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How many Hypos?

E

Eglinton71

Active Member
Messages
38
Location
Northampton
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Pump
I'm sorry if this has been asked before but how many Hypos do you consider too many. I don't mean severe ones as obviously one is too many. I
mean those in the range of say 3mmol/L to 3.9mmol/L. My last HbA1c was 40 and I expect this will seen as too low at my next review

Thanks
 
Hi @Eglinton71 Wow - that is quite an achievement.. I got 44 a few years ago and got the lecture about hypos, the issue they have is that hypo awareness can wane due to frequency, as you more likely to not feel yourself going low if you're frequently hitting a lowish number, as long as your presenting good hypo awareness ?
 
Are you using a cgm, because if so the team will be able to see your time in range, and when you're having any hypo's.
 
I do have a CGM and know when I'm hypo and how to manage them. I assume that even well controlled Type 1s experience hypos (?) and I was trying to understand how many you would have to say "I'm having too many". For example do people feel 1 a week is "reasonable"?
 
Well I’ve been at both ends of the scale no hypos for months sounds good but my sugars were over 12 regularly.
now much better control but the nearer you are to the hypo the more chance of a hypo ,we all know sugars can sometimes seem to do their own thing , to be honest and in m6 humble opinion. 1 a week isn’t unreasonable , in fact with a Hb1ac at 40 you are doing well just to be having 1 , , as long as you’re aware and treating them I wouldn’t personally worry, personally I tend to keep my sugars above 5 and below 9
 
I suppose it's what you actually call hypo , I know they say under 4 is hypo but really , I've just had my third under 4 alarm today and just have some fruit juice to quickly bump it up again , the last time I had a serious hypo needing somebodys help was about 18 years ago , so I would say if you're only going under 4 once a week you are doing extremely well ,so well done I wish I could do that .
 
Being honest 1 a week was just an example. It would be nice if I was achieving that number. In fact I vary between 2 in a month to 20 a month.
 
Before I had CGM my team were worried about too many hypos with Hb1Ac in the low 40s. Now they are quite good about it. Also very thankful they get it that the Libre is very good at reporting false hypos.

Like others have said my amount of hypos can vary considerably… Could be a couple a month could be several a week. My hypo awareness generally kicks in at the low to mid 3s and i am quite good at functioning as normal in high 3s.
 
I was just about to post this question when I found this. I’m T2 and only been on insulin for 12 months but am averaging 1 hypo a week although I don’t 5hink they are officially classed a hypo. Ive had consistently high BG usually in the mid to high teens for years but now average between 6 and 9 since insulin but when mine go down to 4 I’m in a dreadful state, sweating, shaking and tired. Is it just a case that eventually my body will adjust to more lower blood sugars and I should persevere . I tried reducing the insulin but my BG shot up
 
My understanding (possibly incorrect as I'm T1) is that you are experiencing "false hypos" because your body needs to get used to the lower levels.
As a T1, I wouldn't stress about 1 hypo a week.
 
I believe it is a matter of degree; hundreds a day may be fine if it is 3.9mmol/l - in fact that is the low end of my target range (3.9-6.0) - but any at 3.0 - for me at least -is too many.

I have a lot of sympathy with the NHS rule of thumb that "4 is the floor' even though many without type 1 may have periods below 4 with no problem at all.

As an aside ketosis allows me cognitive clarity and physical ability at a level at least as low as 2.5mmol/l; although I in no way recommend this it is a really interesting spin on the discussion.
 
My last HbA1c was 40 and my CGM calculated that out of all of my data I was low (below 3.9) for 1% of the time. I had around 13 occurrences of low blood sugar over a 3 month period which if you average it out would equate to 1 a week. My doctor was very happy with that amount and my HbA1c result as it meant that rather than my lows bringing my HbA1c down my overall blood sugar results are what contributed to my HbA1c being the number it was.
 
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