Low Blood Sugar Snach Attack!

When I’m low in the middle of the night I go to my pantry and fridge and just start pulling things out of it spoon of this juice crackers apple everything just so my number goes back up and then I go back to bed and wake up in the morning with a BG at 350 or something I hope I’m not the only one who’s having such a hard time with this!

i havent had one of those middle of the night ones in a while but for me theyre much harder to deal with than a daytime one because of the way i positively LEAP out of bed from all of the adrenalin or whatever hormone it is thats wakes me up! the feeling of urgency and panic makes it hard for me to not go overboard on anything sweet. i try to treat with glucose tabs only and then after i feel normal again have some fat, like cheese, to make sure i dont go low again. night hypos are the worst!

This can be very difficult! Once, when I was in high school (c. 1984...) lit a 1/2 gallon of ice cream on fire using the broiler to thaw it out. I find it useful to have "a thing", like "medicine food" and just use that to treat lows. I use a mix of Smarties (dextrose) and Starburst Jelly Beans (yummy+ texture) as it's handy to use for running (in little bags from the craft/ hobbby store) and are tasty, I don't mind eating them but I can just have a few pretty easily. by practicing, I've kind of gotten a feel about using them effectively and avoiding the rebound highs from overtreating.

Here's a pic of a bag of beans, before I started mixing in Smarties, since they work fast.


I have a hard time practicing self-control when I wake up with a low in the middle of the night. I try very hard to just do glucose tabs, but yeah. Its rough.

If I end up eating everything in my kitchen, I just keep track of what I ate, then when I start coming back up, I bolus for 3/4 of it and go back to sleep. I'm paranoid about getting low again when I'm asleep. I might wake up a little high (because of the 3/4), but more often I'm right on target.

Late night hypos are tough. I try to have just enough gumdrops or glucose tabs to bring my BG up to a comfortable number, but sometimes I'm so famished that I end up with the jar of peanut butter and a spoon and pay for it with a high in the morning. Trying not to do that anymore, but it's hard to be disciplined. I guess my best strategy is to do my best to avoid late night lows altogether and forgive myself for not handling them perfectly when they do occur.

Very easy to say "don't raid the fridge". But not doing it is something different. I have a key ring with 4 Dex tablets in it by the bedside. I try to get by with just 2 tablets (8g) and wait for 30 minutes. This is counter to the recommended 15g and 15 minutes. Very rarely do I ever have to take additional glucose, even for quite powerful lows. But those 30 minutes go very slowly.

My worst hypo was when I accidentally took 24h's worth of Lantus but used Apidra instead. The BG free-fall was horrific. I ate 140g of glucose and still only peaked at 8.6 (155). So there are exceptions to every rule.

Yeah I feel like we all have the same experience but my problem is just the feeling of being low your fingers shakin sweeting and everything is terrible! My diabetic dr said to just give my body some insulin so that i don’t wake up hyper BG!

Lea - try the 15g / 15 min way and see where you rebound too. Maybe you need a second 15g then. But if you don't keep track of it you will overshoot for sure. If at 15 min you have an uptrend, it will likely continue. It's so nice to take glucose on-board until the discomfort is gone. The immediate fix! Unfortunately, no pain no gain. I'm not suggesting being a masochist, just don't go overboard with carbs. I find that 15 mins is too early to retest.

I too have had this issue in the middle of the night just eating everything in sight. My doc told me to do the rule of 15, which has been mentioned above. Check BS, eat 15 carve (4 glucose tables is what I eat), then wait 15 mins, check again. If still under target range but up from where it was, you may wait a little to check again without eating again. This way you make sure your BS is up for the night but won’t be super above target.

LOL I am sure I look like maniac when I get a low. I know logically all I need is 1 juice box .... 2 tops!!! but I keep stuffing until the feeling goes away. I rebound like crazy and feel like an idiot while I try to get regulated again which takes half a day by the way... I KNOW better but I just can't seem to help myself!