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Hypo treatment took few attempts?!

JMoli

Well-Known Member
Messages
250
Location
Edinburgh
Type of diabetes
LADA
Treatment type
Insulin
Hi, I’ve just my the worst night with diabetes yet and I’m trying to understand where I went so wrong. I had the exact same dinner as the night before, same bolus, same activity levels that day etc. This time my blood sugar dropped so I had a couple of jelly babies around when it was 5.2. Tested and it was still 5.2 so had another jelly baby (I’m nervous of hypos and can drop fast) tested fifteen minutes later and was 3.7 so had a Lift drink, waited and tested and then was 3.2?!?
I double checked my insulin pen and had taken the units I thought I had for dinner so it wasn’t that I gave myself too much?
I ended up with climbing blood sugars and went for a walk last night. Came back and tested as my Libre had stopped working (scan error messages) and I was at 22.5. Ugh. Decided to do a correction to bring it down (one unit takes me down 7 points) and drank water, went to bed and pretty much the same scenario! Was dropping so tried jelly babies, checking constantly, then ended up hypo so another lift drink, wait, check then still hypo so another lift drink. I went high again (not so bad this time) and sat up until half three.
Can anyone guess what went wrong? Random delayed food digestion for dinner? I’m exhausted today
 
I'm sorry you've had a difficult night. It looks like the variability we all struggle with on a daily or nightly basis. You may be still producing your own insulin, or sometimes the insulin is more effective, due to new vials, injection sites, lower hormones etc, etc. Did you dose your correction using a finger prick? I never believe my Libre outside the normal range. I only dose insulin using a finger prick and only correct with food and do not worry about running my blood sugars higher than normal after a hypo. All we can do is follow the numbers.
 
Hi, thanks for replying. Yes everything was with finger pricks as my Libre was giving me the scan error message for hours. I’m just trying to work out what went wrong as I have a really bad fear of hypos and last night was pretty scary. So it could be a random thing, should I not have corrected last night? I read that I’m supposed to have carbs after a hypo but what happens when you go sky high because of so many hypo treatments, am I supposed to still have carbs do you know?
 
On the DAFNE course, we learned to eat a small apple if our blood sugars were 3.5 mmol/l or higher. It is 10 grams of carbs, so should raise your blood sugars 2-3 mmol/l. Then check after 10 to 15 minutes. If you are below this, then use your hypo treatment 15 grams of fast-acting carbs, that's 5 dextro tablets (3 g each) and check after 15 minutes. If I'm 3.4 or 3.3 sometimes I start with a single dextrose tablet and a coffee and test to see if I need more. As soon as I am above 3.5 I start eating fruit.
Correcting after a hypo is hard as it's easy to crash back down, so I tend to set an alarm 4 hours afterwards and deal with it then, but always eat something with my correction.
 
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Thanks Ert. I’m going low carb today as I’m too shattered to deal with it all again but hopefully it was just a weird one-off
 
Aren't hypos like that just the worst thing to deal with? Sorry you had that experience @JMoli. For me, it sometimes takes a little longer for jelly babies to work, so I end up over-correcting. Hanging on a little longer before rushing to take more helps me sometimes. Also, if your bg is very high, it's generally thought inadvisable to exercise in case you trigger a glucose release which pushes your bg even higher. Hope you feel better soon.
 
Yes same for me, takes a little longer to kick in. Apples i sometimes use if I don’t want it to spike too high & that works for me.
 

Thanks so much, I had no idea about the exercise being counterproductive when high. Seems I guessed every part of last night badly, every decision went wrong. I think I should have waited out the second hypo treatment too - usually hypo treatments work quickly for me, especially the Lift juice, but nothing went to plan last night. The Libre stopped working and I tripped up and my favourite bag strap broke during my walk! Today I’m low carbing but even that’s not gone well?! Had insulin/toast for breakfast and a rich tea mix morning which shot my blood sugar up! It’s not come down, I ended up nervously taking a half unit correction which has done nothing! Aargh, I don’t understand this anymore!
 
Wanderer89 said:
Yes same for me, takes a little longer to kick in. Apples i sometimes use if I don’t want it to spike too high & that works for me.
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Thanks, that’s really good to know. I think I got a bit panicky with my hypo fear after the second treatment didn’t work
 
Injected insulin has a fixed curve which doesn't match the food you are eating. If you return to your starting blood sugar 5 hours after eating your dose is correct. If you haven't the correction dose should be given with your next meal. I couldn't eat toast without spiking above 14 mmol/l.
 

Hi there, I usually have two bits of toast without a spike with a half hour pre bolus. Its the only breakfast I’ve figured out how to eat in a year! I usually have a biscuit mid morning if blood sugar in range without any issue but today the biscuit caused some mayhem. Guess I’m having strange blood sugar just now, maybe it will settle tomorrow
 
@JMoli please don't beat yourself up about any of this. On this forum, the number of discussions about things going off track for no apparent reason must now be countless, to the point that there are running jokes about it being the colour of the socks you put on in the morning. Bodies are incredibly complicated, and there are all kinds of things going on automatically that we're not even aware of, so to stay in range as much as many on here do is really quite remarkable. It's frustrating, annoying, upsetting, add your own feelings about it, when you try really hard and it doesn't work. It's just one of the things about life with T1 or LADA, so if you can see no reason for what happened you're not to blame. That's why this forum's so great - so many people here know exactly how you feel.
 

Thanks, I really needed to read that. I’m so tired today and a bit weepy and clumsy, trying to home school on four hours sleep and my blood sugar is rubbish. I guess I’m in a puddle of self pity and blaming myself isn’t going to help. I’ll have a low carb donut and a cup of tea, fingers crossed that’s not going to cause pure chaos, and tomorrow’s another day. Thank you so much x
 
I had a similar night! Low bloods, then 23mmol after drinking 200ml of Pepsi, then trying to correct and dropping 10mmol in 30 minutes, then back up to 18mmol, back down to 8mmol by 3am so gave up and went to sleep! I’m terrified of hypos to the point I will have panic attacks if I see a downwards arrow on my libre. It’s rough isn’t it but it’s very rare I have them nights.. maybe once every 2-3 months
 

Oh no, you too! I’ve never had this happen at night, although I do remember trudging around in the rain at 11 pm, in tears, trying to get my blood sugar down soon after diagnosis. I’ve never had this happen where I can’t get my blood sugar up, I’m terrified of hypos too. Usually my boyfriend stays over on Wednesday but didn’t this week so I felt so panicky. That’s good you managed to get it all under control and got to sleep in the end too. I was still too high when I drifted off and I remember wondering how on earth I was going to eat breakfast if it was still high when I woke up. I’m still higher than normal today but I can’t face any more hypos and I drank my supply of Lift! x
 
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