John Taylor-Cantoni
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Hi new to type 2, how do I know when im having a hyper or hypo episode? I have been having strange symptoms and feeling really awful but not sure which? thanks John
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difference between hypo and hyper episodes
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Jasmin2000
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Here's a list of symptoms of each https://www.woundcareinc.com/resources/hyperglycemia-vs-hypoglycemia-what-you-need-to-know and https://www.healthline.com/health/diabetes/hyperglycemia-vs-hypoglycemia#symptom-chart
and a brief paper on their relevance in type 2 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK279510/
Also have your blood pressure checked because low bp can also feel like a hypo.
and a brief paper on their relevance in type 2 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK279510/
Also have your blood pressure checked because low bp can also feel like a hypo.
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Do you have a blood glucose testing meter?
A hypo is when you have low blood sugars. If your diabetes is treated with medication which can cause a hypo, you will have a meter and a hypo is defined as a BG less than 4.0.
If your BG has been running high for a while, you may experience false hypos which are when your body is unfamiliar with slow BG, you can experience the symptoms of a hypo at higher BG. Whilst this feels unpleasant, I understand that it is not dangerous like a “real” hypo. Over time your body will get used to the lower levels.
A hyper is the opposite - high blood glucose.
A hypo is when you have low blood sugars. If your diabetes is treated with medication which can cause a hypo, you will have a meter and a hypo is defined as a BG less than 4.0.
If your BG has been running high for a while, you may experience false hypos which are when your body is unfamiliar with slow BG, you can experience the symptoms of a hypo at higher BG. Whilst this feels unpleasant, I understand that it is not dangerous like a “real” hypo. Over time your body will get used to the lower levels.
A hyper is the opposite - high blood glucose.
Inka
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Welcome @John Taylor-Cantoni 🙂 Are you on any medication for the Type 2? It would be very unusual for someone not on glucose-lowering medication to have a hypo. Hypers are high blood sugars and your blood sugar might be high if you’re recently diagnosed. You can buy a home blood glucose meter to test your own blood sugar and then you’ll know for sure.
Also, if you’ve had higher than desired blood sugars for a while and then your blood sugar drops towards a more normal range, you can feel funny even though your blood sugar is normal because your body has got used to the higher sugars and so thinks normal blood sugar is wrong. These symptoms will gradually improve as your body gets used to having normal blood sugars again.
Finally, don’t automatically assume everything is to do with the diabetes. If you continue to feel awful, speak to your doctor so they can check everything else is ok.
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Symptoms vary from person to person. Often with low blood glucose people experience symptoms such as
As others have said, hypoglycaemia is rare unless there is something acting to reduce BG levels (like a glucose-lowering medication). Another complication is that where a person’s glucose levels have been running artificially high for some time, because of developing diabetes, some can experience symptoms of low blood glucose levels when their levels are approaching healthy values, but just a lot lower than the body has become used to. It can take a little while for the body’s ‘glucose thermostat’ to reset!
High glucose levels for longer periods are associated with fatigue, increased thirst, and increased urination. In the short term I also experience grumpiness/irritation, head-fog, hunger, and something a little like indigestion, but personally I find brief periods of high levels are much harder to spot.
- feeling shaky
- feeling confused
- sweating
- being anxious or irritable
- going pale
- palpitations and a fast pulse
- lips feeling tingly
- blurred vision
- being hungry
- feeling tearful
- tiredness
- having a headache
- lack of concentration
- night sweats.
As others have said, hypoglycaemia is rare unless there is something acting to reduce BG levels (like a glucose-lowering medication). Another complication is that where a person’s glucose levels have been running artificially high for some time, because of developing diabetes, some can experience symptoms of low blood glucose levels when their levels are approaching healthy values, but just a lot lower than the body has become used to. It can take a little while for the body’s ‘glucose thermostat’ to reset!
High glucose levels for longer periods are associated with fatigue, increased thirst, and increased urination. In the short term I also experience grumpiness/irritation, head-fog, hunger, and something a little like indigestion, but personally I find brief periods of high levels are much harder to spot.
