The worst that can happen?

[ghostrider]

IM 15, and very confused i was diagnosed august 04 and the first year went great now everthing is going down hill my last a1c was 9.something :stupido3: my bloods are constantly high im told this is because im growing but i dont know? Im also very scared of passing out or going into a comma because my blood sugars my bs lately are around 20 which is terriable and im trying to bring them down I also can not sleep at night without waking up atleast four times because im to scared of going low in my sleep and no one finding out what would happen if i went low in my sleep how long would i live for? Im just very confused some of these questions might sound dumb and whats worse passing out form low sugar or going into a coma frrom high sugars? Thanks for any help :creep:

[ghostrider]

forgot to add..im checking my bg around 15-25 times a day..

[ghostrider]

alrite so i cant edit my thing.. i also started to have anxiety attacks about two weeks ago the whole going low and having my blood sugars to high is scaring the death out of me i have not slept one full night for probrably four months its getting out of hand? is there any pump or something that will not let me go low or go to high i need something to control this for me :ahhhhh:

[KickStart101]

Hi Ghostrider: :hello: I'm sorry, I've written you 2 longish posts(which didn't take too long to type) and a Welcome note to Senthil but when I submitted them, they disappeared into cyberspace and I get kicked outta the forum, that's why this took so long to get to you and I'll have to make it short.

1. Although it is not a good area to be in that sugar range, you will not go into a Coma if you are around the 20's. Just do your best to get them in a medium or a bit above area.
2. Although having a seizure/reaction from too low blood sugar is Scary and
Unpleasant you will not die of this either. Only possible if someone has a severe one, done on purpose or WAY accidently. I've had tons of seizures especially as a Child..:boxing: A
young Person's body seems to be quite resilient(sp) against Diabetes attacks.
Not that I would suggest someone not look after themselves, that's for sure.
You have a long Happy life ahead of you, so look after your Future.
Please see your Endo Soon. He needs to know what is going on with you
so he can help you and he can have someone else help with your anxiety attacks and sleeplessness. Take Care and Keep Your Heart Up. :)

[Cinnabon]

Hey there Ghostrider,

I understand how you feel and you are doing real good buy checking. Its normal to feel a bit anxious about your BS levels, but checking them can reassur you of your BS level. You do need to see your Endo and explain how you feel and make sure your Insulin dose is ok. The pump is a WONDERFUL invention to diabetics and its definitely something you want to look into.You do have to adjust and it takes a bit of work to finally find the right doses with a pump. How soon can you see your Doc?

[DeusXM]

It seems to me that your main concern is that you're going to go too low whilst asleep and something bad will happen. Let me reassure you of something. The human body is an amazing thing and has the ability to respond to danger when faced with it. Low blood sugar is a danger - so your body has the ability to respond to it, even when you're asleep.

Most of the time, if you have a hypo at night, your brain will spring into action and wake you up. If you have low blood sugar, trust me, your brain is going to be the first to know about it and it's going to make sure that the rest of you is #2 on the list. So if that happens, you wake up, you realise you're having a hypo, and then you can do something about that.

Now, admittedly the human body isn't perfect. On (rare) occasions, your brain might not wake you up. However, even if you're asleep during a hypo, your brain isn't. Your brain never sleeps, and it's there constantly monitoring everything that's going on in your body. It's always flipping switches and pressing buttons to make sure that you're fine. Sadly, the switch that's marked 'insulin' doesn't work in you or me. However, the switch marked 'add sugar' works just fine.

When you have a hypo, your brain releases adrenaline, which is what causes the shaky, panicky feeling you might have when you have a hypo. This is your brain's way of telling your body to go find some food. However, if for some reason your body doesn't find any food (for instance, you're asleep), your brain releases glucogon into your blood. Glucogon is a hormone that tells your liver to start pumping out the glucose you've got stored in your liver.

Therefore, typically you aren't going to have a hypo in your sleep that is going to be really dangerous to you. Your body is geared up for low blood sugar whislt sleeping and can protect you from it. If you go low in your sleep then you'll still wake up the next morning, or perhaps even earlier. Keep a bottle of Lucozade near your bed - that way if you wake up, you've got some emergency sugar right next to you. Either way, you're going to be fine, although you'll probably feel like you've got a hangover the next morning if you have to liver-dump.

