Adventures in low blood sugar

[rainbow]

Sigh. This morning I was two hours late for work because I developed low blood sugar while I was sleeping and slept - or was unconscious - right through my alarm. When I made it out of bed I was very confused and tried to phone in to work to explain why I wasn't there, but I couldn't find the phone and kept trying to use my TV remote control to make a phone call!

My cats usually try to wake me up when I have low blood sugar. They did try this time, but I ignored them. I guess the moral of this story is, pay attention when the cats try to wake me up!

rainbow

[MiniD]

Ive stared at my meter before wondering how it could tell me what my sugar was. Was so confused I figured it was the wrong machine. I can usually tell if Im awake when bg is dropping but if Im asleep.....forget it.
This thread holds the potential for some embarassing posts!
Ill leave that to others, nothing embarassing would ever happen to me. cough, cough, cough, cough

scuze me while I get something for this horrible cough all of a sudden (looking for the wink)

[vic brooks]

:confused: hi my name is vic and also had trouble with hypos and have gone to the 508minimed pump and finding the differance is great haveyou tryed to have a word with your diabetic team

best regards vic

[rainbow]

Unfortunately, a pump is waaaay out of my price range. It costs even more than a new computer. Medicare won't pay for it, and I don't get any medical benefits from my job. I'm lucky that my prescription drugs are covered by the government or I'd have to choose betweeen paying my rent and buying my meds some months.

Iris

Oh my-this could open up a whole new can of worms but the things we do when we are low, Some I can't tell but this one I will.
One night my sugar dropped after I took my bath so I went into the kitchen to get a juice. I was very disorientated. Instead of getting the juice, I opened the freezer door and decided that all the food in the freezer had "green mold" on it so what did I do.
I emptied the entire freezer food in the garbage--everything but the ice cubes.
Then I thought ,oh no--I feel weird so I got my juice and drank it and went to bed.
The next morning my hubby woke up, went to the frig and opened the freezer-he woke me and said--where is all the food?After waking up, I remembered what I did--He didn't get mad but actually laughed about it. Definitely had to go to the grocery store.
Other things I have done can't be put in the forum

[MiniD]

Suzie,
Arent you glad we can laugh at stuff like that now? Cant say Ive ever emptied the fridge but I told my sister in law off big time in front of everyone (the SILs I like applauded me) and one time my brother in law had to get her out of the house because he told her she would lose fighting with me. (I love that!)
There was one time my husband has to call 911 when I was in lets say, less then appropriate attire. What made me mad is that my husband could have taken something decent to put on me but noooo. Everyone in the ER that night got a free thrill at my expense.

Time for something from someone else out there, Ive embarassed myself enough for now.:cool:

MiniD--that's hysterical.
would make a great book.

[rainbow]

I've run around in the nude before, after getting out of bed and not getting dressed My boyfriend chased behind me holding my housecoat. Then I sat on the floor (because I kept falling off my chair) and trying to use the computer (which I couldn't really reach from the floor).

Finally, my boyfriend got some clothes on me and told me that I should leave the computer while I ate lunch. I picked up my kitten, Calli, and asked brightly, "Is Calli lunch?" John took the cat away from me, saying, "No, Calli is not lunch. Give me Calli. Give me Calli. GIVE ME CALLI!" (Calli was sent to play outside while I recovered).

rainbow

[Mick]

Let's see-0ne night several years ago, I went low in the middle of the night (used to happen a lot!), somehow missed the first floor of the house and the kitchen altogether, and wound up in the basement in the pitch dark, trying to find food, but stumbling around in the dark confused about whether I was looking for the light switch or food... I must have bashed about down there for quite a while, cuz it was a MESS, and I smashed myself into something, cuz I had a nice laceration across my lower back, but I finally found the light (one of those little pull-switch strings hanging from the ceiling), and once THAT went on, I must've figured out what I was supposed to do, went up to the kitchen and finally ate. My wife has, on occasion, found me naked, shivering and sweaty on the kitchen floor digging into a bag of Oreos. One early morning I got lost in the shower and couldn't figure how to get out. When it ran out of hot water and I began to scream from the cold, my wife came in and figured out what was happening. Those are a few of the stupid/funny ones--the ones where 911 was called generally never had anything even vaguely humorous about them!

