October 7, 2000
Hypoglycemia
Question from Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, USA:
My eighteen year-old daughter, with type 1 for eight months, has had occasional problems, always, in part, explainable by staying out late, eating late, and over-estimating insulin requirements. We have discussed and analyzed each occurrence, but the temptations have been difficult for her. She has not had any severe lows while awake since she recognizes symptoms and eats frosting immediately. She is leaving for college soon, and thus will not be sleeping in her bunk bed with her sister, who is awakened by the noise and shaking. I am a nurse and have been treating her with IV dextrose with the consultation of our endocrinologist. Is there a method of alerting others to severe hypoglycemia during the night? Will wearing a pulse oximeter with an alarm set to go off with increased heart rate be an option since blood pressure and heart rate can increase with seizures? Are any other motion detectors on the market? piloted?
Answer:
You are doing more than almost anyone I know to treat hypos at home. If she has such a low at school, she will find herself in the ER or on an ambulance, since no one I know, other that you, would give IV glucose at home. Maybe that reality will help her help herself not to have the lows. I know one can prescribe the monitor, but who is going to sit up and watch it? Likewise, the motion detectors are burglar alarms. I don’t think they would work. It seems to me education to avoid the lows is the only real answer.
LD