HYPO,BLACKOUT, CUT & BRUISES

[Dido]

Hey everyone,

This is my second post in the last twelve months regarding a bad hypo. The last one resulted in a fit and hospital, this one wasn't so bad but could have been.......

Tuesday evening my husband was working away. I got home from work with a reading of 7.8. Before I left work it was over 13 so I had injected half a unit (novorapid) to bring it down.
I emerged from the bath 15 mins later to go and make tea which was a tuna/cheese melt on wholemeal. Total carbs about 35. I injected 3 units novorapid as my ratio is 1:10 grams carbs.
I remember is feeling like a hypo was coming on very rapidly, not the usual warning signs. I managed to drink some coke then sat at the table. The next thing I remember was wondering where my sandwich had gone. I had eaten it but had no recollection of it!
There was tuna all under the table where I had been sat, and my lip was hurting. When I looked in the mirror I had bitten both top and bottom lip, bruised my chin and my front tooth was in agony. Again I have no recollection of doing this. Sugars continued to stay below 4 until about 3 hours later.
I did go swimming that day at lunchtime, and only had a salad and cereal bar for dinner.
My biggest fear was that had I not realised I was hypo and reached for the coke, I could have gone into a coma again and nobody would have known. My darling hubby drove 3 and a half hours to get back home to me. As is usual with diabetes I felt very guilty at the worry I have caused my DH and family, who are now insistent I must always tell them when DH is away on business.
I have asked diabetes nurse is it possible to black out and still eat food - she cannot give me an answer. Also, how can BG drop from 7.8 to 1.8 in less than 20 mins? I had injected lantus in a seperate area (leg) not belly - but there were no lumps as a result, which is what happened the last time I went into a coma.
Sorry for rambling, I just wondered if anyone could shed some light or wanted to share a similar experience.
Dido x

 

[kegstore]

Hey Dido,

Nasty experience but yes it does happen. It's possible to do all manner of things while hypoglycaemic, including eat, talk, drive, which subsequently you have no recollection of doing. I've certainly been there, and to this day cannot recall stuff I was doing AT ALL in the build-up to going really low. Fitting is not good, you can do yourself real damage during such events, again this has happened to me numerous times and I have the collateral damage and scars to show for it.

Having a bath might have contributed to the situation, some people report that bg levels can drop quite severely afterwards. I don't know about this as I rarely have a bath (and before you say "Eew" I shower!). It's also possible that your injection may have been delivered to a blood vessel instead of to fat, which does happen sometimes, meaning it's going to act a lot more quickly than you expect.

How is your control normally, and had you had any hypos - even minor ones - in the days before this happened? How long have you been diabetic, and how long have you been using NovoRapid? What is your hypo awareness like? Any complications? It might be worth running higher for a few days, if only to ensure your stores of glycogen are back to normal.

Top marks to your husband though, keep hold of that one!

All the best, Jo

 

[Fujifilm]

I doubt you can blackout and eat, chances are you just can't recall eating due to the on coming hypo.

You probably had a build up of insulin because you say you took some when you got in from work and then some a bit later, the bath may have caused your BG to lower (it does mine).

You knew the hypo was coming on and that rapid onset is scary, because even though you are getting sugar you can still feel it dropping. I have had a few of them, and when I get that initial feeling I just get as much quick sugar in me as I can because I know whats going to happen and experience tells me if its a hypo just gone a bit low or hypo rapid drop.

Your sandwhich was never going to act quick enough. At least you know the signs and next time you know to have a lot more quick acting sugar.

The worst one I had I woke up to find my four top front teeth on the floor in pools of blood and could not work out what happened. :? What I did was throw a bowl of sugar down my neck then pass out in the kitchen and hit the worktop on my way down. £900 that cost for my teeth to be fixed. :shock: Still it could have been worse, I could have damaged the worktop :lol:

Another time I woke up in bed and felt rough and my face was covered in soil but no idea how I got to bed, the lounge was covered in soil and all the pot plants were emptied out and the kitchen looked like a bomb site, lucozade everywhere sugar all over the place. To this day I have no idea what went on, maybe thats a good thing. :lol: :lol:
.

