Type 2 Hypos??

[deanl]

Hi all, new to the forum but wanted others experiences.
I've been diagnosed almost 4 years now and in the main kept my levels pretty good, around the 50 mark. In the last 8 months I've barely exercised because of a herniated disc and sciatica and have had to work much harder keeping my levels decent. Just recently and almost every night I ws suffering pins and needles in feet, anxiety, tremors, headaches and so on. I tested my levels the other night before going to bed which I don't normally do and found my level was 3.6mmol. I've never known them to be this low and the doctor and nurse when getting my hba1c done yesterday say that you can't hypo on metformin. The only other significant thing is I came off gabapentin two weeks ago and I'm now wondering could coming off a drug like that after 10 years play a significant part in lowering my bloods to such levels.

TIA for any advice support you could offer.

 

[helli]

For those of us on insulin, we are warned of hypos at 4.0 and below whereas people not being treated with insulin would consider a hypo to be 3.5 and below. On a diabetes forum, it is obviously common to see the 4.0 stated frequently but if you are being treated with Metformin, a 3.6 is unlikely to be anything to be concerned about.
The other thing to remember is that home testing kits only need to be within 15% accuracy. Therefore, the 3.6 you saw on your meter could be measuring a BG of 4.2.
However, there are a couple of things to be aware of
- if our body is used to higher BG. it will feel like a hypo when it is lowered. Over time, our body will familiarise itself with the lower levels.
- lowering BG too fast can cause (I believe temporary) complications such as neuropathy
- some people with insulin resistance can experience reactive hypoglycaemia

And finally, it is not true that people without diabetes or not treated with insulin will never experience a hypo. I have seen this with my own eyes. My partner does not have diabetes, has no diagnosed medical condition and is generally pretty fit. He likes to do indoor cycling on his turbo trainer. During one long steep session, he forgot to fuel himself and started to feel pretty lousy. He had to stop and lie down. After he started to feel better, he tested his BG - it was 2.9.
I know this is an extreme example, but it illustrates that it is not only people with diabetes who can get hypos.

 

[Burylancs]

For those of us on insulin, we are warned of hypos at 4.0 and below whereas people not being treated with insulin would consider a hypo to be 3.5 and below. On a diabetes forum, it is obviously common to see the 4.0 stated frequently but if you are being treated with Metformin, a 3.6 is unlikely to be anything to be concerned about.
The other thing to remember is that home testing kits only need to be within 15% accuracy. Therefore, the 3.6 you saw on your meter could be measuring a BG of 4.2.
However, there are a couple of things to be aware of
- if our body is used to higher BG. it will feel like a hypo when it is lowered. Over time, our body will familiarise itself with the lower levels.
- lowering BG too fast can cause (I believe temporary) complications such as neuropathy
- some people with insulin resistance can experience reactive hypoglycaemia

And finally, it is not true that people without diabetes or not treated with insulin will never experience a hypo. I have seen this with my own eyes. My partner does not have diabetes, has no diagnosed medical condition and is generally pretty fit. He likes to do indoor cycling on his turbo trainer. During one long steep session, he forgot to fuel himself and started to feel pretty lousy. He had to stop and lie down. After he started to feel better, his tested his BG - it was 2.9.
I know this is an extreme example, but it illustrates that it is not only people with diabetes who can get hypos.

What the medics meant was that Metformin can't cause hypos.

 

[deanl]

For those of us on insulin, we are warned of hypos at 4.0 and below whereas people not being treated with insulin would consider a hypo to be 3.5 and below. On a diabetes forum, it is obviously common to see the 4.0 stated frequently but if you are being treated with Metformin, a 3.6 is unlikely to be anything to be concerned about.
The other thing to remember is that home testing kits only need to be within 15% accuracy. Therefore, the 3.6 you saw on your meter could be measuring a BG of 4.2.
However, there are a couple of things to be aware of
- if our body is used to higher BG. it will feel like a hypo when it is lowered. Over time, our body will familiarise itself with the lower levels.
- lowering BG too fast can cause (I believe temporary) complications such as neuropathy
- some people with insulin resistance can experience reactive hypoglycaemia

And finally, it is not true that people without diabetes or not treated with insulin will never experience a hypo. I have seen this with my own eyes. My partner does not have diabetes, has no diagnosed medical condition and is generally pretty fit. He likes to do indoor cycling on his turbo trainer. During one long steep session, he forgot to fuel himself and started to feel pretty lousy. He had to stop and lie down. After he started to feel better, his tested his BG - it was 2.9.
I know this is an extreme example, but it illustrates that it is not only people with diabetes who can get hypos.

Thank you for that. I personally think in my case it had a lot to do with coming off gabapentin after 10 years on it. Anxiety also plays a massive part in just about every part of our bodies which coming off Gabapentin causes a lot of.