night time hypos

Hi Charlie,
That was so inconsiderate of Chloes nurse to tell her those things,( i'd love to give that nurse a slap) Even an adult would find those remarks frightening.
Andrew has suffered night time hypos in the past, and his body has woken him every time, he has wondered into my room saying he's had a nightmare, checked bs and its always been below 4. He has had sweet dreams and full nights sleep for at least the past 3yrs.
Tell Chloe it's natural for the human body to wake its self somehow when going low, and not to worry, she'll make herself ill through lack of sleep and worry. Educate her about liver dumps during the night, think its the bodies natural deffence when going low and tell her, that i think her nurse is a moron. If things don't improve, get an appointment with her Diabetic consultant, explain the situation and see if Chloe can get refered for some helpful councilling.
Love to you both,
Suzi x

If it's any help, I have woken every time during the night when I have had a hypo. I will wake up once my scores get below 4 and I start to feel it. I think it is as natural as waking up for the toilet and couldn't imagine sleeping through one. I hope this helps to reassure her.

Dave

That nurse wants shooting. Most people do wake if they have a night time hypo.
Haing scared Chloe, she should now get her a continuous monitor for a few days.
Chloe is a child and needs her sleep. Try putting a baby monitor into her room for a few nights and see if that helps her to relax.

Sorry to hear Chloe is so upset! I was ill as a child (not diabetes) and rememeber how frightening and horrible it can be not understanding your body. It might be useful to email the younger persons section so she can hear from people her own age and maybe she can chat direct to them on line about it- make it more normal so to speak.
I have had diabetes since feb and my first hypo was quite frightening- but it really is true what people say it isnt that bad- l actually see sdiabetes sort of as a blessing in disguise- much healthier and life is so much better now. My body woke me every time with a night time hypo- just think there are loads of us diabetics and we all get them The more balanced and on top of it Chloe get's the more stable her blood sugar will be all round and in my experience maybe even less hypo's. Best wishes and a big hug to you and Chloe xxx

Hi Charlie
So sorry your daughter is going through this it must be a constant stress.
I had an interesting discussion with another type-1 at the weekend. When we were both on Lantus,which we have both since been taken off. We experienced horrible overnight and morning problems. I had very vivid dreams, and woke up feeling lousy. My blood sugar was often high in the morning,but as I had been up for the loo in the night and checked my BG I had no reason to suspect overnight hypos. When I had these dreams I was so exhausted and ill in the morning. I woke up with pounding heart and once was taken to hospital as my heart rate would not slow down, despite trying. I really thought I was having a heart attack, but thankfully it wasn't.
I don't know what insulin your daughter takes, but it might be worth discussing a change in medication to your doctor.
Having had a child with very serious illness, I can totally relate to your situation, and hope things get better for you both.
Jus

Hi,
Going as low as 1.4 without symptoms is a real concern. Unfortunately hypo-unawareness and synthetic insulins do seem to go hand in hand for some people. I've been type-1 for 20 years and apart from 1 night time coma which was completly misjudged of my short-acting, I can honestly say I've never registered a BG that low.
You need to research what medication your daughter is taking; you will be aware that it is synthetic insulin not insulin, and although it mimics the blood sugar-lowering qualities of 'natural' insulin, it does lack in other ways. It is certainly not normal for type-1s should not lose their hype-awareness until after many years of having the conditon; although patients who were forced onto synthetic insulins in the 80s from animal animal insulins reported loss of hypo-awareness.
You really need to speak to your daughter's doctor about this one, I can quite understand how frightened she must be feeling.
Jus

Hi Flojo,

I'm sorry for all the anxieties you are experiencing. I have been diabetic for 15 years and do experience night-time hypos. Nowadays, the VAST majority of these cause me to wake up and treat it with food, thank goodness. Whenever I wake up (even if it's clearly just to go to the washroom) I always take my blood to gain a sense of where my blood sugar is, and where my blood sugar is going... Also, when I am tired, I am a lot worse at picking up signs of hypos.

When I was younger, however, it was a bit of a different story. Sometimes my body would wake me up when I experienced a hypo in the night, but I have to admit that my poor mother did have the experience of coming into my room in the morning (sometimes in the middle of the night, when she came to check on me) to find me quite unresponsive/drenched in sweat/ having a terrible hypo. [in these cases, she would rub gluco-gel into the inside of my cheeks, or if I could swallow and talk, give me orange juice]. I think that most often this was due to the 'lag effect' of taking dance classes later in the night (7pm-9pm). I continued to decrease my insulin and, ultimately, ended up taking no long lasting insulin, but did still experience the odd bad hypo. Happily, today we have fast acting insulin etc. that helps to avoid most of these lows (I was only giving 2 injections back then and, thus, had to figure out my meal plan for the entire day). But I can definitely relate to you and your daughter's current struggles...

I would recommend eating protein before bed, in addition to the carbs Chloe is currently eating. When I was younger I would often have a piece of toast with peanut butter, and also experimented with lower-carb protein shakes before bed. For me, the protein helped me to get through the night. When my hypos were very low (and even now-a-days, when I am a little unsure about how I'll get through the night) I set my alarm to wake myself up a couple of times throughout the night in order to check my blood glucose levels. Of course this is not an ideal long term plan as it interrupts the sleep cycle, but it could help you to document her blood sugars over the night...

As for her going to 1.4 without recognizing - yes, this could be a symptom of a general lack of hypo-awareness. However, we must keep in mind that when kids at this age are going to school they aver very distracted - they worry about friends' impressions of them, teachers, gym class, notes to take in class, homework to submit, tests etc. Such preoccupations can lead to missing the signs... Even today, when I am really engaged in something I might not catch a low until a bit lower than usual. While I have just recently ordered a continuous glucose monitor (by Medtronic) for myself, it sounds like this might be a good option for Chloe. Also, 1.4 is dangerous, so talking to your team about whether there are steps to increase hypo-awareness might be a good step.

Anyway, sorry for the long message... Take good care. Hang in there, you are doing a great job!

My son is only nearly 3 so doesn't really have any hypo awareness. I get up and check his blood sugar most nights at about 2.30am. Mostly he is fine but I have found him in the 2's a few times. There have been a couple of occassions that I have heard him making 'different' noises in his sleep and got up to find him below 4mml. Would it be reassuring if you got up for a few nights and checked so you'd both knew what was going on? I'd be getting up and checking after active days also.

I really think nurses don't think of the consequences of their actions and these sort of problems also happen at school with teachers singling the diabetic child out in front of their peers.

I suppose the only positive is that it should be understood that people don't usually die from having a hypo and the body is quite amazing how it can take care of itself.

I hope you are able to somehow reassure your daughter that she'll be okay. Maybe get her to go back and read the positive things she wrote about having diabetes.

All the best, Jen.