Michael
Stayin' alive since '65

[rainbow]

There have been funny and not-so-funny times for me. The funny ones are usually when my boyfriend is with me - when I'm alone it's not nearly as funny. I've broken appliances (my toaster oven and my coffee pot) trying to pull myself up off the floor. I've made a complete mess of the apartment. A few times I've had sugar all over the floor because I pulled open a bag and tried to eat out of it.

rainbow

[Emily]

The worst low I had was at my boyfriends house (well ex now) about a year and a half ago... I felt low but was too stubborn to test. Finally I guess he noticed I was not quite myself and asked me if I wanted him to check my blood sugar for me, and of course I put up a fight. Finally I gave in, assuring him he was wrong, and my blood sugar was 21. I refused to eat because that is what I do when I get that low. He comes back with a glass of milk and made sure I drank it. I kept telling him it tasted really gross but he told me its fine, its just me and I was really low. Afterwards he tells me that he put some corn syrup in the milk to bring up my blood sugar quicker since I would not eat. That had to be the grossest thing I've ever had. I guess you could say its the thought that counts though....


Emily

[rainbow]

Milk with corn syrup sounds quite disgusting. I think the worst I've ever had to deal with is sugar water, which isn't nearly as bad.

My boyfriend is very conscientious - probably more so than I am - when it comes to monitoring my blood sugars. He's been known to poke my finger for me when I'm not coherent. He'll force-feed me sugar cubes if he has to. I don't particularly like it, but it has to be done. It doesn't help that I have a tendency to hypoglycemic unawareness.

[Gina]

When you sleep through a low do you wake up from it? or do you go in some sort of coma or something...im so scared of lows...your stories are all very funny im sitting here hysterical...i havent encountered any kind of funny low story "yet" but now i want to have one just to have a funny story lol

[vic brooks]

i can assore you you do not need a hypo in the night it is not funny and you shod try and get you hypos incontrol you must do b m and ta least four a day to get your self sorted out do you DRIVE IF YOU DO YOU SHOD TEST BE FOR YOU GET IN TO THE DRIVING SEAT ho i have just notest that thay have me as a junear member i am 57 and have been injecting insulin for forty years is that junier or what best wishes i would like to see you in the ----when you hypo vic

[MiniD]

Im glad to see some of these stories. I know its the fight or flight thing in us that makes these things happen. Its awful about the fight in us that makes us so nasty to our SOs. Ive been known to bite my husband when he tried force feeding me. Thank goodness he realizes that Im not in my right mind when stuff like that happens. I gotta put in a pump plug here and say that it doesnt happen as often since Ive been pumping.
As for Ginas last question about if you sleep thru lows or what....usually you will wake up eventually after your liver dumps. This does put you on that oh so fun rollercoaster for a bit but thats your bodys way fighting. My advice would be to avoid either extreme at any rate. Highs cause damage but so do lows.
Hope this helps you Gina.

Pump Huggggssssssssssss............MiniD

[rainbow]

I've noticed that I do -- eventually -- wake up from a low, but it can take me many hours to do so. I'm fortunate that my cats will try to wake me up from them. I just have to learn to pay attention to them.

--Rainbow

Hi Gina,
The one major factor I went on the pump was because of early dawn syndrome (low reactions while I was sleeping). It was so bad that I would go into convulsions and that woke up my husband. He couldn't get juice down me so had to give me gluogon shots. And they make me sick but anyway, sometimes i would wake and be able to get juice.
Now that I am on the pump, as of yet, I have not had any trouble like before. When I first started on the pump, I had to test every 2 hours for 3 days. I had lows at night so had to change the basal rate from 2 to 6 A.M. and am doing great now--knock on wood.

[Gina]

I have to test two hours after meals all the time...my blood sugars still arent stablized yet...im really afraid of going low at night...so i still have like a lil something before i go to bed anyway...and i bolus for it but in the mornings im faced with sugars no lower than 250...i dont know why!!maybe from the inactivity during the night im or stress factor of not wanting to go low...stress effects me enormously...:mad:
but i went to the doc yesterday and he wants some night sugars again so...we will see what happens!!!

