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Latest Hypoglycemia Unawareness Articles
Hypoglycemia Unawareness Article Archives
December 2012
Mike Golic is the co-host of ESPN's wildly popular radio show, "Mike and Mike in the Morning." Before beginning work as a broadcaster in 1995, he played for nine years as a defensive tackle in the National Football League, including stints with the Houston Oilers, Philadelphia Eagles, and Miami Dolphins. About five years ago, he was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes. Since then, he has become involved in getting the word out about type 2, including the potential danger of hypoglycemia. He is a spokesman for "Blood Sugar Basics," a website and outreach program co-sponsored by Merck and the American College of Endocrinology.
2 comments - Posted Dec 21, 2012
October 2012
In response to a post that I wrote on October 19, 2012, asking readers to contribute their opinions, John M wrote to me asking for more information. After exchanging a few emails, we came up with an idea that we think you will like: a new column by readers who write in about experiences they have had with diabetes and who are curious to know if anybody else has experienced the same thing. The new column will be called "Have You Noticed This About Your Diabetes?" The idea is for you to send in your question, in response to which other readers will share similar and not-so-similar experiences through our "Comments" section. (Take note that comments take one to two days to post because they all need to be read and approved.)
3 comments - Posted Oct 31, 2012
November 2011
Mike Golic is the co-host of ESPN's wildly popular radio show, "Mike and Mike in the Morning." Before beginning work as a broadcaster in 1995, he played for nine years as a defensive tackle in the National Football League, including stints with the Houston Oilers, Philadelphia Eagles, and Miami Dolphins. About five years ago, he was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes. Since then, he has become involved in getting the word out about type 2, including the potential danger of hypoglycemia. He is a spokesman for "Blood Sugar Basics," a website and outreach program co-sponsored by Merck and the American College of Endocrinology.
3 comments - Posted Nov 25, 2011
October 2011
The one time I needed a glucagon injection, I didn't have any. I had never been given a prescription for it, had no idea how to use it, and was absolutely clueless about what it did.
1 comment - Posted Oct 29, 2011
May 2011
French drug maker Sanofi-aventis says that results from a Phase III trial of its experimental type 2 diabetes drug lixisenatide show that the drug successfully lowered patients' blood glucose levels and body weight, but did not increase the risk of hypoglycemia.
0 comments - Posted May 23, 2011
March 2011
October 2010
Have you ever worried that in case of emergency, first responders will not know that you or a loved one has diabetes? Or concerned that a low blood sugar may be interpreted by law enforcement officials as intoxication--especially behind the wheel of a vehicle? What if you wear a Medical ID, but they cannot get to you right away in the case of an accident?
0 comments - Posted Oct 8, 2010
July 2010
Medtronic, Inc. announced today that Test B4U Drive, the first-ever, free program for teens with diabetes combining advanced driver skills training with diabetes management education, will be held July 19-21 at The Forum in Los Angeles. In partnership with the Juvenile Diabetes No Limits Foundation, Medtronic will continue the program throughout the summer across the country to teach teens with diabetes that good diabetes management is a key to staying safe behind the wheel.
0 comments - Posted Jul 14, 2010
June 2010
A Sacramento Superior Court judge has ruled that only school nurses can give insulin shots to children in public schools who have diabetes. The decision by Judge Lloyd Connelly overturned a 2007 California State Department of Education decision that allowed trained school staff, as well as nurses, to administer such injections.
1 comment - Posted Jun 25, 2010
As a type 1 diabetic, I have found that it's a good idea to plan for the unexpected when traveling. Life is full of surprises, and so are vacations. The flight is late. The flight has been cancelled. We had a flat tire or ran out of gas. There is an accident on the highway, and the traffic isn't moving. Who would have ever thought that airline flights would be grounded for five days in most of Eastern Europe because of volcanic ash from an erupting volcano in Iceland? If a diabetic had planned on going for a week-long vacation in England or France and had taken limited insulin, syringes, or infusion sets, he might have been in big trouble. Trying to replenish medical supplies in a foreign country could prove to be very difficult.
0 comments - Posted Jun 16, 2010
May 2010
People with diabetes who have limited health literacy are at higher risk for hypoglycemia or low blood sugar, according to a new study from researchers at the University of California, San Francisco and the Kaiser Permanente Division of Research in Oakland, CA.
0 comments - Posted May 20, 2010
Tattoos aren't just an art form or a way of making a personal statement anymore: They are beginning to save lives.
1 comment - Posted May 20, 2010
A new study released by the Children's Hospital of New Orleans has found that black children with type 1 diabetes scored higher on A1c tests than white children who had similar blood glucose levels. Such ethnic disparity has already been shown in previous studies with adults.
0 comments - Posted May 18, 2010
Over 80 years ago, famed diabetologist Elliot Joslin said about the treatment of patients with type 1 diabetes: "Ketoacidosis may kill a patient, but frequent hypoglycemic reactions will ruin him." Unfortunately, hypoglycemia continues to be the most difficult problem facing most patients, families, and caregivers who deal with the management of type 1 diabetes on a daily basis. Frequent hypoglycemia episodes not only can "ruin," or adversely impact the quality of life for patients, but also, when severe, can cause seizures, coma, and even death.
