F woke up at 1.2 this morning! 😱 That's the lowest she has ever been, but she didn't even feel hypo. Normally when she is at 3 or lower she feels shaky, wobbly and knows she is hypo.
We gave her glucose tablets and a digestive before her insulin, and her teacher is going to check her bloods at school this morning.
At what point does your child normally go VERY hypo (enough to use the glucogel?). We've never had to use the glucogel yet and hypos have, so far, been fairly rare for F, who tends to run high.
Hi Kei
I think you may have the wrong idea about glucogel. It can be used for any hypo. Hell I've even used it when Jessica has been 5.0 before PE to give her a quick boost up although that is not strictly speaking what it is for.
My daughter for some strange reason loves glucogel. However it does not work for her at all. I have once given her three tubes on the trott and it has done nothing at all, really it hasn't so we can't use it anymore. Have you actually tried it? I know a couple of people it doesn't work for or doesn't work quickly enough for.
I'm sorry but I've forgotten how old your child is. I'm a dingbat sometimes. My own personal recommendation which loads of people also do, is start to get your child to like diet coke, seriously ! Again he may be already drinking it. I started my daughter on diet coke at about 2 years old (she was diabetic by then). You should have seen the looks people were giving me in MacDonalds but I knew that coke would one day save her life and believe me it has a couple of times.
Coke (full sugar) or lucozade are the best hypo remedies. They are as good as putting a glucose drip in a vein. If you stick to one of those (lucozade is better and quicker than coke but coke is damn fast) you will learn how much is needed to treat various levels of hypo. For example start with 15 carbs worth which is 150 ml coke and 100 ml lucozade. I know that for a hypo of about 3.5 Jessica only needs half the can of coke and only about 50 ml of lucozade. (you can buy small party sized 150 ml cans of coke down the mixer aisles in supermarkets).
Glucogel is only 10 carbs per tube which may not be enough for a bad hypo and I would class a bad hypo as anything under 2.6 mmol. In Gt Ormond Street Hospital, which in my book is the greatest hospital in the world for knowledge if a child is 2.6 or under the medical team run fast, I've seen it numerous times. Different hospitals have different cut offs ie 2.2, 2.6, 2.5, 2.9 but GOSH say 2.6 and that is what I go with.
The idea is that brain damage can potentially occur with a blood level at 2.6 and under staying at that for an average of 4 hours. Now that is an average number so there are cases when it has happened with levels higher than that and less time. That is a reason why diabetics have 4.0 mmol and under as hypo.
Glucometers are not brilliantly accurate down there either, so a reading of 3.0could actually be 2.5 or 3.5 !!!
You could try Glucotabs or dextrose tablets. If your child has those give a glass of water with them it makes them work quicker.
I have loads of other tips but I may just drone on and on boring everyone so I'll quit while I'm ahead.
Bear in mind that I'm only a parent, like you, I don't have diabetes so what I say is all very clinical, if you like, and only from my experience over the years of seeing my daughter and loads of other kiddies.
Hope I have helped a bit.
🙂
8-9 in the morning but he was 15.4?? Does anyone have any thoughts - could this mean he has hypo'd and had an overswing? He has been a bit allover the place lately and nothing seems to be making much sense.