Hypos-how to deal with them

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Caroline

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Type 2
I was diagnosed in about March 1986, so I have had time to settle into a routine and do my research, so I know now.

I was just wondering how many people were actually told by their health care team what a hypo is and how to deal with it? I was backwards and forwards to docs for a while till things settled down, and I went for my education day at the hospital, but no health professional at any time has ever told me how to deal with a hypo or even what to look out for.

I'm on tablets, so it is less likely to happen, but not impossible. Had it not been for fantastic sites like this and my own endeavours, I might not have known!😎
 
I was only told what a hypo is when i started on tablets that could cause hypos (gliclazide), i was then told again when I started on insulin how to treat hypos.

Are you on tablets that don't cause hypo's? maybe thats why you haven't been told.
Just to say you must have done really well to control your diabetes for over 20 years and still manage on tablets.
 
I'm on metformin and gliclizade, and no one has ever mentioned hypos.

Like most people I have good days and bad days, and every so often with my afternoon cuppa I sneak some cake or a bar of chocolate.

I am the sort that will find out for myself or ask where to look for information, but I hate the way everyone assumes I know or will find out for myself...
 
I agree that they should have told you about the possibilities of hypos on gliclazide.

I think that most people with diabetes don't or can't look for information themselves. i think that those that have found our way to a diabetes forum are a minority that are really lucky and will do alot better at managing this condition.

I eat chocolate on an almost daily basis it keeps me sane (or as near to as I can be!), actually alot of people say that dark chocolate doesn't have a negative effect on blood sugars.
 
Before I was discharged from hospital one of the diabetic nurse came to see me and went through "basic education" I think she called it. She sat with me for nearly 2 hours showing me how to test BG and explaining about hypos and how to treat them and also gave me leaflets and printouts of everything she'd said so I could look over it in my own time as well. Also had a dietian come and see me and she also touched on how to treat hypos. I think I've had it better than some people.
 
Hi caroline

Think it gets to a point where after you've had it so long people just assume you know...
I was diagnosed T1 in 1984 when I was 2 1/2 and before I was allowed to go home my parents had to see a hypo so the nurses did my morning insulin and didn't feed me-mum said it was the worst thing she'd ever seen as they let me go so low I started to convulse and took ages to come round.....ah the good old days-I think not!
 
sunflower_harvester said:
Think it gets to a point where after you've had it so long people just assume you know...
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I think this is very true. Especially when you switch hospitals/GPs and they assume that you were told things before. I had no idea that you could inject in your stomach above the navel, only learned 8 years after diagnosis when I got a new medical team.
 
sunflower_harvester said:
Hi caroline

Think it gets to a point where after you've had it so long people just assume you know...
I was diagnosed T1 in 1984 when I was 2 1/2 and before I was allowed to go home my parents had to see a hypo so the nurses did my morning insulin and didn't feed me-mum said it was the worst thing she'd ever seen as they let me go so low I started to convulse and took ages to come round.....ah the good old days-I think not!
Click to expand...

Good grief!!😱
 
I was told in clinical terms what a hypo was when I was in hospital - but I had no idea what one actually felt like. I was given 28 units of Novorapid every morning at breakfast for a small bowl of Rice Krispies - and I wondered why I felt strange, couldn't read, then couldn't move & sweated etc. It was my type one friend that told me what a hypo felt like and I put 2&2 together. I told the nurses that I thought 28 units was too much, they talked to the Dr's who said I had to have that much and I should eat more at breakfast. I didn't really want to as I'm not a breakfast person, but I didn't want the hypos so I had 4 slices of toast and jam too. Ho-hum.
 
I had my first experience of a hypo when in hospital, after diagnosis. It was during the night and I was hooked up to a drip. The nurses were supposed to check on me every two hours, test me and adjust the drip if necessary. I didn't sleep hardly at all, so was awake and noticed that they missed a test, or rather, they were an hour late. By this time my reading was 2.2 and the nurse got in a flap and brought me a bowl of rice krispies and a cup of tea, plus a tumbler of sugar. I didn't have a clue of how much I was supposed to have, so I ladled it into the tea and bowl and wolfed it down. At the next test I was 28!

I think she'd assumed that I knew what was wrong and knew how to treat it, not realising that I was newly-diagnosed. Didn't really notice any symptoms as I was so ill after the DKA etc. that nothing felt normal.

Finally got to find out about hypos and how to treat them when discharged from hospital, by an excellent DSN - thank you Rita!🙂
 
Thanks everyone. At least now I have some measure of what to look for.

