who else has hypoglycemia unawareness? i havent been able to tell when im low for about 8-9 months, and i can function normally even when my BG is in the 30’s and 40’s so by the time it gets so low im going to pass out i dont even know it. this hasnt happened since i havent been able to feel when im low but close one time, i could tell from my legs getting weak and knees shaking. i never know for sure what it is so i have to test a lot and had a heck of a time getting my insurance to even pay for 10 test strips a day. but i can pretty much judge how low its going to go and how many carbs im going to need in between shots to keep it from going low by checking my BG 20 minutes after i eat.
You may qualify for a CGM because of hypo unawareness. This helps a lot of people.
I am hypo unaware, and it did after a long fight, with lots of Endo support, get me my CGM
dear Mike …been there and yet my Internist suggested more NPH ( going back to the late nineties, cause my A1C was elevated ) The previous Endo , who I re-connected with , suggested pump therapy : I am much more aware …your profile does not state pump therapy …have you considered ?? By the way , my BC, Canada drivers license was taken away prior to pumping because of the unawareness …not funny to me , if one only uses the car to pick up groceries, less than a 8 minute drive one way from home, however I did not want to create an accident either. ! .
last night my mom told to wake up at 2am in the morining cause my bloodsugar was 39! she said I was almost fainting :s it’s difficult for me to notice sometimes and I bet everyone has problems before going to sleep. xD
i might get on the pump eventually, right now i dont want to deal with it though and having something attached to me. i feel more normal taking the shots they dont bother me it takes 15 seconds and i dont have to worry about it until my next one.
mine used to keep dropping in the middle of the night and i would be up all night checking and worrying it would drop again, not any more though. i dont go to sleep until 4 hours after my last shot of novalog and by that time its wore off.
I have had problems with hypoglycemic unawareness for years. I have successfully reverse it twice, but it always returns. It tends to be a problem for people who keep their blood glucose levels in tight control. It sounds like you are on injections. It is usually more of a problem for pumpers I understand. Like you, I remain fully functioning with extremely low BGs. And like you, sometimes my only symptoms are my knees starting to wobble and my legs suddenly feeling shaky. By then, it’s in the teens and I need to find something to sit on and something to drink quickly. I’ll fix my family dinner and go in to check my BG before I eat to bolus my dinner insulin. Hmmm. 22 with no indications. Guess no insulin needed 'til later…
To reverse it, I have to let my BGs run high for an extended period of time. Not 400’s high, but consistently in the 180-220 range. I hate the way I feel when it is that high, but after 3-4 weeks of that, I will again feel lows hitting in the 50’s instead of the teens. After I go back to my normal levels, in a fairly short time period, the hypoglycemic unawareness returns.
Michelle
Western Washington State
As we speak - 42 and I’ve been working on the computer with no problems. I finally realized I’m having a bit of a difficulty focusing. I’ve had it as low as high 20’s and argued with my husband that I was FINE! It can get better if I keep it higher but nights are tricky. It was 33 just the other night at 2:21am can’t remember why I got up and I’m surprised I got up without my husbands insistence so it must be getting better.
Michelle, I’ve been thinking about what you said, but there seems to be some confusion about what HypoGlycemia Unawareness (or HGU) actually means. The term was started as a result of some spectacular problems that a very small number of diabetics had shortly after animal based insulins were taken off the market. They had ABSOLUTELY no warning when their bg dropped below a functional level. This caused several terrible accidents, and in1 case led to a conviction for manslaughter after a car crash.
