Hypos from too much insulin????

[Karmen]

Hello everyone

Diagnosed with type 1 last week in my pregnancy ( 30 weeks ) after my blood sugar levels were reallllyyyy high and I was feeling very sick. I am on insulin at the moment Apidra and Lantcus 4 times per day.
In the past few days after I was discharged from the hospital my legs started to swollen became painful as well and all I can do is to stay in bed all day long. I have excluded sugar from my diet at all, I eat only homemade food and a balanced diet with a schedule.

My questions are:
1) my diabetes team wants me to have my blood sugar levels between 4 - 5.3, but 3 nights in a row I had hypos ( different hours ) out of the blue, not doing nothing , just started to feel bad and my blood sugar levels were between 2 -3. Is it because I might have too much dose of insulin ? or it might be "normal" under my condition to have so often hypos ?
2) is it bad that I cut all the sugar possible from the food? ( exception: fruits etc ) . I am trying to do all by the book for my baby to be healthy, although they've told me I might give birth more earlier than 38 weeks

Thank you,

Carmen

 

[ButtterflyLady]

Hello Karmen, I will tag @azure as she has experience with T1 in pregnancy and will be able to help.

I think you should keep in close contact with your diabetes team about this. I'm sure they are happy to take phone calls from you about your diabetes, and having hypos is quite an important issue than needs resolving. Good luck.

 

[azure]

Hi @Karmen

To answer your questions -

No. it isn't normal to have hypos at your stage of pregnancy, because in late pregnancy women usually struggle to keep their blood sugar down. However, with Type 1 it's always possible to have a hypo because keeping your blood sugar in range is hard. Also, as you've been diagnosed very recently, your body is still adjusting. Speak to your hospital/doctor. It may be that your insulin dose or time of injection needs to be changed. In the meantime, you could try setting an alarm for the night (maybe around 2am) and test your blood sugar then and have a small amount to eat, if necessary.

No, you don't need to cut all sugar out. Most people with Type 1 eat some sugar sometimes eg in a biscuit. However, too much sugar or things that are very sweet could put your blood sugar up.


Do you count the number of carbohydrates in your food at each meal? That is the best way to control your diabetes because you can match your dose of fast acting insulin (Apidra for you) to the amount of carbohydrate you are eating.

The problem with your legs doesn't sound nice. Feet and legs can swell in pregnancy, but the fact that you're in pain and having to stay in bed all day isn't normal. Please speak to your doctor if you haven't told them this already and let them know about this so they can help.

It's normal for women with diabetes to have their babies early. It's a safety precaution. It's also normal to have extra scans (ultrasounds) to check the baby's growth.

Good luck. Please ask any other questions you like.

Best wishes