Varying blood levels

[lauren.manning89]

Hello,
My Nan is a diabetic and has been for 60 years, however over the last 2 years and most recently her blood sugar is dropping and raising it appears as and when it wants to, she will go to bed low and wake up high and vice versa. She hasn't changed the way she has done her insulin etc, i dont really understand diabetes very well but was wondering if anyone else has any ideas of what might be going wrong or anything that can help. Getting worried about her as she managed to 'lose' 2 hours today cause she had gone hypo and as she is alone it doesnt help.
Any ideas are really appreciated xx

 

[Northerner]

Hi Lauren,

Sorry to hear of the problems your nan is having. If she is getting lows in the night it might be something called a 'liver dump' that is causing her to wake higher than normal - this is where the liver reacts to a nighttime low by releasing extra glucose into the bloodstream and can cause you to wake higher than you were when you went to bed. I think she needs to talk to her nurse or doctor to see if her insulin needs adjusting or changing as it appears her dose might be too high. Does she change where she injects very often? If she's been injecting for many years it may be that the injection sites are causing slow or sporadic absorbtion of the insulin, making things unpredictable. Again, this should be checked with the nurse or doctor.

I'll move this to the main message board as more people may see it there and respond with other suggestions. 🙂