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Overtreating hypo and resultant high

D

DiabeticDi

Well-Known Member
Messages
259
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Ok so I woke up in the night having a dreadful hypo, I was away from home in a hotel and had no sugary drink to take. So I ate biscuits and glucose tablets, wrong I know but I was SO out of it that I panicked. The next morning at 7.30 I was 24. I took 10 units of Novorapid. 2 hours later I was still 24. Total panic. I took another 10 units and it took me until bedtime to come down to 11. What do you do? I was eating obviously through the day but I had NO idea what amount of insulin to take because obviously my sugar was still recovering.
 
I know some diabetics portion their hypo treatments and test after 15 minutes to see if it went up or needs extra carbs. As for novorapid, you need to give it that time to work. Depending on how many biscuits you ate, novorapid could have tanked and worked more to get you to 11.
In theory 1 unit of novorapid would take you down by 2 levels, depending on level and 10g of carbs raises your BG by 2-3 levels and again, depending on level. I could be wrong. Maybe you could do the DAFNE course to learn about carbs, on hypoglycemia/hyperglycemia rules.
 

I know it's easy to say with hindsight, but never go anywhere without a supply of glucose in liquid form or at least be sure that you will have access to some en route, or at your destination.

I always have a couple of Glucojuice bottles with me (exactly 15g each) or I know that I won't be far from a shop that sells normal coke /Lucozade etc.

Some supermarkets sell coke in 'mixer' size cans and they are quite a good size to stick in a travel bag.

Glucotabs don't just don't do it for me, like eating chalk and not fast acting enough for my liking.
 

Did anyone say be careful of Lucozade? because it's reduced sugar and you have to drink double the amount to get a hypo up. Coke or fruit juice without bits seems okay. I heard jelly babies 4-5 of them is okay to treat a hypo.
 
MeiChanski said:
Did anyone say be careful of Lucozade? because it's reduced sugar and you have to drink double the amount to get a hypo up. Coke or fruit juice without bits seems okay. I heard jelly babies 4-5 of them is okay to treat a hypo.
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Yes people have said it, 8.9g in 100ml (Lucozade original) compared to Glucojuice which is 15g in 60ml. But is drinking 200ml (2/3rd of a bottle) a big issue? As long as you know how much you're taking I cannot see a problem but of course it's all down to personal choice.

I have used OJ in the past but if you want something that stays fresh even if it goes unused for several days?

Have used jelly babies for minor corrections but never tried them for a hypo so cannot comment beyond saying that personally I prefer liquids because they are more easily absorbed by the body.
 
Right! It was the middle of the night and you did what you needed to do! Don't feel bad for that.

The 24 was yeah part over correcting but also probably part liver going spare and hypo reaction. No need to feel guilty. We just need to move on

In theory 10 units of novo would have made you hypo again. 1 unit bringing you down 3. But we rarely come down that way when high. And we rarely react in time when high. If another 10 on top of food bolus took you till bed time to reach 11, I suspect some for of adrenaline was involved. You can't control that either! Just do your best. Try have your best day. We're only human
 
 
I do that every time I have a hypo, I can’t stand the feeling of it so I eat loads to stop it then I assume my sugars are high.
 
Thank you, looking back now it was a completely mad few hours because I panicked totally when I saw that it hadn't moved from 24 in two hours! It just seems that it's a complete guessing game when you go that high as to what the hell is going to work and I was scared of eating anything even though I was hungry and had NO idea what amount of insulin to take for the food, what about ratios etc etc. It's not as if I don't know how to treat a hypo, I've been doing it for 37 years, but I have NEVER been that high. Likewise the hypo the night before was just awful, I was nodding off while I was eating.....the paramedics told me to calm down as that wasn't helping! Hey, all experience I suppose.
 
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