I am 52 years old, have had type�1 diabetes for 27 years, I take insulin in the morning, and I have not had any problems until the other day. I was told about diabetes unawareness after this happened. Usually I can tell when a low blood sugar is coming, I was by myself (at work) when I passed out between 11:30 am and noon, and I wasn’t found until 3:30 pm. Will this occur more often now that I am older or is it just random?

Hypoglycemia unawareness is usually not a new presentation of low blood sugars. People who experience this problem have longer durations of diabetes, more frequent hypoglycemia, and have a defect in the ability to avoid serious low blood sugars. The short answer is yes. Once you have these, you are at more risk for developing more severe reactions.

If I am reading your question correctly, it appears you take insulin only once a day. This is so infrequent and is not an efficient way to administer insulin. I would suggest you contact your physician and discuss breaking up the insulin dose into more frequent doses, that you monitor more frequently in an attempt to insure you are not having lows at other times of the day, and make sure you have glucose and glucagon around to treat serious reactions. I would also recommend you seek more diabetes education from a Certified Diabetes Educator in your area.

JTL