July 11, 1999
Hypoglycemia
Question from Pennsylvania, USA:
My 14 year old daughter with diabetes has had two seizures at night in the last several months. We are working with our endocrinologist to adjust her nighttime insulin levels, however it seems inevitable that this will happen again. I would like to know if there is any equipment available to detect low blood sugars or seizures so that we could be more proactive in this situation. Also, I am interested in finding out if there are physiological changes such as increased heart/breathing rate, body temperature, etc., that could be monitored to provide an early warning of seizures or low blood sugars.
Answer:
There is nothing on the market currently to help with detecting hypoglycemia. Please see information about the GlucoWatch and the MiniMed Continuous Glucose Sensor. These sound promising, but I have learned not to guess when something which sounds promising may become available. There used to be a device called the Sleep Sentry which is no longer available.
In answer to the second part of your question: during hypoglycemia there may indeed be sweating and a rapid pulse.
LM
