Overnight Hypo

On Wednesday after my youth group, I took the bus to the end of the line, two miles from home. There's a bus that I can take from there to get home, or I can walk. I decided to eat an apple and walk. So I did.

When I got home, I said to myself that I'd go to bed if my blood sugar was between 100 and 160, but that if it was lower I needed to stay up to watch for hypos, and if it was higher I needed to watch and see if it would drop/ make sure the correction wasn't too much.

It was 80. I was not happy, but I went online. An hour later, I felt funny, I tested my blood sugar, it was down to 52. I ate a cookie, was feeling fine within twenty minutes, stayed online another hour, got ready to go to bed. Tested my blood sugar again and it was again 52. So I ate another cookie and went to sleep.

I drempt a really cool dream, woke up six hours later around dawn. I had woken up the same time the previous morning, and I was a little surprised, but whatever. I felt terrific, full of vitality and life. I was bemused by the fact that I was having difficulty seeing; everything looked dim. I assumed that it was a lighting problem, although I had seen just fine at the same time the previous morning. I got my Lantus (having much difficulty figuring out which vial it was) and decided to check my blood sugar.

I saw the meter read 49, although checking later revealed that it had been 45. I ate a cookie, sat down, and was suddenly overwhelmed by dizziness. Took a bit less Lantus than the previous morning.

I'm pretty shook up. I had been hypo for eight hours, and I had woken up with a 45 feeling just dandy. The number was probably not what woke me up. I had REM sleep despite the low. I am now over a year into insulin treatment, which means that my likelihood of having a severe low has just skyrocketed.

In more happy news, wish me a happy birthday!

Happy birthday Jonah!!

Happy Birthday

hey Jonah - happy belated birthday!

That sounds scary/frustrating. Don’t be too discouraged though, your chances of getting a severe low might not be up that much. It’s possible that you came up and dropped back down. Also, your risk might not have changed so much because I think most of us have lows while we sleep that we don’t notice, unfortunately - I saw one paper that was almost 3/4 of type 1s had that.

This is why I love my insulin pump - even though it is drastically failing me in other ways right now - because for exercise or if I know I’m dropping, I just decrease the basal rate - I don’t have to eat a ton or do as much overtreating and going high because I’m so worried. Still happens sometimes though.

REM sleep is much more vivid during a low, which is sweet because I wake my dog and my husband up while I am in la la low land.

Also, if you are eating properly, and cookies, not the best low food, your liver will keep you alive during an overnight low, despite the fact you don’t have the glucagon to keep your brain well sugared.