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nightime hypos

koolkizzy78

Member
Messages
5
Location
manchester
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Insulin
Dislikes
not much really .
I had a severe hypo during the night at approx 3.30am . partner helps to revive me by glucagon inj. and glucose / sugar . feels so uncontrollable when it happens arms mainly and body jerking cant communicate and sweating like am in the shower ! i recovered after 10 mins and felt normal again checked sugers and they went up to 7mmol . so left it at that and went back to bed . slept well . woke at 8.15am checked sugars and they were 17mmol . treated myself the normal way again humulin i insulin 22 / novorapid 16 . just really wanted to know if anyone has the same experiences as me ? its only happened 4 times in a year but when it happens is scarey !
 
Hi, I was having a lot of night time hypos and after a really bad one was advised to try the pump, I was a bit freaked about.having it attached 24/7 but after deciding to try the pump I can honestly say that night time hypos are a thing of the past, have a word with your diabetic team, good luck.
 
hi there @koolkizzy78
welcome to the forum

actually 4 episodes as you have described sounds a bit worrying as those are "assisted hypo's" and could disqualify you from driving ( if you drive)

I would sugest a phone call to your DSN ( diabetic specialist nurse) tomorrow to review insulin doses.

while you are waiting today -- I would have a look at basal testing as it really looks as though you could do with some adjusting.
link here http://www.salforddiabetescare.co.uk/index2.php?nav_id=1007

i know hypos at night are very scary ( especially for the person assisting )

do keep posting on progress

all the best !
 
I'd say 4 times in a year is too many for that level of hypo, what was your bg when it was happening? Have you been diabetic long?

Had you done something different yesterday that could have caused it? Missed a meal you injected for for example?

What kind of insulin regime are you on?

Sorry for the questions but I'm only asking to try see if there is a reason you hypo severely that often
 
@Mrsass
i saw my dsn on thurs who up my dose of long lasting insulin . but my eating habits are all over the place . am not a regular eater as dont really have an appetite at all . never feel hungry . maybe i havent eaten enough and had too much insulin for it . i am trying to do the carb counting thing but really makes me confused and i just eat without thinking . im low on vitamin b and have experienced forgetfulness which may be a cause for insulin overdose . think i may need to kick my own butt and get a meal plan in place really and start with the carb counting (again) . thanks to all for replys x its good to know other diabetics who suffer the same affects as i do as feel like am on my own with it alot . great advice thank you x
 
Have you been put on a course for carb counting? If not ask your DSN as they should put you on one especially with having these severe hypos. It's ok if you are not a regular eater as being on basal/bolus you only need to inject bolus for eating, is it possible you injected your bolus insulin before bed rather than your basal? Did you have a low bg reading before going to sleep?
 
koolkizzy78 said:
@Mrsass
i saw my dsn on thurs who up my dose of long lasting insulin .
Click to expand...

In response to your severe night time hypos, your DSN put yout long acting up? Do you have a lot of highs apart from these night time hypos? Do your blood sugars rise overnight? Sorry, it's just increasing your basal is the opposite of what I would expect them to do, unless there is something else going on.
 
@catapillar
the dsn said my hba1c is too high for me so want to get it down as i have retinopathy also where the eye doctor wants my hba1c lower also , thats why she put the long lasing up x last week hba1c was 9.1 .
 
koolkizzy78 said:
@catapillar
the dsn said my hba1c is too high for me so want to get it down as i have retinopathy also where the eye doctor wants my hba1c lower also , thats why she put the long lasing up x last week hba1c was 9.1 .
Click to expand...

& she is aware that in the last 4 months you have had 4 severe hypos with, what sounds like, fitting and requiring glucagon? Because that level of hypos isn't something to accept.

For context, when I went on the DAFNE course there 8 type 1s in attendance. They went round the room asking how many severe hypos we had had - a severe hypo being something where you go unconscious or you require assistance to treat - there was about 80 years of type 1 experience in the room and, until they got to me, only one instance of severe hypoglycaemia. Unfortunately, I brought the total up because I had had at least half a dozen at that stage.
 
koolkizzy78 said:
@catapillar
the dsn said my hba1c is too high for me so want to get it down as i have retinopathy also where the eye doctor wants my hba1c lower also , thats why she put the long lasing up x last week hba1c was 9.1 .
Click to expand...

That is too high if you have diabetic retinopathy, I hope that your DSN and Ophtmalogist have explained to you that you need to make improvements slowly as sudden tightening up of bg control can make the retinopathy worse.

If your not running low every night then try and look for a pattern as to why these severe hypo's occur, you've already mentioned that you don't carb count and this could almost certainly be the cause, but it could also be that you've injected twice by mistake, also activities like exercise/drinking alcohol can effect bg levels several hours after finishing and needs to be taken into consideration.

My advice would be to basal test and get your carb counting skills up to date, without do both your never going to get good bg control. Good luck.
 
Hi

Nightime hypos are not nice but a lot of type 1s do have them unfortunately and then try to prevent them from happening the next night usually by making bg levels a bit higher before going to bed like adjust the bolus for evening meal or leave bolus alone and just eat a carb snack before bed which will stop bg lowering. Can you do a bg test before bed and then again about 2am? That way, you'll be able to see how to offset humulin s action on how it controls yr bg.

Also, is there a reason why humulin is being used once per day and not levemir twice daily?
 
thank you guys for all your advice x i really do need to pull my socks up x starting a plan as we speak !
 
Hi

one if the best things I ever did in order to address the hypos and the highs, was test bg levels 6 times per day .....breakfast, mid morning, lunch, mid afternoon, eve meal and before bed and with the results, I then adjusted the carb that I eat to get control a bit more evened out. Later, I then started to adjust insulin using a ratio and some bg targets to adjust to and looked at the 100 rule to work out a correction factor.
 
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