Hypos

[sweepers]

I'm due to see a Diabetic Nurse at the hospital next week and wanted to raise the subject of mild hypos and long term brain damage. My first question will be - where's the evidence?

I'm experiencing and have for many years mild hypos sometimes every other day, no particular pattern, usually of 3.3+ - I'm very lucky to be aware, take my lucozade and slow acting carbs (as appropriate) and get on with it.

I just wondered if you would mind sharing with me roughly how many mild hypos you experience in a week so that i can establish if this is the norm or not.I understand from my previous thread that in pregnancy this is very much the norm (thanks for the replies).[/B]

 

[Robster65]

Hi sweepers.

I think, unless control is uber-tight, or you're running high, the 3+ hypos are largely unavoidable. Anything around the 3.6+ range is possible for a non-diabetic.

As for brain damage, I've heard conflicting reports and the only real suggested evidence I can find is for severe hypos, ie. involving fitting or unconscious periods and then repeated, and then I've only seen references to it rather than any actual research.

Someone suggested also that it may only apply to developing brains in childhood.

But well worth a chat to see what she thinks. I have quite a poor memory but that could be genetic, hypos (I used to fit sometimes) or being concussed as a teenager.

Sadly, it's hard to measure and eliminate other possible effects.🙂

Rob

 

[Copepod]

Just one thing to bear in mind - if you have a driving licence, then be very careful to differentiate between mild hypos and more serious hypos which need the help of another person, as 2 or more of those in 12 months can mean DVLA will remove your licence.

That's not to say that you should be anything less than totally honest with with your diabetes team, just that it's vital not to have mild hypos mis-recorded as serious hypos.

 

[Phil65]

I'm due to see a Diabetic Nurse at the hospital next week and wanted to raise the subject of mild hypos and long term brain damage. My first question will be - where's the evidence?

I'm experiencing and have for many years mild hypos sometimes every other day, no particular pattern, usually of 3.3+ - I'm very lucky to be aware, take my lucozade and slow acting carbs (as appropriate) and get on with it.

I just wondered if you would mind sharing with me roughly how many mild hypos you experience in a week so that i can establish if this is the norm or not.I understand from my previous thread that in pregnancy this is very much the norm (thanks for the replies).[/B]

I have 'mild hypos' pretty much every day, the problem with tight control is inevitably more mild hypos. Although I do not suffer from hypo unawareness, my hypo signs are not as strong as they used to be, which worries me a little. Maybe I shoulde try and run my levels higher for a while.

 

[PhoebeC]

Id say i have between 5-7 a week Gosh it sounds bad like that x

 

[novorapidboi26]

I would say my control is reasonable, a long way from good, and I have about 5 mild ones is a week............

 

[Ellie Jones]

Some of it is what do you deem as 'brain damage'...

As brain damage can have many cogitations to it,

Is memory loss can be considered brain damage but is poor memory recall the same?

There is still a lot of thought about it and no real definite yes or no, but either way what is more of a concern is that the more times you hit hypo even mild the more likely you are going to have your hypo awareness impacted on or even loss it completely which is a very serious complication as hypo awareness for us diabetics is pretty much our survival at stake.

My DSN was telling me about some more theories and thoughts being discussed within the medical profession about targets ranges..

An elderly diabetic is more likely to suffer an heart attack or stroke shortly after a hypo (not quite sure whether this includes a mild one though) than a younger person, so the older you get the slightly higher your target range should be to avoid hypo's as much as possible..

 

[everydayupsanddowns]

Something I'm [still] trying to tackle with a pump.

I used to get a bit twitchy after about 2 days without a hypo as it usually meant my levels were sky high. These days I can happily have 7 days hypo-free without worrying about highs. More recently on MDI I managed to lose a good few of those lows, but still not enough. I also do wonder whether my short-term memory might be affected after 20 odd years (though that is very hard to evaluate). I have read (can't remember source/study) that every single hypo leaves some sort of 'imprint' on the brain.

January's figures suggest 21 readings below 3.9 and most of those are bunched into a handful of days which indicated that I needed to tweak something. Only 4 of those readings dipped below 3. Several of the others were varying experiments with exercise. Better... but still plenty of room for improvement.

 

[Phil65]

Something I'm [still] trying to tackle with a pump.

I used to get a bit twitchy after about 2 days without a hypo as it usually meant my levels were sky high. These days I can happily have 7 days hypo-free without worrying about highs. More recently on MDI I managed to lose a good few of those lows, but still not enough. I also do wonder whether my short-term memory might be affected after 20 odd years (though that is very hard to evaluate). I have read (can't remember source/study) that every single hypo leaves some sort of 'imprint' on the brain.

January's figures suggest 21 readings below 3.9 and most of those are bunched into a handful of days which indicated that I needed to tweak something. Only 4 of those readings dipped below 3. Several of the others were varying experiments with exercise. Better... but still plenty of room for improvement.

I also do wonder whether my short-term memory might be affected after 20 odd years (though that is very hard to evaluate). I have read (can't remember source/study) that every single hypo leaves some sort of 'imprint' on the brain.

.....that made me laugh Mike!