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Hypos at night

Stephanie.F

Stephanie.F

Well-Known Member
Messages
54
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Insulin
I'm asking so many questions but you guys really do put my mind at ease.
I inject 12 units humulin m3 twice a day half hour before breakfast and half hour before dinner I've been doing this for 3 months and that's what worked for me but the past two nights I've been having hypos with my blood dropping really low and they are the worst hypos I've ever had and it seems to take ages for my blood to rise, I've been eating well and haven't done anything different I usually understand why I've had a hypo but the past two night I've got no idea and it's baffling me and worrying me a bit I will ring my dr tomorrow but wondered what you guys think? Thanks
 
What time are you having the hypo?
The general rule of thumb for mixed insulin is that you feed it. So breakfast mid morning snack, lunch afternoon snack evening meal and then supper before bed so you don't hypo in the night.
 
CarbsRok said:
What time are you having the hypo?
The general rule of thumb for mixed insulin is that you feed it. So breakfast mid morning snack, lunch afternoon snack evening meal and then supper before bed so you don't hypo in the night.
Click to expand...
Last night I must have had a hypo around 1am and tonight to had one about 2 hours after dinner
 
Like Carbsrok has stated, eat regularly and alter the carb qty to suit the bg levels that you want to get. If you are going low in the night, eat a carb snack before going to bed and that should stop them. Occasionally, bg levels will change so there may be times when the carb will need to alter to keep things ok
 
Yes you do have to snack on mixed insulins, probably a better and more flexible insulin regime would be to go on basal/bolus, you can eat as and when you want and is a much better option all round in my opinion.
 
Is it possible your pancreas is putting out a bit more insulin?
if your diet is the same and it was ok before, you might need to adjust your evening dose, I'd ring the nurse and tell her your food and insulin diary numbers

is your day and pre evening injection BG ok?
 
Morning Stephanie

I've been on M3 twice a day for a good few years now and as has already been said this is an insulin you have to feed regulalrly or it can catch you out. M3 works for me because I had a problem with the basal/bolus regime and I have got used to its wee quirks although it can still surprise me.

I've learned over the years, for me, that M3 dips my sugar level at least twice a day, Usually around 4 or 5 hours after the injection then again around 10 or 11 hours. I need to be careful before I take the second injection of the day at around 7pm because without fail that morning injection will have started to push my level down. I need to eat to get it up to a level I am comfortable with before I take my 2nd injection of the day, then have dinner. I also have to check before bed and eat to stop a drop as I sleep.

I'm wondering if you are catching the late dip of your morning injection with the first dip of your second evening injection. Hope that makes sense.

Bill
 
I have seen some excellent advice here, thank you. I'm also a Humulin M3 user with nighttime hypo's. The trouble is, if I lower the dose then I get high readings in the morning.

This may sound a stupid question (I'm quite good at those), but what is a good carb' to eat just before bed time. I would really appreciate some sound advice here.

Thank you.
David.
 
David Wilkin said:
I have seen some excellent advice here, thank you. I'm also a Humulin M3 user with nighttime hypo's. The trouble is, if I lower the dose then I get high readings in the morning.

This may sound a stupid question (I'm quite good at those), but what is a good carb' to eat just before bed time. I would really appreciate some sound advice here.

Thank you.
David.
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Hi David! I suffered so many hypos on humulin m3 especially at night that I lost my hypo awareness and would sleep though. I woke up one morning and my blood level was 2.3mmol I was advised to change insulin so I changed over humalog mix25 it's still only 2 injections before breakfast and dinner the only difference is the short acting insulin last 3-4 hours whereas the short acting insulin in humalin m3 lasts 6-8.
I've been on humalog mix 25 since January and haven't had any hypos my levels stay around 6-7mmol. It's really worked for me so if you suffer lots of hypos it might be worth giving humalog a go.

If you don't want to change I found that eating a few rich tea biscuits before bed used to help keep my levels stable
Hope that helps
 
@David Wilkin, slow-acting carbs like Nairn's Rough Oatcakes would be your best choice or something similar that has a low-gi rating.

If the night-time hypo's are a problem discuss things with your diabetes team.
 
David Wilkin said:
I have seen some excellent advice here, thank you. I'm also a Humulin M3 user with nighttime hypo's. The trouble is, if I lower the dose then I get high readings in the morning.

This may sound a stupid question (I'm quite good at those), but what is a good carb' to eat just before bed time. I would really appreciate some sound advice here.

Thank you.
David.
Click to expand...
HI David, as a child I was always given a cup of milk plus a couple of biscuits, so about 20 carbs.
Find something that is low GI (slow release) and perhaps a little protein may help.
PS. No question is stupid, some of the answers may be including mine :)
 
Good morning David

The thing with nightime hypos is to try to get the eve dose of insulin correct for the evening meal to be eaten so that when going to bed, bg levels are more or less st the same bg level. Once that is done, its then possible to work out how much carb needing to be eaten, so that the hypo doesnt happen. Get up in the night about 1hr before the hypos happen and test bg to see if the carb is too much or too little. My hypos always happened between the hours of 2am to 3.30am so I ate a ryvita with a large knob of cheese and a dollop of pickle. This amount of carb was calculated on a bedtime bg level of 8mmol. If my bg was lower, then i would eat a bit more but I tried to get my eve dose of insulin correct for the amount of carb.
 
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