Is anyone dealing w/ hypoglycemic unawareness?

[blacklime]

I am a 30 yr veteran of T1. I have had T1 since the age of 7, I guess you can figure out me age, ha! Last year I was diagnosed with hypo-unawareness. My b.g. will drop and the first symptoms I have is tunnel vision(right at the point of passing out) or I start to convulse. I am aware of what is going on around me but I am not able to put my thoughts into words and talk. My b.g. has gone from 147 to 41 in fifteen minutes and no symptoms of it dropping. I treat my lows with 15 carbs and recheck by b.g. after 10-15 minutes and repeat if needed. Then usually within 2-3 hours of a low I will rebound to anywhere from 300-500. Some days this happens more than once. I am using a medical alert service dog to alert me when my sugars are dropping. He is fairly young and not 100% on his alerts, but he has alerted me a number of times at home and in public. He usually lets me know when I am about 100. At first I thought he was goofy, but after a few times of him doing this and then me dropping in the 40-50 range within 15 minutes of his alert, I rely on his judgement and drink some juice even if I am at 100. I no longer drive or stay alone with out someone knowing my schedule and keeping a cell phone on me at all times. I am on an insulin pump and have been for the past 8 years. I think my b.g. would be much worse if I were on shots. I am wondering if anyone else suffers from this kind of complication and what you have done to cope or even regain sensitivity to low sugars? I am in contact with my doctor weekly. We are making adjustments to my pump and we've changed brands of insulin. I'm currently on apidra, with no significant improvemnt after 3 months. I exercise regularly. I walk and bike with my service dog usually 5 days a week, working in errands around town. I also do janitorial cleaning 1-2 days a week for 3-4 hours a day. I eat healthy balanced meals, and check my b.g. 8-12 times a day. I am trying to find the positive and keep active, but I am wearing out physically and mentally. Any ideas or help would be appreciated.

[Mark1e]

Originally Posted by blacklime

I am a 30 yr veteran of T1. ...... Last year I was diagnosed with hypo-unawareness. .......

blacklime,

Like you, I am also a long time T1 (29 years now). And the hypo unawareness seems to have got worse over time. At one stage I would drop to below 40 before feeling anything. There has been a small improvement and I now feel notsogood at about 50. But this is still too low for comfort.

The biggest help in avoiding the lows was to get rid of blood sugar volatility caused by a high-carb diet (about 200grams of carb a day). Cutting back to about 50 grams of carbs a day means that I don't need to inject so much insulin. So my blood sugar doesn't drop as quickly or as low, even if I get the quantity and timing of it wrong.

I had hoped that not going hypo so often would make the hypo unawareness go away. But that doesn't seem to have happened. My blood sugar still drops too low for comfort before I feel it. But, I am happy to say, it isn't anwhere nearly as much of a problem. My blood sugar now only drops very slowly, and I normally pick it up in a random test. I also test 8-12 times a day.

I also used to have severe problems with convulsions. It was terrible and, after overcoming the problem, I feel like I have got my life back. The secret IMHO is to remove the volatility in blood sugar levels. If you can do this, you won't be overwhelmed by a sudden crisis. And the key is to re-train your body to use fat as the main source of energy. You do this by removing carbs (sugar, bread, potatoes, rice, anything made with flour) from your meals and replacing them with fat/protein (meat, fish, chicken, dairy, nuts).

Cheers,

Mark

[blondy2061h]

I have hypo unawareness. My endo recommended I use 160 as my target bg for a month or two and see if I can get some awareness back. He said not to let myself go below 90 during that two month period and to treat a bg of 100 as a low. And guess what, it worked! I have some awareness back, but still not a normal amount.

[Coravh]

Endos are now recommending that you run higher glucose levels consistantly for a couple of months to return your awareness. The recommendations vary, but about 180 is what I have heard most often. Many people with unawareness don't like to do this because they don't feel that great and are worried about complications. The problem is that your body has gotten used to a too low level and doesn't bother to warn you any more. You may not feel that great at first running high, but it will work. As for complications, you won't cause major complications with just a couple of months of higher BG. Complications occur with long term high glucose levels. Also, the immediate dangers of unawareness are quite obvious to you at this point.

I would have a chat with my endo and run my levels higher for a while and hopefully that will help.

Good luck to you.

Cora

[Betty325062000]

My daughter, a 37 year type 1 diagnosed at age 9. You can then probably guess my age! The 10 year span between her diagnosis and years produces big advances in diabetic care. If there were home blood test I was not aware of it. I don't have any blood glucose for that period but she dropped fast, and she still does. The scary things is that she has always referred to be alone. A few months ago she had to put down her best friend and constant companion. She is now considering a puppy that she thinks she can train. So much depends on their inherent abilities but the latest dog, while not trained to do so alerted her. She has a great love for dogs and can get a dog to do almost anything. I will feel better if she has a dog. She recently researched laws in regard to service animals and found that there are almost none.

How did you acquire your dog and any other information you would like to share.
Betty