Night Time Hypo Alarm Anyone?

[Rubyloo]

Hi Everyone,

Have any of you got or tried a Hypoglycaemia Alarm to detect night time hypos?
I have been suffering with terrible headaches & fuzzy hangover type heads since being diagnosed. I am sure its caused through night Hypos. I have seen an advert in the Balance Mag for an alarm which wakes you up if you start having a hypo while asleep! It costs ?69.99...........worth it if it works!
I love love to hear from anyone who either has one or had tried one.
Many thanks
Dx

 

[bev]

Hi i have seen the same advert, so i asked my sons consultant at his last clinic about it,she wasnt too keen on the idea though, she thought they were gimmicky. I also asked the accu-check rep who happend to be at the clinic who said that if there was a reliable product like that then they would be producing it. I suppose you can give it a try as if it means you can treat yourself throught the night, this can only be a good thing. Apparently they work by sensing a drop in temperature and an increase in perspiration. If you decide to try one i would be interested to know if they work! Bev

 

[sofaraway]

have you tried setting an alarm for a few nights to see if you are having night hypos?
Have you ever used a CGMS? so you can have recored info of what your blood sugars are doing overnight?
I used one in November as it was suspected that I was having them but results showed that i wasn't and my blood sugars were actually stable overnight.
have not really heard any reports about that alarm, so can't say if it's any good or not

 

[Rubyloo]

Whats a CGMS?
Dx

 

[sofaraway]

continous glucose monitoring system

you wear a small sensor thats inserted into your stomach, a tube is then attatched to a monitor about the size of a pager (pretty much like a pump set up) and it takes blood sugar readings every 3 minutes, so you get a full picture of whats going on between the 4-8 snapshot tests you do a day with your meter.
some people (mainly in the US) use these continually and it can alarm if they are trending downwards towards a hypo or going high.
The one I used was for 3 days and I couldn't see the results in real time, they were downloaded afterwards and all the data printed out.
most clinic have them avaliable but you'll have to ask your DSN.

 

[Rubyloo]

That sounds just what I need. I am going to see my nurse again next week so I will ask.
Dx

 

[diagonall]

My dog wakes me up if I have a hypo in the night 🙂 We sit and share a biscuit together

But as Niki said, you need to set your alarm and do some basal testing.

 

[Viki]

Hi Sue,

One of my dogs has also done this in the past, i had gone particularly low (i normally wake up with hypos around 2.7) at 1.2 and woke up to her crying by the side of my bed. I couldnt really do much for myself and she kept whining till my bf woke up. Then she toddled off and went straight back to sleep!!

Gotta love 'em!

 

[Copepod]

I've found another human or cat usually wakes me up if I go anywhere near hypoglycaemic - although occasionally the cat jumps on me for no apparent reason and the other human objects, so I try to keep the bedroom door shut when the other human is present.

 

[Lizzie]

I've found another human or cat usually wakes me up if I go anywhere near hypoglycaemic - although occasionally the cat jumps on me for no apparent reason and the other human objects, so I try to keep the bedroom door shut when the other human is present.

I read a while ago that they were doing tests to see if animals could detect hypos, in the hope of one day having hypo detection animals for people who have lost their warning signs.

 

[aymes]

I read a while ago that they were doing tests to see if animals could detect hypos, in the hope of one day having hypo detection animals for people who have lost their warning signs.

there is an organisation is California called dogs for diabetics which trains up dogs, in a similar way to sight or hearing dogs, to detect hypoglycemia in their owners. If you search dogs fir diabetics it should come up, some really interesting stuff.

 

[Copepod]

rabbit hypo alarm

Although not at night, this large house rabbit was a pretty good hypo alarm - and his black labrador had in the past. I like the comment from his wife "I work for the ambulance service and I'm embarrassed that the rabbit spotted it before I did," see http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/cambridgeshire/3441337.stm for initial report, then http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/cambridgeshire/3535655.stm for Rabbit Welfare Association award - yes, really!

 

[mikep1979]

i always wake up when my levels go to low in the night. i have the usual tingle in my gums and also i get very hot and sweaty so i get uncomfortable. maybe if you aint getting the warning signs then you may need to do some over night testing.