mean one a year that required assistance (in which case I’ve had none) or one a year below 4mmol.
One a year below 4mmol. In the end she put me down for one a month. Still unrealistic but I felt she might hyperventilate if it was any more than that!

She's crazy.

 

[Glucobabu]

Since the libre maybe one a week? Mainly because if I’m at 5 but have a downward arrow I will have 5/10g carbs and it just heads it off.

My consultant suggested one a year was a reasonable amount. One. A year.

It must be depressing to be under the care of a consultant like that!

 

[Glucobabu]

Not true for everyone!

This doesn't sound good. Why not lower your dose more?

I have tried but it’s hard to strike a right balance especially when you haven’t been able to foresee the amount of physical exertion ahead. I appreciate your suggestion though.

 

[ExtremelyW0rried]

She's crazy.

Yes.
She’s new.
She seemed very nervous.
Maybe she will learn?!

 

[parko59]

I had one last Tuesday which scared the living daylight out of me but dealt with it thank goodness never want another one of these hypos I have been a diabetic for 11 yrs and it was a first but realised after the shakes what was happening, scary things these hypos,

 

[SueJB]

When you are controlling your BG artificially with insulin you are bound to suffer highs and lows. Anybody who claims not to have more than 1 or 2 hypos a week is probably running too high! If I am doing extreme physical work, despite lowering my insulin dose I am almost continually hypo which results in me consuming large amounts of carbs to keep me going. This carries on for up to 12 hours after the activity. The real killer is when you go hypo (or hyper) for no apparent reason. That is what drives me nuts!

Since being diagnosed last August, I've had very few hypos, 28 to be exact and that was in number only 3.9-3.0, I didn't get any symptoms. My last hypo was 3 weeks ago @mountaintom which scared the life out of me. I eat low carb around 30g a day, only inject 4units basal (Levemir) twice daily and no bolus. My BG is consistently within range and for the last week in the 5s all day so what you say @Glucobabu is very interesting. "Running too high" how?

 

[becca59]

Since the libre maybe one a week? Mainly because if I’m at 5 but have a downward arrow I will have 5/10g carbs and it just heads it off.

My consultant suggested one a year was a reasonable amount. One. A year.

Still laughing! Bit like my GP when first diagnosed saying you will eventually just be able to test your blood twice a week! Still laughing at that one too.

 

[Jo Bodensee]

I was a hypo virgin until today. Oh, joy!

We'd just arrived in a museum in Dornbirn and were about to have lunch so I checked my sugars. 55! But, I felt completely fine... It actually upset me quite a bit because I've been doing so well this holiday and I was startled by such a low number. A few weeks ago, when I was first diagnosed and on insulin for the first time, even 117 had me shaking and feeling like I was going to pass out. This today? Nothing.

So I ate a dextro energy tab before taking one unit and eating a 'fitness salad' with turkey breast and the usual German raw veggie mix with lettuce. BG jumped to 166 within 30 minutes. Walking around the museum settled that quickly and we had a great time.

No idea what caused this drop.

 

[Bertyboy]

Diagnosed Nov 2017. Had a mild hypo in December (3.8). Other than that, none.

 

[LooperCat]

I had my very first hypo in the car on the way home from hospital in Hemel Hempstead when my dad was taking me back to that family home in Somerset (I was studying for my PhD at the time in Hertfordshire when I was diagnosed) for a few days. It was terrifying - for both of us. I can’t remember the numbers, but I seriously panicked and shoved a bag of jelly babies and a ham sandwich down my throat as soon as we could pull off the M4 to get something. I was so unprepared, I had no idea I was supposed to carry glucose on me. I’ve had a few humdingers in my time, but only ever needed paramedics the once, and that was this January, when in a rush I misread the dry and cooked weights on a pack of pasta, and injected double the amount of Novorapid I should have. That rattled me enough to basically stop eating carbs, fast ones at least. So after 20 years of highs and lows, with high carb meals and big insulin doses, I’ve found that for me at least, small amounts of slow carbs with correspondingly tiny insulin doses mean way less hypos, and if I do get them, they come in much more slowly and can be easily headed off at the pass with a dextrose tab or two. Rarely (once in four months, maybe) below 3.5, which according to my DAFNE stuff, hardly counts, despite the “four is the floor” mantra.

 

[kitedoc]

One to two mild hypos per week or so.
My specialist told me that research for TIDs had shown that keeping blood sugars tightly controlled in the first 10 years gives the best chance of preventing diabetes complications later on. The need for such tight control later on was less important BUT PREVENTING HYPOS WAS MORE IMPORTANT. Please check with your doctor if this applies to you.
I fared much better hypo-wise at the 45 years on insulin mark by changing to an insulin pump. CGM is too expensive for me to use regularly at present. Now at 51 years on insulin things are much better.

 

[Brendon.Dean]

Not true for everyone!

Even type ones with the tightest control will get hypos weekly unless like said their blood glucose is running higher.