Hypos and T2.

Yes, apparently T2s can hypo, and I've had a couple of readings recently where I've been below 3.5 (and without the benefit of alcohol), thankfully it was shortly before Christmas and we had some sweets in the house. God! I still miss Wine Gums after all this time.

It turns out I have no hypo awareness at all

As far as hypo symptoms are concerned, I am told they include the following:

• hunger;
• shakiness;
• nervousness;
• sweating;
• dizziness or light-headedness;
• sleepiness;
• confusion;
• difficulty speaking;
• anxiety;
• weakness.

As for ketones, I thought they were more associated with hyperglycaemia.

Regards, Tubs.

When I used Gliclazide, in the past, I occasionally hypo-ed. I felt faint, dizzy and disorientated.Occasionally, I got the migaine zig-zags! I NEVER had tummyache. Now I've given up gliclazide, It doesn't happen. I changed to low carb and kept on with Metformin.

I don't think I've ever gone below 4.5, & on a fasting blood test morning my BS then rises (dawn effect?) to about 6. So I haven't hypoed.

Found the following link for type 2 hypos, I have never experienced "hypos" and have seen readings as low as 3.7


http://diabetesupdate.blogspot.com/2007 ... hypos.html

Regards Graham

I did have one night of really low blood sugar where I collapsed in the bathroom about 3 in the morning!!Had to sit there for a while before I could move again.Just happened once thankfully!Technically type 2 's don't hypo unless on certain drugs and as I am not on any it was just low BS rather then hypo.

Hi

Im retyping this message as my last one seems to have disappeared, Maybe i hit the wrong key or something. So if you see two messages then sorry

Im a type 2 on diet and exercise only.

Last week i managed to get down as low as 3.0. I felt really faint and had to sit/fall down. My daughter got my test meter and when i tested i got a reading of 3.0. I drank some fresh orange which brought my levels up a bit but had to dring a glass of coke to get upto 5.6 ish. Not happened again so i hope its just a one off blip, but keeping a bottle of lucozade in the house just to be safe.
My levels have been around the 5.5 - 7.0 range for the last few weeks so cant understand why this happened.

Now my practice nusrse says its impossible for a type 2 on diet/exercise to have a hypo, well my meter says different. Ok it maybe not like a hypo those on insulin may have BUT scared me just the same.

Brian

I know just how you felt Brian! In my case I had nothing handy so just had to sit there till my liver decided to'Dump' some glucose.That's the difference, we can make our glucose level rise again whereas a proper hypo your BS just keeps going down if there is no intervention.

Hi
I've got a bit of a dodgy liver so was not waiting for a helpful liver dump.
Got to admit it was a bit worrying as a do a lot of scuba diving and this
Has made me a bit apprehensive for the first time, if it happened under water
It could be a bit tricky.
Brian

brianb said:

Now my practice nusrse says its impossible for a type 2 on diet/exercise to have a hypo, well my meter says different. Ok it maybe not like a hypo those on insulin may have BUT scared me just the same.

Brian

Click to expand...

Your nurse needs poking with a Clue Stick!

I've suffered from Reactive Hypoglycemia most of my life: the insulin turns up a day late and a dollar short so your BG jumps up after eating then crashes rapidly, and the speed of the drop can generate hypo *symptoms* even at officially non-hypo numbers.

I've had worse symptoms at 5.5 following a rapid drop than at 3.5 when I got there slowly - that's my usual level where I start to become symptomatic in normal circumstances. It's not uncommon either that Type 2s who've been running chronically high numbers develop hypo symptoms (ie. dumps of neuroendocrines) at normal or even above normal BG: this should wear off over time as the body resets its concept of normal

I had the same response from my doctor - Metformin does not cause hypoglycaemia. I tried explaining I had suffered from hypos as far back as 20 years, well before I became diabetic, but she would not have it.

Due to the bullying tactics of the diabetes clinic nurse, I was trying to eat 3 meals a day in order to lose weight, and having some horrendous hypos in between, to the point of passing out.

After reading some of the nutritional advice on this site, I have changed to 6 small meals a day, and I am beginning to bring my carbs down. I rarely have a hypo now and have even started to lose some weight.

Originally, my readings were so high that I would have a hypo when I dropped to 15! Now I only hypo if I drop below 4, so that's a big improvement.

100nettie said:

I had the same response from my doctor - Metformin does not cause hypoglycaemia. I tried explaining I had suffered from hypos as far back as 20 years, well before I became diabetic, but she would not have it.

Click to expand...

Sadly not uncommon, around 50 years in my case. Most all reactive hypoglycemics and a small but significant proportion of Type 2s have symptoms going back to childhood. If treatment was started then (BG monitoring and diet control) we probably wouldn't be here now.

Congratulations on getting a handle on it, finally

I had hypo symptoms before being diagnosed when I had gone in to the garden to attack the weeds but did not know why I was having the symptoms and used to go inside and sit down for a while as my legs turned to jelly. After being diagnosed and being prescribed Metformin I found I got hypo symptoms at 5.0 but after about 18 months of being on Metformin and going on extra long walks in the summer my levels have gone as low as 2.9 before getting any symptoms although the practice nurse says you can't have hypos on Metformin and even her bg goes to 3.5. It concerns me because the track where we take our dog for a walk is well away from the road so I carry glucose tablets with me. The practice nurse said I should see the dietician. Well the dietician said it was ok to have cereal, fruit juice and a piece of toast for breakfast? I have found that 1/2 a banana seems to help the best if going for an extra long walk. I usually take the dog for a walk in the morning and do gardening or other physical activity after lunch as I don't have Metformin after lunch. I have to add that my dog is getting old and cannot walk far so when we go for an extra long walk my husband goes on his mobility scooter and the dog has a ride when she gets tired, especially uphill.

Yup, in retrospect a lot of my childhood "neurotic" and "hypochodriac" symptoms were actually hypos. For example I can remember going on a school outing, walking and running around all day then being dropped at the edge of town to walk home. I got half way when my legs just gave out and I barely had the strength to drag myself to a phone box to ring for my old man to come out and fetch me (he was not best pleased but I was simply unable to move any further)

These days I am usually functional down to around 3 before I end up sitting on the ground wondering where the hell I am. I do get good warnings though and usually catch them between 3.5 and 4, and mostly I try to forestall them by bolusing with slow carbs plus fat and protein while gardening etc.

Sometimes my liver will wake up and send me high instead and sometimes it just sits there looking the other way

My conclusion is that anyone who says dogmatic things like "diabetics do not . . ." lacks clue.