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Newbie - How long to get up from Hypo?

S

sraynor

Newbie
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2
Location
United Kingdom
Hi

My youngest son was diagnosed with Type 1 about 3 weeks ago now. He seems to be in a bit of a honeymoon phase, so we've had to lower his dose every couple of days for the past week to help him keep above 4.0 mmmol/l. Most days he goes hypo (late morning or around 9pm).

My question is, how long does it usually take people to feel back on track once they've started consuming something sugary?

We've given him glucose tabs and or a sugary drink like Coke, but it does seem to take sometimes 15-20 minutes for him to feel 'normal' again.

He's off school today, as he was inexplicably sick last night just before bed and still felt rough this morning. He has got better throughout the day, except for a hypo around 11am.

Hopefully, we'll be able to adjust his doses downwards until we reach a point where he's not going hypo every day.
 
hiya..

i am no expert but i was diagnosed last year with type 1 and when i had hypos at first they took me ages to recover from and lots of sugar.. but now it only lasts minutes .. i think once your body gets used to being at a more "normal" level the easier it becomes... it is hard to start with but it will get better with time..

regards

lee


lee
 
Hi Sraynor,

I very rarely have hypos but when I have it has taken 10 to 15 minutes to start feeling normal. Not sure whether age has any effect on recovery times.

Would any of our younger Type 1s be able to advise?
 
It usually depends how low I go ,sometimes up to half an hour before I feel normal.Sometimes I need a nap if its a bad one,which thanfully is fewer now ! It is difficult when first diagnosed especially if you are not feeling well.
 
Thanks for the answers.

I think that those minutes whilst we are waiting for an improvement are lasting a lifetime because we are anxious. Hopefully, this will become less so as we get used to it.

Also it's terribly tempting to get him to take in another glucose sweet or a few more mouthfuls of Coke in the intervening minutes - possibly over-treating. It would be useful to have more of an idea how much to give him!
 
sraynor - i have been diagnosed about 4 months ago and have only recently got over the urge to over-treat...

to be honest, i start to feel better within minutes of having a glucose tablet and a couple of biscuits (you're following up the glucose with a longer-acting carb, right? - you need to do that in order to avoid going low again soon afterwards).

As someone said above, if your son is running very low numbers consistently it maybe just takes a bit more to get him up again. Hopefully you'll get the dosages right soon and he'll feel much better.

LJ
 
My hypos can often be accompanied by a bit of panic...so I over treat sometimes too! (and I have been T! for over 30 years now!) 15 to 20 minutes sounds about right to me..although it must feel like a lifetime I am sure. I am surprrised though about your son running low. They ( ie the medics) often start a diabetic on too little insulin, and then build it up to avoid this. I would seriously give them a call, becasue if he is having regular hypos, whilst not dangerous with a caring family around, does indicate that his insulin levels are wrong somewhere. This is particularly true if you are able to almost predict his hypos! Give the Dr a call, so they can help adjust his doses,
Good luck, it sounds like you are doing a great job b ythe way!
 
It's normal for him to have lots of hypos if he's in the honeymoon period. I had a lot and stuffed myself on chocolate for a while before really lowering my doses :oops:
The problem is that when you have a lot of hypos you can feel the signs of a coming one when you are very low...as if the body was getting used to being in this constant state of low blood sugar. And the lower you are the longer it takes for the hypo to be treated. But 15 minutes is an normal average.
So i think you should decrease his doses again and keep on testing. If he has got a background insulin like Lantus you should maybe decrease this one from a few units and it could prevent the lows in the morning. If he's often low after breakfast or dinner as you seem to mention, you should decrease the quick-acting one.
Some people completely stop their insulin intake during the honeymoon period so his blood sugar levels seems coherent to me.

Take care ;)
 
<b></b><font face="Georgia"></font id="Georgia">Hi! It normally takes me half an hour to feel back to my normal self after a hypo and lucozade/chocolate etc. It probably varies from person to person but i don't think it should take much longer than half an hour. you just have to be careful not to have too much sugar because then your blood sugars are going to go right up. i still make this mistake sometimes.

Sarah x
 
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