Hypo at night

[EmilyCox76]

im worried that my daughter (8yrs diagnosed nov ) will have a hypo during the night and we don’t know about it and she will then drop really low what are the chances of this we check her at midnight if she’s had a correction before her bedtime Christmas night at midnight she had one and worried what will happen if she has one at say 3 am, just want some advice really !

 

[rebrascora]

Personally I would not give a correction at bedtime. Better to be a bit high through the night and make a correction the next morning than risk a hypo in the night. That said, it is probably one of the biggest fears for all of us newly diagnosed and using insulin (must be 10x worse as a parent having that responsibility for a child). Both occasions it has happened to me since I started taking insulin in April, I have woken up and my consultant assured me that that is what happens. It is still something that is in the back of my mind at bedtime and I will generally have a multigrain biscuit (3g carbs) with cheese if I am below 6 at bedtime.
There are monitoring systems which will activate an alarm if you go low (the Dexcom G6) and can also send an alarm to a third party via their phone but they are expensive. It involves wearing a sensor which is constantly monitoring the sugar levels in the interstitial fluid beneath the skin. This is slightly different to BG in that there is a delay of about 10mins between the fluid and blood readings. You might like to do some research on it and see if it is something that you could afford and would like to pursue. It is important to discuss your concerns with your team and see what they can offer, but I don't think the Dexcom G6 is available on the NHS. The Abbot Freestyle Libre 2 also has a similar system but is not yet available in the UK. The Freestyle Libre 1 is available on the NHS but doesn't have the alarm function. It can however be scanned without resorting to a finger prick, which means that you could check your daughter without waking her up to prick her finger.

 

[Thebearcametoo]

Is she hypo aware generally? We found that my daughter (9) rarely has them in the night but does sometimes have them at around 10pm but she always woke up or couldn’t get to sleep in the first place.

I was very worried about what might happen if she had a hypo in the night and looked up information about whether people die from hypos in their sleep and was reassured to find that this doesn’t really happen (obviously there are some circumstances when it might but it’s rare). Our diabetes team are happy that her data suggests that she’s pretty stable overnight so unless she’s ill or there has been something unusual like a party where her carb count may have been out or her insulin intake particularly high then we don’t check her at night.

I remember well the uncertainty when she was newly diagnosed though.
If your daughter isn’t hypo aware then it’s worth talking to your team about a Libre which would mean you can scan her in her sleep and that you get a data read out of her glucose levels overnight which can give you more information and help ease your worries.

The first few months are a huge adjustment for you. My daughter was diagnosed in March so we’re a little further down the road than you but the difference 9 months makes is huge in our understanding and in our concerns around her diabetes. It really is just the norm now and beyond the usual trials of dealing with growing children who have their own opinions on things 🙄 her daily management is much easier.

Happy to chat at any point. I don’t know where in the country you are but we’re in North Oxfordshire if that’s anywhere near.

 

[EmilyCox76]

Is she hypo aware generally? We found that my daughter (9) rarely has them in the night but does sometimes have them at around 10pm but she always woke up or couldn’t get to sleep in the first place.

I was very worried about what might happen if she had a hypo in the night and looked up information about whether people die from hypos in their sleep and was reassured to find that this doesn’t really happen (obviously there are some circumstances when it might but it’s rare). Our diabetes team are happy that her data suggests that she’s pretty stable overnight so unless she’s ill or there has been something unusual like a party where her carb count may have been out or her insulin intake particularly high then we don’t check her at night.

I remember well the uncertainty when she was newly diagnosed though.
If your daughter isn’t hypo aware then it’s worth talking to your team about a Libre which would mean you can scan her in her sleep and that you get a data read out of her glucose levels overnight which can give you more information and help ease your worries.

The first few months are a huge adjustment for you. My daughter was diagnosed in March so we’re a little further down the road than you but the difference 9 months makes is huge in our understanding and in our concerns around her diabetes. It really is just the norm now and beyond the usual trials of dealing with growing children who have their own opinions on things 🙄 her daily management is much easier.

Happy to chat at any point. I don’t know where in the country you are but we’re in North Oxfordshire if that’s anywhere near.

