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Hypo

If you have a hypo that you don't feel and therefore don't treat, you will eventually become unconscious. You would then be brought round by a glucagon injection (glucagon is a hormone that tells the liver to release stored glucose) or intravenous glucose (this would be given to you by a paramedic or a doctor). However, even if no one found you, your liver would eventually release glucose into your blood and you would regain consciousness.This is what would happen if you had a hypo whilst you were asleep for example.If you have had a lot of alcohol then it may be harder for your liver to do this.
Most people have quite good warning symptoms of hypos so becoming unconscious from one doesn't happen often. If you check your blood sugar frequently as well this should help you catch them early, even if you haven't felt the symptoms yet.
Hope this helps. If you have a lot of undetected hypos then maybe you should speak to your endo or DSN.
 
I think it depends how severe the hypo is. If it's a mild hypo and you don't have a lot of insulin on board pushing your readings down further then I think you may be able to come out of the hypo without assistance and someone with poor hypo awareness may not even know they've had a hypo. The tell-tale sign may be a higher blood glucose reading later on or other symptoms like feeling rough and having a headache. Your liver may have dumped some glucose to reverse the hypo resulting in the high reading, this can happen if the hypo occured during sleep and you didn't wake up.

In a more moderate to severe hypo you may not become unconscious but there may be gaps in your memory of what has happend in the previous moments, your body may have gone into "auto-mode" and you've unknowingly gone and fetched yourself some hypo treatment and remedied your hypo. To others who do not know you it may appear that you've been drinking as you may display similar characteristics to a person who is drunk. If not treated the hypo may become more severe.

In a more sever hypo you may become unconscious and what glucosegirl describes is fairly accurate. However I have been told that if you have had a hypo previously and your liver has not been able to replenish the reserves of glucose (which it may have dumped to remedy the previous hypo) then you may not recover from the hypo naturally. This is why it is advised to treat a hypo with quick acting glucose and then eat a carb snack afterwards so that your glucose reserves can be replenished. If the glucose reserves in your liver are not there your body is unable to bring yourself out of the hypo. Injecting glucagon (a hormone that stimulates the liver to dump that glucose) will be ineffective because the glucose is not present to dump. This is when you really do need assistance from medical staff to give you glucose intraveneously otherwise you may find yourself in a very serious situation. I don't know much about alcohol and how it affects a diabetic but I believe if you've been drinking a fair bit it can make things a whole lot worse for you.
 
I'm just going to reiterate what the other two have said. I've had two fits from hypos, if you let them go too low you will lose conciousness (and maybe fit like I did). Your liver may produce glycogen to raise your sugar levels and bring you out, or it may not. Never leave a hypo untreated and never go anywhere without your sugar meter and a source of glucose. My rule is, if I'm in the 3's I have 5 dextrose tablets, if I'm lower than 3 I get some lucozade down me.
 
Thanks to all of you who answered my question re undetected Hypo.
I was out for some time before my Mum found me. I wondered what would have
happened if she didnt find me. I didnt feel it coming on.
Thanks again.
Slobberchops
 
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