help wanted for a newbie

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lindylou

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Hi everyone, I'm a newbie and not very good on computers to boot!
I dont have diabetes myself but am engaged to a 40 something man with type 1. I'm looking for anyone who can offer advice or answer a simple question - when sugar levels are low, do any of you experience any prior warning signs? My fiance has had diabetes for 14 years and claims he doesn't know when he's about to collapse.
 
A lot of people will experience warning signs when they are going hypos, shakes, hunger, sweats etc but it's also quite common to develop hypo unawareness, when you get no symptoms that your sugar is low. This is particularly common in people who have had a run of low sugars, or can be in people who have been diabetic for some time.

If he thinks he's become hypo unaware it'd be worth him having a chat with his health team to see what they can suggest. Often they will work with the person to run levels a bit higher for a while which can make the signs come back. But I would stress this should be done in consultation with his health care team.
 
Hi Lindylou, welcome to the forum!🙂 It's quite possible that your fianc? does not experience warning signs when his blood sugar is dropping too low - it happens to me from time to time, althoug they usually kick in before they get really low. Does he generally have good control of his diabetes? If he's used to having numbers in the low end of the normal range his body may have adapted to this and so the signs are not always there - this is known as 'hypo-unawareness'. He would need to try and run his levels a little bit higher for a while until he regains this awareness.

Hope this helps!🙂
 
lindylou said:
Hi everyone, I'm a newbie and not very good on computers to boot!
I dont have diabetes myself but am engaged to a 40 something man with type 1. I'm looking for anyone who can offer advice or answer a simple question - when sugar levels are low, do any of you experience any prior warning signs? My fiance has had diabetes for 14 years and claims he doesn't know when he's about to collapse.
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I do still have Hypo Awareness where I know if I'm getting low or about to collapse so can take preventative measures . When you have been Diabetic for a long time it is possible to lose Hypo Awareness which sounds like your Fiance , has he tried to run his sugars a little higher than usualy to try to reset Hypo Awareness, I know of long term Type 1's who that has worked for , It is not guaranteed to work though but worth a try.
 
hi lindy i cant add much to what has been said alredy but welcome please ask anything anytime we are here to help yourself and fiance x
 
Like Steff, I can't add anything to the help already given, but welcome to the forums. We are here to help, and there is sure to be lots of it.
 
Welcome to the forum,

I suggest he has a chat with his team, as others have said it is possible to lose awareness the longer you have diabetes and the tighter control you have run. What most people tend to do who have hypo unawareness is to test very frequently so that problems can be caught early. he would be eligible for an insulin pump if he wanted one on the grounds of this unawareness. And he shouldn't be driving so make sure he's informed the DVLA about the situation.
 
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