[Richard157]

Hello Emmie Lou, welcome to our support group! I read your profile and I see you are having several problems. I hope they get better in the months ahead so you can regulate your diabetes more easily. Do you use a basal/bolus type of control with your insulin? Carb counting has helped me more than anything else. I count the number of grams of carbs in my meal and take the appropriate number of units to compensate for those carbs. My ratio is 6 for most of the day. That means I need one unit of fast acting insulin for every 6g of carbs I am going to eat. Your ratio might be quite different. Some people need 1 unit for every 15 or even 30 grams of carbs. Carb counting has helped me to greatly reduce the number of highs and lows that I have. Most of my Type 1 friends use carb counting.

I have been Type 1 for 63 years and I am healthy. I was diagnosed in 1945 when I was 6.

Ask all the questions you want. We are here to help!

Richard

 

[Richard157]

Emmie, there was a time when I had that problrm so I set the alarm for 4am and tested. If I had started going low I would eat a snack. What time you should test during the night and how much you should eat can be dermined by trial and error. That routine worked for me. I got used to doing that and I could go back to sleep very quickly. I do think that a high protein snack just before going to bed would do just as well. There is a product called an "Extend bar" that you can Google for information. It is high protein and will extend throughout the night and it would help in your situation. It is also used by people who have "dawn phenomenon" too.

 

[Richard157]

Hello Darren, welcome to Diabetes Forum! I used to have a lot of seizures and hypos too until I started to use carb counting to determine my insulin dosages. Do you use carb counting? I have to know how many carbs (carbohydrates) I am going to have before every meal and snack. I need 1 unit of insulin for every 6 carbs. I take the necessary injections before I eat. Some people need 1 unit for every 15 carbs, it varies a lot from one person to another. That procedure enabled me to have fewer hypos. I have not had a seizure for more than 2 years now. I do not eat anything after 8 PM (20:00) so that I will not be going to sleep with any fast acting insulin in my body. I never have hypos during the night now.

Please ask any questions you want!

Richard

 

[Richard157]

Darren, I think the long term brain damage that you may have heard or read about is exaggerated. Seizures that lead to diabetic coma and recovery several days or weeks later definitely cause permanent brain damage. I have had a few hundred seizures where my mother, and now my wife had to assist me, since I was uable to function. There was no prolonged unconsciousness and my brain functions normally. Unless you have prolonged unconsciousness , I do not think you need to worry about brain damage.