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Type 1.5 Major Hypo

J

JayneEG4

Member
Messages
8
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Had a very nasty scare this afternoon.
My bloods around 15:00 were a bit high at 15.7 and as I was having afternoon tea with a friend and neighbour, I gave myself 6 units of NovoRapid then proceeded to drink my coffee etc.

I started to feel a bit off about 20 mins later then went into the worst hypo I’ve ever had.
My previous hypos have all been iatrogenic as a hospital inpatient,
Never in the 20 years I’ve been on insulin have I had a hypo in normal day to day life.

The shaking & sweating were horrendous and my blood glucs dropped to under 2.
It took 5 chocolate bickies and 25 teaspoons of sugar in water to get any sort of control back,
And only now at 22:30 are my bloods back to normal and under control.
I’m as you can imagine, both very shaken and totally confused as to what could have caused this!
 
hi there @JayneEG4
welcome to the forum
difficult to know what to say without further info.

do you have an idea what 1u of fast acting insulin normally reduces your BG by ??

in my pump settings 1u reduces me by 1.9 mmol so a 6u bolus would theoretically reduce my BG by 11.4
( this does not take into account any further carbs )

unfortunately in my 45 years on insulin I have experienced a fair few of the situations you describe -- it is not much fun so I can only send you a hug for being brave and battling through -- it's all we can do really
glad you were able to tell us of your experience.

all the best !
 
Thanks for the support. 1u normally reduces my BG by 1.5. But I also ate a very small piece of carrot cake within 10 mins of taking the NovoRapid.
Have ordered 6 packs of Gluco Tabs and will buy a couple of small bottles of Lucozade in the morning.
So should there be a repeat, I’ll be well prepared. I had put a new cartridge in my pen earlier today and can only wonder if perhaps that’s the culprit?
 
WHAT!! 6 UNITS FOR 15.7? I'm sorry but that's a dose you take for a meal not a correction dose! I stick to the rule which says for every 5.5 take 1u
 
there are so many variables it is hard to say exactly what has caused this........... did you have any IOB at the time of the 15.7 and 6u bolus.

are you also taking a background insulin ? ( lantus or levemir )

had you exercised in the run up to the afternoon tea ??

good on you for ordering in "supplies" -- I always keep my hypo treatment cupboard well stocked .
 
alphabeta said:
WHAT!! 6 UNITS FOR 15.7? I'm sorry but that's a dose you take for a meal not a correction dose! I stick to the rule which says for every 5.5 take 1u
Click to expand...
would you be able to reply with the source of this rule , all of us are different.
 
himtoo said:
would you be able to reply with the source of this rule , all of us are different.
Click to expand...
Not really but we all tend to find our sweet spots with time for instance I noticed that for every 75 points I take 1u and I started from that general rule
 
Hi. We all take different amounts of insulin, but 6 units correction for a BS of 15 would be far too much for me although you did have some cake which should have balanced it. Sorry to hear of the hypo and I guess we can never know what makes us shoot up or down without an obvious reason.
 
alphabeta said:
WHAT!! 6 UNITS FOR 15.7? I'm sorry but that's a dose you take for a meal not a correction dose! I stick to the rule which says for every 5.5 take 1u
Click to expand...

Everyone's different. My correction is 1U to 1mmol....
 
No one has mentioned the obvious! Are you really sure you were 15.7? Was the 15.7 a surprise? Did you wash your hands before doing the test could it have been contaminated?

6u correction would have been fine for me also at that level - in fact I would have had more if I had no IOB already at the time.

Poor you and I hope you're now back on the level!
 
top bonus points for that answer @slip.
If I get a reading that high I always do a second test for confirmation.
well spotted young man !!
 
@JayneEG4 that sounds terrifying!

I had a hypo this morning caused quite simply by too much insulin. Operator error in my case - I was higher than I wanted on waking, and had 0.75u to tide me over for my shower etc, then FORGOT to take that into account when I had my breakfast insulin.

Hit me like a tonne of bricks. Then overcorrected the hypo - so was 11.0 by the time I got to the gym before lunch. So I didn't turn my pump down for the gym or the warm-down. Then went for a swim. Late lunch. Half my normal insulin. And now I'm coming up from a 2.9!

I love this. No, really......

Hope you're feeling better today, @JayneEG4 .
 
Also a good call @mahola - 20min action time may well suggest that in deed - especially if that 15.7 reading was incorrect as well.
 

I did check with another test strip then confirmed on another meter
 
mahola said:
Also, no idea what size needles you use but is there a chance you could have accidentally injected into a vein/muscle. I know it's only a slim chance but you never know. Hope you feel much better now.
Click to expand...

Don’t think my needles are very small but I guess it’s possible
 
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