Hi Gina--good luck with the morning highs. I am no doctor but I eat a snack before bed because I do drop at night between 2 and 4. If I don't eat, then I get low. But I do not bolus for that. Before I went on the pump, if I caught my sugars from waking, I drank a juice and then my sugar soared in the morning. Also I think that if I didn't catch it-my body released sugar and then it still was high in the morning.
For a snack I eat 2 non-fat graham crackers and my sugar in the morn is 90 to 140- I am far from a sound sleeper, so not sure if that has anything to do with it.

[rainbow]

Those of you with morning highs, have you accounted for the "dawn phenomenon?" The later you sleep in the morning, the higher your sugars go. I now try to get up at 7:00 a.m. every day, even if I don't have to go to work, because if I sleep any later than that my sugars go up.

--rainbow

[hera]

gina,
i have always woken up if my blood sugars go low. as tired as i am i can not go back to sleep. usually i can feel it if my sugar level is dropping when it is in the 60s. but when i wake up because of a low sugar level it is usually in the 40s.
people keep different things by their bedside for this reason. i find that the jelly lifesvers or jelly jolly ranchers is good to eat. the have no fats in them to slow them down. i then read a little until my sugar level gets back to normal. many times if have to change clothes also since they are so wet with sweat from having an insuliln reaction.
fortuately this rarely happens.

[Wedge]

Hello again. Rainbow is correct the high in the morn is the dawn syndrome. Alot has to do with the release of hormones when we sleep like groth hormone. I had a low problem driving home a few years ago. It was scary when it happened but i have to laugh about it know because i didnt hurt anyone or myself. Got busy at work and didnt eat a afternoon snack. After work I was already low and wasnt thinking correctly so got in my car and went home. The problem was I was convinced that i was in a stock car racing home. The red lights were my pit stop. My buddy said i passed him doing about 70 in a 25mph zone. I really dont rememeber the hole ride home thats the scary part. I found myself in the driveway with my wife jamming dextrose gell in my mouth. She said I was telling her to hury up because Jeff Gordon was catching me. Im convinced GOD guided me home that day because i cant see how i could have driven home and not gotten into an accident. Quik question for all of u I just switched from humilin N at night to Humulin U. The problem is that it doesnt seem to be even close to the strength of the N. Been on it for 2 weeks and havent had a dawn problem for years. Now i seem to have my dawn syndrome back with twice the dose of the N. Im ready to get off the U and go backto the Humilin N. Any thoughts.:cool:

[Gina]

Ok ...listen to this everyone...for the past couple of days i have been walking/running for 30 minutes...and...before i got to bed for example last night my blood sugar was 139 ....and i had nothing to eat before sleep when i woke up it was 224??? is this the dawn syndrome you guys were talking about? this is really bugging the **** out of me!! im really getting fustrated its only been highs like this in the morning since the pump...maybe i was better off on nph and humalog...im seriously going nutts trying to figure this out...please helppppppppp!!!!!!!
oh by the way i just called my doc will let you guys know what happens!!

[rainbow]

Do you eat anything after you run and before you go to bed? If not, you could be suffering something called a "rebound." This is when your blood sugar goes low while you are asleep and your liver releases glycogen (stored sugar) to get it back up again, resulting in a high blood sugar.

--rainbow

[Wedge]

Gina yes this is the dawn syndrome u cant control it its caused by are hormones just nee a little more long acting insulin take care.

[Gina]

WEDGE: im on the pump...i talked to the doctor this afternoon he told me to add more insulin between 12am - 8am

RAINBOW: I dont think its a rebound...i have been having high sugars for a while now ...even if i correct myself before bed say my sugar is 200 before bed and i correct it...in the morning its still in the 200's...its so annoying ...

my doctor told me that now what i have to do is get some late night sugars to give him like at 3am...urrrrrghhh i hate getting up so much!!!!! but i will do it so i can fix this problem...my last a1c was 7.2 and all the others were 6.3-6.4...i have only had diabetes a little over a year....so i guess im not doing soooo bad!! i will keep you all posted on my progress
thanks for helping everyone...you guys are the best

[Harold]

Gina For some having a 70 calorie or 15 gram carb snack at 2 or 3 in the morning prevents the morning high. However if your adjusting insulin to compensate you don't want to do that, but if adjusting insulin doesn't help try the snack. Some get by with a before bed and others need a little later snack.

