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Unexpected hypo at night, can't work out why?

M

Meonia

Member
Messages
7
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Hi. I've been type 2 for 20 years and am currently taking Gliclazide and Metformin.
Last night my blood sugar dropped considerably and quite quickly for no reason I can think of. It resulted in me waking up in the night and realising I was having a hypo!

At 10pm my reading was high at 15 mmol/L
At 11.30pm it had dropped to 8
Went to bed then woke up at 1.30am with hypo symptoms and a reading of 3

This has never happened before and was quite scary. I can't explain it - between 10pm and going to bed I was just sitting watching TV as usual with a cup of tea (no alcohol). I used to be fine knowing that a reading over 5 at bedtime meant I would be fine, but now I'm worried it could happen again.
Any ideas as to what might have caused the big drop in blood sugar?

Many Thanks
 
I don't have an answer. I also get night hypos, not constantly but they come and go. I did a trial of a CGM a year or so ago and discovered that what I was thinking of as night sweats, nightmares, panicked confused waking etc - correlated with the hypo - low BG, from a sharp drop in BG. The pattern is that overnight my BGs are declining steadily and normally (5s heading to 4s over a period of hours) and then, usually around 4 or 5am, drop off a cliff very quickly. High fours become low threes in a matter of minutes. Liver kicks in, dumps a load of glucose, dawn phenomenon ensures BG rises again. So it does correct itself, but it feels like the "switch is broken". I could do without the sweats and nightmares.

I have been unable to correlate this with anything - food, alcohol, exercise, stress, nothing seems to affect it. It happens and then it doesn't. I have had a break since early September, but they've come back these last two nights. Judging by people's accounts on here it isn't common for T2s but there are a few of us with these experiences.
 
Thanks Kenny, that made for interesting reading. I didn't realise that your BG could drop that low when you're in remission and just using diet! Your experiences certainly don't sound like much fun!! It's a ****** when there's no apparent reason for it.

From what you said I take it you don't get up and take glucose tablets or eat biscuits (like I did in a panic last night) when it happens and just ride it out until the dawn phenomenon kicks in? I'd be scared I could end up in a coma!
 
I was having them long before I ever tested my blood and long before diagnosis. I didn't think of them as hypos until after the CGM trial info and therefore they have never felt dangerous, just annoying and uncomfortable. I think of them as my liver dozing off for a bit and then waking up and dumping loads of glucose in a panic.

The other thing it proves to me is that despite "normal" A1cs for a while now, I clearly still have a metabolic problem and need to keep on with what I'm doing.
 
I also sometimes have dips and highs that make no sense at all!
I don't know where you are in the world, but the last few days it has been very cold where I live and this does to seem to cause more dips in bg, maybe because we are burning a lot of energy to keep warm?
Another thing to consider, could you have taken a double dose of medication by mistake?
Not sure if either of these things could apply to you, but think also about stress, infection?
 
My penneth on this is I think everyone can dip at night at times. My non diabetic partner wore a cgm just to test it out and her night time blood sugar dipped into the mid 3's. It may all depend on your food intake and how it is processed. That said, if they are serious lows, like in the 2's then that needs to be investigated. I was getting 'swarms' of lows. My Dr told me to increase my carbs before I go to sleep, so now I make sure my bedtime sugars are around 9-10. It stopped the night time lows.
 
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