Hypo Low Blood Sugar Alarm

[Daaavid]

Hi, although I have been a type 1 diabetic for over 20 years, I have just joined Diabetes UK. I have recently suffered with several incidents of night time hypo's (whilst asleep), and wonder whether technology can help?
Due to the difficulties that I (in common I imagine with the vast majority of diabetics) have with keeping control of my sugar level, I have considered a continuous glucose monitoring system, but battled on without due to the high financial cost of the sensors.
I have today found online - a Hypo Low Blood Sugar Alarm sold by Care + Alarms. This is a device worn like a wristwatch that has 2 sensors that apparently detect the signs of a hypo - perspiration and a drop in skin temperature, and cause the device to sound an alarm to wake you up. In my dreams (I fear) this is what I and many others are looking for! It costs just £99. However I've had a look at an American website that clearly states that symptons are unique to the individual and this device is not being sold to detect hypoglycaemia, which is not a great start!
Has anyone any knowledge or experience of this device please?
Also has anyone any thoughts on cgm systems?

 

[grovesy]

Welcome.

 

[HOBIE]

Nothings perfect with Diabetes. Good luck & welcome 🙂

 

[Robin]

I'm sure this has been raised on here recently, but a quick trawl through the search box only revealed this thread, dating from 2009.
https://forum.diabetes.org.uk/boards/threads/hypo-alarm-watch.1495/
Does anyone else remember where it was discussed more recently?

 

[Amberzak]

I tried it. Didn't work for me. I got many many false alarms. And the one time I did go hypo it didn't go off.

 

[trophywench]

I'm going to ask you a question which has nob all to do with CGMs on the face of it.

What has your overnight basal testing told you ? Are the hypos occurring when the most active time of your basal insulin, meets your body's natural lowest BG, head on? Or what, and what have you tried doing to counteract whatever it is that's causing the hypos?

(Cos the important thing about hypos is surely to LEARN what caused every single one plus what not to do and what to do instead, next time?)

Most importantly - it's far cheaper than investing in eg a Dexcom - in fact - it's free ! LOL

 

[mikeyB]

Aye, I agree with Jenny. Sort out what is causing the hypos. The danger of such a device is not false positives, but false negatives, which by all accounts are just as common. You really need to either set your alarm for different times during the night to see if you can discern a pattern. I have very few night time hypos now. Since using the Libre system I rapidly saw what was happening overnight, and switching to split dose Levemir fixed it.

 

[Ralph-YK]

Yes, something similar has come up before. I can't find the thread either, even though I comented . My understanding there isn't really a non invasive way to measure BG. They're being worked on and unlikely to be wearable in any more for the foresee able future.

 

[Daaavid]

Many thanks for the response. As I suspected, a reliable £99 hypo alert watch is almost certainly in dreamworld only. With regard to readings analysis, I have a reluctance to getting involved with middle of the night checks etc, as I have a belief that type 1 diabetes is a very difficult / barely possible condition to control, if you don't lead a "regular life." By using that term I mean if you don't eat regularly (time and carb wise), and your exertion is also very irregular. As a result of this belief, I tend to busk it, and don't count calories etc. The only time I am super careful is if I am driving my car. Most of the time my relatively casual approach works OK, but sometimes eg the last 7 days, it doesn't.
Does this ring any bells fellow sufferers?
Two more points - 1) I have frequently searched in vain on Amazon for a good book to help one's understanding of modern insulin (Novorapid and Levemir). Any suggestions please?
2) If I decide that it is worth "£30" per week for the sensors (and £1k to buy the thing) is a CGM all it's cracked up to be? Any CGM users out there?

 

[trophywench]

Bollards is it barely possible to control mate. 99.5% of the time anyone with a reasonable brain can do it pretty damn well - if they can be bothered to put some input into it themselves with it, that is.

Incidentally Novorapid's hardly that modern - think I started on it in 1999 but it had a good few years under its belt by then. Apidra came out later and now we also have Fiasp. Levemir is newer than Lantus but since then both Toujeo and one whose name I've forgotten have followed. Remember - treating diabetes with injected insulin is hardly an ancient behaviour - it's not even 100 years yet since it was started - so comparatively - 18 years is a long time! LOL

I'd prefer you to get a book that explains T1 and how to address stuff like what's happening to you properly, if you want the convenience of eating whenever you want to and not bothering with eating at all if you don't want to - exactly how we all like to behave - then learn how to do that without having spikes and plummets, I should. (eg the Ragnar Hanas book, T1 diabetes in Babies, children and teenagers is great - even when you're 50 instead!)

No machine can do it for you - closed loop pumps and integrated CGMs are absolutely not available however much money anyone is willing to spend.

 

[Amberzak]

I love the book Jenny mentioned.

I live a very eratic and stressful life. I don't eat regularly and I don't do any activities regularly. I haven't given up carbs and I even eat chocolate (within reason). Yet I have reasonable control. Granted not as good as other people on this site, but I feel I have the happy medium of enjoying my life while still having control

I have to be honest I struggled with background insulin. I'm on the insulin pump. But even on multiple injections I still looked after myself.

I carb count (not calorie count) so as far as I'm concerned I can eat carbs as long as I give myself insulin for it. It's not quite as easy as that (mash potatoes raises my sugars far quicker than baked potato) but that's why carb counting is so important. And very freeing.

The freestyle libre is good. It doesn't warn you if you're going low, but it does keep a constant monitor of sugars. And it's really easy. It's a sensor that stays in your arm for 2 weeks. Costs about £55 (we don't pay VAT) and you can see trends. I use that when I'm testing my over night to see what is happening. Means I don't have to do overnight checks.

