One in a thousand hypo

[Northerner]

I had one of those rare hypos today - I had tested at 6.8 before lunch and injected for my two boiled eggs and two slices of Burgen. About 20 minutes after injecting I began eating - as I had almost finished I started feeling hypo symptoms quite strongly, very disorientated, shaking, sweating. Tested and I was 2.8! I dropped 4 mmol/l in just over 30 minutes from injecting! 😱 This hardly ever happens to me and the only thing I can think is that the insulin must have started absorbing much faster than normal. I had a couple of jelly babies, but was nervous that they might not work as quickly now I had a bellyfull of low GL food. There was a huge temptation to overtreat, but I checked again after 10 minutes and I was up to 3.6. Since I had eaten I knew it was most likely I would recover without extra JBs, and after about 20 minutes felt OK again.

I hate those totally unexpected hypos. I can see why people react badly to others trying to help when you feel like that - I was even stressing that the postman might come or the phone might ring and I knew I couldn't deal with any distraction at all! 😱

 

[lucy123]

How awful Alan and strange. I hope you feel better soon.
I am beginning to think you might be special too!🙂

 

[Northerner]

How awful Alan and strange. I hope you feel better soon.
I am beginning to think you might be special too!🙂

I was special before I got diabetes, my Mum told me so 😉 🙂

 

[Doddy]

Blimey, that is a quick drop!

 

[bev]

Hi Northerner,

I would imagine you were dropping anyway - and the insulin had little to do with the drop. Do you ever have drinks for hypo's? We do find that using coke/lucozade is far quicker than any foods - even jelly babies! I must admit that even at 3.6 we would still treat again with some coke - assuming this has been after the 15 minutes of course.🙂I hope your feeling allright now? Alex tends to feel groggy for a while after a hypo in the 2's.🙂Bev

 

[AJLang]

You poor thing it's horrible when you get hypos like that. I'm glad that the food started working for you. On the DAFNE course we were told not to inject until we are about to eat because insulin is so quick acting nowadays in comparison to the old types where you did have to inject in advance.

 

[everydayupsanddowns]

On the DAFNE course we were told not to inject until we are about to eat because insulin is so quick acting nowadays in comparison to the old types where you did have to inject in advance.

I wish it were that quick acting for me! More often than not it takes a good hour to see much change in my BG - especially at breakfast and lunchtime.

Hope you are feeling OK now Alan. Those sneaky mystery ones can really throw you off balance.

 

[Northerner]

I wish it were that quick acting for me! More often than not it takes a good hour to see much change in my BG - especially at breakfast and lunchtime.

Hope you are feeling OK now Alan. Those sneaky mystery ones can really throw you off balance.

Yes, it normally takes up to 45 mins in the morning to show any effect i.e. I can inject and not eat for up to 45 mins and still show no change in BG. My lunchtime injection was 6 hours after my breakfast, so unlikely I would be dropping at that time from my breakfast injection - the only explanation must be rapid absorption into the bloodstream of the insulin as far as I can see.

 

[bev]

You poor thing it's horrible when you get hypos like that. I'm glad that the food started working for you. On the DAFNE course we were told not to inject until we are about to eat because insulin is so quick acting nowadays in comparison to the old types where you did have to inject in advance.

Hi Amanda,

Thats interesting. We are always told (and were told at FFL by Gary Schiener) that it takes at least 10 minutes for insulin to start to work - so if you inject just when you are about to eat it is harder for the insulin to catch up as the food is in the bloodstream within two minutes.🙂 I know that if Alex were to do that he would get some fairly big spikes if he hasnt bolused at least ten minutes before food. Bev

 

[everydayupsanddowns]

Yes, it normally takes up to 45 mins in the morning to show any effect i.e. I can inject and not eat for up to 45 mins and still show no change in BG. My lunchtime injection was 6 hours after my breakfast, so unlikely I would be dropping at that time from my breakfast injection - the only explanation must be rapid absorption into the bloodstream of the insulin as far as I can see.

