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i feel rubbish if i go below 6

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Feebiecat

Active Member
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43
Hiya

I'm going to go see the doctor anyway but thought i'd ask on here too...
I have fiddled with my diet a bit and actually lost some weight in the last couple of weeks after a few years of not losing anything! I've added a few 'good' carbs and cut down my prtion sizes after previously low carbing (most of the time). My blood sugar readings are actually better from doing this and most of my readings are in the 4s & 5s wheras before i was rarely under 7. The problem is when i go diwn to about 4 i feel rotten. Am i in danger if having a hypo if i ignore it or will the feeling pass as i get used to being lower? i take 4 slow release metformin a day but have read somewhere before that you can't hypo on metformin...is that right?

Thanks peeos
Feebie x
 
If your levels are consistently high then you will feel hypo when you not actually hypo. Once things are brought under control you should only feel hypo when you are hypo.

I'm in assuming that when you say you feel rubbish that you are experiencing hypo symptoms.
 
Hi

I would not ignore the hypo feeling and eat or drink something with a small amount of sugar in it and wait for the feeling to lift. One of my relatives used Metformin and was type 2 and went slightly hypo with it so although it might be rare, it can happen for some.
 
After being high on the scale 22's, when I was hitting the 5's I was getting the shakes which was a new feeling to me, after a few days of getting the BS back to more sensable levels the shakes stoped being as weird.

When the results are now in the 4's around 4.3 (not seen these figuers in the 13 years since I was diagnosed) I get a sensation of some thing is going lower, (can't really describe the feeling). when I get this feeling and checking my BS the lowest its been is 4.1 with others being around 4.3 to 4.5

I origionally put this down to change in meds and the fact there was such a drop in a very short time, after 1 day on new meds the BS was down to the more sensable levels, and it was a way of my body saying there was some change going on that it was not used to.
 
Hi

Sorry, Yes- hypo-y is what i meant...!

It's not every day though. I have amde an appointment to go docs this week so will see if this means i can reduce my metformin. TBH i have cut down from 2 in the morning to just one as it seems to be in the middle of the day when i get these feelings.

Thank you for the replies x
 
Many members seem to think that anyone saying that a 'hypo' starts just under 6 is imagination and follow it up with saying that Type 2's do not have 'hypos' or only very rarely.

All that I can say for myself is that a reading in the 5's will be the reason I am experiencing extreme hunger pangs, irritability and loss of temper which I manage to keep hidden 99% of the time; and, sometimes, a shaky feeling.

A friend of mine, now sadly departed, was a wonderful barometer of low blood sugar and would suddenly behave very irrationally with
sudden explosive displays of bad temper. When forced by me or his friends to do a blood finger test he was always in the 5's. Yes, we put up with it because he was wonderful husband an father the rest of the time.

Oh, yes, he was also Type 2 just like me.
 
I am newly diagnosed (October last year) and have felt shaky, sweaty & not too good on a couple of occasions. The first time it happened I tested my blood which was 4.1 & mid morning so a couple of hours before I would normally eat. The next time I tested my load as soon as I started to feel shaky & it was 4.8. I mentioned this to my GP who said I shouldn't get hypo's & it was probably because my body has been so used to my bs being so high & my body was adjusting. I suppose I will just have to keep an eye on it. I am on 4 Metformin a day (2 with breakfast, 2 with tea), I have lost just over 1.5st & my fasting levels are normally between 6.5-7.5 (my last HbA1c was 7.1


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While you might not have a designated 'hypo' anyone can have low blood sugar and get the symptoms of it. Your body was clearly telling you that it wasn't happy and it's great to be able to pin point that your bloods are low at that point and perhaps pop a wee bit of something to bring them up a bit and get yourself sorted.

I hate this proported idea that if you're on certain types of medication you CAN'T have a hypo...of course you can...any human can in the right set of circumstances....it's just not a 'norma'l reaction and it's not being caused by the medication but that doesn't mean it's outwith the realms of physical posibility.
 
Hi Feebie,

there are many evidence-based articles on the subject. They all say that our bodies get used to high BG and take time to get used to normal levels again. I assume you are self monitoring. Therefore, unless you go below 4 you have little to worry about.

How are you sleeping? Low BG can make you wake up in the middle of the night. If you are waking up, have a snack or a milky drink before bed.
 
Funny, I'm the exact oposite!
If I lt my BG get above 7, I feel sh*t and I don't feel OK 'til I'm back below 6-6.5.
 
I feel **** above 9 and below 6, but even now I felt like I was hypoing in the supermarket again like I was going to pass out and/or throw up. Levels were 6.6 by the time I got home?
My readings have been all over the ******* place this month. 3weeks ago it was all 6-11, then a worrying period with lots 13-16.5 readings, then as soon as it got HOT levels plummeted then today I wake up at 8mmol before the supermarket fiasco ***


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Are you a T1 or a T2 diabetic, since your profile does not say?

Also if you take insulin, what regime (basal/bolus) are you on?
 
I am not diagnosed diabetic but I think T2 is most likely although I am skinny (22 inch waist, 110lbs) as I also have PCOS. No medication. Frustrating. When I do want to treat myself (I was a carb-phobic anorexic) a couple of crackers or juice and BANG, looking at around 15mmol for a while :/


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