Missed night time hypo

[isjoberg]

feeling awful this morning! I woke up with a vague recollection that I had a hypo last night (cold sweats are usually pretty reliable indicator) so tested my bg and scanned my libre. My bg was 3 and my libre showed I had been hypo basically all the hours I had been asleep apart from one uptick (looks like half awake I managed to grab a few glucotabs from my bedside table!) but now I feel absolutely awful, have a considerable headache and still feel a little woozy even though my bg is now solidly 6.5.

I don't know if anyone else has had an experience of an extended night time hypo? I know it was due to a overcorrection Bolus dose, but have never felt like this after a hypo.

 

[JMK1954]

I know exactly what you are talking about. In my experience, the longer your blood sugar level has been down, the worse you feel. Take it easy if you can. It may be some hours before you lose the headache and start to feel normal. With me, apart from the headache, I just ache all over in these circumstances.
Try not to react by over-doing the carbohydrate. I find it a real temptation when I'm feeling rough.

 

[GrantGam]

I know it was due to a overcorrection Bolus dose, but have never felt like this after a hypo.

How close to bed did you take a correction bolus and was that with or without food? As in, was your bolus dose for a snack and to correct a high BG - or just to correct high BG and no food?

I try (where I can) to not eat close to bed time. The reason being that I should then be heading to bed with no active bolus insulin in my system. If I do need a correction bolus before bed though, I normally do this without any food as I know my correction factor is fairly constant at around 2.3mmol/l per unit. I find it easier to correct without food, as it rules out any errors I might make when carb counting.

It may be worth your while finding out exactly what your correction factor is? A lot of people tend to assume that they're somewhere between 2-3mmol/l, but in many cases this isn't accurate enough - especially when correcting fairly high BG's.

 

[tim2000s]

Ah yes, the infamous "Hypo Hangover". I think many of us have experienced it, but until recently, most of us thought it was only just before waking rather than all night. Part of what you are feeling is the effect of your body chucking a ton of glucose out of your liver to get you out of it. If you ever experience a severe hypo, the effects of a glucagon injection are very similar and a good reason to avoid them.

What I'd suggest is that you are careful during the next 24 hours. Your body will try and recover glucose from the blood for the glycogen it used in reacting to the hypo, so you are more susceptible to another one and potentially will be more insulin sensitive. Make sure you test regularly throughout the day, and perhaps go to bed a little higher than normal.

 

[isjoberg]

I've been trying my absolute best to get my long acting carbs in to even out my blood sugars but it's been a rollercoaster of a day. To make things worse, I worked late (till 3am) last night and am required to do that again for work tomorrow night. I'm not sure how to approach it with my boss as sporadic late nights always throw any semblance of routine off and I really don't want my Friday to be like today.

Any suggestions on how to let work know? I did mention it in passing in my report email last night, and everyone at my job is aware that I am diabetic.