Possible death?

[Matt9332]

I know i'm being paranoid but, is there possibilities of dying when sleeping with hypo? Or will you wake up instantly? I'm quite worried that i'm hypo now, I had something to eat but i will keep going down and I will die overnight.

Can anyone clear this up for me?

[SueM]

Hi Matt, Just to reassure you that no you wont die in your sleep from a hypo.
I've been a type 1 for almost 43 years and had plenty of hypos at night over the years. And as far as I know I am def not dead :T
Just check your blood sugar before bed and if you are a bit low for comfort have a sandwich as the long acting carbs will keep you from going low.
I am more aware of a low bs in the night than during the day so wake up with no problems.
Hope that helps you. :)

[xMenace]

My personal opinion is that it's pretty rare for us to die from these. I've not yet found any statistics. It's based on experience and discussions with my endo, purely anecdotal. It's a question maybe people can ask their endo's and post responses here.

My body has saved me many times. Even when my wife 911's me, I still manage to pull out and greet the EM folks. She's learned not to call so quickly.

I would recommend not being too high or eating before bed if you don't have to. Feeding the disease is fundamentally wrong. Learn what your body does evernight. Start sampling different hours and build a profile of what your BGs tend to do. Even stay up all night and test every half hour. Knowing your overnight profile, you can make a much more informed judgement before going to bed and feel confident about what will happen. Not knowing is very stressful for all.

I had another nasty last night. I learned the hard way that some Christmas treats aren't as sweet as you'd suspect. I think the hostess at the party I was at cut out all sugar without telling me. Combine that with being agressive due to my recent lathergy ... :( But even without my wife making me drink juice, I think I'd have pulled out ok.

p.s. If I remember correctly you are still a teenager. Your body is at the peak of responsiveness. You have few worries. When you get to your 30's, start paying more attention because your sensitivity will become much reduced. I was never 911'd in my teens or 20's. At age 34 it all started to go downhill.

[tanyatype1]

I would recommend not being too high or eating before bed if you don't have to.


I agree Menace. I like to go to bed, with no insulin on board, in my 5's. If you are a bit high when you go to bed, or eat at bedtime (you aren't sure how high your numbers are while you're asleep) you could potentially be high for 8 or so hours. Night after night that can really make an A1C climb.

[Zion]

Well... It is possible... And here is how.

I had low blood sugar one morning while statying at my girlfriends house I got up to go to the bathroom and my blood sugar was soo low I didnt know what was going on. She lives in an old 1920's house in downtown Pasadena. (She has louve windows right next to the toilet) she noticed I was acting funny and I kept falling down so she was trying to hold me up in the bathroom and I fell through the window... She lives on the second story. So I guess if I would of fell completely out the window, I could of dies from low blood sugar. AHAHAHA. I think it is actually funny I laugh about it often. The biggest pain was replacing those windows. I wasnt hurt and I freaked out my girlfriend really bad... So she is trying to convice me to get a continuous monitoring through mini med. that was the only bad thing that has happened to me in the 12 years so I guess thats not too bad I have never had any really extreme highs that got me in the hospital or lows.

Sorry for the rant funny story none the less

[xMenace]

Well... It is possible... And here is how.

I had low blood sugar one morning while statying at my girlfriends house I got up to go to the bathroom and my blood sugar was soo low I didnt know what was going on. She lives in an old 1920's house in downtown Pasadena. (She has louve windows right next to the toilet) she noticed I was acting funny and I kept falling down so she was trying to hold me up in the bathroom and I fell through the window... She lives on the second story. So I guess if I would of fell completely out the window, I could of dies from low blood sugar. AHAHAHA. I think it is actually funny I laugh about it often. The biggest pain was replacing those windows. I wasnt hurt and I freaked out my girlfriend really bad... So she is trying to convice me to get a continuous monitoring through mini med. that was the only bad thing that has happened to me in the 12 years so I guess thats not too bad I have never had any really extreme highs that got me in the hospital or lows.

Sorry for the rant funny story none the less

Welcome to the forum!

I once fell into a lamp and smucked it completely with my hand as I tried to brace myself. I sometimes wonder if I could have electrocuted myself. It's shocking to think about :eek:

[Alice]

I would have to add caution about avoiding a snack before bed...that has given me a good nights sleep and still waking below 100 in the morning. I'm on an almost perfect dose of Lantus right now...(long road)...but find I still drop about 50 points at night...sometimes. The "sometimes" is what is very hard to predict.