13 comments - Posted May 13, 2010
April 2010
NEW YORK, April 27, 2010 - The Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation announced today that it is partnering with Living Cell Technologies (LCT), a New Zealand-based biotechnology company focused on developing cell based therapeutics, in a Phase II clinical trial to study the safety and effectiveness of transplanting encapsulated insulin-producing cells from pigs as a treatment for type 1 diabetes with significant hypoglycemia unawareness.
1 comment - Posted Apr 28, 2010
February 2010
Dear Diabetes Health, I'm 26 years old and engaged to a woman I've known since college. We live together, love each other, and have good sex, but now I'm having doubts. A year ago, she was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes. She started taking insulin, and it has been rough. Four times now she has started sweating and shaking and saying strange things. Twice this happened during sex.
11 comments - Posted Feb 3, 2010
June 2009
I hear voices in my surroundings as the cloud of confusion gradually begins to lift. "Curtis, can you hear me?" "Curtis, what was the score of the football game?" "Curtis, do you know where you are?"
6 comments - Posted Jun 18, 2009
December 2008
My daughter Lauren was five days shy of her twelfth birthday when she was diagnosed with type 1. We were blessed with a child who could and did take the lead in her recovery and care. She never had any "teen diabetic rebellion" and never adopted a "why me?" mentality. Her health has been great, and her last A1c was 6.7%. With all the hormonal changes that can affect a teenage girl's body and thus change her insulin requirements, Lauren has always stayed on top of her care and never lost her fantastic personality.
24 comments - Posted Dec 2, 2008
September 2008
An article published in Diabetologia this month challenges the accepted glucose cut-off values that define hypoglycemia because they have a major effect on reported frequencies of hypoglycemia.
11 comments - Posted Sep 29, 2008
May 2008
A word of caution about the values used below. This study was conducted using people without diabetes. Some people with diabetes experience symptoms at higher glucose levels than the study suggests. Other people with diabetes appear to function well with blood sugars in the 30's and 40's (mg/dl). Therefore, the values in the study should only be used as an approximation. This study also used plasma glucose levels. Your values done at home might be 20 percent lower or higher than these lab values. For example, epinephrine release in someone without diabetes would begin at about 63mg/dl with a home blood glucose meter.
43 comments - Posted May 1, 2008
April 2007
Here are some useful tips to help you choose a meter that’s right for you - and continue to use it successfully.
0 comments - Posted Apr 3, 2007
February 2007
Data presented at the November 2006 Diabetes Technology Meeting in Atlanta, Georgia, found that the Contour Blood Glucose Meter from Bayer accurately detects hypoglycemia.
1 comment - Posted Feb 1, 2007
February 2005
Although severe hypoglycemia is a definite problem for children and adolescents with type 1 diabetes, newer therapies may improve control without increasing the risk of severe hypoglycemia.
0 comments - Posted Feb 1, 2005
July 2004
It’s always a case of Murphy’s Law for me. Whenever I am without my glucose tabs or other quick-acting carbohydrate , I seem to have a low blood glucose.
0 comments - Posted Jul 1, 2004
June 2004
So, you aren’t pleased with your blood glucose control.
0 comments - Posted Jun 1, 2004
May 2004
The number of people opting for insulin pump therapy grows. Worldwide, the number is approximately 300,000.
0 comments - Posted May 1, 2004
April 2004
Results from a Scottish study of 215 type 2s treated with twice-daily or more insulin injections for at least a year reveal that the frequency of severe hypoglycemia, while lower than in type 1s, “is more common than has been previously recognized.”
0 comments - Posted Apr 1, 2004
Islet transplantation offers promise, but it still shows risks of complications and loss of islet function over time.
0 comments - Posted Apr 1, 2004
January 2004
People with diabetes know that we are all supposed to check our blood glucose. But it’s sometimes frustrating to look at the results and see a number that’s too high or too low.
0 comments - Posted Jan 1, 2004
January 2003
People with diabetes know that we are all supposed to check our blood glucose. But some of us do a better job of it than others. Frankly, it's sometimes frustrating to look at the results and see a number that's too high or too low.
3 comments - Posted Jan 1, 2003
If you test your blood glucose regularly, you probably think you have a pretty good idea of how high or low your numbers rise and fall during a typical day and night. However, what if you had 288 blood-glucose readings every 24 hours, instead of only a handful?
1 comment - Posted Jan 1, 2003
July 2002
The Sleep Sentry Monitor, a battery-powered device worn like a wristwatch and used to detect nighttime low blood glucose, was introduced by Teledyne Avionics more than 20 years ago. Teledyne Avionics then sold the device to Eric Orzeck, MD, in 1983, and it has been largely unavailable since the early 1990s.
1 comment - Posted Jul 1, 2002
0 comments - Posted Jul 1, 2002
June 2002
In a small study conducted by researchers in the Netherlands, a drug normally used to treat asthma and bronchitis helped to improve awareness of hypoglycemia in people with type 1 diabetes. Hypoglycemia unawareness can be a dangerous condition—a person with diabetes who cannot detect an episode of low blood glucose cannot take quick action to correct it.
0 comments - Posted Jun 1, 2002
March 2002
It's happened again. You test and the number that pops up on your meter is low. Way too low! But you feel fine. Shouldn't you be experiencing that fuzzy-headed, heart-pounding, shaky-bodied, world-swirling feeling that goes with hypoglycemia?
0 comments - