I was diagnosed type 1 when I was 9. I had my first 'hypo fit' when I was 14 and on holiday with my family. I had a sneaky few glasses of my parent's Sangria and got a little tipsy!
I accidently injected two lots of levemir that evening (60 units in total), probably because I was a little out of it. I ended up having a horrendous fit and rushed into hospital etc.
I was told that 'hypo fits' are quite rare. However, I had another hypo fit at a friend's house party when I was 16 and a further 3 fits whilst at University. This time, I had definitely NOT over-compensated on insulin but all were a result of heavy alcohol consumption. At the house party, my parents were called over and they dealt with me after the first experience. They brought me round with small amounts of honey on the inside of my cheeks and then I was fine - no need for an ambulance! The times at Uni were interesting - once I was discovered by my House Mate and they called an ambulance and I went to hospital. The second time it happened my housemate came to my room because they heard me thrashing around but I had stupidly locked my door. By the time they broke it down I had recovered and was just re-gaining consciousness. I was fine, though sore. My BG was 13 and although it was scary when my firends told me what happened I also felt re-assured as I had gone through it and come out the other side un-scathed.
I did DAFNE in March this year and found out that I wasn't the only person this had happened to! There were 9 of us on the course and myself plus three others had experienced hypo fits at some point. Although mine seemed to be associated with alcohol, other people's were due to a number of reasons.
They were then explained properly to me. Some diabetics will fit if they have a severe hypo. Others will not purely because their body has a different idea of what constitutes 'severe'. Some people may fit if they drop below 2.5, others may not fit until they get into the 1's or below!
They are dangerous, but mostly because the kind of toll a fit will take on your body, rather than because your blood sugar is severely low. Apparently, the fit eitehr prompts or is perhaps a side-effect of your liver releasing all of your glucose stores. It is quite a natural response, though certainly not healthy.
I had another fit about 18 months ago, this time I hadn't had any alcohol but was quite unwell with cold/ flu at the time and may have been a little over-zealous with my insulin. My husband found me but luckily I had already told him what to do in such a situation.
He made sure I didn't bang my head as I was fitting and waited until I stopped. The he tested my blood sugar and as it was under 4 he rubbed hypostop gel on the inside of my cheeks and lips. Then he kept repeating testing and administering gel until I became conscious every 5 mins. He was under strict instructions that if I didn't come round after 40 mins he was to call an ambulance! But luckily it only took 10 mins for me to regain consciousness.
I write about my experiences of this to hopefully enlighten but more importantly to re-assure you! I have been through these fits and although they are scary and can be dangerous they are a natural response.
The important thing would be to keep panicking to a minimum and deal with each situation as it arises.
Thumper - your son's age will mean he has a LOT of hormones racing through him at the moment! And as insulin is a hormone any sort of unbalance can make it have a slightly different effect! And as most of us diabetics know, it only takes a slight upset to the equilibrium to send the whole thing haywire!
Close monitoring is probably the best thing to do at all times, not just at night. I know that now I am well controlled I do not test quite as regularly as I should. So just stepping up the amount of testing will be hugely beneficial to see what is going on.
His body is going through some big changes so it only makes sense that his diabetes may be changing too.
Just wait until he starts drinking with his mates!!!
Liamg - unfortunately night time hypo paranoia is something a LOT of parents have. Whilst you are still in the early stages of getting everything under control 1 x 2/3am test each night may be beneficial as it will improve control and may also put your mind at ease. You don't want to be disturbing him too much as it is important that we learn to live normal lives with this condition!
But if you just do it for a short time, until control is improved and things become a little bit more predictable, then it may be more manageable.
There isn't a lot you can do as far as identifying symtoms whilst he is sleeping - there are things to recognise during waking hourse and your Specialist Nurse and Doctors should have gone through all of this with you. But sleeping hypos will wake most diabetics up. So it's important that your son is taught to recognise the symptoms himself. Keeping a glucose monitor and a hypo treatment by the bed is a very good idea (I broke my toe trying to get downstairs to make jam on toast to treat a hypo once...) and letting him know that he can call to wake you up if he feels he needs help?
Hope this is of help!