Yet you say that your knees start to wobble. That meas you have hypo symptoms, unlike those with HGU. The fact that they happen at lower levels than those on looser control is an explicit part of the landscape when using tight control practices, whether by insulin pump vs shots or whatever other means. I expect that you may be thinking that your hypo symptoms should be the same as they were before you got tight control using a pump, but hypo symptoms are NOT constant. Mine can be a range of things, ranging from seeing an “aura”, strange sensations in any part of my body, weakness, confusion etc. At 1 time (mid 80’s) my hypos usually made me cross my eyes and keep them that way until I recovered,which led to a real interesting drive one day with my wife and young son in the car, me the only driver, and no emergency snack on hand to bring me out of it, so I drove to the nearest store to get something. Had to go around some bridge pillars that weren’t lined up with the road and had to curve left than right around them. i just closed 1 eye and drove that way until we got there.
We need to always be on watch for ANYTHING that doesn’t fit reality, and test, if at all unsure, and treat fro hypo unless a test shows you really don’t need it. Running higher bg levels to make sure that the hypo symptoms are more noticeable means you are wasting the effort it takes to use a pump, since you will most likely develop complications at some point by doing so.
I know a bit about these things, since I’ve been a Type 1 diabetic for almost 54 years now (once April 9th goes by) and using insulin pumps for the last 16 years, and talking with diabetics online since 1986, for 24 years or so.
Again, tight control has some needs that are different than looser control, but we are much less likely to have big problems most of the time, it’s just that occasion hypo that crops up now and then that we need to watch out for.
I do :-p
that disqualified me from having a pump actually 
I wouldn’t feel it unless it’s well into the 40’s or so.
and not that much of liability too,I mean,the only thing that would be wrong is ’ lightheadedness '
so you’re not alone there 
I do and it is so bad I mean I have only had type 1 for 15 yrs and the doctor at the ER I went to one time for a kidney stone did blood work and came into the room immed. after getting results and my BG was 22 and I was awake with no symptoms I was talking to him with no slured speech. now while they were trying to get a line in big enough to push D 50 it got down to 16 and I was out like a light but it is scary to know that I will have diabetes till the cure which God only knows when that is coming and until I get my awareness back it will only get worse. the doc got me my CGM and I still test about 7 times a day which has helped me catch the highs and lows before they are bad so hopefully it will come back soon.
Multiple endos and the hospitals through the years have said that hypoglycemia is blood glucose below 60. With no symptoms until my Bg is in the teens and only a range of about 3 points between no symptom and passing out, I fit very snugly into the hypoglycemic unaware category. Yes, my knees wobble at 19, but I lose consciousness at 16. I do have symptoms yes, at 19, but docs consider that hypoglycemic unaware. With hypoglycemia anything below 60, then anyone not having symptoms when their blood glucose is 50, 40, 30, even 20, qualifies as hypoglycemic unaware status because they are not aware they are in hypoglycemia.
Because of this I do test 12-14 times a day, more if I am driving somewhere. Of course, insurance does not pay for that quantity of test strips but I gotta do what I gotta do since I don’t know any other way 'til it’s almost too late.
May I tag on a guestion? How long after your diagnosis did unawareness hit?
mine about 2 or 3 yrs after DX with type 1.
I’m hypo and hyper unaware…lol It’s hard for me to tell the difference. I just start to feel crazy and my boyfriend tells me to check my BG.
Oh! That scares me. I am 6 years in and I have lows almost everyday.
Well I am 15 yrs in now and you can get your awareness back. mine was due partly to me trying to have such tight control due to fears my first endo put in me that I tried to keep my sugars between 70 and 120 and that was just asking to much of my body so now my safety range is 90 to 140 which helps keep me in check and as long as I avoid the lows I will get the feelings back not sure how long everyone is different but it will come back. and with my CGM and testing my finger sticks 7 times a day and using my pump I am doing really well with my last A1C being 6.0
Good job! I still feel the lows, but trying for tight control…same range as you… (and the insulin I use to cover too many carbs, truth be told,) have me yo yoing and I know I need to start being more careful.
I have my pump and the graphs that get downloaded for my Endo to look at from my CGM to make the changes to my basal rates for different times of the day and changes to my carb ratios when needed also my correction factor gets changed as I lose or gain weight so with all that help and all the tools I have it is a big help.