strange hypos

[emac]

Hello,

I was just diagnosed with type one diabetes yesterday. A bit weird at 28. Anway I have been recieving treatment for diabetes for a couple of months and been on lantus and metformin.

However I have been getting hypos even though my BS is within a normal range like 6 or 7. I have been having this problem for a couple of months and it is getting to the point where it is happening 2 to 3 times a day and getting quite hard to manage.

Does anyone have any ideas and does this happen to anyone else?

Euan

 

[totsy]

hya
welcome, when u say u are getting hypos,what is your blood sugar at the time?? or do u just feel hypo ?? when first diagnosed it is usual to feel hypo until you get your blood sugars on an even keel,this is because your body is used to u being high so makes u feel hypo,
hope this helps,
keep asking the questions

 

[Stuboy]

A rapid drop in blood sugar can also send alarm signals in the body. The the blood sugar falls rapidly the body panics and thinks it's going hypo...

Are your hypo's happening at certain times of the day? ie, after meal times? (up to 3hours after).

As totsy suggested as well... if you are newly diagnosed it can take a while for your body to become acustomed to lower sugar levels from being high for so long pre diagnoses.

 

[fergus]

Hi emac, and welcome to the forum.
Stuboy and totsy are quite right in that, although hypoglcemia is generally agreed to begin at around 3.8mmol/l, the physical symptoms can appear at much higher numbers. You could say that 3.8 is an absolute level, but your symptoms are relative to the higher blood sugar levels you will have been experiencing prior to diagnosis. Feeling hypo at 5's 6's and 7's is not uncommon at first, but your body will quickly readjust as your blood sugars become more normal.

The other thing I wanted to say is speak with your health team about your diagnosis and prescription. Metformin is no use to a type 1 since it works to make you more sensitive to the insulin you produce - it is usually prescribed to treat insulin resistance in type 2 diabetics. Likewise, for a type 1, Lantus alone will not be enough to normalise blood sugar levels. It is a basal, or background level insulin, and isn't designed to deal with the sugars released from the foods you eat.

All the best,

fergus

 

[totsy]

thats exactly what my gp put me on fergus for type 1, ive had to stamp my feet for months to get basal bolus :?

 

[LittleSue]

What others have said is true. Just wanted to add that feeling hypo when you're not can happen when sugar level comes down after even a single high reading, not just when you've been high for a long time. Although the drop after a single spike feels less intense than when your body is used to being high all the time. Hence if possible its best to test when you feel hypo.

 

[Trinkwasser]

Sympathies, actually adult onset Type 1 (LADA) is commoner than childhood onset but it can be hard to convice some medical professionals of this fact.

You really will need a full basal/bolus insulin regime, often LADA can have a slow progression compared to childhood onset and sometimes insulin production can still be detectable after years but will be insufficient to deal with eating. Metformin is essentially useless unless you also have high levels of insulin resistance which is uncommon unless you are particularly overweight, a few unlucky individuals get "double diabetes", Type 1 and associated IR but it's rare.

Your pancreas is still probably producing randomish spurts of insulin and that and your diet may be causing highs and rebound lows, hence the symptoms.

 

[Thenotsohairybiker]

I had a hypo with a reading of 10 once. My BS dropped suddenly from 25, I felt terrible at the time. That was in the early days, nowadays my BS averages 5-6 so I don't feel hypo until about 3.4
I currently use 10 units of lantus once a day, and 4-6 units of Novorapid at mealtimes.

 

[emac]

Thanks for all those responses I am glad I am not alone and I will look whether metformin is worth persisting with. It sounds like it is not much use to me at the moment. I will have to look into the alternatives.

The other thing I wanted to know is what do I do when I get the symptons. Do I ride them out and ignore them - which is pretty unpleasent as you will know or do I respond and eat something to get rid of them? I am not sure what to do as they are false hypos to some extent.

Thanks again Euan

 

[Trinkwasser]

Thanks for all those responses I am glad I am not alone and I will look whether metformin is worth persisting with. It sounds like it is not much use to me at the moment. I will have to look into the alternatives.

A rough rule of thumb would be to look at your lipids, if trigs/HDL ratio is below 1.3 this would indicate your insulin resistance is low at the metformin would not be useful (although it does have some cardioprotective benefits)

The other thing I wanted to know is what do I do when I get the symptons. Do I ride them out and ignore them - which is pretty unpleasent as you will know or do I respond and eat something to get rid of them? I am not sure what to do as they are false hypos to some extent.

Your best bet would be to experiment, the classic hypo treatment is 15g fast carbs and test again in 15 minutes but at not-hypo levels it might be better to experiment with a smaller quantity of fast carbs and a small quantity of slow carbs, ie. oatcake and some nut butter, to bring the numbers up more slowly and buffer them against an overswing