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Newly diagnosed and couldn't get blood sugars to go up

Ann wainwright

Ann wainwright

Member
Relationship to Diabetes
Type 1
Hi all
I have only been diagnosed two weeks ago - I'm 58 yrs so pretty old for this to happen. I wanted to ask peoples advice please about something which happened today. I had a hypo last week which has scared me incredibly and my blood sugars tend to run high so if they start to drop I get scared. Today they started dropping from 10 to 7 and then to 6 and 5.5. I took 4 jelly babies but there wasn't any effect, after 5 mins I took another 5, then another 4/5 to no effect, I also drank a carton of orange juice. I felt I was going to pass out but think that may have been anxiety. Eventually with a sandwich it came up to 18 (1.5 hours later). Please does anyone know why after taking all that sugar it did not raise my levels. Thank you so much - Ann (very anxious person at the moment 🙂
 
Welcome @Ann wainwright 🙂 It’s perfectly normal to be anxious about hypos but there are some things you can do to help. If you have a Libre, set your Low alarm at 5.6. This gives you extra time to treat lows. I know jelly babies are a popular choice but I don’t find them as fast as Dextro tablets. Even faster than Dextro, are the Lift Gluco Shots or a 150ml can of regular sugar Coke.

When you have a hypo, fingerprick to check your blood. A CGM can make it look like your blood sugar is not going up (because there’s a bit of a lag).

When did you last have insulin before your scary hypo? Can you explain a little more?
 
@Ann wainwright I’d also say that sometimes after you’ve been diagnosed and are on insulin, your own remaining beta cells get a little rest and recover a bit. They can then produce some insulin, but a bit erratically, sending you lower than expected for no apparent reason.

Also, what insulins are you taking and are you counting carbs in your meals and adjusting your mealtime insulin? If not, that could be another cause of your low.

Finally, after having high sugars for some time, your body will see them as normal. Therefore as your sugars drop to more normal levels, your body can panic and see those normal levels as ‘low’. This causes what are known as false hypos.
 
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Inka said:
Welcome @Ann wainwright 🙂 It’s perfectly normal to be anxious about hypos but there are some things you can do to help. If you have a Libre, set your Low alarm at 5.6. This gives you extra time to treat lows. I know jelly babies are a popular choice but I don’t find them as fast as Dextro tablets. Even faster than Dextro, are the Lift Gluco Shots or a 150ml can of regular sugar Coke.

When you have a hypo, fingerprick to check your blood. A CGM can make it look like your blood sugar is not going up (because there’s a bit of a lag).

When did you last have insulin before your scary hypo? Can you explain a little more?
Click to expand...
Hi Inka - I took my lantus 6 units at 8.30am and then at 9.30am took 2 units of novorapid with a bowl of all bran with milk and a cup of tea and my blood sugars shortly went up to 12 (less than usual since I had taken a smaller bowl of cereal). but by 10.30 they had started to gradually drop but noticed by 11am they were going down quite fast (arrow pointing down on Libre 2). When it got to 6 I took 2 jelly babies but nothing happened, I then took 3 more jelly babies, it came up to 6.5 after 5 minutes but then started going down again - i eventually took 14 jelly babies and a carton of juice but it didnt dramatically go up - just to 7.2 ( I also checked this on the blood glucose monitored which was similar). I went to A&E as I was so scared and they gave me a sandwich and I brought it back up. My worry is - Why did the fast sugar not make my blood sugar go up rapidly? Im scared I may have a hypo now and the jelly babies not work. thanks for listening
 
If you ate a smaller bowl of cereal, you probably took too much insulin for the amount of carbs you had. That would cause a drop like you described. The ‘excess’ insulin will continue to work and push your blood sugars down. Next time, have your normal amount of cereal. Weigh it to be sure. I always do even 30 years after diagnosis.

So, it’s possible that the jelly babies did work but we’re counter-acted by the insulin which was continuing to push your blood sugar down @Ann wainwright
 
Great advice from @Inka as always.
The only thing I would add is that, unless you are feeling really bad, all lows (and highs) reported on CGMs like Libre, should be checked with finger pricks, as should checks to see that you are recovering as CGMs can understand report when low and appear to "stick low" as BG starts to rise.