[nantomsuethom]

Ghostrider, you sound you are going through the same thing my son goes through. He is only 12 but if you would like to email him I will have him respond.
mcfadde@verizon.net

[jen_slc]

ghostrider, I know how you are feeling, I used to be very very very scared of going low at night. I've had some scary nighttime episodes where I needed help and then experienced a lot of episodes that didn't require help but were happening too frequently. I didn't know what was going on, couldn't prevent it no matter what I did and had a terrible doctor who didn't think anything of it. The episodes definitely scarred me psychologically and for a while I was too scared to go to sleep at night for fear waking up dead, so to speak. :afraid: I pulled many all-nighters & 3-hour nights (after crying myself to sleep b/c I was so scared) to avoid the lows and I know you know you cannot last very long in this state! But look! I am here and alive and well, as we all are.

Definitely see your doc so you can get something worked out and he/she will be able to reassure you that you can lower your sugar levels without bottoming out. It isn't healthy to stay at the levels where you are for an extended period of time. Your doc will be able to help you figure out a regime to bring them down safely. And it's true, the body is very resilient, try to take comfort in that. It might take some work getting used to lower levels and not getting panicked about coming down - sometimes I am still very hesitant to go to bed below 200 mg/dl (10-11 mmol), but my doc (and this forum) has been/is very helpful in getting me out of that mindset. And hopefully yours will be to you too. :smile:

p.s. what insulins/schedule/doses are you on?

[ghostrider]

Thanks for all the replys and im going to make an appoitment to see my doctor soon, my insulin schedule is I take 26units of lantus everyday then everytime i eat i use my pen.

[Mick]

Ghostrider--

First of all, unless you are a pretty large 15 year old, 26 U of lantus is a real lot of insulin. That amount would be enough for a person who weighs about 175 lbs. If you weigh less than that, nighttime lows are from too much lantus. Also, your anxiety is from TOO much testing--20 times a day is a compulsive amount of testing, and that much information is giving you overload--and panic from anticipating each result. Lighten up, my friend. I have been type 1 since i was 12 years old. I'm 53 now. When I was your age, I got my blood sugar checked TWICE A YEAR--and i'm still alive and healthy today, 40 years later. Yes--the meters we have today provide us with important information to help us control our diabetes. But when the meter and the testing becomes such a source of anxiety, then it's counter-productive. It is never necessary to test that much. one thing I did when my sugars were messed up overnight, and I was afraid of lows while asleep--rather than keep myself awake, I'd set my alam for 3AM. It would wake me up, I'd test, and if low, have a glucotab, if not, go back to sleep--soundly, secure that i was not in trouble. That helped a lot, because I stopped being scared of not waking up if i went low. the alarm woke me up. I also began to get a better idea of how my sugars fluctuated overnight, and it halped my adjust and refine my control. And remember this--I went for 25 years never knowing how high or low I was. I often felt low--and treated it with a snack. Highs went right by us, cuz we had no tests. But I'm sure I bounced up and down, like you, from 50 to 250, all the time. I have absolutely no damage to eyes, kidneys, nerves, limbs, etc after 40 years.

Don't worry,
Be happy...

Michael

[Mdude]

When I got diabetes in 2005, it was scary because the people at the hospital, I know realize, were incompetent. Fortunately, I got a doctor who prescribed me better medication, gave me information, and I got on forums like this one and learned how it's done. I also read Dr. Bernstein's Complete Diabetes Handbook. It's written by an endocrinologist who actually has diabetes himself.

Your best friend now is your insulin journal. You need to write down your sugar and the amount you inject every time you do so. Then use graph paper and graph your results.

I did this and took my results to my doctor, and he was able to give me a good recommendation as a starting value for Ultralente. You have Lantus, which is actually better.

Then, using the data, I was able to determine how to adjust my long-acting insulin, and I did so in 1 or 2 unit increments. Eventually I found what worked for me. I also was able to determine the impact of regular insulin on ingested carbs. This calibration process is what you have to go through.

While I've detailed the process, I haven't given you any explicit dosage information. You have to start doing the research, but if you do, your condition will get better to the point that sometimes you'll forget you have Diabetes. Not that it's good to forget it, but it's a good feeling to have, because it means that you've got your sugars under control.

