My nephew has had type 1 since he was eight. He has been taking shots for years. Now, he has started to have hypoglycemia several times a week, sometimes two or three episodes a day. He is not aware of his blood sugar dropping. The paramedics are called and his blood sugar is 20 to 30 mg/dl [1.1 to 1.7 mmol/L]. His insulin has been adjusted but he continues to drop. Has his pancreas started working again?

No, it is unlikely that his pancreas is beginning to work. Rather, he has hypoglycemia unawareness and cannot protect himself from low blood sugars. His body has lost the ability to counterregulate. It is important that he get help from his physician. As weird as it may sound, he needs to work on avoiding lows. After several weeks of avoiding the lows, he has a good chance of getting his ability to perceive lows to come back. He can then protect himself by eating when symptoms begin. If not, he is at risk for low blood sugars that could be severe and arise at the most unexpected times. As you can imagine, this can be dangerous.

JTL