 

[EmilyCox76]

I think it’s a good idea not to correct at bedtime unless really high I’ll speak to the diabetes team about this thank you. Ok that’s reassuring thanks and she is hypo aware in the daytime but the one she did have Xmas night it was hard to wake her and she was reluctant to do finger prick and eat glucose sweets. We are in Norfolk so long way away atm doing 8 blood checks a day to qualify for a sensor hopefully then it will ease the worry abit. X

 

[Lucy Honeychurch]

Hopefully you'll get the Libre soon to ease your worries. Perhaps try her favourite fruit juice at night instead of the glucose tabs, she might find that more palatable. I always have a small carton of pineapple juice next to my bed and find it easier than eating jelly babies if I wake with a hypo whilst sleeping. Good luck 🙂

 

[EmilyCox76]

Good idea I never thought to give her anything but the sweets how much roughly would she need x

 

[stephknits]

Hi, great advice given so far. I am a grown up with type 1, so don't have a child with it, but do live a mile over the Norfolk border in Suffolk nearish Diss if that is at all close? Am always happy to meet for a cuppa and chat etc.

 

[EmilyCox76]

That’s really sweet thank you ill let you know if ever in the area x

 

[TheClockworkDodo]

Good idea I never thought to give her anything but the sweets how much roughly would she need x

It varies depending on the fruit juice, so it's best if you look at the label and see how many grams of carbs it contains per 100ml - you need about 15g carbs to treat a hypo. My grape juice usefully contains 15g carbs per 100ml, and one ml of juice is the same as 1g of juice, so I put a mug on the scales and weigh out 100g grape juice. To put that a lot more roughly, I use about a third of a mug full, but for a less sweet fruit juice I'd need more.

 

[Thebearcametoo]

I think it’s a good idea not to correct at bedtime unless really high I’ll speak to the diabetes team about this thank you. Ok that’s reassuring thanks and she is hypo aware in the daytime but the one she did have Xmas night it was hard to wake her and she was reluctant to do finger prick and eat glucose sweets. We are in Norfolk so long way away atm doing 8 blood checks a day to qualify for a sensor hopefully then it will ease the worry abit. X

I’m in Hunstanton a lot at the moment sorting out my mum’s house (she’s in a care home) if that’s close.


Speak to your diabetes team. They may be able to get your funding for a sensor even without the 8 finger pricks a day. We got a 6 month trial based on anxiety rather than hypo issues.

 

[Barbie1]

As a child in the early 1970s I used to regularly go hypo in the night, thrashing around and waking my sibling with the noise. (We didn’t do blood tests then, so parents had no way of telling what was going on). I was fed glucose tablets which I hated when sensible so totally refused when not sensible! We were told to do sugar in a glass of milk, which would not be recommended today, but fruit juice is certainly a sensible alternative. If you can get the fluid into the mouth, there will be some absorption of the sugar to help bring the levels up, but do bear in mind that you should not really try to feed fluid into an unconscious person
As a young adult I also used to often hypo at night and OH used to keep pouches of Lucozade by the bed, which I used to accept more readily.
You will notice that these hypos consistently made me less cooperative, and indeed in many cases I do not even remember the incident when I wake in the morning.
But I am still alive and never died hypo-ing overnight! Caused some difficulty, but survived!

Parents are much better able these days to see the sugar levels overnight and I would definitely push for the sensor, especially as it shows the trend as well as the current level. I still will not go to bed without a snack if my level is low and dropping, but tbqh I will not correct either if level is high, unless is very high! I still don’t like hypos when asleep. Neither does OH!
Good luck

 

[trophywench]

I would like to explain that for some people when hypo - we lose the ability to chew properly. Hence it's far easier to glug something liquid then eat eg Dextrose tablets. As soon as anyone puts anything sweet into their mouths, as soon as saliva hits the food/drink - we start absorbing glucose through the inside of our cheeks before it even gets as far as the gullet. Hence a drink of something sweet acts pdq.

Sadly they have reduced sugar in every flipping drink these days and it's a PITA!

 

[Thebearcametoo]

Our DSN has made sure glucogel and glucojuice are both on our prescription for what it’s worth for this very reason.