[Gina]

How can having a snack lower my morning highs it will make it higher? no? that doesnt make sense to me

[Wedge]

I agree a late snack will do u in for sure. Go with what the doc said and get a little insulin from midnight on. Yes it sucks getting up but if we dont we wake up very hi. This is the same reason why i never sleep past 7hrs because I know ill pay the price with hi sugars even with the long acting in my system.:cool:

[Gina]

i raised my insulin to 1.0 over night and now im waking up in the middle of the night with lows...last night i woke up at 330am with a blood sugar of 40 the only symptom i had was a headache...no sweating or anything...i think i may not have dawn syndrome but that other thing you guys said where you liver kicks in...if you have a hypo in the middle of the night...im calling the doc...to see what he says...you guys are helping me too!!!i really appreciate this!!!:)

[rainbow]

Originally posted by Gina
How can having a snack lower my morning highs it will make it higher? no? that doesnt make sense to me

The snack prevents you from going low during the night and causing the reboung.

--rainbow

[Gina]

yea but sometimes i do have a snack...before bed so i dont know what is going on....maybe im bolusing too much for snacks before bed?

[Wedge]

Hi Gina U said U r on the pump so Correct me if im wrong but u dont take a long-slow acting insulin that peaks in lets say 6 hrs. I still think u r having the dawn syndrome but when u were low u took to much fast acting insulin before going to bed. I didnt read the post about the liver but the liver can make glucose but it will not overcome a low blood sugar. I think u need an overnight insulin. I know u dont want to but see what the doc thinks about poss using a shot just at night of like humulin n. Take care and keep us informed.

[Wedge]

Again I want to say what rainbow said is correct about the liver being able to release stored sugars but if u are at 40 its not going to be able to help u to get u back to normal. If it could then we would never have onernight low blood sugars. It does release sugar but cant take place of eating a sweet. Were the liver gets u is when u eat something to bring the blood up and then go to bed at lets say 110 and its been an hour since u ate the food to bring up the sugar to the normal. Then as we sleep and the insulin runs out the liver is releasing the sugar and we wake up at 300 how many times has this happened to us

[emeraldbay]

Before pumping I had alot of trouble with "rebound" I would dip low and up to 12 hours later, I would rebound even though i corrected the low immediately with fast acting sugar. I now seem to have it from time to time on the pump. I will dip to 42 at 4p then treat the reaction at at 4a have over 300 reading. The rule with pumping is to change the set if you get 2 high readings that can't be explained. At first I changed the set and then realized it was the rebound that was causing the highs and corrcting DID NOTHING to correct the problem. It actually can make it worse if the sugar is now on the way down. Then corrceting will actually cause another serious low and you can't get off the merry go round. My md doesn't have much belief in rebound and thinks it is a lot of hype. What do you people out there think of rebound particularly if you are on the pump? Have you had similar experiences. Prior to the pump, despite "rebounding" I had HbA1c's averaging 6-7. I just started the pump so I am curious to see what the next reading will be. Would appreciate any feedback on this rebound syndrome from others.

[hera]

i did an over night fasting checking my sugar level every 2 hours.
around 5 am it started rising. so i set my pump up a .1 starting at 3 am. this solved the problem with highs in the morning.
at night from 10 to midnight i take a .3 and then from midnight to 3 am i take a .5 this keeps me level all night.

[Gina]

I DONT UNDERSTAND THE .1 .3 AND .5 THING ARE YOU ADDING THAT EXTRA TO YOUR BASAL RATE!! LIKE SAY I HAVE A BASAL RATE OF .9 ALL DAY....WHAT WOULD I DO? THIS IS WHERE I GO A LIL BIT CRAZY...MY DOC MADE ME PUSH UP MY 3AM - 730AM TO 1.0 WHERE I HAD TO ADD AN EXTRA .1 TO MY BASAL...AND THAT WAS MAKING ME TOO LOW IN THE MORNINGS...IM SO CONFUSED ABOUT THIS NOW...

[Gina]

Originally posted by Wedge
Hi Gina U said U r on the pump so Correct me if im wrong but u dont take a long-slow acting insulin that peaks in lets say 6 hrs.
I think u need an overnight insulin. I know u dont want to but see what the doc thinks about poss using a shot just at night of like humulin n. Take care and keep us informed.