Basically it is completely possible to have reasonable control these days. In the past I'd have agreed with you but novorapid is amazing stuff.

But you need to carb count. And you need to do some experimentation. Are you under a hospital for your care? Ask for a carb counting course. I forget what they are called. Can someone else on here tell me? It's very enlightening.

And get that book Jenny suggested. T1 diabetes in babies children and adolescence by Ragnar Hanas. It's great for adults. Changed my life that book did. It explains everything from how the insulin works, to what effect different things have on your blood sugar. It does also go into detail about the different insulins.

It's going to be hard work to begin with, because you'll be changing a lot of habits. For example, for me to feel I've got true freedom to do what I like when I like, I test a lot. That's why I bought the libre. (It's also only about £55 for the scanner). I find myself doing a lot of corrections. But I've managed to achieve near perfect days while still living a crazy life. So it is doable.

You won't have perfect sugars all of the time because that's not an achievable goal. But I also set myself Smaller Goals.

 

[Daaavid]

Thank you for the responses. To clarify - when I wrote my belief that T1 diabetes is very difficult / barely possible to control, if you don't lead a regular life, I should have qualified this by adding - without regular (at least 1 a fortnight) hypo's - not dramatic coma hypo's, but ones reading 2.5 - 3.0.

I would be interested to hear how frequently carb counting T1's have such hypo's.

 

[CosmicHedgehog]

Thank you for the responses. To clarify - when I wrote my belief that T1 diabetes is very difficult / barely possible to control, if you don't lead a regular life, I should have qualified this by adding - without regular (at least 1 a fortnight) hypo's - not dramatic coma hypo's, but ones reading 2.5 - 3.0.

I would be interested to hear how frequently carb counting T1's have such hypo's.

I carb count, i'm on a pump and a cgm and i still get hypos lol, Sometimes at night (hence why i self fund a cgm (dexcom g5) I also have very bad hypo unawareness at night, While i agree with trophywench that if it is a regular thing, then the best course of action is to figure out if you dose needs adjusting, but even when you get your basal perfect (or as close to perfect as possible) hypos are still going to happen. So if they worry you then a cgm is a good idea. The freestyle libre has no alarms but it is not technically a cgm it is fgm (flash glucose monitor) , so no good if you want alarms, although it does let you see trends and patterns and can help you see where and when problems are. A dexcom is roughly £220 for 4 sensors ( you can make them last 1-4 weeks each depending on your own body chemistry, personally i get about 2 1/2 weeks out of mine) then £200 for a transmitter every 3 ish months and a phone with the app as a receiver.. For me the cost is worth it, i have had some scary hypos and struggle without alarms for highs as well as lows. ( they keep me in check and accountable for my control, 50% a motivational tool lol )

There are so many variables with how many hypos, why are they happening, can i or could i have avoided one etc etc. We are all different. But making sure the basics, like carb counting, basal testing and dosing and carb to insulin ratios are correct is a good start... even then we all get hypos occasionally , like when the sun comes out or someone fell off a chair in australia...

 

[Daaavid]

Very interesting. I had no idea that with the Dexcom CGM you have to spend £200 every 3 ish months on a transmitter. Why do you have to replace the transmitter so frequently?
The big, albeit expensive attraction for me is the alarm whilst asleep. I suppose if the Libre system revealed enough clear evidence of what is happening in the night, then perhaps nightime hypo's may be a thing of the past and ... no need to have a Dexcom. Hmmm, anybody got any thoughts?

 

[khskel]

A libre helped me get my basal sorted and I now usually get a relatively level line overnight with no excursions into hypo territory.

 

[trophywench]

Well if a Libre works for you, it will give you that info about what's really happening to your BG overnight, but won't advise you what to change of course - YOU have to work that out once you understand the profile of your basal insulin.

So get a Libre, stick the sensor on. wait 24 hours then activate it. After an hour, you can start taking readings from it. You need to test your blood to check whether it's ever right and if it's usually near-ish but not exact, how far out it is so you can make automatic adjustments to what it tells you, so that you can adjust basal accordingly.

 

[Amberzak]

Personally I love the libre. It helped me sort out my basal.

I have hypos but not nearly as many as I did. I would hypo daily. And I lost all hypo awareness. I worked hard on reducing my hypos. Now it's a lot better. I tend to have hypo clusters where I have a lot one particular week then don't hypo for weeks.

I have found the libre is helpful because it also makes it really quick and easy to test.

 

[CosmicHedgehog]

Very interesting. I had no idea that with the Dexcom CGM you have to spend £200 every 3 ish months on a transmitter. Why do you have to replace the transmitter so frequently?
The big, albeit expensive attraction for me is the alarm whilst asleep. I suppose if the Libre system revealed enough clear evidence of what is happening in the night, then perhaps nightime hypo's may be a thing of the past and ... no need to have a Dexcom. Hmmm, anybody got any thoughts?

The libre sensor is all one bit ( a white circle with everything in it) and you throw the whole lot away after 2 weeks exactly. It is great for seeing those patterns and i used one for over 2 years before i got a dex. Like you said if you could see your patterns and trends you may be able to eliminate much of the hypo problems you are having over night The dexcom's bits are separate, so the sensor is the sticky part with the wire that sits under the skin and has a plastic holder for a transmitter to be connected, they can last up to 1-4 weeks. the transmitter (the grey bit) sends the reading to the receiver (phone or handset) and that bit is reusable for 3 months ish until its internal battery runs out. i have added some photos of both so you can see the difference in size and bits etc. dexcom ---> Freestylelibre ---> [/QUOTE]