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Just Witnessed First Hypo.

V

Violetcat18

Newbie
Messages
1
Hi All,

My fiancé is a recently diagnosed late onset type one after initially being treated for type two. He's literally just scared the living poop out of me as I have never witnessed a hypo before. One second he was looking at his phone, next he was sprawled on the bed out of it.

I followed his plan the nurse gave me, small can of cola, digestives followed by toast. He never lost consciousness and when he retested he was back to 'normal' 15 minutes later.

He's now snoring his head off fast asleep. But I have just sobbed my heart out. This disease is so flipping cruel! I thought that I was totally prepared for this, but I am not. I tried my best to reassure him and care for him but I feel like I let him down because I panicked.

Will this become the new normal for us eventually? I don't actually know what I want to ask or say, it's 2am and can hardly phone my mom because that's exactly what I want to do. Any advice on how to deal with hypos? I need to prepare our children. They are 14 and nine.

So far, as I work nights, I have given them jobs to do if daddy is ill. My eldest knows to give daddy pop and biscuits followed by tea and toast, and then call me.

If he's unconscious, they know to call 999. I have taught them both the recovery position, to keep daddy covered up, to get trainers on and put the dog in the garden. Is there anything else I should do?

I have told my neighbours about his condition. Freaking out here!
 
Hi @Violetcat18 you did everything right and did not let your fiance down in any way whatsoever. What a fortunate man he is to have a partner such as you.

Yes, it is a terrible disease, and your feelings are 100% normal. As time goes on, all of you will feel more confident in dealing with it, and while the risk of hypos is always there, technology and medical care can reduce the risk down to a level that's never been seen before. Right now is the best time in history to have T1 and the future is bright in terms of treatments and other things being developed.

Welcome to the forum, and I am sure when the sun rises in the UK and elsewhere, lots of T1s and their partners will be along to help you (and to agree that you did everything right!) And when your husband wakes up he will feel much better and will say the same thing, I am sure.

I can't speak for your Mom but you never know she may be happy to be woken up to talk with you since you have been so upset... I probably would be. It is a big shock & I think she will understand that. You know her best of course.

I hope your wedding plans are going well, congratulations on your engagement.
 
Try not to panic. I know that hypos can be a lot scarier for the "helper" than the sufferer (I lost hypo awareness during both my T1 pregnancies and my poor husband had some extremely scary moments). Sounds like you were the perfect hypo carer in your partner's 15 minutes of need.

So... hypo awareness. Most T1s can recognise a hypo long before they get to "drop on the floor" stage and ALWAYS carry sugar (glucose tablets etc) with them so that they can much a few if they start feeling low. Your partner needs to look back at the experience and see if he felt strange before he keeled over. (Typical symptoms are hunger, shakiness, difficulty in concentration...) It's normal for T1s to get hypos, but it's actually pretty rare for them to need help from others in overcoming them. He also needs to try to work out why he went so low (not always easy/possible but still a worthwhile exercise.)

The good news: most people's livers (unless compromised by illness or alcohol) will respond to a hypo by pumping out sugar. So no matter how scary it looks, most people come out of a hypo OK eventually, even without help. Of course, that doesn't help if you're operating heavy machinery or driving a car when hypo, which is why the UK driving authority tells T1s to do a blood test before driving and every 2 hours during. And note that I said most and not all. It doesn't do anyone any good to go into a coma through low blood sugar, so if there's someone there to help, they should do so.

Hopefully your partner will be one of the majority of T1s who get hypo warnings and learn to fend them off long before anyone else is involved. If he can't so this, he can consider an alarmed continuous glucose monitor (expensive if not funded by the Health Service, but he'll have a good case for funding if he has no hypo warning).

Sounds like you're doing all the right things with your kids.

Good luck.
 
Violetcat18 said:
Hi All,

My fiancé is a recently diagnosed late onset type one after initially being treated for type two. He's literally just scared the living poop out of me as I have never witnessed a hypo before. One second he was looking at his phone, next he was sprawled on the bed out of it.

I followed his plan the nurse gave me, small can of cola, digestives followed by toast. He never lost consciousness and when he retested he was back to 'normal' 15 minutes later.

He's now snoring his head off fast asleep. But I have just sobbed my heart out. This disease is so flipping cruel! I thought that I was totally prepared for this, but I am not. I tried my best to reassure him and care for him but I feel like I let him down because I panicked.

Will this become the new normal for us eventually? I don't actually know what I want to ask or say, it's 2am and can hardly phone my mom because that's exactly what I want to do. Any advice on how to deal with hypos? I need to prepare our children. They are 14 and nine.

