hypo?

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dave0992

dave0992

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Relationship to Diabetes
Type 2
been type 2 for over a year now on metformin and gliclazide and have a few hypos which result in me being shaky but i normally recognize them straight away.

last night on my birthday id had a big toby carvery lunch (very nice roast potatoes for once) then didn't eat for the rest of the day. Sat in bed watching family guy on ITV i suddenly felt bad like uncomfortable and irritable and a bit confused, couldn't put my finger on it,, felt full of dread and a nearly said to my girlfriend 'take me home right now'.

is this normal? i tested my blood sugar and it was 4.7 so i took a dextrose tablet and ate a bar of some sort and felt full of life after.

just trying to understand.
 
It could have been a false hypo, do you often see bgs in the 4s or are you usually a bit higher?
 
Sounds very unpleasant for you @dave0992

4.7 isn’t officially recognised as hypoglycaemia, but your body may fire warning signs if it is lower than you generally run, or if it was higher after your meal and has dropped rapidly?
 
When I was on Gliclazide I did not always get the same hypo symptoms.
 
It could be if you had eaten a very carb heavy meal your body essentially over produced insulin which because you had no more food gave you they hypo symptoms.
 
Or it could be the test device indicates at the high end of its permitted range, consequently your experience is centred around a device naturally reading high. 4.7 is slightly in excess of 4 + 15%, or 4 is slightly below 4.7 - 15%. As a matter of interest @dave0992 what test meter do you use?

I have 2 Accuchek Mobile meters and one consistently reads nearly 2 mmol/L higher than the other. I spent a slightly tedious few days exploring this by swapping the 50xtest cassette between the 2 devices, using the initial fingerprick for a 2nd drop of blood and kept a record, over 2 cassettes, ie 100 tests. There was some variation with the difference between meters but at no stage did the lower readings meter exceed the higher.

The official point for hypoglycaemia ought to be defined within permitted boundaries for the capability of the meter, as a principle. Perhaps it is?

@Lucyr , if I understood the original post it was a test that gave 4.7 after experiencing hypo symptoms; so that doesn't fit my understanding of what is meant by a false hypo. I thought a false hypo was when the technology said you were hypo, but actual BG and no symptoms allows you to conclude that you aren't: hence false hypo (implicit false hypo "reading"). But I could have that incorrect and would be happy to be better informed. Perhaps it is when you have hypo symptoms but tests don't verify that? If that is so then how do you know what is false and what is not? There seems to be agreement that not only are we all different, but some people have different thresholds, such as for hypos?

Perhaps I should start a new thread?
 
Leadinglights said:
It could be if you had eaten a very carb heavy meal your body essentially over produced insulin which because you had no more food gave you they hypo symptoms.
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Good point @Leadinglights. But I'm now not clear what @dave0992 wants to understand: why he felt hypo, for which you offer a plausible explanation; or why he had hypo symptoms while his actual BG was 4.7 rather than below 4 ... ?? I might need to change my name to "Proud to be confused".
 
Proud to be erratic said:
if I understood the original post it was a test that gave 4.7 after experiencing hypo symptoms; so that doesn't fit my understanding of what is meant by a false hypo. I thought a false hypo was when the technology said you were hypo, but actual BG and no symptoms allows you to conclude that you aren't: hence false hypo (implicit false hypo "reading"). But I could have that incorrect and would be happy to be better informed. Perhaps it is when you have hypo symptoms but tests don't verify that? If that is so then how do you know what is false and what is not? There seems to be agreement that not only are we all different, but some people have different thresholds, such as for hypos?
Click to expand...
A false hypo is when you feel the symptoms but are in fact not actually hypo. Usually this is caused by the body being used to higher levels and when it drops - to say 4.7 - your body reacts as it would towards a real hypo i.e. you experience the symptoms. Nothing to do with the technology.
 
Pattidevans said:
A false hypo is when you feel the symptoms but are in fact not actually hypo. Usually this is caused by the body being used to higher levels and when it drops - to say 4.7 - your body reacts as it would towards a real hypo i.e. you experience the symptoms. Nothing to do with the technology.
Click to expand...
Thanks. Is that a medically established understanding or just your own from experience? I've posted this question as a new thread on the General Messageboard.
 
Willo look at your new thread. I have not had false hypos for many years as my BGs are quite well controlled. AFAIK it's an acknowledged medical understanding.
 
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