Was I having a hypo?

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ChrisP

ChrisP

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Relationship to Diabetes
Type 2
Hi,
Being a bear of little brain (and new to all this) I am a little puzzled and would appreciate some advice.
This morning I had my usual Bran flakes and banana for breakfast but due to a hospital appointment I missed my mid morning 2 slices of whole meal toast.
Around 12.30 I started to feel hot and sweaty, shakey and generally not right,
Suspecting a hypo I took my BG which was 4.8.
I continued to feel like this until I ate my lunch about 1.
Once I had eaten my lunch I started to feel better.
Now I am sure my Diabetes nurse said that once I stopped taking Gliclazides (sp?) I would not be at risk of hypos.
I stopped taking them a couple of weeks ago.
From what I have read 4.8 seems high for a hypo.
Any advice would be most gratefully received.
Chris
 
Hi Chris,

The symptoms you describe are classic hypo territory, god I get the shakes, worse than DT's!

4.8 could stimulate a hypo, if your levels have been high preceeding this.

Sorry no idea about the medication you're on.

I would perhaps suggest not waiting for half an hour to deal with it in future, okay 4.8 isn't really low, but your body clearly wasn't happy, a quick sugar burst to get you up a bit perhaps could have helped you "recover" from the feelings you were having a bit quicker, but it would have taken a wee while to recover even if you had taken some sugar, some say ten minutes you can be okay but it can be half an hour or more depending on how fast you were dropping what your doing etc etc!

Hope this helps?!

Rossi.
 
I wouldn't think that it would be a hypo, with a reading of 4.8. Hypos are generally when your BG goes below 4. Above that you can't technically refer to any symptoms as being hypoglycemia, as far as I'm aware, although those do sound like symptoms that I can experience when going through a hypo. I'm not particulary well informed when it comes to whether Type 2's can experience hypos, but I'm sure that someone on here will be able to advise you better.

Glad that you got it sorted out though! 🙂
 
Hi Chris, what can happen is that you can get 'false hypos'. This is when your levels have been higher for a while (as they would probably be for some time prior to diagnosis), and then they start coming down to much lower, but not dangerous levels. This is what it sounds like to me has happened to you - 4.8 is not your 'normal' level at the moment so your body reacts in very much the same way as someone having a true hypo - a true hypo would be below 3.5 mmol/l (although below 4 is considered low enough to require action).
 
One thing maybe? My son *certainly* often experiences symptoms of hypo around 5mmols, even if his numbers are actually good (eg 6s and 7s) -- this seems to be how he is put together, and we have certainly been told that different levels seem to activate for different people. He doesn't always feel the 5s, but it now seems clear to us that if he is dropping, he will ALWAYS feel a 5mmol and often feel pretty rough. He now routinely has a little glucose to help stabilise things and ward off a real drop (case in point, now fairly common: two days ago, felt low, tested and was 5.1mmol. Felt grot so had 3 glucose over 15 mins. Still felt bad, tested: 5.1mmols still. Only raised to 7mmols after another half an hour.)

This may all be part of you learning about your body, in any case. And the feeling of being hypo seems to vary across all blood glucose levels at different times, just to make things more complicated! This morning my son woke up with a BG of 4.1mmol, and felt just fine.

All the best.
 
Patricia said:
One thing maybe? My son *certainly* often experiences symptoms of hypo around 5mmols, even if his numbers are actually good (eg 6s and 7s) -- this seems to be how he is put together, and we have certainly been told that different levels seem to activate for different people. He doesn't always feel the 5s, but it now seems clear to us that if he is dropping, he will ALWAYS feel a 5mmol and often feel pretty rough. He now routinely has a little glucose to help stabilise things and ward off a real drop (case in point, now fairly common: two days ago, felt low, tested and was 5.1mmol. Felt grot so had 3 glucose over 15 mins. Still felt bad, tested: 5.1mmols still. Only raised to 7mmols after another half an hour.)

This may all be part of you learning about your body, in any case. And the feeling of being hypo seems to vary across all blood glucose levels at different times, just to make things more complicated! This morning my son woke up with a BG of 4.1mmol, and felt just fine.

All the best.
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A good point too Patricia - sometimes I can be quite low without noticing, other times feel low and actually still be above 4 - I think that it often relates to how quickly your levels have fallen. A slow gradual decline will not register, but a swifter fall will be more dramatic in terms of symptoms.
 
Northerner said:
A good point too Patricia - sometimes I can be quite low without noticing, other times feel low and actually still be above 4 - I think that it often relates to how quickly your levels have fallen. A slow gradual decline will not register, but a swifter fall will be more dramatic in terms of symptoms.
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I get this. I felt a bit weird just before lunch today. Not really bad but as if I was just on the edge of a hypo. Checked my blood sugar and it came back 5. Was a nice surprise.

There are times I feel fine and get 3.7 on the meter and other times I feel crap at 3.6. :D

I think I've worked it out to a slow fall won't register but a sudden drop from above 4 to below 4 is quite easy to notice.
 
I wrote this poem about the different types of hypo...

The weather comes in many forms,
We have a name for each,
And Eskimos have words for ?snow? ?
Too numerous to teach!

In Manchester, I?ve heard it said,
So many kinds of rain
Can fall upon a single day,
It permeates the brain!

But what about low sugar?
So many terms we lack?
There?s ?hypo? or its bigger friend,
The hypoglycaemic attack!

What about the ?slowpo?
That takes an hour to fall?
We might not even know
That we are having one at all!

Then there is the ?plummet?
That falls at such a rate
We panic and we fret and sweat
That we may be too late!

Let?s not forget ?rebounder?
That strikes just like a viper,
But when you treat it, rockets up
And leaves you feeling hyper!

The ?raging ocean? is the worst
With peaks and troughs so wide
That plunge you down, then up, then down,
And floundering in the tide?

So, ?hypo? isn?t quite enough,
We need some other way
To let you know when we go low,
Just what we mean to say!

:D
 
Brilliant poem Northerner :D Ive never seen that one before ..🙂
 
Thank you all for your advice.
Great to know that you're all there when needed.
Thanks
 
i thought i was having a hypo earlier (shakey hands, funny breathing, sweating etc) and i was 20.4. so yeah, hypo symptoms don't always correlate with a hypo.
 
shiv said:
i thought i was having a hypo earlier (shakey hands, funny breathing, sweating etc) and i was 20.4. so yeah, hypo symptoms don't always correlate with a hypo.
Click to expand...

yep you can definitely get those symptoms when you are hyper, ive often mistaken a hyper for a hypo!
 
Sorry forgot to say...
Great poem Northerner!
 
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