John Taylor-Cantoni
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Thank you for your replies they were very useful. Could I also ask if anyone has had experience of sugar monitors watched?
John Taylor-Cantoni
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Yes Metformin, not sure if it's these that are causing the problems as I didn't have any symptoms before taking these. Thanks for your reply.
rebrascora
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Metformin should not be able to cause hypos as it doesn't work directly on lowering your Blood Glucose (BG) levels. Have you also changed your diet as reducing your carb intake can have a much more powerful impact on your levels than Metformin. Of course going low carb should not cause hypos either but it could have reduced your BG levels significantly and perhaps your body, having been used to much higher levels, might now be complaining because it feels that the now lower levels are uncomfortably low. Gradually it should get used to them but it is better to reduce levels slowly to help the body cope with the change.
There is a condition called Reactive Hypoglycaemia (RH) which can happen to some people when they first develop diabetes, but is a separate condition in it's own right and is not directly linked to diabetes, where when you eat a high carb food, the body's insulin response is slow, so your BG levels go really high and then the pancreas responds to that high with a large release of insulin to bring it down, but due to mis-regulation, it produces too much and your elevated BG levels take a nose dive and crash and you may have a genuine hypo (below 4) as a result of too much insulin or feel hypo because your levels went from a very high reading to a normal one and the sensation of dropping rapidly from high to low can make you feel hypo even if your final level is above 4.
Being able to test with a BG meter should enable you to identify if the problem is high BG or low or perhaps going high and then dropping very fast. If you are self funding, the two meters which are most often recommended by forum members for economy of use and reliability are the Glucose Navii and the Spirit Tee2. If you decide to get a BG meter kit, they usually only come with 10 test strips so you would be well advised to buy additional pots of test strips for them. These are individual for the meter, so you need ones which work with the meter you bought. Those two meters have some of the cheapest test strips. I think they are about £10 for a pot of 50 strips. Most of us reuse the lancets which you use to prick your finger even though they are supposed to be single use. Mine lasts a year and is changed on St Swithin's day.... It is a bit of a standing joke on the forum about changing lancets on that day! In reality a lancet should easy do the job for a month before changing it, but the guidance is a new lancet each time. What you would never do, is use a lancet that you use on yourself to test another member of the family or a friend.... which occasionally happens just for curiosity's sake.
There is a condition called Reactive Hypoglycaemia (RH) which can happen to some people when they first develop diabetes, but is a separate condition in it's own right and is not directly linked to diabetes, where when you eat a high carb food, the body's insulin response is slow, so your BG levels go really high and then the pancreas responds to that high with a large release of insulin to bring it down, but due to mis-regulation, it produces too much and your elevated BG levels take a nose dive and crash and you may have a genuine hypo (below 4) as a result of too much insulin or feel hypo because your levels went from a very high reading to a normal one and the sensation of dropping rapidly from high to low can make you feel hypo even if your final level is above 4.
Being able to test with a BG meter should enable you to identify if the problem is high BG or low or perhaps going high and then dropping very fast. If you are self funding, the two meters which are most often recommended by forum members for economy of use and reliability are the Glucose Navii and the Spirit Tee2. If you decide to get a BG meter kit, they usually only come with 10 test strips so you would be well advised to buy additional pots of test strips for them. These are individual for the meter, so you need ones which work with the meter you bought. Those two meters have some of the cheapest test strips. I think they are about £10 for a pot of 50 strips. Most of us reuse the lancets which you use to prick your finger even though they are supposed to be single use. Mine lasts a year and is changed on St Swithin's day.... It is a bit of a standing joke on the forum about changing lancets on that day! In reality a lancet should easy do the job for a month before changing it, but the guidance is a new lancet each time. What you would never do, is use a lancet that you use on yourself to test another member of the family or a friend.... which occasionally happens just for curiosity's sake.
Are you referring to the smart watches which are being advertised as being able to measure heart rate, blood glucose and probably 20 other health monitors?
Unfortunately, these really are too good to be true. The reviews of these have all been pretty bad and, if you read the small print, often mention that they should not be used for medical purposes.
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