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Hypo awareness

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This thread is now closed. Please contact Anna DUK, Ieva DUK or everydayupsanddowns if you would like it re-opened.
Matt Cycle

Matt Cycle

Well-Known Member
Relationship to Diabetes
Type 1
Got back home from work today checked my bg and it was 1.2 mmol/l 😱

The strange thing was I felt okay and was able to complete the test and have some biscuits. Thinking the meter must be wrong I checked again a couple of minutes after the first test and same result 1.2 mmol/l. Over the last few years my hypo awareness has all but disappeared and I get few, if any of the signs now. I think also as my control has tightened up even more I'm better able to tolerate lower bg levels now.

I could have been in automaton mode (can be a bit like Eric Morecambe - doing all the right things but not necessarily in the right order 🙂 ) About 25 years ago I had a hypo at breakfast time and it wasn't until later I found a slice of bread in the cereal packet instead of the toaster. Good job I didn't put the milk for the cereal in the toaster. :D

Anyway, another reason for a CGM. 😉
 
Shall we just call you Eric Cycle ? Not in that order 🙂 Hope it works out for you.
 
That's happened to me too Matt, it is very likely because you now have such good control. I've been down that low a couple of times and been able to function, but I've also had one occasion when I had fits in the low twos. It could be that your numbers fell very slowly. I call that the 'stealth hypo'.
 
Thanks Hobie, it was fine.

AlisonM - yes, I think you're right. They always say quicker drops result in 'worse' hypos - not that any hypo is good. The awareness has definitely diminished though as I now rarely get the sweating or shaking symptoms.
 
Glad to hear you're ok, fellow Matt! The lowest I've knowingly been was 3.2 and that felt weird enough for me! Out of interest, how long has it taken for you to lose your hypo awareness? Is this something that all T1 diabetics can expect?
 
Yes fine thanks Matt. Over the years I've had a few bg's in the 1's, plenty of 2's and loads of 3's. Effects seem to vary in that it can be worse with say a 3.1 than with the 1.2's above. As AlisonM alluded to I think it is more to do with the speed of the drop.

Losing hypo awareness must have been a gradual thing but more noticeable over the last 5 years. (I've had T1 for 29 years). I read somewhere that the chances of losing hypo awareness does increase the longer you've had diabetes although I'm not sure this would apply to everyone.
 
I've been told that the more hypos you have, the more you are likely to lose awareness, as your body becomes used to functioning at lower levels. Which is a good reason to try to keep hypos to a minimum - and not good news for me, because I have loads.

My lowest was too low for my monitor to read 😱 but my worst was a 1.4 when I had no idea what was going on, and it was lucky my partner was there and able to chivvy me into testing my blood sugar. I agree the rapidly dropping ones are by far the worst. I normally feel fine with the slower ones - aware that I'm hypo, but perfectly functional.
 
Hi Matt

I started to lose my awareness after about 27 years of T1 and for about the last 10 years now I haven't had any warning signs so rely on cgm to look out for me.

To start with I lost the big signs shaking, dizziness etc then found myself getting lower and lower leading to fits and needing paramedic help. My DSN at the time tried to help me pick up on any small physical signs that might help me know I was hypo, I used to be able to see the pattern of the laser burns in my vision from retinopathy treatment when I was getting really low but this also disappeared leaving me terrified all the while.

It is a huge worry and cgm has helped me massively but there is always that niggle in my mind that things might go wrong!

I hope things improve for you 🙂
 
Apologies if you've been there done that, Matt - but I've only lost my symptoms once in my life and this 'classic' cure for it id sort it, so I'll repeat it.

If you normal default BG that you correct down to before meals etc, whenever you usually correct os 5 - raise it to 7 - try to let your BG run a bit higher for a few months - at least 2, if not 3. Sometimes if you're 7 before a meal you know you'll go well above that after eating, and yes!! it will indeed increase your A1c if you get that done just after - BUT if it restores your safety-net - who cares about a couple of months out of your life?

