Do you wake up when your BG gets low?

[Park]

Do you wake up when your BG gets low? Also I can't go to sleep when it's low. It's a good thing, it's like a built in safety device.

[plattb1]

So far, I wake up when I'm low. I have not had any issues with hypo unawareness. Thank God!

[TommyC1]

Sometimes but not always.
It seems as though the adrenalin response does not kick in consistantly for me.
Sometimes I wake up startled with my heart racing or just restless and sweat soaked.
In either case I know I need to check my BS.
Sometimes I wake up more slowly and quite confused.
Then I'll often eat before I realize I need to test.

A few times I've not come to until the EMTs had the glucose drip running. Nothing like waking up at 2 AM with a crew of strange men in my bedroom and OJ and strawberry jam smeared all over my body:eek:

[Subby]

I generally do. But it can get borderline. If I go low at night, often I will be in very disturbed sleep for 10? 30? minutes, before coming to a realisation something is wrong. At times I believe I have suffered from rebound effect, that of going low while asleep and suffering a liver rebound - so it's definitely not fool proof.

As for being low stopping sleep - I absolutely find this. When I was on long acting insulin, which at the time would often very slowly send me low from 10pm - 3am due to the nature of the action, I can't describe the frustration of feeling sleepy, then slowly activating over an hour or more as my BG slowly slipped down. As you say though, a good safety device. The body knows to rouse itself, that's for sure. Whether it's effective every time, is another question...

[GretchO]

Usually no, and if i do wake up and I'm low I can't tell...it's pretty much the only time I'm hypo unaware. Pre sensors, i usually figured it out if i went to the bathroom and found myself engrossed in counting the squares of toilet paper or something else weird like that (also found myself once polishing the sink fixtures at 2:30am...WTF?). Then i'd realized something was wrong. My husband, on the other hand, could tell immediately, even in the middle of the night.

Now, I get sensor alarms if/when i go low at night.

[ashleesmom]

me and my daughter are new to diabetes type 1. what is a sensor for night and where do we get one and how much. i was up all night with her for the last 5 days trying to test her and feed her lows and test again.

[Subby]

Hi ashleesmum. A "sensor for night" is a CGMS - constant glucose monitoring system. It's not specifically for night, but any time. It's a device that sticks under the skin and gives constant feedback of current (actually, usually lagged by 10 - 20 min) blood sugars. Some can be set to sound off alarms to warn of lower BGs. But user experience does tend to differ as to what degree of use it is - it's safe to say it's certainly not a perfected technology - yet.

As for gaining use of it, it depends very much where you live and if in US, what your insurance company will cover. Without insurance cover, it's prohibitively expensive, unless you are very well off.

As well as learn more about CGMS and explore CGMS options with your doc, insurance company, can I suggest you post a lttle about what you are finding with issues with your daughter's control. We can't provide medical advice, but there is a lot of knowledge and ideas to be had about dealing with blood sugars and issues, from other diabetics. It may be quite possible to work out why your daughter is having these episodes, and quite possible to alleviate the problems. Starting a new thread about it is best, so it gets the right space and attention!

[Mich]

According the the psychologists with whom I work, feeling lows is something you can train yourself to do, even if you feel you are hypo unaware. I didn't ask them how, but I know how I have done it over the years.

For me, it's been a matter of paying close attention to the signs of a hypo when I am awake. My fingers tingle. I become nervous and unsettled feeling (probably the adrenalin) and lights become brighter (pupils dialate.) I've learned to not ignore these first two things at night when I really want to roll over and go back to sleep. :sleep: My subconcious eventually responds to the signs.

I drag myself into a sittting position :vollkomme , turn on the light and pull out my testing drawer in the nightstand--I can almost do this in my sleep by now. My glucose tabs are in there too.

No fun, but necessary.

Mich

[dbaratta]

YUP, my mind wakes me up instantly. Usually I see white spots when I open my eyes and I know I need to take action. I consider it a gift.

[ashleesmom]

Thanks I never used computer or forums til last night. I didnt know what the heck I was doin but I quess i saw a place to type and ended up replying to an existing thread about headaches and diabetes. When I figured out to start a new thread I was done typing and too tired to rewrite. Oh well. My daughter moans and groans in her sleep when shes low but she doesnt wake up ever. I set an alarm and test her every 30 minutes. Her number didnt get up til 2 am last night.