 

[TheClockworkDodo]

I have a gel on prescription too - GSF syrup - and I keep a sachet of it beside the bed in case of emergencies, and also some in my bag in case I hypo when out, but it's revoltingly sweet so I prefer to use grape juice if at all possible.

 

[SB2015]

The concern about night hypos is understandable. I was too scared to go to sleep the first night when I was diagnosed, until a nurse came by and assured me that if I had a hypo in the night I would wake up. Then I slept.

I also prefer juice by the bed for night hypos. So much easier to get down, and very quick acting. Also as it is something I never have in general, it is a bit of treat. I hope that you get the Libre soon as that will make it so much easier for you to check her, without waking her.

 

[Sally71]

When my daughter was diagnosed aged 6 everyone told me that night time hypos would wake her up, I have found however that they generally don't, in fact they make her more sleepy! By accident once when basal testing I discovered that she quite often went low in the night so I fell into the habit of checking her every night, usually just once sometime between midnight and 3 am, and if she's ok then she'll probably stay ok for the rest of the night. Then when we got the Libre I found that sometimes she could be low for 3 hours and not wake up! She is 13 now and has less hypos at night than she used to, they still happen occasionally though so I still check once a night. We used to use Ribena as a night time hypo treatment, and put hardly any water in it so that only a few mouthfuls were needed. We also found that she could suck a straw even if she wasn't fully awake! We weren't very scientific with our measurements though and had a few occasions of overtreating rather badly, oops Nowadays we have mini cans of full sugar Coca Cola and Appletise handy, they seem to be the only drinks which haven't massively reduced the amount of sugar in them (the sugar in Ribena is now half what it used to be) and the little cans have just the right amount in to treat a hypo. Although my daughter when little didn't like fizzy drinks so it's a good job she does now! My daughter has also reported that she sometimes forgets how to chew when hypo, so it's a good idea to find some sort of liquid treatment that you can use anyway!

 

[EmilyCox76]

Ok thanks that’s good advice I’ll try her with a small can thank you x

 

[PhoebeC]

When my daughter was diagnosed aged 6 everyone told me that night time hypos would wake her up, I have found however that they generally don't, in fact they make her more sleepy! By accident once when basal testing I discovered that she quite often went low in the night so I fell into the habit of checking her every night, usually just once sometime between midnight and 3 am, and if she's ok then she'll probably stay ok for the rest of the night. Then when we got the Libre I found that sometimes she could be low for 3 hours and not wake up! She is 13 now and has less hypos at night than she used to, they still happen occasionally though so I still check once a night. We used to use Ribena as a night time hypo treatment, and put hardly any water in it so that only a few mouthfuls were needed. We also found that she could suck a straw even if she wasn't fully awake! We weren't very scientific with our measurements though and had a few occasions of overtreating rather badly, oops Nowadays we have mini cans of full sugar Coca Cola and Appletise handy, they seem to be the only drinks which haven't massively reduced the amount of sugar in them (the sugar in Ribena is now half what it used to be) and the little cans have just the right amount in to treat a hypo. Although my daughter when little didn't like fizzy drinks so it's a good job she does now! My daughter has also reported that she sometimes forgets how to chew when hypo, so it's a good idea to find some sort of liquid treatment that you can use anyway!

These mini cans where a god send when I was pregnant. If I went low I would be sick, so much quick to glup a little can down than battle to eat something when about to throw up, liquids work quicker too so they are a good idea at night. And it was before the sugar tax. Coke wont change their full original recipe anytime soon, and I don't think it applies to certain fruit juice based drinks the same as it does with artificial flavours.

 

[Sweeney]

im worried that my daughter (8yrs diagnosed nov ) will have a hypo during the night and we don’t know about it and she will then drop really low what are the chances of this we check her at midnight if she’s had a correction before her bedtime Christmas night at midnight she had one and worried what will happen if she has one at say 3 am, just want some advice really !

My son was diagnosed in December, hes 10 and my biggest fear also was a hypo over night. But as a few people have said, I wont ever give a correction before bed. I've always told him it's better to be slightly higher because he always has normal levels again in the morning. He has been as high as 14 for his night time check but always back down to 5 the next morning.. its amazing how much they burn off! Good luck and hope the middle of the night time checks end soon, I stopped a month ago xx