2 Big Hypo Mistakes

Something happened to me last night and I wanted to share it with you as it was totally avoidable.

I woke up just before 2am feeling awful, scanned my Libre and all that appeared was ‘LOW’. Rolled out of bed and staggered downstairs, poured a glass of Coke and sat on the sofa to drink it.

Next thing I knew I was opening my eyes, slumped on the sofa, running in sweat with a thumping headache. Luckily I had drunk the glass of Coke but then I had passed out. I checked the time and I had been out for 15-20 minutes.

I got my bearings, ate a banana and went back to bed.

What had gone wrong?! I hardly ever have severe hypos as my blood sugars are well controlled and my hypo symptoms kick in at about 3.8.

I always analyse these things and try to work out what I did wrong. This one was actually pretty obvious.

I’d had a busy day which started with a good home workout. I’d then spend most of the day doing jobs around the house, in the garden and chasing my toddler around.

I’d eaten well but it was a pretty low carb day for me.

I was hungry late in the evening so had a snack, greek yoghurt, blueberries, honey and nuts. I did my usual dose of Fiasp for this which is just a couple of units.

Just before bed I checked my blood sugar again and it was spiking, 12-13 and rising. So without putting much thought into it (big mistake!) I did my usual correction dose of 2 units to bring it back to normal range.

What were my mistakes?

1. When I did my correction dose I didn’t take everything into consideration. I’d had an active day and had been on the go most of the time and overall I’d had a pretty low carb day. Just because that is the correction dose that I would normally give doesn’t mean it’s right in every situation.
2. My second mistake was, when I went down to treat my hypo I didn’t wake my partner to tell him (and the fact that I had to go downstairs at all because I had finished the coke that I keep by the bed and hadn’t replaced it!).

This situation could have been a lot worse and it also could have been avoided.

Always make sure you take everything into consideration before doing an injection, whether it’s with food or a correction dose.

Also, if you live with someone always make them aware when you are having a hypo.

I won’t be making those mistakes again!