Hypo aftermath

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JellyBaby21

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Type 1
Hi. Newly diagnosed and had my first hypo last night at 3.30am. By BG was 3.2 mmol. I ate 7 jelly babies and a small square of chocolate. Then about 15mins later I ate an apple. About 10 mins later my BG was 9.5. I took my basal at 8am this morning and my BG was 9.6. Had breakfast at 9.30am and BG was 11.0 before I ate. So it was creeping up. So normally with breakfast I would have 2 units of Novorapid but because my BG was high I added on a correction dose and took 3 units of Novorapid. Was this a reasonable thing to do do you think or should I not have corrected?

Also, should I eat less jelly babies and skip the chocolate next time I hypo just to aim to bring my BG back to around 5.5?
 
It’s not uncommon to have rebound highs after a hypo @JellyBaby21 Sometimes your body will pump out some glucose itself. Personally I wouldn’t correct if I was 9 as I find it important to stabilise things after a hypo rather than risk another plunge down. So, I’d have just watched carefully in the morning. Hypos are potentially dangerous, and the priority is being safe. This is especially important at night. Aiming for 5.5 puts you at risk of another hypo possibly. Play it safe and take it easy.
 
The general guidance for a hypo when you’re on basal injections (some pumps will adjust basal for lows) is to have 15/15/15 - 15g fast carbs, wait 15 minutes and if above 4 have 15g of slow carbs. So you were doing mostly the right thing but I wouldn’t have chocolate with your fast carbs as the fat slows down the absorption and an apple is probably a little fast for the stabilising carbs but everyone makes different choices for that. We use crackers or plain biscuits for ease. Also 7 jelly babies sounds like a lot but if you’ve done the maths as to how many carbs that it then great.

Is your 2 units based on the carbs you have or a fixed dose? An extra unit is 50% more than you would usually have so may be too big a correction. Do you have a half unit pen? If you’re going to correct then half a unit would probably be more appropriate given a 2 unit dose but there are too many factors in play for any of us to be able to sensibly recommend specific doses for you.

Having your first hypo in the middle of the night is scary and you did well with it. You’ll soon get the hang of them but obviously try to backtrack as to what may have caused the hypo so you can avoid night time ones where possible.
 
Thebearcametoo said:
The general guidance for a hypo when you’re on basal injections (some pumps will adjust basal for lows) is to have 15/15/15 - 15g fast carbs, wait 15 minutes and if above 4 have 15g of slow carbs. So you were doing mostly the right thing but I wouldn’t have chocolate with your fast carbs as the fat slows down the absorption and an apple is probably a little fast for the stabilising carbs but everyone makes different choices for that. We use crackers or plain biscuits for ease. Also 7 jelly babies sounds like a lot but if you’ve done the maths as to how many carbs that it then great.

Is your 2 units based on the carbs you have or a fixed dose? An extra unit is 50% more than you would usually have so may be too big a correction. Do you have a half unit pen? If you’re going to correct then half a unit would probably be more appropriate given a 2 unit dose but there are too many factors in play for any of us to be able to sensibly recommend specific doses for you.

Having your first hypo in the middle of the night is scary and you did well with it. You’ll soon get the hang of them but obviously try to backtrack as to what may have caused the hypo so you can avoid night time ones where possible.
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Hi. The 2 units was for the carbs (I do 1:10 and my breakfast had 15.5g carbs in) and then 1 unit to correct. I don't have a half unit pen. Based on the advise here I have just eaten an apple to cover some of correction dose I made.
I think I may have had a hypo the night before too because I remember waking up at a similar time and I felt funny and was pouring with sweat (same as last night). But the previous night I just went back to sleep (in hindsight dangerous I know!) That morning my BG was 5.1. If you have a hypo at night do you usually wake up as I have so far? Just curious.

I think I need to increase my morning basal (BG tends to go up late afternoon) and decrease my evening basal but I will ring my DSN later to discuss this.
 
JellyBaby21 said:
Hi. The 2 units was for the carbs (I do 1:10 and my breakfast had 15.5g carbs in) and then 1 unit to correct. I don't have a half unit pen. Based on the advise here I have just eaten an apple to cover some of correction dose I made.
I think I may have had a hypo the night before too because I remember waking up at a similar time and I felt funny and was pouring with sweat (same as last night). But the previous night I just went back to sleep (in hindsight dangerous I know!) That morning my BG was 5.1. If you have a hypo at night do you usually wake up as I have so far? Just curious.

I think I need to increase my morning basal (BG tends to go up late afternoon) and decrease my evening basal but I will ring my DSN later to discuss this.
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You definitely need a half unit pen. 2 units would have been fine with a correction included - 1.5 for the carbs + 0.5 for the extra

Regarding waking up it’s my kid (currently 12) who is diabetic. He has often woken up when hypo but also often not. It can depend on which phase of sleep the hypo happens and how hypo aware he is at the time. We rely on alarms from his Dexcom for night time hypos as I get an alert with that so even if he sleeps through his alarm he’s covered. It’s not uncommon to wake up feeling ill if you’re hypo but it’s not 100%
 
JellyBaby21 said:
Hi. Newly diagnosed and had my first hypo last night at 3.30am. By BG was 3.2 mmol. I ate 7 jelly babies and a small square of chocolate. Then about 15mins later I ate an apple. About 10 mins later my BG was 9.5. I took my basal at 8am this morning and my BG was 9.6. Had breakfast at 9.30am and BG was 11.0 before I ate. So it was creeping up. So normally with breakfast I would have 2 units of Novorapid but because my BG was high I added on a correction dose and took 3 units of Novorapid. Was this a reasonable thing to do do you think or should I not have corrected?