So far, as I work nights, I have given them jobs to do if daddy is ill. My eldest knows to give daddy pop and biscuits followed by tea and toast, and then call me.

If he's unconscious, they know to call 999. I have taught them both the recovery position, to keep daddy covered up, to get trainers on and put the dog in the garden. Is there anything else I should do?

I have told my neighbours about his condition. Freaking out here!
Click to expand...

This was his first hypo and yet he had no warning signs, - light headedness, palpitations? I would have thought this a little unusual for a newly diagnosed T1.

I too am late onset and have been T1 for almost 4yrs (58 this year). I felt awful in the beginning when my blood sugars were dropping. Did you get a blood glucose reading before it happened, or while he was sprawled out?
 
51 years on insulin in Oz.
Hi @Violetcat18,
You did really, really well, recognising what was happening, following the plan, positioning him. It is scary and frightening and showing how foreign this is to his usual behaviour.
Usually the saviour needs a decent cuppa of something sweet as well! And you deserve lots of hugs for a job well done.
In my experience of hypos myself they are sometimes insidious and crept up on me, other times onset is fast but easier to recognise.
And 2 am is not exactly the easiest time for any diabetic to recognise what is happening.
You and your fiance with input from his DN and/or doctor now have the opportunity to work out why this hypo happened at that time. I am sure you would agree that prevention is preferable to repeated unsettling rescue efforts.
So some possible causes? exercise in afternoon/evening before, less food for dinner that evening , ? change in insulin dose ? mistake in dose given? was there any alcohol imbibed in the hours before the event? what insulin is prescribed and what insulin was acting at the time or lead up to that time?. Possible causes lead to possible prevention strategies.
Also discussions with DN and doctor about other hypo treatment available, when and how to use it, education about how alcohol may affect a person's ability to manage hypos, what to do if the person cannot swallow. Most will be in your plan I expect.
Also I find I do not remember some hypos, and at other times I am deeply embarrassed by them and your fiance may have suffered one or other of these things. Also it takes me a good 2 to 3 hours or more to recover fully from the effects of a hypo, even when my BSL are no longer low. so not wise to operate machinery/ drive, make important decisions soon after a hypo.
My diabetes education also talked about 'rebound' where as the blood sugar falls, my liver is alerted to release stored sugar and this can sometimes rocket the bSLs up to high levels. I always eat some sugar to ensure that my blood sugar gets above say 4 mmol/l but it is easy to feel ravenous after a hypo and wish to keep eating, which usually just adds to the high level that the liver's release of sugar may cause. Then later there is the opposite struggle, to get the blood sugars safely down, without causing another hypo !! More discussion for all with the DN/doctor.
Rest up as vigilance can be exhausting. Believe it or not some diabetics have trained assistance dogs, or family pets who have honed their innate senses to tell if someone they know is going hypo
 
Hi @Violetcat18 agree with @urbanracer he should of been displaying symptoms of a hypo before this occurred so feeling agitated, sweating, poor vision, did any of this happen ? What were his blood glucose readings when he went low ? Hypos don't happen out of the blue, the body is geared up to feeling symptoms first, unless this was a false hypo where his levels dropped suddenly but were still in 'normal' range.

It's important to get this information relayed to his team simply because he may need to have his insulin doses adjusted and they will need to know his readings to do this.

Try and keep a diary of his readings, it's really important in the early days to see patterns and understand how the doses are working, hypos are unavoidable but understanding why they occur is important in good management and when a pattern occurs they can be avoided by adjusting insulin.
 
Violetcat18 said:
One second he was looking at his phone, next he was sprawled on the bed out of it.
Click to expand...

Hi @Violetcat18 ,

Welcome to the forum... This stands out for me.. (The above quoted.)
Quite often the brain is the first organ to waive the white flag when low, if one is sat preoccupied with a device like a phone. The computor "egg timer" appears on the mental screen? During the early onset of a hypo, familiarity can be like "rocket science".

I've never past out in my 42 years as a T1. But I did get caught by my wife/partner of 23 years staring at a model Storm Trooper whilst out shopping, wondering how many carbs was in the white armour..
She knows the signs... But then, so do I.

I'm confident you guys will become adept at spotting the signs..
Sounds like you did brilliantly with regards to handling it too.!

What insulin & regime is your chap prescribed?
Had he injected for any food about 4/5hours prior was there any alcohol? (Drink can stunt liver dump, making BS drops more sudden?)

All the best.

J>
 
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