September 27, 1999
Hypoglycemia
Question from Vitoria, Spain:
Our son is thirteen and a half years old and he was diagnosed type 1 one and a half years ago. During day time and thanks to diet and exercise he is quite well controlled, but the problem is during the night because his levels change a lot. He takes a snack of milk and biscuits two hours after dinner, before going to bed. Before this snack he makes his last blood control; in these controls sometimes he is low (<100) and we don't know if he is going to be all right the next morning, or if he is going to have an hypoglycemic episode. How can we be sure he is not going to have a hypo during the night?
Answer:
You need to work with a local doctor to help balance the food and insulin to avoid lows during sleep. This is sometimes very difficult to avoid. If your child is prone to low blood sugars during sleep, you may have to wake him up to test his blood sugar during the night. You may be able to change either the timing, the amount, or the type of evening insulin to avoid nighttime lows.
TGL
