Hypo Question

[mum2westiesGill]

I know of the saying "4 is the floor" so any bs below 4 eg 3.9, 3.7....is treated as a hypo. My question is if i tested & got a reading of eg 3.7 but didn't feel hypo then should i still treat the hypo?

 

[gail2]

i would treat at 3.7 it may be that you do not have hypo awareness

 

[Northerner]

Yes, as you don't know whether it is on the way further down. Also, if some people suffer a lot of low levels (not necessarily below 4) then they can lose hypo awareness as the brain becomes accustomed to lower levels. Ifthis happens then you have to retrain your brain by making sure your levels are higher for a while so that you get your symptoms back.

Also, a lot depends on the hypo itself I have found - a fast-falling hypo will normal have more pronounced symptoms, but if it is falling relatively slowly - maybe just before you are about to eat - then you may not feel much in the way of symptoms.

 

[Pumper_Sue]

Yes most def treat. It's hypo and no treatment could cause you to go lower and then not be able to help yourself.

 

[gail2]

Yes most def treat. It's hypo and no treatment could cause you to go lower and then not be able to help yourself.

Well put Sue and very true

 

[trophywench]

I concur.

Much better to treat and go a bit higher for a bit, than land up in an ambulance .....

 

[Natalie123]

I'm going to agree and disagree. If I was 3.9 and didn't feel low I wouldn't ignore it but I wouldn't treat in the same way as something nearer or below 3. For example I take 3 glucose tablets (about 12g carbs) wait 10 mins check again etc if I am hypo, but if I am only 3.9 and not doing anything active (if I was walking or cleaning etc I would treat as a hypo to be safe) I would try fruit juice or rasins because they much nicer in my opinion! I wouldn't want 3 glucose tablets and then long acting carbs if I was only 3.9 because I would go very high.

 

[FM001]

Even in the low 4's I take on board a jelly baby or two, meters can be +/- 10-15% out on the readings they give so I don't leave anything to chance.

 

[Natalie123]

Even in the low 4's I take on board a jelly baby or two, meters can be +/- 10-15% out on the readings they give so I don't leave anything to chance.

That is a good point Toby, I had never thought about it like that before. Some food for thought there ...

 

[Robster65]

As I've read, the point of treating at 4, although non-Ds can go down to the high 3s, is also to give the carbs some time to get through. You don't know how fast you're falling.

You can go from 3.9 to 3.5 in a couple of minutes if you've been active. That fruit juice might take 5 minutes before doing much.

All a question of "better safe than sorry". No harm in a small amount of very quick acting if you're not sure, then retest after maybe 5 minutes to see how you're getting on.

If you're going anywhere near a car, you need to wait 45 minutes if 4 or under before driving.🙂

Rob

 

[Northerner]

I treat appropriately to the level, so for a 3.9 I might only have one jelly baby depending on how much circulating insulin I had in me, but 3 JBs if I was 2.9. If I still had an hour to go with my insulin when I measured at 3.9 then I would need more than 1 jelly baby. Hope that makes sense! What I mean to say is that I wouldn't treat every hypo with the same amount of carbs.