Hypo questions.

[simply_h]

Hello All,

Hope we are all well.

A Hypo is where the BS falls to levels that are below 3.0mmol or some were at that level.

In a non-diabetic how does the body stop itself from going hypo?

In a diabetic how does the body slip into hypo?

Reason I am asking is, can a type 2 diabetic who takes no drugs for their condition slip into a hypo?

As I have read that people who are type 2 and exercise hard can go into a Hypo.

Any ideas or have I got this all wrong.

Cheers
Simply_h

 

[Anonymous]

I've been on all 3 regimes to control diabetes... diet/exercise only, medications, insulin. From my experience when I was on diet and exercise alone I didn't have any hypos. I only started to experience hypos when I was placed on medications. Although my experience doesn't mean it can't happen. Has there been a C-peptide and GAD test done? Sometimes people are incorrect diagnosed. Eg. type 2 may actually be type 1.5 or even type 1 in some cases that I've heard of. A normal person doesn't get low blood sugar because their pancreas and liver is working as it should. In diabetes if your pancreas or insulin already in the body (insulin resistance) is not working properly then it creates imbalance in our bodies. Your body goes into a hypo state usually because their is not enough glucose to support your energy needs, and in diabetes at times because there is too much insulin in the body. I'm probably not being very scientific here... just explaining in simple terms. But generally it's all about managing your energy levels and if you've overdone things it could cause hypo symptoms. For me I experienced my first hypo and I tested at 4.2... but when I'm <4.5 my BGL drops very fast. I've learnt what is my danger level and my endo has advised me to stay above 5 at all times.... it's still hard to manage though.

 

[xyzzy]

A Hypo is where the BS falls to levels that are below 3.0mmol or some were at that level.

Yes roughly around there but the key thing is that the rate of how fast its falling also comes into play. I think the ADA say a rapid fall below 2.7 but it can vary person to person and how rapidly your sugars are falling as your blood sugars can be different in different parts of your system. Your body isn't stupid so it will try and maintain a higher level around vital things like your brain for as long as possible. That means that in some cases people can have readings in the high 1's and still be conscious and coherent.

In a non-diabetic how does the body stop itself from going hypo?

That should read "In a non-diabetic or a pretty much any diabetic who is not on insulin or taking powerful insulin stimulating drugs" So for example someone who is just on Metformin has no additional risk to hypo than a non diabetic and is the reason they don't need to report their diabetic condition to the DVLA.

In very simple terms the body stops a hypo condition when it detects there is no longer enough energy to maintain what it needs to do. At that point your get a "liver dump" which means your liver releases glucose to self correct the situation. So long as your liver is capable of doing that a hypo will automatically be avoided.

Reason I am asking is, can a type 2 diabetic who takes no drugs for their condition slip into a hypo?

...

As I have read that people who are type 2 and exercise hard can go into a Hypo.

Again very simplistically imagine you put a Type 2 on Metformin and a non diabetic on exercise bikes when they both had low sugars. If they both did hard exercise then after a while they would liver dump as explained above. If they kept exercising this pattern would continue until their livers would no longer be able to dump more glucose as the stores would be used up. At that point if they kept exercising both would begin to hypo, being diabetic has nothing to do with it.

In an insulin using diabetic who hypos you can imagine exactly the above happens in the sense that the dose of insulin overrides their liver dump capability and thus nothing can prevent the rapid fall in sugars unless they themselves take on additional sugar by eating it.

Some diabetics who have been running blood sugars high for a long time can experience some of the symptoms of a hypo (feeling faint that kind of thing) if their sugars drop to normal or even just lower levels than they are use to. The term for these is a false hypo. While the symptoms are unpleasant they are not hypoing in the dangerous rapid fall sense of an insulin using diabetic. The normal reaction is to eat something sweet but then all you're doing is never sorting out the issue that your sugars are too high.

 

[simply_h]

Dear mep73 and xyzzy,

Thank you, that has cleared that one up for me.

So this leave me free to push and then push some more at the gym, as am Type 2, but no meds.

As did not want to fall aleep cos of a hypo while on the bench-press, as that would not be funny. lol lol. But funny for every one else like.. lol lol.

Take care,

Cheers
Simply_h