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Im new,could do with someone who undertsands hypos

S

sarah-pebbles

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United Kingdom
hey, Im sarah, 26, ive been insulin dependant for 18 yrs, just recently ive been having early morning hypos, up until this last year id had 2 in 17 yrs, unless in hospital.
ive been through lots of stress as im in my final year at uni and job hunting and still reeling after splitting up with partner after he cheated.
these hypos have left me like ive never felt before, it could be my emotions rolled in as well, but like this morning i couldnt walk, talk and have spent the rest of the day a mess physically and emotionally.
can someone please say im not alone!im feeling very alone with the condition, i realise i need to sort my head and routine out. doesnt help my doctors are not the best or helpful. im sorry if i sound silly.
 
Hi Sarah, blimey you are going through it at the mo! Sorry to hear things are hard for you.

I am pretty sure it's just a mixture of stress and emotions all over the place that is making your blood low. I get the same!!
Hope things get better for you soon
xxx
 
Hi Sarah,

I'm sorry to hear you are going through a bad time just now. You asked about the effects of stress, and stress does affect glucose levels, but it nearly always raises them which would not result in a hypo. Generally the reason for a hypo is pretty simple - your meds are too high for the amount of glucose in your blood. Have you increased your insulin dose recently? Or alternatively are you eating less now than you did before?

Its very easy to go off food when we go through an emotional period - emotions play havoc with your appetite and you just don't feel like eating anything. While a non-diabetic can get away with this, unfortunately we diabetics can't. You need to make sure you continue to eat sensibly, even if you don't feel like it. Once you get the blood glucose levels back under control you will be better able to deal with the emotional turmoil.
 
Hi Sarah

Sorry to hear you've been feeling so bad. As suggested above have you changed your insulin, diet, alcohol intake or physical exercise recently?

Also, you say you've only ever had two hypos before now. Did you mean two hypos ever or two hypos as serious as this one? If you have only ever had two I would suggest that POSSIBLY your BGs have been running a bit too high all this time (otherwise you have the best diabetic control I've ever heard of!). Although obviously hypos are not a good thing, they do tend to happen to everyone now and again, particularly if you have good or tight control, because you're always aiming to be at the lower range of the normal range of blood glucose readings. That means that a relatively small amount of extra insulin or miscalculation in dose can result in you going too low. If you never have them, it could suggest that you tend to sit at the higher end of the range naturally. This is just conjecture, though, and I'd be interested to hear your view!

Do you test regularly? Can you let us know your last HBA1C result?

Do you have access to a proper Diabetic Specialist Nurse at a diabetes clinic (ie not a self-style practice nurse at the GPs?). A DSN may be able to help you out, too, and can sometimes have more time or be more sympathetic than doctors...

Good luck!

LJ
 
Hi,
Soory to hear you are having a rough time at the moment. I have been through all of those things too...but not at the same time, so I really do feel for you!
I can't really add to teh advise above, but wanted to add that after a hypo that is so bad that you can't walk or talk, I feel absolutely awful all day too. With me, the initial light headed sweaty bit goes once my BG is back to normal, but the general yuck feeling hangs around much longer...you are not alone with that! A bath helps...but there seems to be no majic cure except time and sleep.
Take care of yourself
 
hi sarah,
i've had a few early morning "cant walk" hypos myself and find that (after i've gotten my sugars back up) lots of caffine usually sorts out my bad head.
you may want to cut your long acting(basal) insulin down by a couple of units or eat some slow acting carbohydrate before bed (something like ryvita).particularly if you've had a busy day.
your hypos are unlikely to be caused by emotional stress as this usually raises your blood sugars.

hope this helps. now visit http://www.microislet.com/and crack me a smile.
 
Hi Sarah,

I'm sorry you're having such a tough time. But if you've had T1 since the age of 8, then you're a survivor and will survive anything!

Are your hypo's happening first thing in the morning? If so, you may think about splitting your basal dose i.e. having part before bed and part after. This might help keep your numbers in a safer zone first thing without comprimising your overall control.

All the best,

fergusc
 
I find I have 2 types of stress, excitable stress - working on a massive project with a tight deadline for example, this raises my blood glucose and angry stress where I have had a disagreement with someone and have to work hard to fix their mistakes; this lowers my blood glucose.

So I would say that emotional stress could cause hypos.

Also, everyone is different so even if something has one effect on you it is not to say that anyone else will experience the same effect.

Sometimes the doctors find it difficult to help as they only know the theory behind the illness and have not actually experienced it first hand. Just hang in there and try to get some emotional support, I think there is some great advice on this forum and the people here seem fairly supportive.

I hope you feel better soon
 
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