Have you been given the 15/15 advice about treating hypos, @Ann wainwright ?
When hypo, take 15g fast acting carbs and wait for 15 minutes before retesting (with a finger prick). If you are still hypo, repeat.
This ensures we do not over treat hypos as many people are tempted.
Unfortunately, when in this state, 15 minutes can feel.like a very long time so I always need something to distract me like listening to the radio or watching TV/YouTube.
Finger pricking also helps reduce anxiety because I trust it far more than Libre and it does not suffer from delays.
 
I'm new to all this too and I completely understand the fear and anxiety!

However it's important to try not to get overly concerned to quickly and overcompensate the other way.

A BG of 6 or even 5.5 isn't, as far as I've been told by my DSN, a hypo. A hypo is anything <4 although it's important to be aware of falling numbers and to be ready to act in case.

I totally understand why you started eating the jelly babies etc however doing so when your BG is in a healthy range all the time may not be helpful in the longer term. Your body needs time to get used to how it feels on a normal level of BG.

The other day I could have sworn I was having a hypo. Felt dreadful - confused, really heavy arms and legs, headache, lethargic etc.

Phoned my wife in a panic to see if she thought I should call the DSN or have a bottle of lucozade or whatever. Did my BG... 12! However I was scared as I really didn't feel right.
 
For me, 5.5 is an excellent 'cruising altitude'.
4 or below should be treated as a hypo (though those without duabetes can and do go down to 3.5, 4 is best for people with diabetes for safetys sake)
Either way, you do the 15 cars/ 15 min below 4.
Smaller amounts if carbs (5g, 2g, whatever) can push you back up if you fell you are going to low.
15g taken at 5.5 is going to push you too high and start a blood sugar rollercoaster, and thats best avoided.
Having said that, we all have times when those blood sugars just won't go up, but its just a case of having suitable fast acting carbs handy
 
If you’ve been running high you can feel hypo-like symptoms as you go down but you’re not actually hypo until you go below 4. Having the confidence not to treat too soon or over treat takes time and you’ll have a learning curve to it. One thing to practice while you’re a little higher is to stop the drop. You don’t need to be coming up just need to stop going down. Some true hypos can be stubborn and take time to resolve. If you’ve stopped the drop you can take a little longer to have more carbs and see what happens.
 
I don't find jelly babies as quick acting as say Skittles, YMMV. I guess dextrose tablets might be the optimal solution in terms of getting as fast a response as possible, though they don't taste wonderful. It's probably partly psychological too - Skittles taste like they contain sugar, not so sure about the taste of dextrose, even though it's more "available" for immediate use by the body.

If my BG is dropping rapidly and I have lots of IoB then I need to treat very aggressively and ASAP, if I'm falling with little or no IoB then I might get away with 5 - 10g of carbs.
 
I can be 4.3 with a vertical downward arrow and turn it around with 2 jelly babies before I hit "the red". Libre will continue to show my levels dropping long after they are coming back up which is why you should ignore Libre and rely on finger pricks in these situations. Libre will often cause you to panic more and overtreat hypos. Getting confident in your chosen hypo treatment is important and understanding that it will take at least 10-15 mins to show in your blood, so retesting within that time is pointless and will also cause you to overtreat. You really need to develop a disciplined and structured approach to treating hypos and I do think that CGMs can lead people to panic if they are not already competent at managing hypos with finger pricks..
 
helli said:
Great advice from @Inka as always.
The only thing I would add is that, unless you are feeling really bad, all lows (and highs) reported on CGMs like Libre, should be checked with finger pricks, as should checks to see that you are recovering as CGMs can understand report when low and appear to "stick low" as BG starts to rise.

Have you been given the 15/15 advice about treating hypos, @Ann wainwright ?
When hypo, take 15g fast acting carbs and wait for 15 minutes before retesting (with a finger prick). If you are still hypo, repeat.
This ensures we do not over treat hypos as many people are tempted.
Unfortunately, when in this state, 15 minutes can feel.like a very long time so I always need something to distract me like listening to the radio or watching TV/YouTube.
Finger pricking also helps reduce anxiety because I trust it far more than Libre and it does not suffer from delays.
Click to expand...
thank you Helli - I have been told wait 10 mins which I am trying to do but when the panic is high its difficult to wait. I will try and adhere to this more in the future.
 
