How long does it take your BG to rise after treating a hypo?

[LorraineP]

I ask because I've noticed it's taking me longer to recover from low BG than it used to. I've given up taking glucose tablets as they seem to take forever (slight exaggeration) to work and I only use a liquid treatment like Gluco Juice or Lucozade.

However recently even the liquid treatments are slow to take effect and yesterday it took a full 50 minutes for my BG to rise from 3.2 to 5.2. The lovely first aider at Sainsburys (I must buy her a thank you pressie) sat with me until I became coherent again, even though her shift had finished!

She had encouraged me to drink a 300ml bottle of pure orange and even though I knew it was too much, I didn't care at the time. I had taken a bottle of Gluco juice at the start of my hypo but my BG was still dropping so I would have drunk a crate of Lucozade just to get back up to 5, then worry about the consequences later.

I ate nothing for dinner as I knew my BG would peak quite high and sure enough it peaked at 16.6 at 8pm (even after micro dosing insulin) which was around 4 hours after I drank the full bottle of orange juice. I'm on a waiting list for a scan to see if I have gastroparesis (I have most of the other symptoms) but the slow reaction to liquid hypo treatments is worrying me even more than the nausea and vomiting which I have under control now since I cut out high fibre foods. I live alone so hypos are my biggest concern.

Is there anyone else out there experiencing the same time lag with hypos and how do you deal with It? Today I e-mailed my diabetic team and I'm waiting on a reply but I'd like to be armed with knowledge about typical response times to hypos from forum members?

Maybe I'm normal? Here's hoping....🙂

 

[AJLang]

I'm so sorry to hear that your suffering like this and completely understand because I've suffered from 2 hour hypos due to gastroparesis where I've been having gluco juice every 15 minutes or so and then the subsequent massive rise hours later. My guess is that you've injected for a meal eg lunch but the bolus has hit more quickly than the food reaching your stomach. I've found that a combination of medications and only eating small lunches helped eg a one slice of bread sandwich. My worse hypos were after my evening meal so I was having to do my bolus at 3am which was obviously a nightmare. Since going On my pump I've changed to a six hour extended bolus for my evening meal. Do my thoughts about it relating to your lunch bolus seem to apply to you? If yes, and I were you, I would delay having the bolus for the food that is eaten and checking BG levels regularly. Does this help? I'm aware that I may sound a bit vague.

 

[LorraineP]

Wow, what you're describing sounds so familiar to me but there was a power cut in your post 🙂

 

[AJLang]

Ps in my experience few DSNs know are to deal with gastroparesis and I have to be seen by a specialist consultant in another town but I've learnt myself by trial and error.

 

[AJLang]

Wow, what you're describing sounds so familiar to me but there was a power cut in your post 🙂

Yep sorry you should now be able to read the whole of my post I originally posted it too quickly🙂

 

[AJLang]

I don't always practice what I preach but if you can low fat helps as well as low fibre.

 

[LorraineP]

Wow again. I'm also feeling that my diabetic team don't know much about the subject. I'm worried that the stomach speacialist is at another hospital and there's no joined up thinking. But like you I'm learning by trial and error. Some days I think I've cracked it then the next day when I eat the exact same food my results go haywire. In desperation today I bought a walking treadmill and stand up desk in the hope that will help me to digest my food, I'll do anything to get stable blood sugars.

But re the hypos, do you use glucagon injections at all or has the medications helped settle things down?

 

[LorraineP]

Yes, I eat low fat and low fibre foods, I eat small portions (as I don't feel hungry now)I've cut down on wine, I chew chewing gum for an hour after eating to help digestion (can't stand the stuff) and I'm walking more. Reading this you'd think I was superfit and super healthy 🙂

I'm reading three books on diabetes at the moment (all at the same time) and one of the authors (can't remember which one) claims that he reversed his gastroparesis after a couple of years of good BG control. I find that hard to believe but I'm always aiming for good control and if it works then I'll be singing from the rooftops to let people know! 🙂

 

[Radders]

Have you tried the gel treatments as I believe they are absorbed through the membranes of the mouth? I used them very briefly when I was first diagnosed but found the taste so bad I switched to Ribena or Dextrosol.

 

[AJLang]

Wow again. I'm also feeling that my diabetic team don't know much about the subject. I'm worried that the stomach speacialist is at another hospital and there's no joined up thinking. But like you I'm learning by trial and error. Some days I think I've cracked it then the next day when I eat the exact same food my results go haywire. In desperation today I bought a walking treadmill and stand up desk in the hope that will help me to digest my food, I'll do anything to get stable blood sugars.

But re the hypos, do you use glucagon injections at all or has the medications helped settle things down?