So, even avoiding short-acting before bed, some of us still have to watch the long-acting. I don't seem to rise in the morning like many on this forum do...I seem to drop. Yes, I take Lantus in the morning to help prevent that 4-hour rise from occuring when I'm asleep...that's helped give me a near perfect night.

Most of my lows happen early morning hours. I almost always eat about 15-25 carbs at bed time...unless I'm running high.

Regarding the "death" question: I've had several endo's tell me that it is important to have carbs in your diet so that your liver is not depleted when it is called to provide a boost. If you are depleted on liver glucose, you will have a more difficult time pulling out of a sever low. That liver glucose "storage bank" serves us well when needed.

Bedtime is not a great time to micro-manage your carbs or insulin. Ask me how I know! (but, never needed emergency care, I've always been able to treat myself...) It happens more than most people admit.

[HollyB]

My understanding is the greatest risk of actually dying in your sleep during a hypo is after an evening of drinking -- because the alcohol impairs your liver's ability to (produce? release?) glycogen (aka sugar) to counteract your hypo.

So if you're going to bed half-drunk, that's a good reason to set an alarm and test partway through the night. Maybe twice.

[notme]

I have had many nightime lows. I always wake up. I do try to fight the low for some dumb reason, but I always eventually get up and eat. Unless you have hypo unawareness, I don't think it is too much of a worry.

[Zion]

If anyone was to ever die from Alcohol and Diabetes I guarantee it would havee been me or my friend Bryan. So since that has not happened I would say it is pretty much impossible

[REDLAN]

it is extremely rare for people on insulin to die from an overnight hypo. Most people will wake up (someone of them will of course fall through windows). The people that do die from an overnight hypo, are usually fairly newly diagnosed,

AND much more importantly the hypo is complicated by....

1) drinking large quantities of alcohol. Alcohol impairs the ability of the liver to release glucose into the bloodstream. The more alcohol, the greater this effect. So it can cause you to go low, and then prevent the liver from releasing glucose.

2) strenuous exercise during the day combined with a failure to replenish glycogen stores by eating a carbohydrate rich meal afterwards. What happens is that person goes low during the night (this is because the muscles suck up glucose) and the liver is unable to raise your blood sugar because it's glycogen stores have been depleted.

This is why you are advised to have a snack before going to bed after drinking alcohol. You also need to eat a carbohydrate rich meal following strenuous exercise.

In all other situations, unless you have taken a very large insulin of overdose, your liver will release glucose into your blood stream in response to the low blood sugar. You may start sweating, and have strange dreams, but you should be OK until you wake up.

[anmi]

I always wake up when I have a hipo... sometimes before it goes really down ... for example, I wake when it is 60. Once, I woke up at 39... which is really really nasty... I was all wet, I couldn't stay on my feet, trembling... I was trembling so much that I couldn't hold the sweets I wanted to eat... and I was so hungry I could eat a horse :)...

I had the same problem on Christmas parties :)... even if I had some sweets, because of the dancing ;) I was really low during the night, I woke up 2 times... By the way, is this normal? I was low, ate some cookies, chocolate (I thought it was enough), felt asleep and woke up again after 2 hours also on low... Isn't this to much? 2 hipos in one night?

Anyway, I hate hipos and how my body reacts before and after... :(

[JediSurfer]

There is a condition called Dead in Bed syndrome. Where the heart stops during sleeping hypo. But it only affects 1 in every 1000 type 1's and it maily affects children I think.

I was going to take part in a study at the university investigating this syndrome but the docs are using salbutamol to identify the condition and I already use salbutamol so i couldn't take part.


I have suffered many sleeping hypos and am still here. I think the chances of dying in your sleep are very slim as the adrenalin which is released usually wakes us up during hypo. But i have required the help of my partner on several occassions to treat the hypo.

[UpNorth]

I'd say it is a possibility, but probably won't happen. I've only heard about one dying from an overnight hypo, that person often had problems with overnight hypos (her family had to wake her up with glucagon several times) along with other health issues if i remember it right, guess her body simply didn't have the strength to snap out of it again, she just didn't wake up one morning:(
But don't worry about it too much, the chance of it happening is very slim, at least as long as you don't just ignore the hypo when waking up from it...