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Hypo unawareness

S

static192

Well-Known Member
Messages
345
Location
Birmingham
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Insulin
hey iv been reading on the forum that some diabetic type 1s sufferers hypo awareness has gone and they carnt tell if there going hypo sugar going low and feel no symptoms of going low. can your hypo awareness comeback?.has anyone experienced there hypo unawareness go away and and there hypo awareness come back?.
 
@static192, it can indeed be recovered. There is a pilot programme in the UK called HARP that is being championed by King's College London that focuses on doing just that.
 
Basically you need to keep your BS levels slightly raised, so that your body gets used to not being hypo for a while. Then your brain sees it as a real emergency if they drop below normal, so that you get your warning symptoms back. At one point I suffered, and I do mean suffered, so many hypos that I had this sort of problem. The DSN didn't want me to cut my insulin dose and that was the cause. I then dropped my basal insulin 2 units and that largely fixed things. I decided it was my life not hers. I still had to eat extra sometimes to avoid BS levels falling to below 5 for the next couple of weeks. I had been told it would take about a monrh to 're-set' my brain, but it happened for me in between 2 and 3 weeks.(5 was my decision as the lowest level I was happy with.) I also avoided any extra exercise, which I knew would make it plummet.)

I also lost hypo symptoms when I was pregnant, but 5 days on a glucose drip with BS levels closely monitored sorted that out. I was discharged after an emergency Caesarean op. only 1 day later than others without the type 1 problem, with hypo symptoms regained. I had to be quite careful for a while, eating exactly on time and doing extra blood tests but the drip had done the majority of the work, if you see what I mean. You can get warning symptoms back, but it is sometimes a bit of a battle. (This was 25 years ago.)

I think it also helps if you don't feel unwell for any other reason. If your warning symptoms start with general fatigue/ malaise, it may make you reach for the paracetamol rather than glucose. If you feel not right in any way, you need to go for the testing kit first, but have the glucose in grabbing distance.
 
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I'm definitely suffering from a lack of hypo awareness and it's really frustrating so I feel your pain @static192 !

I generally don't notice til I'm in the 2s but have always been this way since diagnosis so can't imagine feeling hypo at around 4!

Had a long consult today and will try to run sugars a little higher to get awareness back. Am terrified of losing my driving licence!
 

If you don't have hypo awareness, you shouldn't be driving. Your long consultation should have included advice to inform DVLA that you don't have hypo awareness.

Edit: the DVLA guidance for drivers with diabetes treated with insulin says that if you have impaired awareness of hypos/hypo unaware you must inform the DVLA and stop driving - https://www.gov.uk/guidance/diabete...s-of-hypoglycaemia--hypoglycaemia-unawareness

If you volunteer the information and surrender your driving licence all it will take is a letter from your consultant to confirm awareness is regained to get your licence back.
 
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Well. There is a lot of evidence that the guidance is just that...guidance. My consultant didn't think it was a problem and said that some people's tolerance (not quite the right word) is a little lower than others.
I'm not talking 2.1 or anything! I am aware most of the time around early 3's but if I'm very involved then it is sometimes 2.9 or 2.8

I have had readings of 1.4 and am still perfectly able to treat myself
 
@vans -- you have an obligation to test and show blood sugars fit to drive a vehicle on the roads of Britain.
I agree you are the only person that knows you -- but your meter will become the adjudicator should anything happen to you ( even if not your fault )while behind the wheel of your car.
 
@vans

Where DVLA uses the word 'SHOULD' the information is for guidance. Where DVLA uses the word 'MUST', the information constitutes a legal requirement, it is NOT guidance..................




Your consultant is misnformed and has misinformed you.

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/diabetes-mellitus-assessing-fitness-to-drive

Your blood glucose level SHOULD be above 5mmol before you start your journey, if it falls below 4mmol at any time you MUST stop driving and wait until least 45 minutes after your glucose levels have recovered before continuing with your journey.
 
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vans said:
Please understand that I ALWAYS test before driving and most of my drives are less than 15 minutes...
But I do appreciate what you're all saying.
Click to expand...
By your own admission you are hypo unaware it's illegal and also extremely dangerous to drive a car with no warnings.
I am shocked beyond belief your consultant hasn't pulled your licence.
vans said:
Please understand that I ALWAYS test before driving and most of my drives are less than 15 minutes...
But I do appreciate what you're all saying.
Click to expand...
It doesn't matter whether you test before driving your licence is not legal and you have no ins to drive due to the licence being invalid.
 
I'm not hypo unaware, but I have been diagnosed with general anxiety disorder since I was 15, in combination with panic attacks. Panic attacks have symptoms that are virtually identical to a hypo, and I've missed a few hypos because I assumed it was a panic attack. I've had anxiety longer than diabetes, so when it happens when I feel tense it's hard to realize it might be low bloodsugar. Slowly getting better about it though.

I always test before I drive, or if I can't test because I don't have enough strips, I shove a handful of biscuits down my gullet. It's safer for me to be slightly over 10 than dip below 4 when I'm operating a vehicle all things considered.

When I ride my bicycle, it's harder for me to detect a hypo, but I made it a habit to pull over and stop if I feel too winded or lose strength in my legs. As soon as I stop the exercise and I feel shaky or dizzy, I test and have one of my on-hand snacks before moving on.
 
vans said:
Please understand that I ALWAYS test before driving and most of my drives are less than 15 minutes...
But I do appreciate what you're all saying.
Click to expand...

Hey, I'm on your side.. (I'm fully HA, but still empathise.)

If you have no prevous history of "third party hypo assistance". (Except for someone handing you a "mars bar"..)
Then there ain't nothing to "write home" about. If you are mindful of the 5 to drive rule. & monitor your blood appropriately in the respect of road safety & fitness to drive & competent at keeping a stable/safe BS while driving?

I wasn't with you during your consultation with the doc. So have no opinion on the advice you received in that respect!
 
That's assuming they notice the restricted licence & follow that route...? (Or even know the law governing insulin dependants fitness to drive.)

Been stopped a number of times. A blown bulb during a DD Christmas "campaign", a commercial vehicle traveling about in the dead of night.. Even got collered parking up outside my parent's house one night & questioned..
I got stopped driving in Holland once... (In this case? I had inadvertently parked outside a "coffee shop" & was pulling away.) Actually, it was one on the two Dutch coppers that noticed the restricted licence. No more said...
You know what I do? I play in a band. It's work. Soft drinks only....

But the upshot? (From the varied personal experience.) I've been requested to "blow in the bag." But. Never have I been asked to produce my meter...
 
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That's not correct. I had to surrender my driving licence because I don't have hypo awareness. If you don't have hypo awareness, you have to tell the DVLA and must not drive.
 
catapillar said:
That's not correct. I had to surrender my driving licence because I don't have hypo awareness. If you don't have hypo awareness, you have to tell the DVLA and must not drive.
Click to expand...
That was posibly your own decision or due to hypoglycemic episodes requiring "3rd party" help this advice from your doc...?
I'm sorry your in this position.

Personally, I don't have issue with non HA.

I also don't feel it's appropriate to thunder a judgmental fist down on the table based on personal unfortunate experience on a member tentatively trying to do something about it?

Peace out.
 
Hey, not knocking your post.. But did the OP actually suggest this 1.4 & ensuing treatment was happening at the wheel of a car?
 
Jaylee said:
Personally, I don't have issue with non HA.
Click to expand...
The DVLA do though and quite rightly so, bottom line it is illegal to drive if you are hypo unaware.
 
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