Insulin and pump users has anything like this happened to you?
Lately I've been getting low blood sugars in the middle of the night quite often I am very disoriented and find the next morning I didn't handle the situation as I normally would. Last night I went to bed early next thing I know I wake up on the bathroom floor (no memory of getting out of bed),my shirt is soaked with sweat so I know I had been too low. I had to stay on the floor for quite some time as my arms were too shaky to get myself up. From there I managed to crawl to the living-room and get onto the couch. Only managed a little bit of sleep and eventually felt ok enough to walk back into my bedroom. In the morning my sugars were 158 and I never did drink any juice to correct the low. So really two parts to my question has your body managed to produce some glucose and correct a low for you and do you think I'm sleep walking or just disoreinted from being too low? Sorry this is so long thanks for all who read it.
2009-06-05T12:36:05Z
I keep a juice box at my bedside but,that does little good if I'm up walking around and unaware. I've been slowly adjusting my basal rate and will consult with the doctor soon.
2009-06-05T19:10:46Z
I am up at 3:45 am on work days so in bed by 8:00 pm and yes I check sugars before bed.
2009-06-05T19:12:07Z
Yes the sweat soaked shirt told me I had been too low. That wasn't in question.
dingding2009-06-05T12:17:59Z
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When you go a little low, say around 70-ish, your liver kicks out stored glucose to help bring you up, but they you'll drop further so it's not enough to bring you up where you need to be. This happens in non-diabetics too when they're exercising or haven't eaten in several hours. It's the same thing that happens if you have an emergency low and use your glucagon kit. I get very disoriented from being low, so I keep a bowl full of Skittles in my bedstand drawer so I can just grab them when I feel it come on.
Have you done some fasting basal tests recently? Your basal needs may have changed, and I wonder if you have dawn phenomenon that might be causing the morning high. Eat a low-fat dinner around 6pm and nothing more for the rest of the evening, then test your BG every hour on the hour starting at 9pm. That means you'll have to set an alarm clock to go off every hour during the night and keep your meter right by the bed to test so you can go right back to sleep. It will be a sketchy night's sleep, so maybe do this on a Friday evening/Saturday morning so you can get a good nap in the next day. Show the BG numbers to your endo or diabetes educator and they can help you make the basal adjustments.
Start setting your alarm for before the time when you think you're getting low. My daughter's blood sugar can be unpredictable so I always get up and check her at night. Of course, she's on shots ... but from what I've heard about others using pumps, I'd think you would be able to adjust your basal rate so you don't go low. If my daughter starts going low for a few days in a row I just reduce her Lantus.
I'm thinking you didn't check your glucose before bed, didn't have your bedtime snackie, and don't have your pump calculated correctly!
Yes, when we are low the LIVER declares that we are in starvation mode and shoots out a bunch of stored glucose to try to cover it. But with an insulin pump being set wrong, the Liver is never exactly correct in the amount of stored glucose to send along!
You have been very lucky! I recommend checking glucose at bedtime, never going to bed without the snacky, never going to bed below 120, and maybe setting the alarm clock to wake you at say 1 or 2 am to check your glucose levels again.
You might also want to go see your CDE or nurse practitioner or whoever helps you with the pump. Going low is very very dangerous.
Did you check before you went to bed to make sure all was well? Seems that you had a low, could be the source of being disoriented. Do you have a history of "sleep walking". I'd be interested to hear what your Dr. thinks is the issue.
Sounds like you had a low. I doubt you would be drenched in sweat from just sleepwalking. Sometimes low can cause sleepwalking, though. I definitely agree that you need to adjust your basal insulin. Do you bolus after dinner?
Your body did correct and, most of the time, it will naturally. Perhaps you should snack before bed in the future.