I have a new BF who has Type 1 Diabetes. When his sugar gets low he sleepwalks. Is there any way to prevent it?

Tell him to knock it off. Diabetes is not an excuse for everything

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I have a new BF who has Type 1 Diabetes. When his sugar gets low he sleepwalks. Is there any way to prevent it?

We have only been dating for 1 month but I am starting to fall in love with him. However, he has not been managing the disease well and went into a coma once and recently I was told had convulsions when his BG dropped to 18. He recently was hospitalized and is being treated by a specialist for...

First of all I would ask you to ignore the first two clowns that responded. They obviously know little, if anything, about diabetes or how hypoglycemia can affect someone.

Noccie is correct about the CGM (Continuous Glucose Monitoring) system. It's not worn on the wrist, but is another short-term implant that fits in just like the cannula of the pump's set.

What I would say is that there seems to be some confusion over the use of NPH insulin. Although you are correct in saying that it is a longer-acting insulin, it's not the sort of insulin that would be used in a pump. These are run using fast-acting (and shorter duration) insulins.

Although the long-term benefits are apparent in many cases, the early days may actually cause more anxiety. This is because due to the fact that only fast-acting insulin is used, there's a greater chance of hypoglycemia occurring. This, of course, means that more frequent blood testing must take place, and my own advice, based on personal experience, is that your boyfriend should wake up at least once or twice a night, to begin with, to purposely check his blood sugar levels.

One advantage of using a pump is that the insulin being infused can be temporarily paused when blood sugar levels are low, and restarted after remedial action is taken.

I realise it's a bit late offering this information now ... after the earlier incident has already taken place, but your boyfriend should ensure that he tests his blood sugar level prior to going to sleep. This way he would be able to ascertain whether or not his blood sugar level is low enough to warrant eating something before he goes to sleep.

Unfortunately, hypoglycemic attacks, and particularly when you're asleep, do cause changes to mood and personality. (I speak from experience on this.) First of all, your body will get signals that your blood sugar level is falling. This is very often noticeable when you're awake, but when you're asleep you, obviously, wouldn't recognise it straight away. By the time you do recognise it, your blood sugar level may well already be very low. The instinctive thing then is that your body will try to survive. It will do this by 'ordering' your body to find the nearest source of 'food' ... which could be anything that's close to hand, or even things that are not there. If someone is in the way, they'd better move, or have that source of food right in front of them.

Hypoglycemia does, in fact, cause severe confusional states, so your boyfriend may not even be aware of where he is, who you are, whether he's on this earth or fuller's earth.

The sooner glucose has re-entered his system, the sooner your boyfriend will return to normal. (You're boyfriend must surely know this anyway, considering he's a type 1 diabetic, and he MUST ensure that there's a ready supply of glucose available ... especially at night.)

Even after glucose has been administered and your boyfriend has returned to normal he MUST ensure that takes in some food that contains carbohydrates. (Carbohydrates are broken down to give a supply of glucose, which your body needs to survive. Obviously, the breakdown of these carbohydrates takes time, hence the need for an immediate supply of glucose. As this takes time, it ensures that there's going to be a supply of glucose within the system for considerably longer. Taking just the glucose ... either by drink or 'tablets' causes a sudden rush of glucose into the bloodstream. Unfortunately, this 'spike' in glucose levels will also fall quite rapidly as there's still insulin within the system, which is making the glucose available to the muscles, etc.)

I wish you both the very best of luck for a happy and continuing relationship.

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Let your Mom know- politely, that your blood sugar and insulin requirements will change all your life. It would be unreasonable to think that you should take the same does you took as a baby ! Have your MOm make an appointment with your endo and all together you can work out a sliding scale and the right dosage. You might want to try a pump.My daughter uses one.She is 19 and has had diabetes for 17 years. Be well.

When I first met my Husband he was not looking after his Diabetes at all. He refused to see the doctor and was not on any medication let alone insulin!

He used to have terrible moods and would get agressive, althoug hto be fair not as bad as your BF seems to be.

People with Diabetes do not necessarily have problems with mood although changes in Blood glucose do affect this, however someone with Diabetes is 50% more likely to suffer with conditions such as depression, anxiety etc...

My husband did eventually have an episode where he was so agitated that he could not sit in a car for more than 200 yards without having a complete psycho fit! This was when we were supposed to be flying to America!

We rang the airline and asked if we could let them know when he was fit to fly etc.... and got him to his GP.

I virtually forced him to get treated and I would have left him if he refused. Luckily he got his treatment.

It's not easy but it does get better. You need to learn as much as you can with him. I was lucky I am a Pharmacy technician and so he didn't dare ignore me, but it's not the same for everyone.

Give him a chance as he can't control everything, but he needs ot take responsibilty himself.

It is not fair of him to let you worry about such a serious health condition.

Hope that it works out for you, don't give up just yet...he is probably just scared out of his wits. My husband was terrified which is why he left it. Try and support him and see how it goes.

i dont get sweats or sleep walk but i can get aggresive and pissed off real easily(type 1 as well). i never thought that could happen actually-sleepwalk.what my mom does is checks me in the middle of the night to make sure im not low or high. he could have an alarm clock or somthing go off at like 2am or whenever he usually is low. he could have a snack before he goes to bed like peanut better crackers or something.

the pump will help LOTS! you can change the settings so he CANT go low-or at least less often-at night. plus you change it every 3-4 days instead of doing shots like 5 or more times a day. you can also get this thingy that does your BG every like minute and tells the pump. you change that every 6 days and its pretty simple to use! but you still have to do your blood sugar-just less often but when you do the blood sugar, you have to put in the pump so the blood meter thingy knows.

yea, well, hope i could help!

He needs to be wearing a continuous glucose monitor which will sound off an alarm when he goes low. This does not attach to his wrist. If you are thinking of the "gluco-watch" this thing just hasn't worked that well. The CGM is attached to him like the pump would be.

He also needs to be working with his doctor to avoid hypoglycemia. There are also dogs that are trained to alert someone to hypoglycemia! Do a Google search for hypoglecemia and dog.

Start going to the endocrinologist appointments with this guy so you can learn how to help him and make sure he talks to the endocrinologist about his hypoglycemia issues.

This guy sounds like he's awfully high maintainance - is he worth it?

My son is at the moment being tested for diabetes, he sleep walks, has sweats and gets quite agressive and he is only 4 so I dont think he is doing it on purpose, he is still asleep when he does it. We are not sure yet if he is diabetic, but these are the reasons the doctor is testing him for it.

Diabetes can make people appear drunk and they can become agressive when thier blood sugar is low.

Speak to a doctor about it and see if they have any solutions for your problem

At those levels he was in big trouble!

He needs to take charge of his disease and not let it rule his life. He has to eat correctly and at the proper times. The pump will help but only if he learns to count carbohydrates correctly.

Sounds like he didn't eat properly or injected too much insulin.

There is no excuse for getting violent, even if low glucose level. It must not be allowed to rule the rest of his life. But watch carefully how you wish to proceed. Most people from abusive homes turn abusive themselves without psychiatric help.