Stooooopid question, but i have to ask.......

[Lorraine]

How do you know if you have had a hypo whilst asleep? Or don't you know?

When I was first diagnosed I was frightened to sleep because i thought I might have a hypo.

I very rarely sleep through the whole night but don't think to test my blood if I wake up in the middle of the night. Is this something I should do?

I do perspire most nights but that could just be my age lol. 😉

 

[Steff]

i would test if you fgeel hypo yes gives u idea of your bs, also try having a night time snack before bed

 

[aymes]

I do have hypos in the night sometimes, usually it will wake me up so I'll 'catch' it, although will generally be lower than I'd have caught it if I'd been awake. There have been some times though when I suspect I've slept through a hypo, the sign for me is usually that I have an unexplained higher reading in the morning (possibly rebound effect) and I generally just feel a bit rough with the usual 'hypo headache'.

If you suspect you're hypoing in the night then it can be quite useful to do a middle of the night test to be sure what's happening. If you are then you may want to have a look at your basal insulin amount (assuming you're on a basal bolus system)

 

[insulinaddict09]

How do you know if you have had a hypo whilst asleep? Or don't you know?

When I was first diagnosed I was frightened to sleep because i thought I might have a hypo.

I very rarely sleep through the whole night but don't think to test my blood if I wake up in the middle of the night. Is this something I should do?

I do perspire most nights but that could just be my age lol. 😉

Hi Lorraine , I usually wake up in the night if Im hypo , hot , sweaty and confused / tired , if in doubt i always check my sugars , if i feel too weird I will have some lucozade and then test , (i have stuff next to the bed) I have never been wrong yet. I do think I have had low levels in the night and not woken up though as i have gone to bed at 8 and woke up at 18 and once 23.4 so I had definately hypoed while asleep and not woken up but my liver had pushed out lots of glucose to counteract the low sugar level.

 

[Lorraine]

Now thats something else I haven't been able to understand until your replies. That I can wake up much much higher than when I went to bed and can never understand it. So the glucose comes out of the liver to compensate for a low that hasn't been given sugar? Is that right? Or am I just confusing myself further? Can that damage the liver over time then if it happens too frequently?

 

[aymes]

Now thats something else I haven't been able to understand until your replies. That I can wake up much much higher than when I went to bed and can never understand it. So the glucose comes out of the liver to compensate for a low that hasn't been given sugar? Is that right? Or am I just confusing myself further? Can that damage the liver over time then if it happens too frequently?

The liver can, and quite often does, react to a hypo by 'dumping' glucose into the blood stream which can then cause levels to go too high following a hypo. Sadly it doesn't always do this, and not quickly, so it can't be relied on to do it so the best thing is to avoid hypos in the first place. Shame as it would be a handy little hypo defence mechanism if it worked! I don't know if it can damage the liver but I gather it's common to lose this ability over time, and if it's done it once it wouldn't be able to react in the same way to another hypo soon after.

Of course waking up higher than when you went to bed could also be a result of a wrong basal rate, or the dawn phenomenon...

 

[Caroline]

As explained to me by the DSN, the liver produces glucose all the time in order to give our organs energy to work even when we are asleep. Sometimes the liver doesn't produce enough glucose or doesn't produce it fast enough, so you have a hypo.

As you wake part the way through the nght anyway, there is no harm in testing as it will re-assure you that all is as it should be and if you are low, you are the able to do something about it.

 

[Copepod]

How do you know if you have a hypo while asleep? You may wake up with a headache. If someone shares your bed, they may notice.
A InsulinAddict says, always have some sugary food / drink within reach, so that you can treat without getting our of bed, and test, if in doubt.

 

[PhoebeC]

I Always wake up, And now i understand the difference between hypo waking up and normal waking up.
If i go back to sleep i feel alwful in the morning, that horrid hypo headahce most of the day.
Always try to have something easy to take near your bed and if you can get a spare meter to keep near also. saves leaving the warm bed.
xx

 

[Northerner]

I Always wake up, And now i understand the difference between hypo waking up and normal waking up.
If i go back to sleep i feel alwful in the morning, that horrid hypo headahce most of the day.
Always try to have something easy to take near your bed and if you can get a spare meter to keep near also. saves leaving the warm bed.
xx

Hi Phoebe! Where've you been?🙂

I suspected I was having hypos because of the headache thing, so I did quite a few 3 am tests. I discovered that yes, sometimes I was having hypos, but also sometimes I was actually quite high! Bloomin' diabetes! I think the headache was the best indicator to me, as I generally sleep through them. I have also been hot in bed (!!!) even before the diabetes, so don't think I can use that as an indication.

Anyway, after some considerable time (the last 6 months or so), I finally seem to have got my basal insulin to just the right level - such that I can go to bed on 6.0 and wake on 5.5 without even needing a snack. I do sometimes snack at those levels though, if I've been particularly active during the day or been drinking alcohol.

p.s. It's not a stupid question - I asked the same thing several months ago on a different thread!