[Mich]

Hi AshleesMom,

It sounds like Ashlee's basal is a little too high. If it's adjusted correctly, Ashlee should be able to go to sleep and sleep all the way through without going low until around dawn. Then she may have the normal blood sugar spike we call the "dawn effect" which is the body's way of getting ready to become active. A correction of fast acting insulin or an increase in basal insulin may be called for then.

For most folks, our basal insulin need goes down around midnight and stays down until dawn. Of course, if Ashlee is still "honeymooning" things are not so predictable.

Mich

[ashleesmom]

What does basal mean? The doctor said she was honeymooning (i call it divorcing) 3 times now. this keeps happening that her numbers are low all night long. She takes nova log at meals and lantus at night. they lowered her last meal meds to 1 unit. and her lantus down from 18 to 14 and no difference. still low all night but she never ever wakes up . she doesnt even remember me giving her food 3 or 4 times at night. The way things usually seem to go, she is likely to end up going to the high side soon. that seems to be a trend. Lows for a week then highs for a week and constant insilin changes. I suck at this and I cant suck cuz shes my daughter and her life depends on me right now .

[GeishaGirl]

I seem to. Usually I wake up really warm and VERY irritable (because of sugar AND I hate being warm!) If I can't fall back to sleep immediately, I get up and test my sugar. Most often, I'm in the 40s or 50s at that point. Hasn't happened in a few months now.

[Subby]

What does basal mean? The doctor said she was honeymooning (i call it divorcing) 3 times now. this keeps happening that her numbers are low all night long. She takes nova log at meals and lantus at night. they lowered her last meal meds to 1 unit. and her lantus down from 18 to 14 and no difference. still low all night but she never ever wakes up . she doesnt even remember me giving her food 3 or 4 times at night. The way things usually seem to go, she is likely to end up going to the high side soon. that seems to be a trend. Lows for a week then highs for a week and constant insilin changes. I suck at this and I cant suck cuz shes my daughter and her life depends on me right now .

Basal is a general term for the long acting insulin, the lantus. If you don't mind this comment - divorcing is funny to me, but it might sound a bit negative, for your daughter's sake. I know it is really hard for you. It will get better for both of you.

What you need to do is get back to the doc and explain that 14 units is still too much at those times. It's impossible to be perfect especially when things change from week to week, but reacting more effectively is what you want. It sounds like be she needs even less Lantus at those times, you need to get the doctors to help you with working out further modifying the dose. It might need to be substantially lower, keep explaining she is going low!

What numbers are you seeing when she is low? When she is moaning in sleep? What are her numbers normally?

[xMenace]

Nope. Notta chance. I have to be very sure of my numbers before sleeping.

[Mich]

Divorcing is probably another apt term! Honeymooning is the period when diabetes is first diagnosed. The immune sytem is still doing its dirty work destroying the beta cells which produce insulin. It's a struggle, with sometimes the immune system ("killer T cells") winning and sometimes the beta cells winning. So sometimes insulin is being produced and sometimes it's not, Keep in close touch with your doctor during this period. There may need to be constant fine tuning of the Lantus.

The Lantus is the basal insulin, as in baseline. After the honeymoon period, it settles down to a dauily, pretty dependable dose which will possibly increase a tiny bit as Ashlee grows. The basal is the insulin the body requires to just work, not counting anything that is eaten. It keeps the metabolism going to feed the muscles that work the heart and lungs, kidneys and liver, the body's heating and cooling mechanisms...the whole body including the brain.

When we add eating, we must take bolus insulin. bolus just means "a glob" but it is the insulin that enables the body to make energy out of our food. Without it, the body begins to digest fat and muscle (making ketones in the process) and the kidneys try hard to fix things by rinsing us out constantly. That's why the excessive thirst, urination, and tiredness--the kidneys are working overtime and no energy is being made from our food

Hang in there mom, you're doing a good job. I'm alive today because of a mom like you. My best to both you and Ashlee.

Mich

[ashleesmom]

Her numbers are between 40 and 6o when she is moaning and she is hot and damp usually. Her normal numbers seem to be all over the place too. Im pretty strict with carb counting and try to use healthies choices for her. She was actually the one who called it the divorce. She said that her pancreas was trying to get full custody and when it gets full custody it tries to give it back. Shes quite funny!