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Hypo before bed

kirstiemarie91

kirstiemarie91

Well-Known Member
Messages
59
Type of diabetes
Family member
Treatment type
Insulin
Should you treat a hypo before bed any differently than one in the day?

My husband is fed up of having a snack before bed, so the diabetic nurse recommended he reduce his lantus from 8 to 7.
Last night, just before taking his lantus, Mike checked his sugar and it was 3.2. He's never had a hypo before bed.
He ate really well yesterday, no idea what caused it :/
So he had the usual Lucozade and 2 biscuits and then had some Weetabix.
This morning his sugar was 4.0, what's going on!
 
The hypo before bed is going to be dependent on factors that occurred earlier in the evening. When did he eat, how many carbs/proteins did he eat, what was his insulin dose at that time. If the low occurred within three hours of bolus insulin it is likely that this was the reason for the low. With regard to what was going on with the lantus, it's possible that it was related to the injection site and absorption, or that his low before bed actually was the result of a much larger error in estimation of carbs than realised.

There ar ea lot of possibilities without further information.
 
tim2000s said:
The hypo before bed is going to be dependent on factors that occurred earlier in the evening. When did he eat, how many carbs/proteins did he eat, what was his insulin dose at that time. If the low occurred within three hours of bolus insulin it is likely that this was the reason for the low. With regard to what was going on with the lantus, it's possible that it was related to the injection site and absorption, or that his low before bed actually was the result of a much larger error in estimation of carbs than realised.

There ar ea lot of possibilities without further information.
Click to expand...
Thank you for your reply :)

He had two jacket potatoes with cheese and bacon with 5 units of novarapid, this is a common meal for him and we've never had problems before. He always has his lantus at 10pm, his sugar usually around 7 and in the morning it's usually around 5. He did have a hypo earlier in the day, around 4pm, he treated it the same way.

It's just frustrating because he has a snack before bed as a safety measure but last night it didn't really work.

Thanks for all of your help :)
 
kirstiemarie91 said:
Should you treat a hypo before bed any differently than one in the day?

My husband is fed up of having a snack before bed, so the diabetic nurse recommended he reduce his lantus from 8 to 7.
Last night, just before taking his lantus, Mike checked his sugar and it was 3.2. He's never had a hypo before bed.
He ate really well yesterday, no idea what caused it :/
So he had the usual Lucozade and 2 biscuits and then had some Weetabix.
This morning his sugar was 4.0, what's going on!
Click to expand...

That is a lot of food to treat a hypo and he even managed to wake on 4mmol/l, everything points to his basal insulin being too high and he needs to discuss with his DSN about reducing it further, the hypo before bed may just be a miscalculation of the carbs in his evening meal, with potato's I always weigh them rather than guess the carb content.
 
@kirstiemarie91, a hypo 2 evenings in a row means he needs to adjust his insulin-to-carb ratio for his evening meal, 2 months in he'll be in what they call the Honeymoon Period where his pancreas will still be producing some insulin, get him to contact his DSN first thing in the morning to explain what's going on with his bg levels. Good luck.
 
kirstiemarie91 said:
You guys are so helpful, I really do appreciate it :)
Click to expand...

@noblehead 's comment on the "honeymoon period" has hit the nail on the head.! It means your husbands pancreas is doing "the dying swan". Random small production of insulin before it finally gives up...like a stalling, petrol starved engine.?

I will ask one more question which I feel may also be relivant..
Has your husband also opened a new cartridge of insulin in the last couple of days? Possibly Lantus?
 
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