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Over compensated my hypo this morning

Meady74

Active Member
Messages
35
Location
St Leonards on Sea
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Insulin
Dislikes
Tablets
Morning all, been a loooooong time since I've been on here. Well, things have changed a bit. Now on metformin and glimepiride
anyhow, I was warned that I may have hypos with the glimepiride, it finally happened this morning. Got the shakes, feeling dissy and light headed, had to site down defor I fell down. Tested blood sugar and yep, confirmed. Well, I had some jelly babies (read that as the whole **** packet and some dextrose) now gone in the opposite direction
feeling rougher than a bears' behind. Brain taking ages to register that I had consumed more that enough sugar to compensate.

So, I appreciate everyone is different, metabolism, size etc, but, when you do have a hypo, how many jelly babies or dextrose do you normally take to bring yourself back?

I am due to go back to my diabetes nurse in a few weeks time for an update and check on blood sugar readings.

Thanks
 
the "standard " advice is 15 or 20 grams of fast acting carb .... but as with all things diabetic the factors surrounding whether it is a fast dropping hypo or a gradual dip towards below 4.0 makes a difference --- i normally try to treat hypos with the least amount of carbs i can get away with .... another trick at around 3.8 would be 5 grams fast acting and a jacobs cream cracker ( 5.5 carbs ) to sustain the climb out of hypo

hope this helps ...............
 

Hi,
This is what is called the rebound effect. Or symogi, something like that, because of the meds and now that your glucose levels are responding to what you eat. The insulin resistance is less, so your meds are pushing your levels down.
I would speak to your GP about dosage.
 
That would be basically 3 jelly babies?
So on the basis of a whole pack its not surprising to have gone too far the other way @Meady74

I remember before I stabilised that when I was hungry (fake hypos) I would easily eat like it was going out of fashion so quite challenging.
 
With a reading of 3.8 I would take 1 jelly baby and retest in 15 minutes to see if bg had risen above 4.0. If it hadn't I'd take another jelly baby and retest after 15 minutes.
If I was 3.8 just before a meal, I'd 'ignore the hypo' and just have my meal as normal as long as it contained carbs.
 
I agree with hopeful above with regard to myself but the problem can be that that 3.8 could be 15% even lower, or sinking very fast etc. I know that a 3.8 for me responds well to a banana for example (at home) but again it depends on where I am at the time and what I'm doing. If you are feeling the symptoms strongly I would err on the side of caution and treat with the 15/20g of fast acting carbs all at once. Again it really is down to the individual knowing their body (which is a challenge) because sometimes hypo symptoms can be 'false ones' because you're not used to figures in the 4s etc. It's complicated of course but if you can, resist the urge to grab everything in panic, check after 15 mins by which point you will probably have risen...but not always! x
 
Thanks for the advice everyone, very much appreciated. Also feeling better now. Wasn't sure/ didn't really know how much I'd 'need' to bring myself back to feeling OK. Certainly not anywhere as much as I though so lesson learnt on that one!

Definitely not used to being a low as below 4, used to being 14/15 +
 
Two finger kitkat, not because I feel the need to treat 3.8 but just as a great excuse to eat a two finger kitkat.
 
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