rebrascora said:
I can be 4.3 with a vertical downward arrow and turn it around with 2 jelly babies before I hit "the red". Libre will continue to show my levels dropping long after they are coming back up which is why you should ignore Libre and rely on finger pricks in these situations. Libre will often cause you to panic more and overtreat hypos. Getting confident in your chosen hypo treatment is important and understanding that it will take at least 10-15 mins to show in your blood, so retesting within that time is pointless and will also cause you to overtreat. You really need to develop a disciplined and structured approach to treating hypos and I do think that CGMs can lead people to panic if they are not already competent at managing hypos with finger pricks..
Click to expand...
Thanks for the advice. You're right - I'm obsessed with looking at the numbers on the libre and go into a panic if I see the downward arrow on it. Hopefully I will detach myself from it as the days go by.
 
SimonP said:
I don't find jelly babies as quick acting as say Skittles, YMMV. I guess dextrose tablets might be the optimal solution in terms of getting as fast a response as possible, though they don't taste wonderful. It's probably partly psychological too - Skittles taste like they contain sugar, not so sure about the taste of dextrose, even though it's more "available" for immediate use by the body.

If my BG is dropping rapidly and I have lots of IoB then I need to treat very aggressively and ASAP, if I'm falling with little or no IoB then I might get away with 5 - 10g of carbs.
Click to expand...
Hi Simon - thanks for the advice - what is IoB? When my libra is on 6 with the arrow pointing downwards I do start to feel unwell but not sure if this psychological also.
 
Ann wainwright said:
thank you Helli - I have been told wait 10 mins which I am trying to do but when the panic is high its difficult to wait. I will try and adhere to this more in the future.
Click to expand...

You could try to extend the time you check again gradually @Ann wainwright I absolutely get the panic and I sometimes check ‘too early’ too if I’m feeling bad. I don’t act on that result though. I leave it a little longer, test again and then usually see the number is ok.
 
Thebearcametoo said:
If you’ve been running high you can feel hypo-like symptoms as you go down but you’re not actually hypo until you go below 4. Having the confidence not to treat too soon or over treat takes time and you’ll have a learning curve to it. One thing to practice while you’re a little higher is to stop the drop. You don’t need to be coming up just need to stop going down. Some true hypos can be stubborn and take time to resolve. If you’ve stopped the drop you can take a little longer to have more carbs and see what happens.
Click to expand...
Hi Thebearcametoo - this is good advice as I can now feel when my blood sugars are dropping and I go into a panic, even if the downward arrow on libre is on the reading of 8 I will panic that its going to plummet. I have started to eat half a banana to see how that goes.
 
Tdm said:
For me, 5.5 is an excellent 'cruising altitude'.
4 or below should be treated as a hypo (though those without duabetes can and do go down to 3.5, 4 is best for people with diabetes for safetys sake)
Either way, you do the 15 cars/ 15 min below 4.
Smaller amounts if carbs (5g, 2g, whatever) can push you back up if you fell you are going to low.
15g taken at 5.5 is going to push you too high and start a blood sugar rollercoaster, and thats best avoided.
Having said that, we all have times when those blood sugars just won't go up, but its just a case of having suitable fast acting carbs handy
Click to expand...
Thank you for the advice. Because my blood sugars have been so high with recently being diagnosed I only feel safe with it above 9 at the moment and if it 5.5 would be panicking. I need to get used to having a normal blood sugar without the fear of going into a hypo.
 
Ann wainwright said:
I only feel safe with it above 9 at the moment
Click to expand...
Just bear in mind above 9 is not a healthy number whereas 5.5 is. At 5.5 you've got a fair way to go into your in hypo and is safe level. Above 9 is too high and not safe.

You shouldn't be fueling at a reading of 8. You don't even need to fuel at a reading of 5.5 so long as it's pretty steady.

I'm in a similar position at the moment. Unknowingly my BG has been outrageously high (28+) and I'm adjusting to how it feels to run on normal levels so know exactly what you're experiencing. I do test when I feel like this but unless the number hits very close to or under 4 I'm not going to try and compensate (I've not been that lucky yet though!).

Don't forget hypo is a defined number (below 4) and not a feeling even though the feeling can make you think you are in hypo. I've been there a few times over the last week or so so know exactly what you mean.

You're not going to go into hypo at 5.5 or even 4.5. Neither are you going to get used to normal levels if you keep them too high.
 
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