 

[Dido]

Hi Guys,
Thanks for the replies. I'm sorry to hear of your bad experiences too. It really is scary isn't it?
My control is not too bad, always room for improvement I guess though! My awareness is usually spot on, just not this time
I was diagnosed type 1 in my early thirties, I'm 35 now. They tested me for allsorts including MODY as it's unusual to get type 1 at such an age, is that correct?
Jo sorry to hear about your teeth, that is really scary, as is the bill for new ones! Glad you got them sorted though. It's so nice to be able to come on here and "share". Sometimes I feel so alone, as apart from the nurse, I don't really know anyone else with type 1. My Dad is type 2 and has never had a hypo, he just runs high a lot. I worry for him too as the though of "the needle" really scares him. At least he'll have a good advisor in me though I guess
Dido x

 

[aquadiver]

Its never a nice experience when u have a severe hypo like you had, i agree with a previous poster about getting to know the differance in types of hypo. i have had many past experiences with the ' quick ' hypo and you really do have to act extremely quickly to get out of it . Unfortunetely it is a learning experience and hopefully it wont happen to you again. It sounds like to me that the combination of the earlier swimming exercise and the correction dose you gave and the hot bath could all be factors in the sudden drop. Personally i am very fragile to exercise and would never do a correction dose ( even with food ) after exercisng as this drops my bg like a stone.

 

[heypapatooni]

Yes, hot baths make the insulin kick in really fast! fell for that mistake a few times!
I find I loose my short term memory after a bad hypo!
Watch out after gentle exercise too! like shopping all day! My 3 worst ones were after shopping! :lol:
I had my only day off work in years after a hypo thru the night where I fitted! I was convulsing, my stomach muscles were in agon for days and I had bitten my mouth and tounge all over! Luckily I was in a safe place and my husband called out the paramedics, I could've done more damage to myself if I hadn't been in bed!
I hadn't realised until that point that you COULD fit with a hypo! (after 25 years of type 1) :idea:
I'm hoping to come off novorapid soon as it causes such peaks and troughs in my blood.

 

[lilibet]

Im only dx just under a year and a half and live in fear of this, and DKA, and complications :lol:

Seriously though, I have been having bad spikes in bg and as such been taking correction doses, only to find that (unusually) in hour 3 and half of fast acting it drops it quick
So stacking insulin, had a lovely 1.8 last week - at work, sweating, tingling face, could barely finish a coherent sentence -though I knew it was going on

I agree re the combi of bath, exercise and correction though tbh 1u doesnt drop me that much so half unit would do nowt

Hope things stay ok from now on for you

 

[hanadr]

If the bath was fairly hot, It would have caused surface blood vessels to dilate and that could be a contributory factor. Bernstein advises against HOT baths.
Hana

 

[Jenni_1984]

If the bath was fairly hot, It would have caused surface blood vessels to dilate and that could be a contributory factor. Bernstein advises against HOT baths.
Hana

wow, now that is interesting. I have had several bad hypos following a bath. I have always attributed this to the heat as I am not good in hot weather/hot rooms/hot cars, etc. I can literally feel my blood level nose diving when I am too hot.

Interesting post as yesterday I was at an aerobics class, left as the room was really hot and made a beeline to the vending machine. Ended up passing out in the reception of the leisure centre. I am very hypo aware, but there was literally nothing I could do. I am feeling very sheepish today and shocked that I was caught out so badly when my blood was 13 before I exercised.

I haven't fitted since I switched to injecting lantus at night. The last fit I had was around ten years ago and I have a really ugly scar on my chest from it. I've never figured out why, I can only assume I scratched myself or my Dad did when he was trying to revive me. My consultant - when I was switching to lantus - told me that injecting before bed would help stop fitting. It seemed so alien to inject before going to sleep!

Definitely a very scary situation and a reminder of how unpredicatable diabetes can be.

 

[Lucie75]

Hi Dido,

So sorry you've experienced this, it's very frightening and you'll never know what really happened while you were hypo. I've had several of these, the worst one was when my son was 2 years old and was effectively left on his own for 5 hours until some help arrived. I too woke up with cuts and bruises, having fallen against something on the way down when I collapsed and then my son hitting me with the lucozade bottle in anger cos he couldn't open it. I was pregnant at the time and had to go to antenatal with black eyes and all sorts!! They gave my husband a funny look that day :lol: :lol:

It wasn't nice, but I think I learnt quite a lot from it, and it took me a long time to trust myself again - I was paranoid about it happening again. Thankfully it hasn't and that was about 3 years ago.

Just be glad you came out the other side...oh and have lucozade in every room of the house of course!!