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hypos and cause

J

jamie thomson

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Hi i am a 49 year male who has been insulin dependent for 14 years, my blood sugars have always been up and down until last year when i seen a dietician who told me how to calculate insulin. However in November i experienced my first hypo but it was a whopper, i went shopping and felt a little dizzy, not sure what it was i made my way home but thought i was feeling strange so i had an ice lolly.

I awoke up in my car nowhere near where i was going with medics and police surrounding me, i was pumped full of something to bring me round as my blood sugar level had dropped to 2.1. I had wrecked my new car but thankfully it was a volvo and i had no serious injuries but was kept in over night at hospital. I have not drove since, a little frightened but waiting on dvla reply. My point is i would like some info on low carbing as i wish to try it as it seems to stablise forum users.

I have been told to keep my blood sugar readings between 10 - 15 for 3 months to bring my body back to experience hypos again, but as the three months is nearly over i would like to try something new. I have simple food tastes only dislike mayo and salad cream. Please help me get back to steady sugars and lose a few pounds. I dont smoke or drink .
 
Jamie

By what you are saying of the advents leading up to your whopper hypo, you actually did have warning but alas you didn't note what your body was telling you.. If you had taken a BG reading when you first felt dizzy shopping you would probably found that your BG were either unde 4mmol/l or on the boder line, it wise to carry your meter at all times, and any odd feelings take a BG...

As to the main question, as you've been running higher numbers for a couple of months to kick start your hypo awareness, I think it would be wise to work with your diaebtic team to lower this down to a preferable tight range before considering any dramatic changes to your diet..

As you may create a couple of problems, by maintaining what you are doing at the present and slowly reducing your BG numbers, will ensure that the higher control has done the trick with your hypo awareness... Another problem you might find changing from one regime to another, that lowering your BG too quickly could cause you to suffer phamtom hypo's which can be just as unpleasent as the real ones, and you tend to feel pretty losey until the body makes the adjustment.

It is also possible if you hit any problems, you won't know what might have caused them getting yourself in a right pickle trying to sort out what did or didn't work..

Has I said it might be a wiser mover to hold back a little, lower you control by the means you at present use, then once settled at a lower level then look again at alternitives and where you want to go next...
 
Hi jamie,

Sound advice from jopar, but just one other thing.... an ice lolly is not appropriate to treat a hypo!

What you need is fast acting sugar, gluco-tabs, lucozade or hypo-stop gel, something that will work fast and raise you blood sugars back to normal. It would also be advisable to take the above when hypo, wait 15-20 mins carry out a blood test, and if blood sugars have return to normal, then eat a small carby snack, if after 20 mins you are still low, eat more fast acting sugar. What you must not do is drive your car for at least 40 mins, this is the recommended minimum time to wait by the DVLA before driving again, but only when bloods are back to normal and you have recovered enough to drive again.

Regards

Nigel
 
I'm sorry to jump on you here but shouldn't diabetics ALWAYS test before driving? I never go anywhere without my blood tester and wouldn't dream of starting up the car without testing first. Sounds like you were extremely lucky this time, good job you didn't involve anyone else in your accident (which I'm assuming you didn't?)

I'm having the same problems as you hypo-warnings wise, and have been working to get my warnings back too, with some degree of success. Sometimes I do get phantom hypos and it's very disorientating (I had one whilst bg was 7 the other day). Question to others - never had phantom hypos before - do you just wait for it to pass? Not much else you can do is there?
 
A recent news report not far from where I live told of a young diabetic who was passed out at the wheel. He also crashed his car and was fine. The pedestrian he ran over was killed. It isn't just your life and car you need to think about.
 
Thanks for the advice, i now have a meter that i carry everywhere i go now with spare insulin and gluco tablets just in case it ever happens again, once i have my levels back to normal as normal can be, i would still like advice on low carb diets any advice would be helpful
 
jamie thomson said:
Thanks for the advice, i know have a meter that i carry everywhere i go now with spare insulin and gluco tablets just in case it ever happens again, once i have my levels back to normal as normal can be, i would still like advice on low carb diets any advice would be helpful[/quote]

Check this link out:
viewtopic.php?f=18&t=7215#p64246
Click to expand...
 
Hi jamie,

It sounds to me as if you could really benefit from many of the advantages that come with a low carb diet - particularly the low insulin doses and predictable blood sugar patterns.
I sympathise with your epiphany because I once had a very similar experience many years ago. One of the main reasons I adopted a low carb lifestyle was to do everything I could to prevent it happening again.
Feel free to pm me if I can help you at all.

fergus
 
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