Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Tim on January 20, 2012 at 6:43pm

She's been at it 50+ years, and the first 20 or so years so she had it there was no technology for home bg monitoring. I think she's done pretty well.

I remember when I was first diagnosed, to find my bg meant a trip to the doctor's and a week later getting a phone call. Urine test strips, well were better than nothing, but not that useful.

The day I was diagnosed my doc said I'd be lucky to live to be 40 years old. We all love beating the odds and I think MTM is a great example of doing so with style :-)

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Permalink Reply by Equestrian on January 20, 2012 at 2:39pm

After 43 years of diabetes, I have developed hypo unawareness. I have both a pump and a cgm, and my last A1C was 6.2. I have always detected low blood sugars with the usual symptoms. I have never needed assistance with obtaining something to ingest to raise my blood sugar. Recently, I have had three low blood sugars where within minutes, I fell to a severe low and became catatonic. It is a feeling that I knew I was low, but I was paralyzed. Thank goodness my family knew exactly what to do. After they had given me table sugar, they tested my blood sugar which read around 40. It took about 45 minutes until I became aware. They told me it was as if I were intoxicated, although I had not consumed alcohol. Hypo-unawareness is a frightening thing that until recently, I had not experienced. I have since run blood sugars much higher than they should be, but in my opinion, I have no choice. In my research, I have found that the only way to correct this is to run blood sugars higher than normal. If anyone in the forum knows a better solution, please post it.

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Permalink Reply by Gerri on January 20, 2012 at 4:28pm

Hi Laura,

Very frightening for you & for your family. Hurray for them being there! Unless hypo unawareness is due to autonomic neuropathy, running a bit higher for a short time helps.

Is it possible that your pump delivered more than it should have? A rapid drop that took 45 minutes until you were aware, sounds like a case of an accidental high insulin basal or bolus. It's happened before with pumps & perhaps worth investigating.

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Permalink Reply by Betty J on January 20, 2012 at 6:37pm

Laura as we age there are things that we aren't aware that Diabetes does to our body. At times through the years my D has not given me the symptoms of low bgs. I took have lived a lifetime with this disease and am finding out things I haven't read about. Only those of us who have experienced the years of living with D can help each other. I'm now at the stage where I am very sensitive to insulin becuse of my Kidney disease.

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Permalink Reply by Stuart on January 21, 2012 at 12:41pm

Hello Karen:

I ask then what do you seek by posting your eloquent words?

I too am from the "dark ages" of urine testing, no meters, etc. I have your experiences or similar ones.

For many the simple act of letting go of the horrible strange hold of so called "blood sugar control" many use too zealously eliminates the problem for many. Dr. Cox's BGAT work is fairly clear in that regard. Stop pushing-maintaining ourselves artificially too low and we stop crashing and burning quite so easily. It is akin to wondering why the airplane keeps crashing when its flying as full speed only ten feet off the ground. If the pilot pulls up and flys just a little higher as a rule, lets see if they crash as much or as easily?

That is not blame. It is an experiment.

If we perform it and find over a month we do not crash and burn as much, what does that tell any of us? But that is not blame, that is an unpleasant byproduct of an approach well meaning but just too zealous.

Any who know intimately the demons, the living hell of low blood sugar episodes, we do not blame. We brush each other off, ask quietly if you are ok and help each other up. We must, those are the diabetic rules. We are diabetics on our own side. We protect our own...

If positive "change" is possible will we explore it?
Stuart

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Permalink Reply by acidrock23 on January 21, 2012 at 1:10pm

I don't think there's such a thing as "too zealous" when you are dealing with diabetes.

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Permalink Reply by Betty J on January 21, 2012 at 6:17pm

I agree with Acidrock23 there's no such thing as overzealous. This is our disease and we have decide whether we want to live or die.

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Permalink Reply by Stuart on February 10, 2012 at 7:09am

Hello Acidrock23:

What do you call lows, if not too much insulin?

To the degree it is possible to influence/effect the result we are causing some portion of the problem. Unintended or not... its not injecting itself, we are depressing the plunger, programming the bolus respectively. We make the best most informed guess possible...

And apparently made a real mistake... and went low. Low by definition is too much zeal with the insulin IMHV.

Stuart

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Permalink Reply by karen on January 21, 2012 at 6:35pm

Hey Stuart,

Thanks for you inquiry about my post. My words were simply to share my own experience with hypo unawareness. I am all FOR change. Your comment about "Stop pushing-maintaining ourselves artificially too low and we stop crashing and burning quite so easily." is assuming that I manage poorly by flying low and choosing to do so. And right after you use the word blame and soften it by adding the bit about experiment! Pretty much from my seat you said I caused my hypo unawareness, and suggested I could fix it. I don't know what your experiment will tell you...but I don't think I will get in line for it. Being hypo unaware does not mean a person lives with hypos day in and day out or hour in and hour out. I don't even have a hypo a day which I see many folks deal with. That does not "change" the fact that if/when it happens I have no symptom. I do not wish to fly higher and explore an unnecessary change, but do appreciate the advice.

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Permalink Reply by Equestrian on January 24, 2012 at 2:13pm

The frightening aspect of my unawareness was the rate at which my blood sugar dropped to a low that made be unable to help myself. I was aware while I drove to the restaurant. I had tested at 97 before I got behind the wheel. After a 5 minute drive, we arrived, I was aware, we were given menus, that is the last I remember. My son recognized my unawareness, tested my blood sugar, it read 27,he force feed me, I put up a big stink,by the way my husband is a physician, then it took 45 minutes to come back to a thinking state. In the mean time, I tried to dislodge my pump infusion set, I did disconnect it. I wonder how far away from unconsciousness I was. Gerri, thanks for your suggestion, but how would one test a pump for dosage accuracy? I can say that I have not had any unawareness in over 5 weeks, but I do not like my blood sugars at this induced higher level. The post has had great input. It is an excellent topic and very well written.

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Permalink Reply by Stuart on February 10, 2012 at 8:29am

Hello Karen:

If that was what you took from my words, I failed to communicate effectively. Permit me to try again... hopefully explain more clearly.

Let numbers be higher for a few days... Dr. Cox's B.G.A.T. (Blood Glucose Awareness Training) out of University of Virginia (?) work indicates our awareness, our symptoms very definitely resets themselves, and do return.

In short, cut back on our corrections in particular, our background insulin for several days straight and indications are the symptoms return. Don't stop taking insulin not at all, just cut back on how we take it for a couple days! Raise the range we try and keep ourselves. Resist the urge to crush highs.

In theory we end up feeling "normal" when in truth we are actually low. The symptoms don't have time to go off (ie my plane metaphor), or they become elevator music, white background noise. We don't notice the symptoms anymore because its happening 24-7, it stops being dramatic.

Regardless if we don't let the body go low for 72 hours (?) straight even once, the body apparently reboots. No attacks here, just an approach that Joslin and others are using effectively.

Stuart

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