Hi Lorraine sorry for the delay in replying. Yes there is the risk of no joined up thinking so, unfortunately, you have to make judgements yourself. You've exactly described the "joy" of Gastroparesis that there is no pattern in levels. I'm not sure about whether the exercising will help with the digestion.

 

[AJLang]

Yes, I eat low fat and low fibre foods, I eat small portions (as I don't feel hungry now)I've cut down on wine, I chew chewing gum for an hour after eating to help digestion (can't stand the stuff) and I'm walking more. Reading this you'd think I was superfit and super healthy 🙂

I'm reading three books on diabetes at the moment (all at the same time) and one of the authors (can't remember which one) claims that he reversed his gastroparesis after a couple of years of good BG control. I find that hard to believe but I'm always aiming for good control and if it works then I'll be singing from the rooftops to let people know! 🙂

That's great that you're eating low fat and low fibre. I completely agree about the lack of appetite but then the medication can, at times, make you feel too hungry. Well done with the reading. Despite the gastroparesis I managed to get my HBA1C down to under 6 but in April I was asked to stop the gastroparesis medications for a while because they do have risks. I'm now fighting to get my BGs under control andcstill have the medication when symptoms are too bad - I've found that the only way to get by with minimal medication is with a low calorie diet - which is fine because I have a lot of weight to lose - but A) this was after six years of gastroparesis and working so hard with my BG control so that may be why there has been some improvement with my gastroparesis symptoms b) I have the pump for a six hour extended Bolus in the evening and it also allows me to boost my basal in the early hours of the morning when the food is still digesting c) my consultant doesn't want me to lose weight because she doesn't think it is good with the gastroparesis - I'm not sure why but she said this three times at my last appointment.

 

[AJLang]

Fortunately I haven't had to use glucagon injections but I'm fortunately that I usually get hypo symptoms in the high 3's and when the hypo is being stubborn I can stop my basal for a while so that I haven't got any insulin going in at all. But I do have glucagon in the fridge in case I need it.

 

[LorraineP]

Have you tried the gel treatments as I believe they are absorbed through the membranes of the mouth? I used them very briefly when I was first diagnosed but found the taste so bad I switched to Ribena or Dextrosol.

Thanks for reminding me about the gel treatments. I didn't know they were absorbed faster so I'll try them next time. When I tried them years ago the taste made me gag, but hey if they're faster.......🙂

 

[LorraineP]

That's great that you're eating low fat and low fibre. I completely agree about the lack of appetite but then the medication can, at times, make you feel too hungry. Well done with the reading. Despite the gastroparesis I managed to get my HBA1C down to under 6 but in April I was asked to stop the gastroparesis medications for a while because they do have risks. I'm now fighting to get my BGs under control andcstill have the medication when symptoms are too bad - I've found that the only way to get by with minimal medication is with a low calorie diet - which is fine because I have a lot of weight to lose - but A) this was after six years of gastroparesis and working so hard with my BG control so that may be why there has been some improvement with my gastroparesis symptoms b) I have the pump for a six hour extended Bolus in the evening and it also allows me to boost my basal in the early hours of the morning when the food is still digesting c) my consultant doesn't want me to lose weight because she doesn't think it is good with the gastroparesis - I'm not sure why but she said this three times at my last appointment.

Well done on getting your HBA1C down to under 6 because I know it takes a lot of work with gastroparesis. That gives me hope. My last HBA1C was 8.1 but now that I have the Freestyle Libre, the pump, and educated myself on the subject I'm hoping to get a much better result next time.

It's interesting that your consultant has told you not to lose more weight as it's bad for gastroparesis. My symptoms started to become really bad earlier this year when I decided I was going to lose weight and I cut down on calories. Eventually I stopped trying to lose weight because I felt so ill all the time but to date I'm 2.5 stone lighter than at the start of the year. I read somewhere that losing weight can trigger gastroparesis (can't remember where of course) but the text didn't explain why. Looking back I think I had symptoms for years, like bouts of unexplained sickness usually after eating out. I thought I was the unlucky one because no one else in my party ever got food poisoning.

So gastroparesis is the opposite of everything we've been taught about staying healthy, don't lose weight, don't eat salads or raw vegetables or high fibre foods!! I wish there was more education on the subject at our diabetic clinics so that we could spot the symptoms early on and prevent further damage by focusing even more on our control, getting a pump and/or CGM.

 

[Radders]

I sometimes drop in on a forum for people with thyroid dysfunction and on there I followed a link to articles about low stomach acid. The symptoms sound very similar to gastroparesis. I wonder whether this is another instance of doctors blaming everything on the diabetes when it may actually be something entirely different?