rebrascora
Well-Known Member
- Relationship to Diabetes
- Type 1
- Pronouns
- She/Her
Diabetes is all about high blood glucose. It is an accidental overdose of medication for it which causes low BG ie hypos so you would not experience a hypo before you were diagnosed and it sounds like you have been actively preventing them since diagnosis which is a good thing in many respects but don't confuse never having a hypo with no hypo awareness.
I think most people fear hypos and it is totally understandable because they are potentially dangerous, but sometimes that fear is actually more debilitating than the reality and having the odd hypo and learning to manage them and developing confidence in both your body's response to hypos (ie hypo awareness and warning signs) and also your own ability to manage hypos is an important part of diabetes management and something that I think CGMs like Libre and Dexcom perhaps rob people of. It makes them feel vulnerable if they are without those devices.
Like everyone I feared hypos when I was first diagnosed and I didn't have CGM just finger pricks. The first few hypos were really scary, especially as I was alone when they happened and I rang someone close to me whilst I was having them and kept them on the line until I had recovered and let them know where I was in case I wasn't successful in treating it, but I have always been successful and that has given me the confidence in my own ability and the ability of my body but also confidence in my hypo treatment.... I use jelly babies and I call them my "Hypo Heroes". It is a delicate balancing act between trying to avoid hypos and learning how to manage them and if you have never had one then how can you be sure that your body will warn you and your hypo treatments will work.
Before I had had a nocturnal hypo, I used to wake up multiple times a night to assess if I might be hypo and sometimes I would actually get out of bed and go into the bathroom to finger prick to check, in the days when I didn't have Libre. Then about 8 months after diagnosis, I started exercising more and I had a whole week of nocturnal hypos even though I reduced my basal insulin and ate carbs before bed. That week taught me that my body will wake me up and my hypo treatment will work and surprisingly it stopped me from being so frightened of them because it gave me confidence that I can manage them. I still get nocturnal hypos (and indeed daytime hypos) despite my best efforts but I am so much calmer and more relaxed about them now because I have that confidence and I will just pop a jelly baby or two into my mouth and chew them really well and go straight back to sleep. The fear for me was far more debilitating than the reality and once I conquered the fear and gained confidence, the hypos were far more easy to deal with. I now sleep like a log every night unless my Libre alarm wakes me up and sometimes I even sleep through that! My body will usually wake me up in the low 3s at night but I get hypo sensations between 4.2 and 3.6 during the day depending upon how fast or slow my levels are dropping and what I am doing.
I take a break from CGM every now and then for a few days. What surprises me is that even though I have confidence in my own body's ability to warn me of going hypo and confidence in my own ability to manage hypos and I spent my first year of diagnosis without CGM, I still feel vulnerable the first night I go to bed without it, so I dread to think how scary the idea of going without CGM feels to people who have never managed their diabetes without it and never had a hypo and never developed confidence in their own body and their ability to deal with a hypo and I do wonder if the technology is doing people a disservice in allowing them to prevent themselves from gaining that experience and confidence.
