Chrissy - hypo's

[Guest guest]

Chrissy,

If I could get my hands on the doctor who told you to only test 3x a day I could

strangle him! That's not enough, dear, especially for someone who's just

starting out with insulin and the possibility of islets kicking in and restoring

your insulin. Can't tell you how angry that makes me....grrrrr!

When I first started I was testing 8-12 times a day, and I still often do. My

Endo

wrote a script for it, so I can use as many testing stips each days as I want,

and the insurance pays for it. Now I usually go through 100 strips every 2

weeks. Please talk to your doctor about this, you should be testing before you

eat, and then 1 1/2 - 2 hours post pradially, then again before bed, and/or

whenever you feel low. Although, in your case, feeling " low " is not a good

indicator. I've never heard of anyone having those kinds of problems at 63!

My symptoms of a low will include some or all of the following signs: a shaky

feeling, sweating, flushing, white spots in my vision, blurred " holes " in my

vision, confusion, inability to speak, and inability to process thoughts

clearly. I

don't initally feel sleepiness, that comes afterward, in buckets!! A good low

will wipe me out, physically, for about 24 hours. Perchance, that's why I'm on

the MB today instead of " undecorating " , but I'll tell you about that later.

I really don't think that you're in the position right now, Chrissy, were you

should be driving by yourself. I know you don't want to hear that, but I just

don't think you can rely on what other diabetics use as warning signals of a

low, based on what happened to you the other day. You obviously didn't

really have any warning of this, except for the sleepiness, which you already

admitted that you feel often enough anyway.

Please let Billy do the shopping for the meanwhile. If you shop, then decide

what you're going to cook, take the time to plan out some menu's first and then

list what you'll need for each. Just make a VERY detailed list, including brand

names if necessary, with remarks, too, should he have any questions. Or go

over the list with him verbally, before he goes to the store. Bob does the

majority of our grocery shopping, especially now since my CTS has been so

bad. After 19 years of marriage, he's learned to go over it with me first, and

discuss any item that he's not clear about, before he goes. And then, of

course, he takes his cell phone and calls home if he has any questions. Don't

let me hear the word " henpecked " from my admission of this, the man knows

who the cook is and he absolutely loves my cooking, so he does it for his own

benefit!! He does this because he knows I love to cook, but I'm very

particular

about the ingredients and know what's low fat and what isn't. What has a lot

of carbs, and what doesn't. He's learned to read the nutritional labels and is

thrilled when he finds something new that's good for my diet(s), but he'd rather

just whisk through the store than stop to read the labels, which he can do if we

discuss it first.

After what happened to you this week, I just don't think you can depend upon

your own awareness of a hypo to be driving alone. Oh, that's another test.....I

always test my BG's before I put myself in the driver's seat. I won't drive if

I'm

hovering near a low BG, and you need to be especially cautious about driving

in the two hours post pradial of a meal, when your insulin is still attacking

those carbs. So that's another reason you would need more tests.....

I know you didn't want to hear that lecture, but I really do think that you

might

have some growing islet activity going on....(whoopee!!)....that's going to

interact with the injected insulin and give you some strange readings. You

really need to show some caution with anything involving your motor skills,

most especially driving! And even IF you did have really good hypo

awareness, (that's what they call it when you can feel a hypo coming on), you

need to know that it takes some time to correct the hypo and time before your

BG will show a significant rise. The hypo can come on in a flash, but it can

take up to an hour to rectify itself with glucose. We're all different, but it

takes

me at least that long before my BG will steady out. So I do urge you to

proceed with caution.

With love, hope and prayers,

Heidi

Heidi H. Griffeth

South Carolina Rep.

SE Regional Rep., PAI

Note: All comments or advice are based on personal experience or opinion

only, and should not be substituted for professional medical consultation.

PS....about those hypo's. I had two BAD hypo's last night, unfortunately, one

right on top of the other, that had I not been as experienced at dealing with

them as I am, could easily have been a lot of trouble. Since I'm alone 90% of

the time, I've learned methods that work the best for me to correct them, but

it's

pretty hard for a novice to know just what works until it's happened enough

times to try different solutions. The reason they occurred was because of a

phone call that I took right as I began dinner, that I tried to finish as soon

as I

could, but wasn't able to. As a rule, I usually won't even answer the phone

after I've injected for a meal, but mistakes happen, and this one was a doozy!!

It was a bit of a family emergency, and because of those additional minutes

spent on the phone, it caused me to hypo out about an hour later, with a 47

BG. I took some glucose for that and thought I was going back up, my vision

had cleared, the shakiness was gone and then about 20 minutes later it hit

again, that time I was down to 30. Consequently, today I feel as though a Mac

truck hit me!!