Unless of course your 6.8 was a rogue result and you were only 3.8 or whatever to begin with 😱

 

[Northerner]

Unless of course your 6.8 was a rogue result and you were only 3.8 or whatever to begin with 😱

That did enter my mind, although it was as expected and a 3.8 would have seemed unlikely given past experience. But you never know! 🙄

 

[Northerner]

Hi Amanda,

Thats interesting. We are always told (and were told at FFL by Gary Schiener) that it takes at least 10 minutes for insulin to start to work - so if you inject just when you are about to eat it is harder for the insulin to catch up as the food is in the bloodstream within two minutes.🙂 I know that if Alex were to do that he would get some fairly big spikes if he hasnt bolused at least ten minutes before food. Bev

Yes, I started acting on this advice and brought my post-meal spikes right down 🙂 I only inject immediately before eating if I'm already on the low side e.g. below 4.5.

 

[Abi]

I suspect either a problem with injection site- too deep/ too near capillaries/ in muscle etc, a rogue reading i.e. 6.8 was really lower- as mentioned before, or-that you still had some active insulin on board from a previous injection ( sometimes used to happen to me on mdi if I was working in the mornings, then having a late lunch and early pm meal ready to start work again at 6:30- so less than 4 hours or so between meals

 

[Northerner]

I suspect either a problem with injection site- too deep/ too near capillaries/ in muscle etc, a rogue reading i.e. 6.8 was really lower- as mentioned before, or-that you still had some active insulin on board from a previous injection ( sometimes used to happen to me on mdi if I was working in the mornings, then having a late lunch and early pm meal ready to start work again at 6:30- so less than 4 hours or so between meals

My breakfast injection was in my behind, as was my lunchtime one (I turned the other cheek 😉) and the injections were 6 hours apart. I suppose a possibility might be a late release of some of my breakfast insulin, I've had that once before when no other explanation seemed feasible so perhaps it's happened again.

 

[Pumper_Sue]

My breakfast injection was in my behind, as was my lunchtime one (I turned the other cheek 😉) and the injections were 6 hours apart. I suppose a possibility might be a late release of some of my breakfast insulin, I've had that once before when no other explanation seemed feasible so perhaps it's happened again.

I find absoption is a lot slower if insulin deliver in behind.

 

[Northerner]

I find absoption is a lot slower if insulin deliver in behind.

Yes, I certainly had to adjust my timings when I changed from the belly as I generally find it much slower. The plot thickens - I'm a surprising 9.4 now, which does suggest that the insulin might have got used up more quickly, causing the drop then and missing the food peak. My 2 JBs weren't extra carbs as I had planned a kitkat but didn't eat it after the JBs.

 

[Northerner]

Had another twist in the tail last night. Tested 2.5 hours after injecting for my tea last night and was 12.0, which wasn't as terrible as it sounds as it was only a rise of 2.6 mmol/l from my pre-meal level. By 5 hours after I was at 4.0 making it look like I judged the meal and correction sopt-on (if a little bit close to the edge!). I had a jelly baby to top up a bit and went to bed. Couldn't sleep so tossed and turned for a couple of hours and decided I was too hot. For me, this is often a sign that I may be low when I'm in bed so I tested - 2.7!!! 😱 So rather than releasing too fast, like my lunchtime insulin, my teatime insulin had decided to hang around two hours longer than it usually does! Grr! Had three fruit pastilles and woke to 6.3 this morning. Let's see how today pans out...

 

[AJLang]

I hope that things improve for you today🙂

 

[lauraw1983]

I never inject QA into my bum, absorption is just far too slow. Infact I rarely use my bum at all cos it's a pain to try to get to yourself...think I need longer arms

Sounds like rather a rollercoaster yesterday for you - what is your insulin:carb ratio?

Also, as someone said I think, if it's a hypo when you have eaten especially I'd have a 200ml carton of orange juice instead - starts absorbing through your gums etc straight away and will be quicker than JB's with a tummy full of food....

 

[lauraw1983]

I hate those totally unexpected hypos. I can see why people react badly to others trying to help when you feel like that - I was even stressing that the postman might come or the phone might ring and I knew I couldn't deal with any distraction at all! 😱

And yes THIS! I cannot explain it to anyone else around me at all, but when I am hypo I am just SO intolerant of anything and anyone - and if it ever happens with my 2 children there and just me, it can be so hard to cope with as I just need to focus on ME and nothing else. It really worries me.

Horrible

When I had one really bad hypo, I remember I couldn't even really speak to my OH to articulate what I wanted to, luckily he was there to deal with the kids while I recovered though that time. It's just a massive LEAVE ME ALONE time!!! Lol.