Much cheaper than a CGM LOL - but anyway I would have thought our teams would expect any of us to try it - before forking out for a magic machine!
 
I echo what Trophywench has said. If I have a bout of hypos then I will run a little higher to make sure I stay hypo free for a week or two. Touch wood it has worked for me and I still have hypo awareness after 44 years of diabetes. It doesn't work for everyone but it is definitely worth trying.
 
Having little or no hypo awareness is a pain. I generally feel well in myself, it is not till someone else tells I look ill that I realise the numbers are heading to the wrong side of 4.
 
My recent hypos have been a bit unusual, and have really felt like I'm hyper rather than hypo. I've been very sleepy and drowsy, even falling asleep this afternoon and waking up with a 3.2 hypo. Also, I had a hypo last night which took an entire packet of jammy dodgers and 2 eclairs to fix. I've not had one that was that persistent before. Thought I had a handle on these glucose levels, but they've been erratic lately!
 
Thought I had a handle on these glucose levels, but they've been erratic lately!
Click to expand...

Well Matt , dunno if you noticed? BUT so has the weather !
 
Worcester_Matt said:
My recent hypos have been a bit unusual, and have really felt like I'm hyper rather than hypo. I've been very sleepy and drowsy, even falling asleep this afternoon and waking up with a 3.2 hypo. Also, I had a hypo last night which took an entire packet of jammy dodgers and 2 eclairs to fix. I've not had one that was that persistent before. Thought I had a handle on these glucose levels, but they've been erratic lately!
Click to expand...

Hi Matt,
the way you are treating hypo's is not good 🙂 Eating all that fat just slows down the blood sugar rise and then wallops you a few hours later.

You are meant to eat 15 quick acting carbs and the test again in 15 minutes and re-treat if still low.
If it's taking a lot of quick acting carbs to treat a hypo then it might be a good idea to have a look at your basal insulin.
 
Hi Sue,

I agree that eating the biscuits and eclairs wasn't the best way of dealing with the hypo. Unfortunately I didn't have anything in that I'd normally treat the hypo with (jelly babies) and it was gone 10pm and too late to send my partner to the shop. I tested throughout and I'd have about 20g of carbs, I'd rise a bit, but then start to drop again. It lasted about 45-60 minutes, and I felt really strange. My eyes went funny, a bit blurry which has never happened during a hypo before and I had to really force myself to concentrate on eating something and testing.

Generally I think the cause is that I'm back at work teaching now, which means walking/cycling about 5 miles a day. During the summer, when I work from home, my body isn't used to doing that, so it all caught up with me. Must remember to keep a proper hypo remedy in the back of the cupboard!

Thanks for the help though 🙂.
 
Y0u can purchase large tubs- 50 glucotabs each with 4g CHO ( also smaller tubes which are quite robust and carry 10 tabs-to fit into pocker/ small bag , whatever) really cheaply- online- either direct from supplier bbi healthcare- or from amazon. Personally I use the former as am perturbed about amazon's treatment of employees and undermining of smaller business etc.
Generally I order 6 large tubs at a time and re order when I'm down to the last one- thus little chance of running out of glucose tablets
 
I use orange Lucozade and try to buy it on special offer - the pre-wrapped packages of 6 bottles, are 2 for £5 in Tescos at the mo I noticed yesterday. Those 12 bottles would probably last me over 12 months as a hypo cure - 3 mouthfuls is 60ml which is 10g CHO.

Its well beyond its sell by date by the time I finish it - but as glucose doesn't deteriorate I couldn't care less!
 
I thought about using lucozade, but my mouthfuls are significantly larger than my partners. Hard to judge exactly how much you're having with a drink I think.
 
Matt its a little bit expensive but I've started buying Glucojuice the bottles are very small and 15g carb each so there is no need to estimate how much you've swalled. They're available from Boots and Amazon. If I'm out then I put one in my jeans pocket because they're so easy to carry.
 
I normally use grape juice, but I always have a packet of glucose powder at the back of the cupboard in case it runs out, and I get GSF syrup on prescription for emergencies (hypos when out or very low ones).
 
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