Type 1 Type 1 question

[GildartsTheGod]

Hi guys,

Before I'm told to speak to my diabetic team, I have an appointment in a few days

I have been a type 1 for 2 years now, my last A1C was 8.1% which isent the best since I've been diagnosed however my consultant put me on the list for libre due to this.

On the 18th of October at work I suffered a sever hypo with a reading of 1.9mmol and had a seazure...
I was taken to A&E and ushered out quickly.

On the 20th I then suffered another low event on a bus where I almost seazure again as my vision started to tunnel and mucles lost control however I drank some coke at the time and seemed to be fine, until I got to my friends house where my bg was 20mmol I then injected 5U of novorapid and began to tremble uncontrollably... My friends were worried and called an ambulance.

In A&E again and I was told that I had a panic attack... (I've had no previous events of depression or such) which was strange to hear.

After speaking to my GP about this I was diagnosed with a chest infection and assured my syptoms will pass.

The following day I took a walk to the bank to then experience another hypo in the bank where I treated it again with 1L of coke to get home and see that my bg was 8.4mmol
The same thing happened the next day again at the bank.
At the bank I did not have my glucose test meter on me so I can provide readings.

For the following 5 days I've been taking my prescription of amoxoxilin for the chest infection I've been experiencing EXTREMELY high blood clucose with my highest reading of 27mmol even after injecting my usual dose for the amount of carbs consumed with my best reading being a 9.9mmol after injecting 15U of novorapid.

Which leads us to today where I intentionally did not eat from 11am (19.7g of carbs consumed and 5U of novorapid) my sugars didn't seem to change at all and stayed at 14/17mmol up until 6pm where my blood glucose crashed fast.

If you have managed to read all of this my question is what is going on? I have never had such crashes ever since diagnosis and now all of a sudden these hypos just creep up on me.

 

[JAT1]

Certainly sickness and the medications you are taking can affect blood sugar levels. However, I would take an honest hard look at what you are eating and when you are taking your insulin. I would diarize it all to get a clear view of it. Coke is an extreme remedy for a hypo. It will drive you too high which in time will let you crash. Once on the glucose roller coaster it is hard to get off.

 

[Juicyj]

Hello @GildartsTheGod

Sorry to hear of your seizures, that's quite a scare.

To really gain better insight I agree with JAT that you need to keep a diary, insulin needs can and do change so learning what triggered the hypo events is crucial as you may need to review your insulin ratios as a result, also things like exercise, stress, illness etc will affect insulin requirements but seeing a pattern to this is important. Treating hypos is also like taking medication, overdo it and you will start a yo yo going, my treatment is 3 glucotabs, wait 10 mins then test and repeat until above 4. They are easy to carry, convenient and your unlikely to over treat. As your 2 years down the line get your team to out you into DAFNE, you would benefit greatly from this course, also see if they can prescribe you the Libre which will help you at present with your monitoring and understanding more about what's happening with your insulin and glucose levels.

 

[GildartsTheGod]

Thanks guys, I can already tell you that both of you gave me much more advice than my nurse did :/

@JAT1 yea I've noticed that and carry around gluco tablets as suggested by juicyj

Yea they have offered me DAFNE when I was first diagnosed however I turnt it down now in hindsight it was pretty silly of me XD

And I've been on the "list" to get libre for a year now hopefully I'll be contacted soon.

Yea I've started a mini diary on my phone since my first sever hypo on the 18th so hopefully I can get a pattern or sorts I can share.

Again guys I really appreciate your replies they are a great help!

 

[Rokaab]

Yea they have offered me DAFNE when I was first diagnosed however I turnt it down now in hindsight it was pretty silly of me XD

And I've been on the "list" to get libre for a year now hopefully I'll be contacted soon.

You can ask to go on the DAFNE course, might be a bit of a wait time but they should be able to put you on the list for it (the fact that you declined it on first offer shouldn't make any difference).
For the libre they may require that you do a DAFNE or similar course anyways

 

[becca59]

Certainly sickness and the medications you are taking can affect blood sugar levels. However, I would take an honest hard look at what you are eating and when you are taking your insulin. I would diarize it all to get a clear view of it. Coke is an extreme remedy for a hypo. It will drive you too high which in time will let you crash. Once on the glucose roller coaster it is hard to get off.

Sorry have to disagree. Coke is a very good hypo cure if you are very low. It is the amount taken that is the issue. I have 15ml cans at the side of the bed for anything less than a 3 during the night. But even then I leave some in the bottom of the can. It’s the same with all hypo cures. People take far too much and don’t wait long enough to see a rise. The feeling of panic overtakes you’re brain and all reasoning when low. It is very hard in that state to be disciplined.

 

[Mathewted]

i so ope that the vicious cycle of carbs and hypos starts to stabilise for you and would really advocate diarising - although I am rubbish at it - and when you are confident not to have too many carbs while hypo - difficult I know because all i wanted to do when i was in that position was consume the whole food cupboard quicker than I could stuff it in! However I forced myself to moderate using glucose tablets - as they are quite pricey that helped - and reduced them over time to a level where the bounce back was moderate and then calmed down after an hour or two - always watching out for a 'double dip'.

For me I had seizures with Low Glucose levels and have been on three different anti-convulsants over 30 years until I told the Neurologist they weren't doing any good and that I was stopping them - all I was told was that he could not condone the action and then nothing from memory.

What i have found has helped me tremendously [and of course this is not meant as advice for you but something you may talk to your HCP about] is that I stopped eating all carbs unless they came in the guise of an avocado, cauliflower or the like. I'm prettyh much in ketosis [not ketoacidosis!] I'd guess about 95% of the time and even when my glucose levels have been so low that they have been unreadable on the Libre I user with my phone I have not had hypo symptoms, have been 'en pointe', and certainly not a seizure. during this time I did have a seizure - it was the morning after a carby meal and three chocolate biscuits with a coffee before bed; that taught me!

Seems the Ketogenic Lifestyle should have been my therapy 25 years ago and i may not be half blind, with compromised feeling in all peripheral parts, and suffered TIAs causing brain injury; I'm now on a mission to find out why it was not offered given that low carb was Banting's therapy for people before insulin could be administered and that Cambridge has been offering th eCambridge [version of Keto] Diet for intractable epilepsy since the 1920s!