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Hypos

Wayne18000

Well-Known Member
Was wondering what was the lowest reading for your blood sugar? Mine was 3.4. What works fastest for you when you treat the hypo? Do you feel fine straight away afterwards or do you feel rotten for the rest of the day?

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My lowest has been 3.0, that was after getting it up to 3.7 from a 3.2 then dropping again, generally I use jelly babies but I am generally just below 4 - so usually 3.9 and 1 jelly baby does, that hypo I mentioned took 7-8 jelly babies though and a good hour to get back up! and even after a small dip at 3.9 I have the worst headache ever for the rest of the day, I generally do sleep well that night though x
 
@Wayne18000 . It's a difficult one to answer. We are all different, affected differently by going hypo, different hypo treatments for different people.
As for how low can BS drop? There are people who have been as low as sub 2. What is probably more relevant is the speed and circumstances of BS dropping.
If your sugars are dropping rapidly you may well go into a serious hypo at 4.
If you're dropping at a slow rate it's possible to go sub 3 and still be able to self treat.
As for hypo treatment, that again is a personal choice. For me a rapid drop in blood sugars would see me drink glucose powder in water and orange cordial, followed by complex carbs if possible. A steady drop in sugars would be treated with a few jelly babies and then some carbs.
This all applies to me being T1 diabetic.
Not sure of your diabetes status, if at all.
 
I cant seem to get lower than the lowest 4.7 mmol.... but that was only once (since becomming diabetic, before I was almost allways around 4.5 mmol at random tests )... other lows were 4.9 mmol and that is no matter how hard and ong I exercise even when exercising like 8 hours I can´t get low..
 

It was 1.5 (last year) after exercise - it had dropped immensely fast from 6.9 (took about 10 mins) - I'd also just taken 8 units of Novorapid for a meal - which was worrying. Not to be recommended. Downed 1 litre of concentrated orange juice, and 4 Glucogels; collapsed to floor but remained just conscious; ambulance arrived, and paramedic stayed with me for an hour or so - took a few more hours before I recovered - have been low carb ever since.
 
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Now that must of been frightening seeing your blood sugar drop that fast. When I'm nearing 4 I tend to panic and am testing literary every few minutes

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Lowest was with my very first bg meter, it was in the low 1's but managed to treat the hypo myself, not had one as low since..........................thank goodness.
 
I went to 1.9 on Saturday night and freaked out!!!! Felt fine after eating a load of detrox tabs and then some toast and honey and I felt much better
 
The T1 I care for has had a low of 2.6 with me. A combination of unexpected excitement and very hot weather I think! She did enjoy the ribena though!

As a carer I hate hypos because it always feels like there is something you should have done. Realistically I know that some hypos are bound to happen due to an incredibly varied number of factors and they cannot be foreseen, but it still bites to know that she doesn't feel at all well and I could have prevented it.
 
Hi @Wayne18000, the lowest hypo I have experienced was 1.8! I was new and inexperienced with insulin and managed to double dose by accident. I spent the day in hospital.
 
Now that is scary, thank heavens you recovered!
 
Hi Wayne 18000 I think someone else has mentioned that it may depend on the type of low, if you feel a bit off slightly hungry and you test and it's not too low (this will be a personal number for a while) then perhaps have a couple of biscuits or fruit. Some people don't like to use real food for any kind of low because it's not measured so you don't know exactly how much you need. Glucose products vary in grams, if you do some googling you will see. If crashing fast then glucogel is good 25g fast acting glucose works quick easy to take. I have had a low of 1. Something when I was quite new too insulin no experience of exercise etc... I have not had it happen again - you can avoid hypos to some extent by learning how insulin works and the impact of exercise weather etc on insulin. Also speak to your team about getting carb counting or at least rough estimate of insulin to food ratio. This all probably sounds tedious but it's easy to start spotting trends. When you keep using you're meter
 
Lowest hypos don't have a number. I've had a fair amount of low BS over the years. A real hypo is where you wake up , touch your face, see your hand covered in blood and go back sleep. Wake up again, was it a dream? Check hand, nope not a dream, hand covered in dry blood. Get out of bed, where is the duvet? Go toilet, look in mirror, realise top of nose is slightly detached from rest of head along with some strange facial marks and a split lip. Find duvet at bottom of staircase along with pillow. Make a call to sister to say " think I've had an hypo " this is followed by a trip to A&E to have bridge of nose put back in place with stitches ( stitches without anaesthetic OUCH!!!! ) . To this day I have no idea of what happened that day. But it was a hypo.
I have more tales to tell but I could never give you a BS reading.
 
This is extremely traumatic and I think my all time worst nightmare. I can't imagine how scary that must have been

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