A closer look at hypoglycemia
Hypoglycemia is when your blood sugar becomes too low, usually below 3.9 mmol/L (millimoles per litre).213
Because glucose (sugar) is the main fuel for your body and brain, low blood sugar stops you functioning as well as you should. This is known as a hypoglycemia episode, hypoglycemia attack, or a " hypo". It can lead to serious consequences like fainting and seizures.201,213
What causes hypoglycemia?
Many factors can cause hypoglycemia, including, but not limited to:213
- Changes in mealtimes
- Not enough carbohydrates (carbs)
- Wrong dose of insulin or other diabetes medication
- Exercise without a snack or medication adjustment
- Alcohol
What are the symptoms of hypoglycemia or hypo attack?
- Heart palpitations
- Tremor (shaking)
- Sweating
- Changes in behaviour
- Feeling irritable or anxious
- Nausea (feeling like you might vomit)
- Feeling confused
- Feeling hungry
- Headache
- Finding it difficult to think
- Tingling or numbness in your lips, tongue or cheek
- Hypertension (high blood pressure)
Night time hypos (hypoglycemia)
Hypoglycemia can happen while you are sleeping. Studies suggest that almost half of all episodes of hypoglycemia (and more than half of all severe episodes) occur at night during sleep.214
Signs and symptoms of nocturnal hypoglycemia
Can the consequences of hypoglycemia be serious?
If hypoglycemia is severe, it can lead to serious consequences like fainting, seizure (fits), coma or death.201 There are also long-term effects of hypoglycemia. Repeated episodes can lead to a negative impact on your health in the future, including mental health, cognitive function (thinking) and risk of death. Over time you may also become less aware of your hypoglycemia.215
Hypoglycemia unawareness
If hypoglycemia happens regularly, it can lead to 'hypoglycemia unawareness', a condition where you become less able to recognize the symptoms of hypoglycemia. It can increase risk of severe hypoglycemia up to 17 times more than someone who is aware of hypoglycemia. So avoiding hypoglycemia unawareness is vital if you have diabetes.227
How can Libre 2 Plus help me avoid hypoglycemia?
Libre 2 Plus can help you identify night time hypos or hypoglycemia unawareness, without waking up to do a finger prick blood test 223. Here As a Continuous Glucose Monitor (CGM), Libre 2 Plus keeps your glucose levels monitored 24/7. CGMs are the only tools able to detect hypoglycemia at any time, day or night, empowering you with information to help you avoid hypos.
Libre 2 Plus can show you:
- Changes in your glucose over 24 hours, including overnight while you were asleep.
- The number of low glucose events you had in the last 7/14/30/90 days
Avoiding nocturnal hypoglycemia
When you are more aware of your night time hypos, you can then take action to help avoid them. For example:228
- Check your glucose level before bed time.
- Don't skip dinner.
- Find an exercise routine and timing that works for you.
- Be mindful of your alcohol intake.
- Create a meal routine to reduce the likelihood of having an hypo attack overnight.
Avoiding daytime hypoglycemia
When you take a reading, Libre 2 Plus shows whether your gIucose is rising or falling and how quicky it is changing. This can heIp you take the best course of action to avoid hypoglycemia.
If Libre 2 Plus estimates your glucose will fall below 3.9 mmol/L within 15 minutes, a message will appear on screen so you can take quick actions to curb your low glucose levels. Have a high carb snack and check again in 15 minutes. Libre will record a new reading every 60 seconds.14