[ghostrider]

Ghostrider--

First of all, unless you are a pretty large 15 year old, 26 U of lantus is a real lot of insulin. That amount would be enough for a person who weighs about 175 lbs. If you weigh less than that, nighttime lows are from too much lantus. Also, your anxiety is from TOO much testing--20 times a day is a compulsive amount of testing, and that much information is giving you overload--and panic from anticipating each result. Lighten up, my friend. I have been type 1 since i was 12 years old. I'm 53 now. When I was your age, I got my blood sugar checked TWICE A YEAR--and i'm still alive and healthy today, 40 years later. Yes--the meters we have today provide us with important information to help us control our diabetes. But when the meter and the testing becomes such a source of anxiety, then it's counter-productive. It is never necessary to test that much. one thing I did when my sugars were messed up overnight, and I was afraid of lows while asleep--rather than keep myself awake, I'd set my alam for 3AM. It would wake me up, I'd test, and if low, have a glucotab, if not, go back to sleep--soundly, secure that i was not in trouble. That helped a lot, because I stopped being scared of not waking up if i went low. the alarm woke me up. I also began to get a better idea of how my sugars fluctuated overnight, and it halped my adjust and refine my control. And remember this--I went for 25 years never knowing how high or low I was. I often felt low--and treated it with a snack. Highs went right by us, cuz we had no tests. But I'm sure I bounced up and down, like you, from 50 to 250, all the time. I have absolutely no damage to eyes, kidneys, nerves, limbs, etc after 40 years.

Don't worry,
Be happy...

Michael

Hey thanks for the words, i am 5 10 130 lbs im taking so much lantus rite now because i am growing they said this time in my life i will take the most insulin ever because i just jumped a growth chart and im not suspose to stop anytime soon..:itsme: i do set an alarm every night usually waking up from 2-... sometimes 5 times im really trying to calm down with my bq and not check as much but i really get nervous after hockey etc tonight im going to try and get a better sleep also download this program i can enter my bloods into and it graphs it thanks for the advice everyone hope things start working out better for me soon!:smile:

[jen_slc]

ghostrider, do you experience many hypos just now or are you worried that you might in the future as you try to bring your bg down?

[Erin]

ghostrider,

First, not to argue with Michael, but to argue with Michael, as a 15 year old boy you *might* need 26 u of lantus... hormones etc. etc. and so forth. I know I needed TONS of insulin in my teens, and I'm a GIRL (ie, not eating everything that wasn't tied down). But it sounds to me that you need to take more of the fast acting humalog / novolog / something-rapid insulin that you're on.

But to very much agree with Michael, I think testing overnight will make you feel more comfortable sleeping, AND help you figure out if your lantus dose is correct; I would suggest you set an alarm for maybe 2am and test then. You'll be able to see what your blood sugar is doing over the night. I'd do that for a week, at least, to see the pattern.

I have had my share of pretty bad low blood sugars during the night. One time I had a seizure, but the funny thing is, my parents woke up BEFORE i had the fit and thought something might be wrong and checked my blood sugar. They were trying to wake me up when I seized. (This time I had swapped bottles of insulin and took too much long acting and not enough short acting at dinner time, so ended up high at bed so took more short acting, and then went very very low overnight when the overload of long acting hit.-- not too much danger of you doing that.. you're on lantus)

Other times I sleepwalked to the kitchen and woke up eating bowls of cereal (this is when I was sleeping in a loft that I had to climb down a 5 foot ladder!!) Once I was sleepwalking around the house mumbling about chickens until my dad woke me up... hypo. This goes to show that sometimes your brain is very resourceful even if you won't wake up. I have a HUGE tendency to walk in my sleep if hypo, and I walk straight to the kitchen (even if there's a nice hypo fix right next to the bed)

And sometimes it takes your body a while to fix the issue... once I woke up at like 2 in the afternoon, pretty sore (I think I seized) having slept through my alarm for like 2 hours. As I remember I hadn't been eating properly the days before that, and so my liver probably didn't have all that much glucose to dump. That sounds scary, and I had my Lantus dose adjusted ASAP after that happened, but it really wasn't a *big deal.* I was low, but the point is I woke up, and aside from a SEVERELY pissed-off best friend (I was 3 hours late for a lunch date) I was fine.

I hope maybe my somewhat funny if they didn't happen to you stories made you feel a little more at ease. The point of them is to let you know that even if you DO go low over the night, you're going to wake up and be able to laugh about it. Let us know how things turn out.

[ghostrider]

I do not experience to many hyops now but i have been checking everynight around 3-4 times but im starting to see that my lantus is really keeping my bg in the same level through the night how long would you stay alive for if you seized in the night and no one was there to wake you up?

[DeusXM]

how long would you stay alive for if you seized in the night and no one was there to wake you up?

As I said before.....

