For those who are unaware, a hypo is a short name for hypoglycaemia, this is where blood sugar falls to a dangerous level, this is usually below 4mmols for most diabetics. This is dangerous and if not treated immediately can be fatal as our body will begin to shut down and may fall into a coma. A hypo needs to be treated quickly with a small amount of sugar to bring the blood glucose levels back up to a stable level. Every diabetic will always have a stash of sweets/sugary carbs on them for this reason.
When my blood sugar goes below this level I start feeling very ill, diabetics experience different hypo awareness, for me personally I start to feel very hot, very dizzy, hungry and then my hands start to shake followed by a very strange feeling that I can only describe as "feeling like jelly" it's very hard to explain to someone who has not experienced it!
I have pretty good hypo awareness, which means I can easily tell when my blood glucose is falling, I will then do a finger prick and if below 4 will have some sweets or sugary carbohydrate to bring them back up! After 15 mins or so the rule is to test again, if still low have more glucose, then when blood sugars rise always have some long acting carbohydrate to make sure they stay up and done fall again, this could be a bit of toast or a couple of biscuits... After a hypo you can feel worn out and won't recover for a while, a lot of diabetics including me experience the "uncontrollable urge to eat everything phase" again very hard to explain, out body is basically craving carbs due to the low blood glucose! But if we give in to the urge it usually ends up with our sugar going the opposite way, it's a hard habit to break!
So what do I use for my hypos?
I usually carry sweets on me at all times, whatever I fancy at the time really, I like fruit pastils at the moment but you won't ever catch me with those awful gluco tabs yeughh!!
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