I’ve just managed to scare myself with my lowest hypo yet - 2.4. Probably connected to exercise earlier, although I only walked for half an hour, not like I did anything strenuous. Felt ready to pass out, panicked as I’m home alone with a two year old and a baby and ate half a packet of sweets. Still feel very shaky but starting to improve. Bad timing as the pharmacy messed up my prescription and I’m down to 4 test strips to last until tomorrow afternoon.
Scary hypo
- Thread starter LornaFarrell
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SamJB
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Yeah hypos in the 2s are scary. I suffer from anxiety with hypos and I grade them like this:
- If it's in the 2s, needs urgent attention, get Lucozade in me
- If in the 3s around 2 hours after a meal, it's down to my bolus dose being too high, have some Dextro tablet
- In the 3s and the hypo is down to previous exercise or in between meals (over 3 hours since injecting), then it won't be horrible, just have some Dextro tablets
Dixon1995
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If it was the pharmacy's mistake, I would certainly be politely requesting they find some test strips asap and suggesting your health is at risk without them.
Thankfully, I have received nothing but a great service from my pharmacy. When there was a NovoRapid shortage in my area they phoned around competitor pharmacies to find some for me.
Yes, fairly high doses too at 1 unit per 3g carbs. I find any exercise at all sends me hypo 4 or 5 hours later, it’s the one part of carb counting I haven’t cracked. I am very much on the larger side and would like to exercise but I’m actually scared of it. This was the result of taking my children to the park, about 15 minutes walk from the pharmacy with my toddler in the pushchair and the baby in a sling. Then back again to the car. Not like I was training for a marathon.
I would go swimming in the evening (after my husband gets home) but I’m scared of going super low in the middle of the night and not realising.
kitedoc
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Hi @LornaFarrell, It sounds like a discussion about managing exercise with your DSN is due.
Otherwise your life remains restricted. You deserve to be happy !!
I can tell you of my experiences, but they are not professional advice or opinion.
Some years after being diagnosed at age 13, I was informed that with diabetics on insulin 3 possible things happen in the process of exercising: Blood sugar goes up during after for some minutes to hour + afterward, or blood sugar stays fairly level, or the blood sugar goes down, sometimes to hypo levels. For me, the adrenaline released during exercise tends to put my blood sugar up and may takes over an hour to settle back down.
Of course the above may not only depend on the individual but the time of day that exercise was undertaken, the insulin used and working at the time, the time of the last meal and content of that meal and what changes, if any, were made to food intake and /or insulin dose in order to cope with the exercise.
Similarly I was offered three ways to deal with exercise:
a) reduce the dosage of insulin acting during and for 6 hours after exercise.
b) eat food before and during the exercise plus have a larger meal carbs-wise to cover the 4 to 6 + hour low blood sugar or
c) or do a combination of both.
There is one proviso about BSL at the time I wish to start exercising: if my BSL is above 14 mmol/l, I avoid exercise.
I may take a correction dose of short-acting insulin to reduce the BSL and may do do some modified, less long and less strenuous exercise later. The reason is that with a blood sugar at 14 mmol/ and above the body thinks it is starving and the liver will release glucose it exercising occurs. Also trying to exercise at that level is painful for me. Something to do with the BSL level I think.
Rather than gobbling down food before exercise and feel heavy in the stomach (or have fluid sloshing away in my tummy) I find that reducing my insulin works better. When I was on short-acting insulin before each meal and long-acting insulin I would reduce the short-acting insulin which was acting during and after the exercise plus, because I was on Levemir insulin which has a 12 to 16 hour action I would reduce the dose of the Levemir which would overlap with the time of 6 to 10hours approx. after the exercise. This was particularly important if the exercise was in the late afternoon or evening as I wished to avoid a hypo particularly at night time. How much did a drop the insulin dose? 20% was the usual but 30 % if longer/more vigorous.
Of course I also carry glucose jelly beans or glucose tablets in case I am delayed getting home, exercise takes longer than expected etc. Please remember that many sweets contain sucrose for sweetening and use of them for hypos over the years is not kind to one's teeth, dental health and thus finances.
Why does my BSL drop some 4 to 6 + hours after exercise/? What I learned was that muscles have their own glucose storage system, apart from the liver's glucose storage one. As we need our muscles to react swiftly in case of danger it makes sense to have their fuel supply stored within them. With exercise the muscle's storage supply is partly depleted, more or less depending on intensity and duration of the exercise. At the 4 to 6 + hour mark, the muscles claim replenishment of their stores.. Where form? The circulating blood stream. If I have eaten between exercise and this 'claim' time, any carbs absorbed and rendered into glucose will help but depending on the size of the 'claim', there may still be a drop in my BSL. Moreso if I have not eaten.
Hence the need to drop the dose of insulin. Sometimes I over- or underestimate the amount of insulin reduction. Live and learn is the motto.
Now that I am using an insulin pump things are easier again. I lower the basal rate of the pump by 20 to 30% at start of exercise for 4 hours or so. That generally keeps hypers and hypos away. The pump uses short-acting insulin and so the last hour of the dose reduction will have an effect through to some 7 to 8 hours after the end of exercise. (duration of Novorapid = 6 to 7 hours).
So .... I would suggest you discuss what to do about managing exercise with your DSN and develop a flexible plan.
Then enjoy the challenge of exercising, playing with your child and releasing 'the inner child' within yourself again.
Otherwise your life remains restricted. You deserve to be happy !!
I can tell you of my experiences, but they are not professional advice or opinion.
Some years after being diagnosed at age 13, I was informed that with diabetics on insulin 3 possible things happen in the process of exercising: Blood sugar goes up during after for some minutes to hour + afterward, or blood sugar stays fairly level, or the blood sugar goes down, sometimes to hypo levels. For me, the adrenaline released during exercise tends to put my blood sugar up and may takes over an hour to settle back down.
