strange hypo: Anyone help???

[mcr]

This is quiet a long post but will keep it as short as poss:
Son aged 10, type 1 for 7 years. Hba1c 7.2 well controlled. Better running on the low side, hypo usually around 1.8 -2.8 reading.
In his bedroom he has a small stereo to the side of his bed on a shelf(will make sense in a minute)
3am hear a crashing sound in his bedroom run in to find son lying still on bed with stereo wire in his hand and stereo by his side(not on top of him)
Talk to him not much response, check his blood reading 3.
begin to treat for hypo. Cannot chew glucose tablets or drink, so use gluco gel. Notice his face down the left hand side has all drooped and his left leg and arm are floppy. Cannot feel me pinching his left side, check blood again 4 still not able to talk or move etc. Is then sick and begins to come round. blood now 8.9 ( this all takes around 45 minutes). Complains of being cold so gets into our bed. Notice his face and leg are now moving but his hand is a bit twisted thumb stuck inside fingers etc but returns to normal.Check all his body no signs of lumps or bumps no red marks or bruising. Son cannot remember what has happened and eventually goes off to sleep.
Wakes at 6.30 am and is sick.
Phone Diabetic nurse she advises I take him to hospital for checks etc.
Full neurological test done nothing out of the ordinary.
tell the doctor the story he suggests he has had a head injury caused by the falling stereo. Still no visible marks or lumps. He said that because we could remove the wire from his hand it can't have been a hypo as he would be ridgid. Suggested that because he was asleep his brain had gone into shock. Got to admit we thought he had had a stroke.
So has anyone else ever had a hypo with these symptoms??? If it was a head injury why were there no bumps/marks etc. Son still has no idea what happened We are still at a loss.

 

[Caroline Wilson]

Hi MCR, when I read your post I thought OMG the boy has had a stroke, but you got help and ruled that out. I hope he is better., and someone else comes along and is able to help.

 

[caroleann]

Could it have been a panic attack,sounds remarkably like the first one i had,hubby rang nhs health line they were all convinced i had had a stroke or heart attack and sent paramedics and ambulance and took me to hospital was told i was having a panic attack ,infact this is how i found out i was diabetic.sorry if this is;nt much help.

 

[Adrienne]

Hiya

Wow that must have been very scary for you.

All I can do is describe what I have seen with Jessica. She has had seizures, but you must remember that not all seizures are these big jerking thrashing around things, fits can resemble still silent, staring things which Jessica used to have loads of. Another type she has had is where I went into her bedroom and her leg and arm were in a very awkward position, which is not a normal position for anyone, she was sort of foaming at the mouth but was silent and her eyes were just staring. I tested and she was 1.7 (if I remember rightly).

I could not use coke so had to use glucagon injection kit. Glucogel does not work with Jessica. She was howling at this point but it did not sound human.

With a hypo you do not have to have a rigid hand, it could well be floppy and this is why you could remove the wire.

If you have ruled out a stroke then I would suggest it was a hypo. He could well have been a lot lower than 3.0 but his liver could have started kicking out a bit of glycogen which would raise the levels to the 3.0. He may have well been a lot lot lot lower and he may well have been moving oddly which would have meant he could well have got his hand caught in the wire which would have pulled the radio down. By this time his levels were raising so he had stopped moving etc etc.

This is perfectly feasible. Obviously I can't say if that is what happened but it could do.

One thing I would be worried about is that if his hypos are usually as low as you say, I would want to be changing this. If he is having hypos overnight and they are that low (and this could be a possibility and you may not know as his liver may well kick in and raise the levels) then being that low for a certain period could do some damage to his brain. Most children do not wake up when hypo at night.

I know you probably know all this but I thought I would just mention it (better safe than sorry is my moto - well one of them 🙂). Most hospitals will say that a hypo of 2.6 and under is an extreme emergency and the rule of thumb is if you are lower than that for 4 hours, you will suffer some sort of brain damage. That is an average so some people will need longer at that level but others will need a lot shorter time. I have seen doctors and nurses run fast to deal with a hypo of 2.6 and under at Great Ormond Street.

I hope you get to the bottom of this and I hope your son is ok. 🙂

 

[grahams mum]

my frinds son had something similar is only 8 and he knocked his head on the side table and since then he had so many test but they cannot find a sign of a stroke and since he cannot feel one side of his body normal again the doctors are sayingis diabetes related his been diabetic since he was 18 months old