Hypounawareness

Status
Not open for further replies.
A

april

Member
Relationship to Diabetes
Type 1
Hi Board people!

I did a search on this subject here and couldn't find anything, so pls forgive me if this subject has been covered.
After 47 yrs of having diabetes, I suddenly discovered I was hypounaware. It's a very scary thing to have. To be at 1.7/1.5 with no symptoms whatsoever is, to say the least, not good.
I was told that due to the length of time I had diabetes, this does happen. I was also told to keep my sugars high for a month, which I did - never going below 10. I felt really crappy, and at the end, found no improvement with my next hypo.
It's really changed my life. I have had to stop driving, as testing before getting in a car doesn't work too well. I can start out with a 6.5 and an hr later be in the 2's. Not driving has totally altered my life, as I live in the middle of nowhere.
The reason for writing this to you peeps is to tell you that although sure, it does have something to do with yrs of having this, the other reason for getting it is not testing enough & just letting the lows you DO have just go unnoticed. A warning which I hope some of you take on board if you aren't testing as much as you should!
 
april said:
Hi Board people!

I did a search on this subject here and couldn't find anything, so pls forgive me if this subject has been covered.
After 47 yrs of having diabetes, I suddenly discovered I was hypounaware. It's a very scary thing to have. To be at 1.7/1.5 with no symptoms whatsoever is, to say the least, not good.
I was told that due to the length of time I had diabetes, this does happen. I was also told to keep my sugars high for a month, which I did - never going below 10. I felt really crappy, and at the end, found no improvement with my next hypo.
It's really changed my life. I have had to stop driving, as testing before getting in a car doesn't work too well. I can start out with a 6.5 and an hr later be in the 2's. Not driving has totally altered my life, as I live in the middle of nowhere.
The reason for writing this to you peeps is to tell you that although sure, it does have something to do with yrs of having this, the other reason for getting it is not testing enough & just letting the lows you DO have just go unnoticed. A warning which I hope some of you take on board if you aren't testing as much as you should!
Click to expand...


Hi April thanks for the input, sorry to hear your having a rough time of it at the moment :( Have you tried going above 10 for a while? it must be very scary!! I am a compulsive tester so hopefully wont have this problem for a while yet. My brother has been type 1 for about 25 years and went hypo unaware.. he kept his sugars in the 20s for a while as anything lower had no effect.. obviously this is not recommended for everyone.
 
Many people blame the synthetic insulin's for the hypo unawareness.
I have heard many people say switching to animal insulin does improve things no end.
I use bovine insulin and still have full hypo awareness 44 years after starting insulin.
Nice to see you posting April.
 
Hi April

Sorry to hear this is happening to you. My 9 year old daughter is a bit different from your 'average' (not saying diabetes is average by the way) diabetic. She had her pancreas removed at 4 weeks old due to a rare medical condition has was on insulin the next week!! She has never ever had any hypo awareness at all. She sometimes says she feels dizzy and we test and she can be absolutely anything from hypo to normal range to high, sometimes after a huge swing up or down and sometimes not, so no rhyme or reason to the feeling of dizzy. She is under Gt Ormond St hosp and also another hospital in London for the insulin pump side of things (who are a top notch team. GOSH say that if she has never had awareness then by now, 9 years down the line, she is not likely to get awareness, which I imagine is true. We've tried all the tricks but to no avail.

She has one to one carers at school due to the fact she has type 1 with bells on, she is tested loads, pretty much every two hourly and normally more due to highs and lows and PE etc.

I have no idea what will happen in the future re driving, jobs, college etc etc. It is very very frightening for me as her mother. She will obviously have to take over the responsibility at some point, and she does now help me with her care, but she will never be able to be alone or live alone etc. That terrifies me.

I belong to an email list for parents with type 1 children and there are actually lots of children on this email group who do not have hypo awareness sometimes, it really is frightening.

I hope you get your awareness back. I would be lost without my car, good luck to you and welcome to this forum. 🙂
 
Hi April,

Are you pumping? seem to remember that you are? Have you considered using a CGMS. it might be worth a discussion with your team to see if it's possible. Not many people are using them but some people have been able to get funding.
 
Hi Nikki-

Yes, I am on the pump, but it hasn't helped this particular problem with hypounawareness.
I asked for a CGMS but was refused due to funds. That's ok, who needs more tubes? 🙄
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top