[ett]

Hi everyone,

When I was first Dx'd and took a diabetes education course.
The educators in that course lead me to believe that if a diabetic had a hypo while they were sleeping; they would die and never wake up.
A few months after taking that course. A friend said his diabetic wife was loosing sleep because she was having hypos in the middle of the night. And these hypos were waking her up.

Every once in a while; maybe once a month. In the middle of the night I will experience an extremely vivid dream and wake up in the middle of it. I'll lay in bed wide awake for maybe 20 to 40 minutes before falling back to sleep. But I don't realize this has happened until I wake back up in the morning. Hence I've never been able to measure my BG while this occurs.

I asked my doctor if this means I'm experiencing a hypo during the night. But she refuses to give me a satisfactory answer.

So what happens when a T2 diabetic experiences a hypo while sleeping ?

--ET

 

[isisagate]

Well hypos wont' kill you over night... at least as far as I know. Your body kicks in a fight or flight mechanism and generates some sugars from fats. you may find out this happened if you wake up sweating.

I would recommend keeping snacks close to the bed just in case.

 

[Richard157]

I used to have hypos while sleeping and they would usually wake me. I always keep glucose tablets and some jelly beans by my bed. I used to set ny alarm clock on LOUD and test before I would normally have a hypo I could eat something then and sleep much better the rest of the night. Another possibility is to eat a bedtime snack with a lot of protein. Some people have a few peanut butter and crackers, heavy on the peanut butter. Others have used Extend Bars. Look those up on the web. You can order them there. they are no magic cure though. Peanut butter and crackers are probably just as good.

Richard

 

[ett]

Hmm ? I felt OK the few times this has happened to me. No sweating or the usual symptoms associated with hypos.
(Actually I only experienced hypos the first month I was DX'd and they had me on Glyburide.)
I just become wide awake in the middle of a dream; and a dream that is usually about some embarrassing social situation. Kinda like I got a jolt of caffeine. (Adreneline ??)

So maybe they're not hypos ??


--ET

 

[Richard157]

Hello ET. Hypos at night frequently did the same thing to me in the past. I am much more stable now and I no longer experience that. That happened like that many times in the past. My wife would realize I was having a hypo and try to wake me up. I was very groggy and not completely awake. I would get mad at her for waking me because I wanted to finish my dreams. Lol! I had some good ones going at times.

 

[BexBunch]

Hey...

I think perhaps you are just dreaming. You should just check it the next time it happens, but I wouldn't stress over thinking that you are having a hypo. I think the large majority of people experience some sort of symptom when it happens. I have had quite a few in the middle of the night and generally I can wake up before it hits about 60. Its almost like my body starts to tingle and I shiver? There has been one occasion that I didn't REALLY wake up. I woke up on my couch and I KNEW I had gone to sleep in my own bed the previous night. I had no memory of moving, but my husband told me I got up, told him I felt bad and he checked my blood sugar for me, fixed me a peanut butter sandwich, watched me eat it, checked my blood sugar again 20 minutes later and I was even talking to him during this time. I think that was a rare case of sleep-walking/hypo. Either way... like I said, don't stress... Even when I wasn't truly awake, I was still able to wake up and realize I needed to get help with my blood sugar. You will be just fine.

 

[Richard157]

A peanut butter sandwich acts very slowly. You should eat something tha acts quickly when you have a hypo. I use glucose tablets. they don't taste so good but they work very fast. Jelly beans are good too. I carry some glucose tablets and a small zip-lock bag of jelly beans with me everywhere I go.

 

[ett]

Thanks everyone.

I haven't encountered any of these experiences in quite a while. (4 or 5 months ?)
And from all your descriptions it sounds like I probably wasn't having hypos.
I do live in a relatively noisy neighborhood. So maybe they were simply situations in which loud noises awoke me in the middle of a dream.

I feel much safer now.

Thanks !
--ET

 

[Shanny]

You might consider ear plugs . . . I've used them for years because the slightest little noise would waken me. That was a good thing when my kids were small & I needed to be wakeful, but now in retirement I like my sleep to remain uninterupted!

I do live in a relatively noisy neighborhood. So maybe they were simply situations in which loud noises awoke me in the middle of a dream.

I feel much safer now.

Thanks !
--ET