Hypo treatment options

[sallymac65]

Advice pls from fellow T1Ds. I had a hypo in the night, 1.7 in bg readings, usually OJ sorts out hypos at that time, not today.

However, one pkt of jelly babies, two OJ cartons & two glucojuice and still I continued to drop. Would glucogen have been a better option?

Was finding it hard to gauge at 2am, but would be good to know if it happens again.

 

[Deleted member 527103]

My understanding is that glucogen is only used when you are unconcious.

If your position, my concern would be how to avoid going that low. Do you have a Libre? If not (and assuming you are based in the UK), I strongly recommend talking to your diabetes team and use this as a strong justification for getting Libre 2 on prescription as soon as possible so you can get alerted before your levels reach that low.

 

[sallymac65]

My understanding is that glucogen is only used when you are unconcious.

If your position, my concern would be how to avoid going that low. Do you have a Libre? If not (and assuming you are based in the UK), I strongly recommend talking to your diabetes team and use this as a strong justification for getting Libre 2 on prescription as soon as possible so you can get alerted before your levels reach that low.

Thanks for your response. I have a tandem control iq pump and a dexcom g6 sensor, so thankfully it's a closed loop pump. Although the sensor readings only go down to 2.2. Thanks for confirming about the glucagon, I thought that might be the case but wasn't sure, hence th question.

 

[sallymac65]

Thanks for your response. I have a tandem control iq pump and a dexcom g6 sensor, so thankfully it's a closed loop pump. Although the sensor readings only go down to 2.2. Thanks for confirming about the glucagon, I thought that might be the case but wasn't sure, hence th question.

Also you made me think that perhaps I need to ensure my alarms are on sound not just vibrate at night as well. If I'm asleep as I was I wouldn't have felt the vibration. Always good to have a reminder of things sometimes, thanks for your swift response.

 

[Ushthetaff]

I’ve had 100s of hypos over my 40 years of T1 and had many at night , before the days of “ healthy “ eating I use to use Lucozade but now due to the majority of the sugar being removed form soft drinks you have drink about a litre to get the same result as a small bottl, one of the only soft drinks not to remove the is Coke Cola , I always have 4 mini cans of cola at the side of my bed in case of hypos they are quickly absorbed so get rid of hypos quickly, other things at side of bed are tubes of Glucogel ( available on prescription ) these also are absorbed quickly, the train of thought is to take fast acting carbs ( coke cola or something similar Recommendation is 15 g of carbs which happens to be content of mini can of cola, wait 15 mins ( I dthen eat some longer acting carbs digestive biscuits etc, the main thing is to get fast acting carbs quickly in your system it might not feel like it but it does raise sugar quickly . If using a libre this raise may take a while to respond in the reading you see .

 

[Deleted member 527103]

Thanks for your response. I have a tandem control iq pump and a dexcom g6 sensor, so thankfully it's a closed loop pump. Although the sensor readings only go down to 2.2. Thanks for confirming about the glucagon, I thought that might be the case but wasn't sure, hence th question.

I am glad you have Dexcom but it is a little worrying that your Closed Loop did not react to stop your hypo.
I am not familiar with Tandem Control IQ pump but is there a setting you can tweak to make it more sensitive to falling levels?

 

[sallymac65]

I am glad you have Dexcom but it is a little worrying that your Closed Loop did not react to stop your hypo.
I am not familiar with Tandem Control IQ pump but is there a setting you can tweak to make it more sensitive to falling levels?

Well to be fair it did stop the insulin, but because I was rather out of it at the time I think I probably missed it as it was just on vibrate. Although, these settings have now been changed to have sound and vibration. Fingers crossed.

 

[sallymac65]

I’ve had 100s of hypos over my 40 years of T1 and had many at night , before the days of “ healthy “ eating I use to use Lucozade but now due to the majority of the sugar being removed form soft drinks you have drink about a litre to get the same result as a small bottl, one of the only soft drinks not to remove the is Coke Cola , I always have 4 mini cans of cola at the side of my bed in case of hypos they are quickly absorbed so get rid of hypos quickly, other things at side of bed are tubes of Glucogel ( available on prescription ) these also are absorbed quickly, the train of thought is to take fast acting carbs ( coke cola or something similar Recommendation is 15 g of carbs which happens to be content of mini can of cola, wait 15 mins ( I dthen eat some longer acting carbs digestive biscuits etc, the main thing is to get fast acting carbs quickly in your system it might not feel like it but it does raise sugar quickly . If using a libre this raise may take a while to respond in the reading you see .

Hi @Ushthetaff - thanks for your response. The small cans of coke by the side of your bed is a good option. I know in theory that it is advisable to eat some carbs right after, but it's not something I can even consider at 2am in the morning. Practice it seems is required! Thank you for your help /advice.