Hypo Unawareness Question

[Amity Island]

Hi Everyone,

I was watching a police programme on freeview last week. The short clip showed the traffic police stopping a chap who had crashed his car and had parked up on the pavement on a roundabout. They did a alcohol breath test which was negative, then a drugs test which again was negative. He was really slurring his speech and seemed a bit out of it. Eventually, after some head scratching, one of the officers then said are you an insulin dependant diabetic?, which he replied yes. A-ha said the police officer, I thought you seemed to be behaving oddly. They then took him straight to A&E. No follow up.

So my question is, even though the chap was showing very obvious classic symptoms of hypoglycemia, he was totally UNAWARE he was hypo and thus failed to treat it himself with some glucose tablets etc

This sounds different from my understanding of hypo unawareness. I thought hypo unawareness is when your blood sugar is low AND you DON'T get any of the typical hypo symptoms, thus missing the chance to take some glucose to get back into range before things get any worse.

I hope this makes sense. Is hypo unawareness getting the symptoms but not being aware of them OR is it not getting hypo symptoms at all?

Thanks

 

[Bruce Stephens]

Is hypo unawareness getting the symptoms but not being aware of them OR is it not getting hypo symptoms at all?

Either, I think. When you don't have enough glucose in your system, you're going to get some symptoms, including (if you go that low) unconsciousness.

 

[trophywench]

The main point being that because it affects your brain PDQ even though yes you're hypo alright when you fail to get sufficient warning and don't therefore treat it in enough time, you can very easily land up doing things you wouldn't normally do and are horrified when you find out. Been there and done that on the M42 thanks, years ago. Fortunately, one of the policemen's sister was T1 so he drove me in my car to the nearest hospital A&E and it wasn't followed up. I'll be eternally grateful for that.

Nobody normal wants to drive their car along Armco, do they? I fully remember thinking what a horrible racket and wishing it would stop …...

 

[everydayupsanddowns]

They then took him straight to A&E. No follow up.

Slightly horrified by that. This guy clearly needs more support, and his clinic needs to know about the incident so that they can help, but I gather it is the responsibility of the person to tell the DVLA. I’m not sure if the police are supposed to share information with other agencies. in this case that seems a bit dangerous if this guy is still able to drive. He certainly should have been told to relay the information by the police I would suggest.

So my question is, even though the chap was showing very obvious classic symptoms of hypoglycemia, he was totally UNAWARE he was hypo and thus failed to treat it himself with some glucose tablets etc

This sounds different from my understanding of hypo unawareness. I thought hypo unawareness is when your blood sugar is low AND you DON'T get any of the typical hypo symptoms, thus missing the chance to take some glucose to get back into range before things get any worse.

I hope this makes sense. Is hypo unawareness getting the symptoms but not being aware of them OR is it not getting hypo symptoms at all?

Thanks

I think these two are linked myself. If you lack the early warning signs and don’t treat oncoming low blood glucose early enough they your brain, starved of glucose, begins to malfunction. So you are no longer lucid or logical and can behave erratically and unless you get a sudden groggy realisation that ‘things aren’t right’ you can just carry on fixated on doing whatever you are focussing on.

 

[Amity Island]

I think these two are linked myself. If you lack the early warning signs and don’t treat oncoming low blood glucose early enough they your brain, starved of glucose, begins to malfunction. So you are no longer lucid or logical and can behave erratically and unless you get a sudden groggy realisation that ‘things aren’t right’ you can just carry on fixated on doing whatever you are focussing on.

This hypo unawareness seems similar to a study into the effects of alcohol on the brain. Some people could drink several pints of lager or other alcoholic drinks, and it had absolutely no effect on their brain in following tests, whilst others drank just 1 unit of alcohol and were unable to do very much. It effects people in different ways and degrees.

 

[trophywench]

May sound like it on the face of it - but being blind drunk isn't usually life threatening of itself, whereas too low BG is !

If BG drops below 3.3, that's the point where it affects the brain - it's true at 3.3 one may not be aware of that and will disagree - often violently! - with anyone that tells them so, but it won't be long before they pass out so one can only hope they or someone else has treated the hypo.

 

[ianf0ster]

My T1 friend says that if he fails to treat a Hypo quickly enough, he gets paranoid and so when his wife tries to help by encouraging him to eat a teaspoon of jam he thinks she is trying to kill him!
Scary to say the least.

 

[rebrascora]

My T1 friend says that if he fails to treat a Hypo quickly enough, he gets paranoid and so when his wife tries to help by encouraging him to eat a teaspoon of jam he thinks she is trying to kill him!
Scary to say the least.

There was a lady on my DAFNE course like that. She hypoed a lot through the night despite being on only tiny amounts of insulin but would resist taking hypo treatment to the point of becoming violent because her brain had gone beyond the point of being rational. She was on the course because her family were so concerned about her and having to try to deal with it was really traumatic for them.

 

[Barbie1]

Reminds me of the time one night I was so convinced my husband was trying to kill me I leapt out of bed and locked myself in the bathroom. Leaving him hammering on the door telling me to come out! Thankfully he had managed to get some thing sugary into me before i went and it gradually restored my sense, and I crept out shamefacedly.