Panicking When Taking Hypos

Hi there

I have been experiencing feelings of panicking when taking hypos. Does anyone else have this problem?

Elaine

Experiencing panic when suffering a loss of control is a common feature of life, let alone diabetes! This is more to do with an individual's psychological makeup than anything else and needs looking at from that point of view. If you are a new diabetic it is perfectly understandable and will subside as you become more familiar with hypos and what works for you. Make sure you always have rapid acting glucose to hand. This is best in liquid form, e.g. Lucozade or Tesco's tropical fruit drink. The latter is 4 cp's per 330ml bottle. These will correct most hypos in no time and will make you feel much more confident about handling the situation. Make sure the people around you, your family, friends and colleagues, know what to do if you are hypo. Don't worry about their attitude, you have a life-threatening condition, they probably don't! Those who matter won't mind, those who mind don't matter.
Keep your chin up! Best of luck.
Roger

Hi, Always feel panicky when having hypo. I use it as one of my warning signals. Do a BM test and then 1 line/10g fast Carbs.

Just an aside. Do you shake when you are hypo and panicky? I do and couldn't get the bloomin test strip in the Blood monitor. I now use a cassette based monitor with no strips as such.

All the best!

Hi Elaine,

Its perfectly normal to get panicky when having a hypo..............

I suppose it all depends on how new you are and your experience with having them, how well your control is and the nature of the hypo [slow onset and expected, with better control, quickly and unexpected with less controlled], and obviously your surroundings and whether you have quick acting sugar to hand...........

I never carried hypo resolve with me before DAFNE, I never needed to, I was always high...............Now I will never leave the house alone without it.......

I have certainly had a few panicky times when I have had an alcohol induced hypo, as it came really quickly, which usually comes with more extreme symptoms, like blurred vision and dizziness.............

Thanks everyone for the feedback. I have had diabetes since i was 13 and i am now 29. I have just recently started experiencing panic attacks when i am hypoing.Its frustrating as i have never experienced anything like this before. I thought it would have been a good question to ask as i don't know anyone else with type 1 and its good to get oter peoples views that have diabetes.i completed the dafne course today and hoping that my hypos are very minimum now.

Hi Laney,

Just to clarify what I said earlier about panic being a psychological state. I too occasionaly shake almost uncontrollably when having a hypo, but this is not panic. This is a physical condition brought about by there being insufficient glucose in the system to enable the brain to give fine tuning instructions to the muscles and and to enable the muscles to move in a controlled fashion.

All the best,

Roger

Hi Roger,
I spoke to the Doctor at the Clinic yesterday and explained what I was feeling. He said it is something that you can experience and is normal however, we would need to see if I am feeling the panic because of my hypos or is it caused by something else(related tho). He said that I can be referred by my GP to a therapist instead of taking medication for the panics. I am going to see how things go now that I am doing it dafne style .
I normally always feel shaky when a hypo is coming on but this is a different feeling i have been experiencing. When was it you done the dafne course? Do you feel it has helped and reduced any hypos or hypers?

Laney.

Hi Laney,

I did the DAFNE course a week ago, although I have been following the general principles for about two years. I have been type 1 since 1978 and found a tremendous improvement after adopting the DAFNE principles. It has given me much better control and much greater flexibility in life. It is difficult to say whether the course itself has effected any change as I have a gut infection at the moment and the treatment for it is definitely affecting me, as is the infection itself.

I hope you get your panic problem sorted out soon. I think I was greatly helped to accept my diabetes by the fact that, when I was admitted to Stobhill to be stabilised, I was put in a general medical ward. I was the only diabetic there. For the week I was there, every night someone died. This convinced me that, if I was to be afflicted with something, diabetes was probably one of the best things to have. It can be managed, and that is even more true now under the DAFNE procedures.

Best wishes for the future,

Roger