Of course the above may not only depend on the individual but the time of day that exercise was undertaken, the insulin used and working at the time, the time of the last meal and content of that meal and what changes, if any, were made to food intake and /or insulin dose in order to cope with the exercise.
Similarly I was offered three ways to deal with exercise:
a) reduce the dosage of insulin acting during and for 6 hours after exercise.
b) eat food before and during the exercise plus have a larger meal carbs-wise to cover the 4 to 6 + hour low blood sugar or
c) or do a combination of both.
There is one proviso about BSL at the time I wish to start exercising: if my BSL is above 14 mmol/l, I avoid exercise.
I may take a correction dose of short-acting insulin to reduce the BSL and may do do some modified, less long and less strenuous exercise later. The reason is that with a blood sugar at 14 mmol/ and above the body thinks it is starving and the liver will release glucose it exercising occurs. Also trying to exercise at that level is painful for me. Something to do with the BSL level I think.
Rather than gobbling down food before exercise and feel heavy in the stomach (or have fluid sloshing away in my tummy) I find that reducing my insulin works better. When I was on short-acting insulin before each meal and long-acting insulin I would reduce the short-acting insulin which was acting during and after the exercise plus, because I was on Levemir insulin which has a 12 to 16 hour action I would reduce the dose of the Levemir which would overlap with the time of 6 to 10hours approx. after the exercise. This was particularly important if the exercise was in the late afternoon or evening as I wished to avoid a hypo particularly at night time. How much did a drop the insulin dose? 20% was the usual but 30 % if longer/more vigorous.
Of course I also carry glucose jelly beans or glucose tablets in case I am delayed getting home, exercise takes longer than expected etc. Please remember that many sweets contain sucrose for sweetening and use of them for hypos over the years is not kind to one's teeth, dental health and thus finances.
Why does my BSL drop some 4 to 6 + hours after exercise/? What I learned was that muscles have their own glucose storage system, apart from the liver's glucose storage one. As we need our muscles to react swiftly in case of danger it makes sense to have their fuel supply stored within them. With exercise the muscle's storage supply is partly depleted, more or less depending on intensity and duration of the exercise. At the 4 to 6 + hour mark, the muscles claim replenishment of their stores.. Where form? The circulating blood stream. If I have eaten between exercise and this 'claim' time, any carbs absorbed and rendered into glucose will help but depending on the size of the 'claim', there may still be a drop in my BSL. Moreso if I have not eaten.
Hence the need to drop the dose of insulin. Sometimes I over- or underestimate the amount of insulin reduction. Live and learn is the motto.
Now that I am using an insulin pump things are easier again. I lower the basal rate of the pump by 20 to 30% at start of exercise for 4 hours or so. That generally keeps hypers and hypos away. The pump uses short-acting insulin and so the last hour of the dose reduction will have an effect through to some 7 to 8 hours after the end of exercise. (duration of Novorapid = 6 to 7 hours).
So .... I would suggest you discuss what to do about managing exercise with your DSN and develop a flexible plan.
Then enjoy the challenge of exercising, playing with your child and releasing 'the inner child' within yourself again.
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Hi @LornaFarrell Sadly at the moment it sounds like you're developing a fear of hypos which will impact your life.
Managing exercise is a topic here on the thread I started, as once upon a time I felt the same as you and although I was desperate to get fitter I also had developed a fear of hypos as they leave me feeling anxious and at times (particularly in public spaces) paranoid. When you exercise you need to manage a strategy to avoid them, there are a number of options but as with anything type 1 related they are unique to the individual as my strategy will vary to yours. Firstly I decide if the activity is high intensive or moderate, then how long for, then I calculate based on my starting blood glucose level and if I have fast acting insulin on board, all these factors tell me what I need to do.
For swimming I also have to factor in the pool temperature, as barmy as it sounds the cooler the pool the quicker I can go hypo as my body works harder to maintain core temperature, I always keep meter and glucose tabs at the pool side within easy access or near to the life guard, and aim to be above 7 before I start with no insulin on board. I don't tend to go low later on after swimming, I either go low during swimming or just afterwards and can easily correct with glucose and carbs.
For running I aim to be above 6 and take a half dose of insulin with food before I run, I run for 30-40 mins and always carry glucose and testing kit. I haven't hypo-ed afterwards if i've had a steady run, but have hypo-ed during but because it was a hot day.
Don't give up on exercise but try and work on it as keeping fit is vital for your mental and physical well being
Managing exercise is a topic here on the thread I started, as once upon a time I felt the same as you and although I was desperate to get fitter I also had developed a fear of hypos as they leave me feeling anxious and at times (particularly in public spaces) paranoid. When you exercise you need to manage a strategy to avoid them, there are a number of options but as with anything type 1 related they are unique to the individual as my strategy will vary to yours. Firstly I decide if the activity is high intensive or moderate, then how long for, then I calculate based on my starting blood glucose level and if I have fast acting insulin on board, all these factors tell me what I need to do.
For swimming I also have to factor in the pool temperature, as barmy as it sounds the cooler the pool the quicker I can go hypo as my body works harder to maintain core temperature, I always keep meter and glucose tabs at the pool side within easy access or near to the life guard, and aim to be above 7 before I start with no insulin on board. I don't tend to go low later on after swimming, I either go low during swimming or just afterwards and can easily correct with glucose and carbs.
For running I aim to be above 6 and take a half dose of insulin with food before I run, I run for 30-40 mins and always carry glucose and testing kit. I haven't hypo-ed afterwards if i've had a steady run, but have hypo-ed during but because it was a hot day.
Don't give up on exercise but try and work on it as keeping fit is vital for your mental and physical well being