Sometimes I think that our health care teams assume we know because we haven't asked the questions, but if you don't know what to ask you can't ask...
 
Hypos

On day I was being discharged from hospital following being rushed in with DKA, my DSN was off unfortunately so asked staff nurse how I would know what a hypo was. Her reply, " oh you'll know when you have one"!!

Following day I had wonderful experience of finding out what a hypo was, luckily my son was able to contact my DSN on her phone and I was fine. She was not however happy with way I had been given, as she put it "casual information" and that the staff nurse had just taken it for granted that I would knowwhat the signs were and what to do..
 
i have had type 2 diabetes for three and a half years and it has been well controlled with tablets i have also lost 8 stones and go to the gym 5 times a week.
but a couple of times in the last two weeks i have woken in the night at about 3am really hot and sweaty and feeling sick and shakey is this a hypo and what should i do? the first time i had a cup of tea and then last night i had a glass of juice is this what i should be doing as i have never been told and i was told not to test my sugars as there is no need to when you are on tablets is all this correct any help would be great. by the way this is the first time i have posted on here but i do read it most days so hi to everyone.
 
punkyfairy said:
is this a hypo and what should i do?

i was told not to test my sugars as there is no need to when you are on tablets is all this correct any help would be great.
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It could be, but the only way to know for sure is to test, which is why we are always told to test before treating. But you say that you have been told you don't need to test. Do you have a monitor and strips? If not I suggest that you go to your nurse/GP and say that you are feeling symptoms of low blood sugar and need to be able to test to see if this really is the cause of your symptoms.

It may be that since you have lost so much weight (Well done you!!) that the medication is now too much for you, also exercise causes increased insulin sensitivity.
 
I was diagnosed about 1966 and was in hospital for about a week. I also was given extra insulin so that I would have an hypo. So when the nurse came to check me, I was sweating, vision affected, etc, felt awful, but did not know was was happening. They had mentioned that they would let me experience a hypo, but forgot to tell me when!! Things are very different now!
 
Having been OK for quite a while, I have had three episodes this week.
Fortunately I feel them coming on and my companion says she sees me becoming white and perspiring. Out with 2/3 digestive biccies or today needed to start with 3 glucose tabs. The wonders of gliclazide!!!. Fortunately I only have one pre-breakfast so I have come to expect hypo onset after about 4.5 hours. Should take a biccie with my mid morning coffee.
Over react; make sure my bs is at least 7.5 mmol/L before I hit the sack.
 
That's an interesting comment Kojak. My GP added 1/2 gliclazide twice a day to my other pills and I immediately started getting low lunchtime and at night. I stopped taking the evening one, but still find if I don't have something to eat during the morning ( as I often don't at work) I suddenly realise I am not fit to drive home and have to eat something quickly. When I told him, he was suprised when I said it happened lunchtime, but I can now almost predict it. On the good side, it reduced my HBA1C from 8.5 to 7.0 in three months, so it can't be too bad.
 
I think that we are basically resticted to two forms of oral medication: gliclazide in various doses and times and which is recognised as 'hypo inducing' and the normal and slow release metformin which on many patients has a "rocket fuel" effect on the alimentary canal.
I am just grateful that the diabetes was recognised and treatment commenced so quickly.
Very difficult to do any form of trial on glic/hypo as bs is affected by activity and energy used to keep warm.
However, as a rule of thumb, I am working on the principle that I need some form of energy input about every 3.5 to 4 hours during the day and don't go to bed if bs is < 5.5 mmol/L.

Having retired from employment in 1990 after a couple of strokes I don't have the extra stresses that work pressure can create.
 
Hypos

I was diagnosed in 2007 and was told about hypos that I would get hot and sweaty. Unfortunately I am 54 and have been going through the menopause and so put any hot sweats down to that. It is only now that I have experienced them often, hot sweats and it feels like your insides are shaking and you know your confused, eyes out of focus. I take some fresh orange juice and then a couple of biscuits or maybe a banana. I would be interested in the long term effects of having regular hypos.
 
Dietitian suggested fruit instead of biscuit. I tried with two plums or a half banana,but neither for me seem to work as effectively as 2 digestive biccies (sucked to death, not chomped). As I'm on large dosage of warfarin and 20mg statin, the fruit juice is a 'no-no'.

I now basicly use this as a prophylactic especially if I'm going to drive.

Back to the theme that we are all different and what works for one is no use for another.
 
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