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Hypo.
- Thread starter Estellaa
- Start date
- Status
Northerner
Admin (Retired)
- Relationship to Diabetes
- Type 1
For me a lot will depend on when I am next due to eat a meal. If I'm at 4.5, for example, with an hour or so before my next meal I'll probably top up with a snack. If I am 3.8 just before a meal I will probably just have a jelly baby. I don't think I'd leave it on anything below 4 without having something.
One of my pills means that I don't usually get warning signs of a hypo until I'm below 3, which can be a bit dodgy. I usually get hot and my eyesight goes funny, then I start shaking!
One of my pills means that I don't usually get warning signs of a hypo until I'm below 3, which can be a bit dodgy. I usually get hot and my eyesight goes funny, then I start shaking!
Catwoman76
Well-Known Member
- Relationship to Diabetes
- Type 1
Hi Estellaa If my levels are low just before a meal,say 3.5 and above I would just eat my meal, but take less Insulin. If it's a couple of hours before a meal then I would have a small snack,a couple of biscuits or a spoonful of jam. My symptoms are tiredness,confussion and my daughter asks If i am tired and has said my eyes look werid. I used to get very hot and sweaty, numbness around my mouth, and shaking, but I don't get those very often. Hope it helps. Take care Sheena🙂
Hi Estellaa,
I regard anything below 4.0 as requiring action. My normal (and preferred!) remedy is jelly babies. I will take between one and five depending upon how low I am. I will also aim to take another BG reading about 30 minutes later with the hope that my level has risen above 5.0, if not then I will swallow another jelly baby or three. I do this after 30 minutes because my reaction to the fast acting glucose in the sweets is effective but a little slow, for other people 15 minutes may be a sufficient pause before doing a retest.
As Northerner and Sheena have said it does depend on what I am planning on doing when I get the low reading. For example if I am about to drive I will raise the level at which I require action to 5.0. If I am about to go for a run then 6.0 is, for me, a safer lower limit.
When I do react to a low BG it can be quite varied. Normally I become very tired; often a lot of sweating; sometimes a headache; sometimes it affects my mood; sometimes I become confused and/or incoherent.
A further issue I do have is that when I get the above symptoms but have not taken a BG reading then quite often my initial reaction is to go into denial that it is happening. It can then become a bit of a challenge to get myself to accept that it is happening and take appropriate action before reaching the point where I need some help from someone else to get it sorted. I think what has contributed to me having this denial response is being taught when I was first diagnosed that if I had a hypo I had done something "wrong". Now that I know that I am not necessarily to blame for a hypo and they can happen to even the best controlled insulin dependent diabetics - just read some of the other hypo related posts on this forum - I am more willing to accept that one is happening to me and deal with it quicker. Afterwards rather than feel guilty about them I now just review what may have been the cause with the aim of making one less likely to happen in the future.
One problem I have had in the past is that I have had periods when I have had quite regular hypos to the point where my body became more accustomed to low blood sugars and I lost much of my awareness and symptoms that one was happening. You can eventually get the awareness back but when it is reduced it does mean having to be particularly careful to do a BG test before doing anything like driving, exercising or even just going for a walk. This can be a real pain at times. I would therefore strongly recommend that you do your upmost to avoid regular hypos and that you do take a quick remedy for any readings below say 4.0 so that you maintain your awareness and symptoms, even if those hypo symptoms are unpleasant.
Hope that helps!
I regard anything below 4.0 as requiring action. My normal (and preferred!) remedy is jelly babies. I will take between one and five depending upon how low I am. I will also aim to take another BG reading about 30 minutes later with the hope that my level has risen above 5.0, if not then I will swallow another jelly baby or three. I do this after 30 minutes because my reaction to the fast acting glucose in the sweets is effective but a little slow, for other people 15 minutes may be a sufficient pause before doing a retest.
As Northerner and Sheena have said it does depend on what I am planning on doing when I get the low reading. For example if I am about to drive I will raise the level at which I require action to 5.0. If I am about to go for a run then 6.0 is, for me, a safer lower limit.
When I do react to a low BG it can be quite varied. Normally I become very tired; often a lot of sweating; sometimes a headache; sometimes it affects my mood; sometimes I become confused and/or incoherent.
A further issue I do have is that when I get the above symptoms but have not taken a BG reading then quite often my initial reaction is to go into denial that it is happening. It can then become a bit of a challenge to get myself to accept that it is happening and take appropriate action before reaching the point where I need some help from someone else to get it sorted. I think what has contributed to me having this denial response is being taught when I was first diagnosed that if I had a hypo I had done something "wrong". Now that I know that I am not necessarily to blame for a hypo and they can happen to even the best controlled insulin dependent diabetics - just read some of the other hypo related posts on this forum - I am more willing to accept that one is happening to me and deal with it quicker. Afterwards rather than feel guilty about them I now just review what may have been the cause with the aim of making one less likely to happen in the future.
One problem I have had in the past is that I have had periods when I have had quite regular hypos to the point where my body became more accustomed to low blood sugars and I lost much of my awareness and symptoms that one was happening. You can eventually get the awareness back but when it is reduced it does mean having to be particularly careful to do a BG test before doing anything like driving, exercising or even just going for a walk. This can be a real pain at times. I would therefore strongly recommend that you do your upmost to avoid regular hypos and that you do take a quick remedy for any readings below say 4.0 so that you maintain your awareness and symptoms, even if those hypo symptoms are unpleasant.
Hope that helps!
Northerner
Admin (Retired)
- Relationship to Diabetes
- Type 1
That's a great response rossoneri 🙂 I'm incredulous that you were made to feel guilty about having hypos! How dreadful!
Well to be fair it was probably as much my fault as the medical staff who advised me - or is that me just blaming myself again?! 😉
I was a teenager when I was first diagnosed and as we have seen with the episode of The Hospital getting the message across to adolescents to take responsibility for their diabetes can be very difficult. The approach of my hospital staff was to be quite firm with me and put me on a type two style diet. Rather than denying or ignoring my diabetes I did take responsibility for my treatment but I reacted in the other extreme and viewed any problem as a bad reflection upon my efforts to control it. As a result I also became very reluctant to tell my GP or the diabetic clinic consultant if I was having regular high sugars because I thought this must be a failure of my efforts rather than the possibility of, for example, my insulin type and/or doses requiring alteration or one of the other many causes for variations in blood glucose levels. This was before HbA1c readings to highlight to anyone else that I was having regular highs when I did not mention them.
It is very tough to get the correct balance between being responsible for your own treatment whilst also accepting that your control will slip on occasion and that sometimes you do require assistance and advice from other people. This is one of the real advantages of now having access to resources like this forum. 🙂
newbs
Well-Known Member
- Relationship to Diabetes
- Type 1
Because I get a lot of hypos I don't usually get symptoms until the low 3's. These tend to be blurry vision or white spots before my eyes and shaking. If I get very low I get palpitations and sweat, sometimes with a headache too and my mouth feels tingly/numb.
It depends on what I am doing and planning to do as to how I treat hypos. If I am at work or intending to drive then I usually have some lucozade/sweets to bring my levels up to above a 5. If I am planning to eat a meal within the next 15 mins or so then I don't eat anything additional, I will leave my levels drop to the mid 2's if that is the case. I don't feel too bad until below 2.5, I always treat immediately if below that.
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