Hypo awareness

[Sarahfergo]

I seem to have had a lot of hypos lately and the last 3 hypos I've had I've lost my awareness of them even at 2.5 which is scaring me!! I know they say run high for a while but how do they mean? Eat more chocolate take less insulin? I'm scared to do that because I end up ill with high bloods and sometimes leading to dka! Any suggestions?


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[Lucie75]

Re: Hypo awareness

I went through a period of losing hypo awareness because I ran my bs too low too often (between 3-5) so although my HBA1C was great, it wasn't all that good for me. I too was advised to run higher for period of 3 weeks or so. I simply adjusted my insulin very slightly and took lots readings. On average I would say that my bs ran between 8-11 during this time. It did work though, and I soon started feeling hypo at around 4-4.5. My advice is not to make any drastic changes, but do adjustments gradually. If you have been advised to lower your long acting insulin by 1 or 2 units, make sure you leave a few days in between each adjustment. If in doubt, test and adjust as you need to.

Hope this helps.

 

[noblehead]

Re: Hypo awareness

I seem to have had a lot of hypos lately and the last 3 hypos I've had I've lost my awareness of them even at 2.5 which is scaring me!! I know they say run high for a while but how do they mean? Eat more chocolate take less insulin? I'm scared to do that because I end up ill with high bloods and sometimes leading to dka! Any suggestions?

This can happen when you have frequent hypo's as the body gets use to the lower levels and the warning signs fade. The advice is to run levels higher for a few weeks carefully monitoring your bg more closely to avoid any hypo's, speak with your DSN on how best to approach this. There's some information here from DUK about dealing with being hypo-unaware:

http://www.diabetes.org.uk/Guide-to-dia ... awareness/

 

[Sarahfergo]

Thanks for your advice last night I tweaked my basal rate by 0.05 units per hour and I ended up in my 20s this afternoon I just can't win


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[noblehead]

Re: Hypo awareness

Thanks for your advice last night I tweaked my basal rate by 0.05 units per hour and I ended up in my 20s this afternoon I just can't win

No you can't, better that you ask for advice from your DSN as previously mentioned, hopefully (as suggested in the link) they'll let you use a CGM so that they can advise you on appropriate insulin adjustments.

 

[Sarahfergo]

Ok I'll ring her tomorrow she wanted meto use on eighties a while ago but I haven't heard anything.


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[iHs]

Re: Hypo awareness

Thanks for your advice last night I tweaked my basal rate by 0.05 units per hour and I ended up in my 20s this afternoon I just can't win


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You've adjusted yr basal by too much by the sounds.... I usually need to only adjust by 0.01 or 0.02 at a time and then test again but everyone is different. Best way to sort everthing out correctly is by doing a basal test as some of yr hours will be correct and some wont.