I’ve been getting hypo symptoms at 3.00am for the past week, readings range from 55 to 80. I normally get up and have a glass of milk and half a cookie. That gave me fasting sugars of around 120. Last night, I was very tired when I woke up with the shakes. I didn’t check my bg and went back to sleep as I just couldn’t wake up. This morning I woke up to a 85. I’ve never been this low in the morning. I am just wondering, how dangerous is it to ignore a 55?
You should treat lows, especially in the middle of the night to prevent possibly going lower. Aside from hypos being unhealthy, constant lows leads to hypo unawareness. Lowest BG for non-diabetics is between 2-4 AM, but they have the counter regulatory mechanism that brings BG up to normal by morning.
Below 70 is considered low. Fasting should be under 100.
Good to know exactly how much 1 gram of fast acting glucose raises your BG so you can correct without going high. It’s different for everyone. I ignore the 15/15 rule because eating 15 grams of glucose sends me up 150 pts. After eating glucose, eating a small amount of protein will keep BG level.
I leave jelly beans & an extra meter on the nightstand.
Sounds like you need to adjust your overnight basal a bit to prevent the lows.
Just before a meal? Not much. While sleeping? Very. If your bg continues to drop, it could cause some problems.
Maybe just try the glass of milk? That’s all it usually takes me to get my BG up if i drop low at night.
That being said, i’m awake at almost 300 right now trying to make sure i don’t crash sigh
What basal do you use & when do you take it?
Like Stephen said, before meals while awake not terribly dangerous, while sleeping, very. I would get up and treat but I’ve learned from experience coming to on the floor with my husband shoving OJ down my throat or after a glucagen shot. Not good. And like Gerri asked, what is your basal? I discovered my long lasting was too high and was causing severe lows during the night. By dropping is just a few units it leveled right out.
If I’m close to mealtime I wont (within 20 minutes or so) but if its longer I will treat it. It also just depends. If its below 60 then I treat noo matter what, but 60 just doesn’t phase me much anymore, except that my CGMS wont be quiet unless I treat it.
Had a feeling you were on Lantus. I had a hard time with Lantus causing lows & I’m not alone. I also took split doses. I’ve had much better results with Levemir. Levemir is more stable & level. I take the same dose of Levemir in two doses. Levemir doesn’t sting like Lantus. A vial lasts 6-8 weeks. Lantus started losing potency at day 26 & was expired by the 28th day.
Heh, I just lower my hypo alert.
Can you just take your Lantus in the morning. That got rid of my lows and Id rather deal with highs than lows
I see you are a type 2 also. I had an issue with night time lows for a while. I was on metformin 500 per meal and I would work out between 6 and 8. I constantly went low in the middle of the night. i had to stop my dinner pill because it seemed that the excercise I did earlier seem to cover me for the night. Once I cut back on my last pill at night the lows in the middle of the night seem to stop. Also I added protein to the last snack I ate before bed. Seemed to help
This may be a bit off topic. I assume most of you are T1’s except the OP said she is T2 but on insulin. I am T2 on Met.
Recently I started exercising more and am doing a muscle toning program and I have been waking up in the 60’s more often. Today I was at 64 but I feel fine (well, it always takes me a while to wake up and I am a big grouch in the morning but that is not new! haha! not a morning person at all). I do realize the meter results can be off of the real number.
I can often be at a 60 number before dinner too and still feel good.
Why is it that some people can be at a “low number” and not feel anyting but other will feel “low”?
I have been wondering this lately and though maybe this was a good place to ask.
Varena,
everybody’s giving you great answers. Yes it’s dangerous to ignore a 55.
I’d like to emphasize the need to treat with measured amounts of glucose (eliminating the need for digestion time). With amounts that you know will put you at a certain level. Then you can follow up with testing again and learning if something else was going on: like the need for a lower dose of whatever you’re taking early evening through bedtime.
Riding low can result in hypoglycemia unawareness - even in Type 2s on Lantus.
BG of 120 is very low after a glass of milk and half a cookie - so more was in play.
Aside from the 20% meter error, different levels of hypo unawareness would be my guess Kimberly. I used to get the shakes and classic hypo symptoms starting in the mid 60s. 50s would have me curled up in the fetal position waiting for my correction dose of glucose to kick in.
25 years of diabetes later and I can be in the 60s at the end of a run and still finish the rest of my workout without having to correct. Partly because of my hypo awareness and being able to function reletively normally in the 60s, and knowing that my weightlifing routine will raise my BG 20 points without having to correct anyway.
So is my waking up at 64 mean I am hypo? I eat breakfast pretty much right away.
Is this dangerous? I thought it was only dangerous if you felt gross. I would think if my body had a problem with my bg level only being 64 I would feel horrible. I actually feel pretty good at that level.
Technically, if you go by guidelines, it is considered hypoglycemic regardles of how you feel. I think the responsed have been pretty good about talking about why it’s advisable to treat a BG in the 60s regardless of how you “feel”. The bottome line is, at some point if your BG continues to drop, you risk more serious consequences. Having hypo unawareness just means you can’t feel yourself approaching the range of BGs where those consequences will present themselves. it doesn’t mean you can escape those consequences just because you can’t feel them coming on.
If you get up, eat breakfast, and dose your meds accordingly, you are “treating” the BG of 64 at that point. I wouldn’t recommend ignoring a fasting BG of 64 by going out and exercising or continuing on your merry way until lunch.
Hope that helps!!!
Low is low regardless how you feel. I’ve felt horrid at 60 & fine in the 40’s.
64 isn’t terribly low at all, especially given the margin of error of meters. I wouldn’t treat 64 if I was going to eat right away,
lol I typed that yesterday, and we went out of town today in the heat and all walking around in another town, and my CGMS is beeping like a possessed witch girl! I look down and its at 46!!! I tested and I was 52. We ate lunch immediately! It was funky coming out of that low…I got all woozy like I had been drinking! (Oh wait, I had!!!) It was some gooooooood beer though.
Yikes!!!
Ok, what is the ‘guideline’ number? I know every place seems to have a different one. I read 70 somewhere and than I read 65 or 67 somewhere else. My mom had a fasting bg of 67 on the blood test just recently and she is not diabetic - does that mean she is low?
Yes, I test right away and eat my breakfast right after (unless the cats are jumping on me first and I have to do their breakfast before mine! LOL!)
Gerri, so waking up at 64 isn’t dangerous as long as I am going to eat breakfast right away anyhow? (which I would be doing regardless of what number I was).
A few times I had a number in the 60s after my treadmill walk (well an hour or so after it) but I was getting ready to make my dinner so it didn’t matter as I was going to eat anyhow.
I know what you mean, I could feel crappy at 80 or 90 one day and feel great at it the next day. So it is other stuff too.
My wife said I was being mean to her. I don’t even recall. Weather it was because of the D or the alcohol…oh well which ever!!! (I’m just kidding just in case they ever pull this up in divorce court!!!)