The lowdown on hypos (new diabetic here)

[Nicola1873]

I've just been recently diagnosed with Type1 diabetes and have had quite a few experiences of hypos whilst I learn to get used to insulin and carb counting etc. I'm just querying why my blood sugars went up then down following treating a hypo this evening...
My bs levels were at 3.9 so I treated it with half a bottle of lucozade. I tested my bs about 20mins later and they'd gone up to 4.7. Some 40mins later I began to feel shaky again and tested the bs again and it had gone down to 4.1? Does anybody have any ideas why this might have been? Do I need to eat something afterwards or was the lucozade not enough?
Any ideas would be greatly appreciated 🙂

 

[Robster65]

Hi Nicola.

If your hypo was induced by too much insulin, then the carbs will send your BG up but the insulin will still be circulating and will start to bring it down again. It may be that you are still adjusting to find the right dose or you may have eaten something that has a late spike (carbs can be delayed before they get through your system) so your insulin has little to work with and sends you hypo. You may find that your BG goes higher later on. Or it might not.

I would say for now, if you can, treat each hypo as you have (15g fast carbs) and then if you go hypo again, do the same. Note down everythign you eat, even hypo treatments. You may be able to work out if you're overdosing or if it was a slightly different GI meal or just one of those things.

Exercise will also make a big difference to how insulin utilises carbs. You need less insulin when you exercise, ormore carbs.🙂

Rob

 

[ukjohn]

Hi
There could be a number of reasons why your sugars dipped again, but as I understand it afyer treating a hypo as you did this should be followed with some carbs, ie a sandwich.

John

 

[Steff]

Hi Nicola a warm welcome to the forum

 

[Nicola1873]

Thanks very much folks, this diabetes craic is tough work, hopefully it'll all come 2nd nature soon 🙂

 

[everydayupsanddowns]

Hi Nicola

Some people find that they need to 'follow up' a hypo treatment with some slower acting carbs (10-15g eg a digestive biscuit or slice of toast) others find that this follow up always leaves them high so do without it. Your meter will tell you which you are.

If you were not diabetic and your levels dipped, your pancreas would suspend insulin secretion. As a T1, even if there were no rapid insulin working there would still be a bit of basal (Lantus/Levemir) active. It is this that the follow-up sometimes needs to cover. Use your meter to ensure that you don't over or under treat hypos 🙂

 

[trophywench]

WE all make mistakes however long we've been at it.

Says she who had pizza and chips for tea, 60g carb, was 3.7 before so that was 5.7u and what did muggins do? - had it all before eating. So what happened half an hour later? 1.8. Emergency Lucozade. Up to 6.7, nice. Then OMG - 19.4 ....... 4u.

I am soooo thirsty! LOL

And I've been doing this for 40 years, come July! Pillock LOL

 

[justlikethehotels]

My daughter was told to treat a hypo with the fast acting sugar (lucozade, coke, glucose tablets etc) and test after 10 minutes. If back to normal levels eat 10g longer lasting carbs (rich tea biscuits etc).

The only difference to this is if low before she eats a meal in which case she won't need the 10g carbs and should take insulin as normal less the 10g carbs ...

Seems to be working for her at the moment ... but who's to say that will continue! 🙂

 

[margie]

One problem at the moment is that you are unsure how much insulin you need for your carbs.

You also have two lots of insulin working - your basal giving you around the clock coverage and the bolus with your food. The profiles (ie the time the insulin is in your system and when it peaks) differs from one insulin to another. For instance you may have an insulin that peaks at 2 hours but takes 5 hours to be fully used up.

You had a hypo because your circulating insulin was too high for the glucose in your blood. Your lucozade put it up but you still had more insulin in the system than you needed hence it fell again.

This should happen less as you get to match your insulin to the carbs you have eaten, but sometimes a hypo will appear from nowhere.

I hope that makes sense.

 

[Tina63]

We were also told to follow up with a 10-15g carb snack (cereal bar/toast) 15 mins later if back over 4. If below 4 take more lucozade/coke/dextrose etc, then wait another 15 mins and test again, if over 4 then, again have the biscuit/toast etc. Seemed to work fine for my lad.

 

[imtrying]

hi and welcome to the forum.

As you'll quickly learn with diabetes, we're all different and we all end up needing to do things different ways!

For me personally, I need to treat with fast acting carbs (usually a double dose) and then follow up with long acting carbs. If I don't, the quick acting picks me up for about half an hour and then I'll drop back down into a hypo again. But that's just me 🙂 you might be different so record how you treat your hypos and try different ways. You will find one that suits you.

Good luck!