Wedge....when you are on the pump you cant use a shot of long acting insulin....i have only been on the pump since november so i guess they are still trying to find out about my levels...but it just so happens i have like obsessive compulsive disorder hahahaha so it makes me crazy!!
when i did take shots i was on 20 nph in the morning 15 at night using humalog inbetween...with a sliding scale

[Gina]

i think im going to do what hera did checking over night every two hours to see!!

[Tony]

When I started on the pump, I had to check the overnight at
12:00am, 2:00am, 4:00am and when i woke up 6 or 7am.

And make sure when you go to bed you don't eat or bolus and go to bed with a good reading.

[Gina]

thats what i had to do when i started the pump also...its just taking a long time to get adjusted to the pump for some reason...i didnt have this much trouble when i was just on shots....

"And make sure when you go to bed you don't eat or bolus and go to bed with a good reading." <<<~~~but if your number isnt good before bed u have to bolus to correct it!!!

[rainbow]

I have another low blood sugar adventure to tell you about. Yesterday my boyfriend and I went on a major shopping trip to Costco, and when we got home I started to prepare dinner. While it was cooking I went to clean out my coat pockets in order to find a magazine I'd picked up. I took it out of my pocket then took everything else out and said to John, "Where's the magazine I got today?" He asked me where I'd left it and I said, "It must have fallen out of my pocket in the car." Then I glanced at my left hand and said, "Or it could be in my hand," which is where it was! I tested my blood sugar and it was at 5 mmol/l (90 mg/dl.)

[Gina]

holy cow...

[emeraldbay]

I have just received a letter from MM regarding upgrading to the new Paradigm Pump. I orginnally said I was interested. I have been on the MM 508 for about 4 weeks now and am confused whether on not to upgrade. What is everyone out there going to do? I look at the new features and still am not sure. For instance I don't mind disconnecting for swimming. But it is usually for being in the water more than 30 min so the Paradigm wouldn't help there but would make taking a shower easier. Also how do you know if it's working properly if you don't hear the clicks. I need to tak to MM about this. Love to hear what everyone else thinks

[Gina]

I have the same problem ...i dont know if i want to upgrade either...i havent even mastered the 508 yet!!!

[hera]

when i did the fast and checking all night, i at supper at 6 pm i kept it simple so 2 hours later when i checked my surgar level it would be within normal. then i did not eat again until the following morning.
if your sugar level goes too low during that time then you have to stop the fast and eat something and start again the next evening or when you can again. you have to adjust your basal so you will be getting less at that time. if you see your sugar level is rising you stop and make an adjustment and add to your basil rate. then you have to start your fast again. it may take several times to get it set up to your own needs.
you have to do the samething for setting your morning rates and your afternnon rates.
i have have 6 different rates. most people need more insulin in the morning than in the evening. i noticed that is what it is with me. i start out in the morning at a .6 and at night i am down to a .3

[statdeac]

Last night I was sitting in choir practice when that familiar feeling of a mild jitterly dull coolness struck me. I got up and rummaged around for a peppermint or anything with sugar, but could only find "Sugar Free Halls" so I kept singing for another 45 minutes and went home.

A small apple, 12g of glucose tablets and 30 minutes later, my reading shot up from 58 to 158 mg/dl. My wife hasseled me about being prepared by having something with me at all times in case of an episode. Though I don't have a lot of lows, I guess I deserve it.

Is there a rule of thumb about how much to eat in such instances and how often to measure and how long to wait before eating more, etc? I seem to overreact as a rule.

Thanks.

[Gina]

if your sugar is like 50-70 i think they say you need at least 15 carbs
50-30 you need 30 carbs...lower then 30 maybe you should use your glucagon...i usually just scarf something down really quick or use 4 glucose tablets ....glucose tablets are good to have on hand...thats your best bet you can find them at a pharmacy!!

[hera]

-
++i think also it depends how much your sugar level will rise also. it take 25 grams of carbs to get mine to raise 5+0. i find a fatfree candy that i can keep in my purse works better for me. i know my husvand has yelled at me if i have a low and i am not prepared.

[Wedge]

Yes its tough when u go low and u take something for it only to be higher at a later time. I usually try some small doses of sugar to bring it up and tell my wife to watch me and I keep checking sugar until I level out. Its pretty effective for me being on a low carb eating plan because when I do introduce a higher carb food it hits me very quickly. Food for thought take care Wedge.

[statdeac]

Thanks for the input!