Hello from Norfolk

[Wendyg]

Hi all. My Husband has recently been diagnosed with Type 2 Diabetes. He was borderline diabetic and waiting for a blood test but unfortunately ended up in hospital with Pancreatitis over Christmas and this is when his Diabetes was confirmed.

His blood readings are always between 5.6 - 6.7 but the last few nights they have been as low as 4.3 and 3.7 on the check at bedtime? Nothing has changed food or exercise wise so it's a bit concerning why this is happening, especially at bedtime as the Nurse told us that if it is in the low 4's at bedtime, this can be dangerous as it might get lower while asleep.

This is all so new and dealing with this as well as the Pancreatitis is quite daunting so I want to make sure everything is correct.

Thanks everyone, I look forward to hearing from you and becoming part of this new family.

Wendy x

 

[ianf0ster]

Hello and welcome.
I assume your husband is on some diabetes (and other) medications. Can you tell us what he is on?

For a Type 2 Diabetic, finger-prick Blood Glucose readings in the low 4.xx's are only a problem for those who are on an Insulin raising medication such as Insulin itself or Gliclazide etc. This is because if the BG drops much further the patient can get a Hypo were there is a change of unconsciousness. Unless somebody is on one of these types of drugs then there is nothing to cause problematically low Blood Glucose - so no need for concern. .

 

[Wendyg]

Hi, sorry I forgot to say, my husband is on Humulin M3. 8 in the morning and 8 in the evening. We test his blood 4 times a day.

Wendy xx

 

[rebrascora]

Hi and welcome

Is it possible that he was more active that day or perhaps ate less as those are probably the 2 most significant reasons (out of a list of probably 40+) why his reading might be particularly low. Hopefully the nurse advised him to have a small carbohydrate snack to bring his level up a but before bed. Something like a digestive biscuit or 2 depending how low he is...under 4 and he should have a couple of glucose tablets (or jelly babies) followed by the digestive biscuit... ie a fast acting carbohydrate to bring him up above 4 followed by a slower acting one to keep him stable overnight. I don't normally go to bed with a reading below 6, so if I am lower than that at bedtime I will have a couple of multigrain biscuits (3g carbs each) with cheese.
Hopefully he is carrying hypo treatment (glucose tablets, jelly babies or orange juice/full fat coke etc) with him all the time in case he goes low when out and about...... A hypo is when the BG reading of someone who is on an insulin treatment drops below 4 ..... just in case you were not fully aware of that.

 

[Toucan]

Hello @Wendyg
Welcome to the forum to you and your husband.
As you will have seen from the replies you already have, there are many people on the forum who are living with diabetes and have a great deal of knowledge. of this, and you have been given some very useful suggestions.
We can however only pass on knowledge we have from our own experiences, and cannot give medical advice.
The situation for your husband sounds complex, and I would suggest that you consult your medical team about what is happening.
Hopefully the situation will stabilise, and then there i much help and resource here to help you find a good solution for the way forward to help control his diabetes.
Please keep posting and tell us how it is going, and we will try to help when we can.

 

[everydayupsanddowns]

Hello @Wendyg

Welcome to the forum!

I hope you'll find it a helpful, informative, friendly and supportive place to ask questions, compare experiences and just have a good moan about how fickle and infuriating diabetes can be.

When are you next due to see your husband's GP or nurse? It would be worth mentioning these lowish readings to see what they advise. As @rebrascora says, low BG when using insulin can follow all sorts of different things, but common reasons are increased activity levels, and not eating as much carbohydrate as usual. If your husband has significantly reduced carb intake to try to improve BG levels, his insulin doses may need adjustung.