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low blood sugar levels

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loulou

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Relationship to Diabetes
Type 1
over the last week and a bit i keep getting low levels, most in the 4, but doing nothing different than i have been doing the last 6 months (normal levels for me are between 5 and 6) since i got diganosed. but the last few days i have been mostlt reading 3.6 - 3.9 and showing no hypo affects, i have dropped the amount of backgrounf insulin i am taking and that seems to have no affect and i am only on a small amount of fast acting insulin so been really counting carbs and i am def not taking to much of that it just seems thats there is no reason for this. i am then taking hypo treatment and eating but 4 hours later i am back low again also, at night i have been going bed reading 7/8 (making sure i am a little high) waking up in the morning around 4, even had hypo in the night the other night and read 2.9!! (i did have sympoths for this one) not really sure what to do, i don't feel unwell or anything, not sure what to do as DSN are all off till weds??
sorry for waffling on, just worried mainly as going below 4 and having no sighs for this!
any advice would be great and hope everyone has had a brilliant christmas!
 
Hi Lou, how much background insulin are you on at the moment? It does sound like the dose is still too high for you, as you are dropping low at times when only this insulin is 'circulating' i.e. when the insulin you are having with your meals has all been 'used up'. I found that a few months after diagnosis I had to reduce my background insulin (lantus in my case) by a considerable amount - going from 20 units to 8 in the space of a couple of weeks! Since then I have reduced it even further, and am currently on 4 units - one fifth of my original amount! So if it were me I would be thinking of dropping the dose further if I was having so many lows. Because your levels are generally low, your body has become accustomed to these levels, so only gives warning signs when you are very low. If you can manage to get your levels back up to the 5s and 6s then this will help restore your warning signs at a better level.
 
thanks for the advice, i am too on lantus, i was on 8 units then they upped it to 12 (a few months ago), so i have dropped it back to 8 a few days ago but that seems to make no difference, i'm scared to drop it anymore as i don't want my readings to go high and lose the control that i have managed to gain. i am still very much in my honeymoon period so i didn't know if this might be affecting me or not?
 
loulou said:
thanks for the advice, i am too on lantus, i was on 8 units then they upped it to 12 (a few months ago), so i have dropped it back to 8 a few days ago but that seems to make no difference, i'm scared to drop it anymore as i don't want my readings to go high and lose the control that i have managed to gain. i am still very much in my honeymoon period so i didn't know if this might be affecting me or not?
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It is difficult if you are still in honeymoon. It can take up to 3 days for the full effect of a change to lantus to become apparent. I understand that you don't want your levels to go too high, but the danger currently is that you keep dropping too low. If it was me I would be tempted to drop the dose by another unit (if you have a one-unit pen).
 
i will try dropping it again tonight and see what happens, just took my blood sugar again and i am 3.6, but feel fine. well my diabetes has been going so well, so i guess its time for a little blip🙂
 
loulou said:
i will try dropping it again tonight and see what happens, just took my blood sugar again and i am 3.6, but feel fine. well my diabetes has been going so well, so i guess its time for a little blip🙂
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I do know how you feel - when your levels seem to have been going so well and it's suggested that you run them a little higher for a while it can be very difficult! But it would be better to risk a few readings at 7 or above than risking a bad night hypo. Hope the further reduction does the trick - I would get in touch with your DSN as soon as you can so you can discuss things. 🙂
 
Not sure if it applies to you but I usually find that my BGs drop low when I'm on holiday from work. Although I'm doing less than normal the rest and relaxation seems to lead to a lot more hypos. Everything suddenly returns to normal once I'm back at work😱
 
AJLang said:
Not sure if it applies to you but I usually find that my BGs drop low when I'm on holiday from work. Although I'm doing less than normal the rest and relaxation seems to lead to a lot more hypos. Everything suddenly returns to normal once I'm back at work😱[/Qmy

my levels started to drop before i finished work, there just seems to be no reason for it, whats really annoying, if i knew what was causeing it i wouldn't mind, its just weird that i don't have a clue why!! and things always seem to happen to me over bank holiday weekends when every one is on holiday, just seems to be my luck this year! 🙂
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Err, have you been doing more? - like eg shopping, getting Xmas decs down from the loft and put up, doing an extra special Xmas clean of the house etc?

All makes a flipping difference. Yesterday I was fine all day, except one grand-daughter had had her bedroom done out for her Xmas pres - I mean it would have got decorated etc anyway but she had all new furniture and everything to her choice - so grandma got roped in to shorten the curtains and I was able to fashion some scatter cushions for her bed out of the excess - I only got the request on Weds teatime and managed to get some polyester wadding for the cushions on Saturday so had to deliver em yesterday. Nobody hardly sells sewing cotton these days. I eventually got some from the Western Union shop amongst the immigrant community shops in an area of Coventry. I thought the sari material shop would sell it - they sell utterly fabulous dress material in there - but no .... they said to go to the WU shop and they were right! Potty.

So ....... daughter and I put em up last night ... and it's been hypo-city here today!

Basically anything that involves me raising my arms above my head sends me hypo. Decorating, dusting the tops of doors - whatever. I've always had this prob. Utterly mad but that's diabetes for ya.
 
no i have quite a physical job and since work i have pretty much sat down and done nothing, i just have no idea but will ring my DSN on wednesday when their back and see what they say as i can not put them down to anything! what is really fustrating, but never mind i am just being careful and i am managing it.

hope your grandchilds room looks nice anyway
 
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