Therefore, typically you aren't going to have a hypo in your sleep that is going to be really dangerous to you. Your body is geared up for low blood sugar whislt sleeping and can protect you from it. If you go low in your sleep then you'll still wake up the next morning, or perhaps even earlier.

If you have a hypo when you're asleep, you'll either wake up, or your liver will deal with it for you. You won't die unless you've taken something like 400u of insulin in one go. You'll just wake up with a sore head.

[Erin]

If you're a healthy young person, who doesn't have some other medical condition effecting your body's ability to combat severe low blood sugar, and haven't ROYALLY messed up your insulin dose (like taken 2 or 3 or 4 times the amount of LONG ACTING insulin you needed), You'd survive roughly 70 or 80 years or until you get hit by a truck while crossing the street. (or until said severly pissed-off best friend murders you for a missed lunch date). You'll either wake up low or have a liver dump and wake up with a glucose hangover and high blood sugar.

If you're finding the lantus is keeping you at the same level all night long you really don't need to worry about going low overnight. The level you go to sleep at is the level you are going to wake up at. Testing 3 or 4 times in one night is unecessary. You need to sleep... Test once a night, just to make yourself feel better, and once you're comfortable, you probably don't even need to do that... unless your doc tells you too.

[jen_slc]

Over the space of 1-2 years, I had been dropping severly low almost every single night and most of the time not realizing it because my body wouldn't wake me up. Yes, that's a scary part of hypos, but I woke up, alive, every time in the mornings, albeit with a nasty hangover. I've come to realize that although our primary, super-fast back-up mechanism of glucose release is a bit impaired, our secondary, slower back-up mechanism still does work like it should and eventually brings your bg back up. Even though I understood what was happening and why it was happening, it still took me a LONG time to accept this, but like everyone says, unless you've seriously overdosed yourself, you will be ok.

My problem was that I was taking twice as much Lantus as I should have been, and neither I nor my old moronic endo knew it. Since my dose has been cut in half, I tested once a night for a little while to make sure I wasn't dropping, and then decided to quit nighttime testing when it was clear my Lantus was low enough that my bg was stable. If you're testing 3-4 times a night and your levels are stable, your dose of Lantus thru the night is obviously doing well and you shouldn't need to worry so much about dropping through the night.

[Aftiel]

Hi Ghostrider,

I am going to tag on to a point that Mick made. I have been Type 1 for about 30 years (diagnosed at 16, am 43 now.)

I go to bed at 9:30 because I get up at 5:30. As a rule, I set my alarm for Midnight so I can test my BG.

That allows me to sleep without worry of a hypo, and gives me peace of mind.

If having a hypo in your sleep is really concerning you, consider setting your alarm as Mick mentioned.

Don't spend your life (especially at your age) consumed by worry.

- Aftiel

[ghostrider]

I usually do set the alarm wake up about every hour i just wish i could calm down i have an appt. scheduled for next week and I really think my lantus has something to do with this.

[Cinnabon]

I have to back Deus up on that "AUTO ALARM" our bodies do have. It happens to me. WHen my BS had droped asleep, Its like having someone slap me. THe liver dumps glucose into the blood , an Adrenaline rush to wake you. I really do hope you learn how to relax about this, but I can completely understand you.

[ghostrider]

Yes, i know i should stay calm but i also have two friends that have passed out in there sleep.

[Erin]

Ghostrider,

I wish there was something I could say to make you feel secure enough to get a good night's sleep... but I think all I can say is, you are safe going to sleep. It is scary when a friend (or ourselves) have a bad low, but we can't let it take over our lives. Talk to your doctor about these feelings, and see if there's something you can change to make it better.

[Gangrel]

to add a voice... I've had Type 1 for 23 years. Still to this day, if I have a low over night, I ALWAYS wake up. Sometimes a little more confused then others, but I have always woken up. And to boot I'm a deep sleeper.

So, take faith that your body will kick you out of bed when it needs to.

[notme]

I also have always felt lows at night and have had type one for 20 years. Lows happen at night a lot for me.

To add to the 26 units of lantus subject. I took lantus several years ago. I took 27 units of lantus and was neither 175 pounds nor 16 years old. Some people are insulin resistant and will require more lantus than someone who is bigger in body weight and less resistant. I wish it was all just a calculation of body size to insulin needs.

Hang in there and try to not stress so much about things that probably will not happen to you.

[dws]

Well, I'm 71 and still wake up suprised every morning :)

don
dx type 1 1940