Also, should I eat less jelly babies and skip the chocolate next time I hypo just to aim to bring my BG back to around 5.5?
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Deffo less jelly babies I was stuck in carpark last night on 4.5, 3 babies, 15 mins nowt, 3, nowt, 3, 5.2. Drove home, 13 and up arrow... even with correction took hour to dip. Powerful things.
 
Vamppir8 said:
Deffo less jelly babies I was stuck in carpark last night on 4.5, 3 babies, 15 mins nowt, 3, nowt, 3, 5.2. Drove home, 13 and up arrow... even with correction took hour to dip. Powerful things.
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I dont drive but dont think you need to wait if you haven't gone below 4 in the first place just have a stack.
 
Vamppir8 said:
Deffo less jelly babies I was stuck in carpark last night on 4.5, 3 babies, 15 mins nowt, 3, nowt, 3, 5.2. Drove home, 13 and up arrow... even with correction took hour to dip. Powerful things.
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As @rayray119 says, as long as you don't drop below 4 then you can just chew some carbs and drive. For me 1 jelly baby would be enough in that situation for a short (max. half hour) journey and 2 JBs for a longer journey but like you I find I respond very strongly to carbs so I have to be very disciplined about how few I have. A proper hypo usually just needs 1JB or sometimes 2 but very rarely 3 despite the advice being 15g carbs (3JBs) and test in 15 mins and I never need longer acting carbs afterwards or I would be in double figures.

It also sounds like you are relying on Libre to show you that the carbs have kicked in and this is not good practice particularly when hypo as it will lead you to over treating and then having to correct and then you end up on the glucose roller coaster. Libre takes longer to register that the carbs you have eaten have worked so you should always check with a finger prick at 15 mins after treating a hypo and not use Libre as more often than not, at the 15 min mark, Libre will show that your levels have dropped further, whereas a finger prick will reflect the true story that your levels are coming back up. It is because Libre reads interstitial fluid which lags behind blood glucose by about 15mins. Libre has an algorithm to try to predict what your BG should be from the previous interstitial readings by extrapolation, but if you eat some carbs within that 15 min period, your interstitial fluid extrapolation will show you still heading lower, despite your blood coming up.
 
rayray119 said:
I dont drive but dont think you need to wait if you haven't gone below 4 in the first place just have a stack.
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Yes you do, 5 to drive, if you have an accident and you were not 5 before you drove be in doo doo.
 
Th
Vamppir8 said:
Yes you do, 5 to drive, if you have an accident and you were not 5 before you drove be in doo doo.
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The dvla says just to have a stack if your below 5 if haven't dropped below 4 I'm the first place
 
rayray119 said:
Th

The dvla says just to have a staxl I'd your below 5 if haven't dropped below 4 I'm the first place
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I used to think that too(I've been thinking about getting back into driving lessons when I can afford) but someone pointed out to me what I just said. There's seems be alot of confusion around that.
 
@rayray119 is correct. If you set off to drive and you are between 4 and 5 you can eat some carbs and drive straight away. If you are below 4 you have to wait 45mins after coming back up above 5 because the hypo can affect your mental and physical capacity to drive and takes time to recover, but you can drive between 4 and 5 provided you have eaten carbs to top your levels up and you feel fit to do so.... ie you are not suffering from the effects of a false hypo.
 
Vamppir8 said:
Yes you do, 5 to drive, if you have an accident and you were not 5 before you drove be in doo doo.
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No you wouldn’t. There would be no issues so long as you had followed the DVLA guidance. If you drive then you must read it, which you presumably haven’t done since you don’t seem aware of it.
 
Lucyr said:
No you wouldn’t. There would be no issues so long as you had followed the DVLA guidance. If you drive then you must read it, which you presumably haven’t done since you don’t seem aware of it.
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I think that is a bit harsh as I don't think the DVLA guidance is well worded or terribly clear on this and the "5 to drive" thing is a simple "instruction" which sticks easily in the mind compared to the slightly confusing DVLA wording. At the end of the day @Vamppir8 has been more cautious rather than cavalier about following the guidance, so I don't think there is any need to be so officious about it.
 
rebrascora said:
I think that is a bit harsh as I don't think the DVLA guidance is well worded or terribly clear on this and the "5 to drive" thing is a simple "instruction" which sticks easily in the mind compared to the slightly confusing DVLA wording. At the end of the day @Vamppir8 has been more cautious rather than cavalier about following the guidance, so I don't think there is any need to be so officious about it.
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Seemed fairly clear instructions to me when I signed to agree to them to renew my licence
 
Their the only ones that have misunderstood it either. (, however I don't drive so probably should stay out of it)
 
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