The Girl Who Cried Hypo

As you may have gathered from my previous blog posts I am a divabetic (noun, deev-a-bet-ic). I don’t mind admitting this to the world, because I don’t think it is necessarily a bad thing. (Although I’m sure my parents disagreed when bringing me up). This blog post is dedicated to how a divabetic reacts to a hypo, and how the pump has changed this.

A hypo, in plain English, is when a diabetic’s blood sugar goes below 4 mmol/L (low) and they start to become ill. For a medical explanation, click here.

This can happen for a variety of reasons, and figuring out why is the fun part about diabetes! (This is sarcasm).

Hypos normally happen if:

·         I have taken too much insulin with my food

·         I have been exercising (not likely)

·         I haven’t eaten enough carbohydrate (again not likely, I LOVE carbs)

·         Drinking too much alcohol...

·         I have missed a meal/snack (rare, I love food too much)

·         The world hates me today, and there is no explanation for my hypo

Hypos are awful. The only way I can describe it is like this. You know when you are really nervous for something, like a job interview or a date? Your heart is pounding, your body is shaking, and you turn an attractive shade of ghostly white... sound familiar? This is what a hypo feels like to me. Every diabetic is different though, and others may have different symptoms.

If my hypo is really bad, I find it hard to string a sentence together. It’s like I have lost control of my mouth, and talking becomes really difficult. When I’m at this stage people often mistake me for being drunk, which is a problem.  

But every time I have a hypo, I have to treat it with some emergency sugar. And boy is it a treat. When I was younger, I used to kind of like having hypos in some sort of weird and twisted way, because it gave me an excuse to eat junk food.

I know I’ve said in my previous blogs that diabetics can eat sugary stuff, but I was diagnosed in 2005 and Doctors were still practising the ‘You shouldn’t really eat 5 donuts in a row, Kim’ theory.

So to me, hypos were bittersweet, literally. Yes, I had to go through the annoying symptoms first, but the pot of gold at the end of this hypo rainbow was a big bowl of sugar. I would have Mars Bars, Pringles, Twix’s and Galaxy Caramel’s at my bedside table, just waiting for the next hypo so I could gobble them up and not feel guilty.

Hypo Heaven...Photo from here

When you have a hypo, you are supposed to treat it with hardcore sugar (like lucozade) and follow it up with some starchy carbs to keep the blood sugar stable. I can’t stress that what I was doing was WRONG. In every sense. I was eating far too much sugar than I needed to treat this hypo, and my blood sugars would be high for the rest of the day.

I remember one particular divabetic moment  like it was yesterday. I was 17 and on holiday with my then boyfriend. I was having a hypo, and it was a bad one so I was unable to reach my stash of goodies and treat it myself.

“Help! I’m having a hypo and I need something to eat!” I said to my boyfriend. And off he ran to go get me something to treat it with.

He came back with some glucose tablets and a can of salt and vinegar pringles. Salt and vinegar... salt and vinegar... what was he thinking?!

My worst nightmare...Photo from here

“I don’t want these!!” I barked. “I hate salt and vinger, I want texas barbeque!!”.

“It doesn’t matter what flavour they are, Kim.” He replied. “Just eat them and sort your blood sugars out.”

If looks could kill, R.I.P. I was outraged. If I was going to suffer this hypo, I damn well wanted to enjoy treating it!

I refused to eat the salt and vinegar pringles and sat in my own self pity for a couple of minutes, before my boyfriend caved in and went to get some BBQ snacks. Needless to say, he never brought me salt and vinegar pringles again, and the relationship ended a few months later. I can’t imagine why...

Thankfully, I no longer think this way about hypos. The older I got, the more I wised up and started to treat them properly with a small glass of lucozade and a cereal bar. My diva-ish ways have calmed down a great deal since entering my 20s, just as well or I think I’d be single forever.

But, now I have my pump, the way I treat hypos have changed completely. I’m really happy to report that since getting my pump fitted on March 3^rd, I’ve only had 3 hypos.

Now I have, The Rule of 15, which is this:

·         Eat 15 grams of quick acting carbs

·         Wait 15 mins

·         Recheck blood glucose

·         If less than 4 mmol/L still, repeat

15 grams of carbs can be:

·         Glucose tablets (4-5)

·         Lucozade 80ml

·         Fruit Juice 150ml

·         GlucoGel 38g or ¾ of tube

·         Hypo-Fit 1 x 18g sachet

I personally treated my most recent hypo with a small packet of raisins. Within 15 minutes it had risen to an OK level and I carried on with my day. So instead of gobbling 1000 calories in chocolate after a hypo, I can now munch on a packet of raisins or a glass or orange juice. 

Great ay?

Please remember that I am not a health professional and you should always double check these things with your diabetes specialist.

So  now I have my trusty box of raisins next to my bed, and I no longer wear a sign around my neck to warn potential boyfriends, ‘Caution:Handle with care’.

Raisins at the ready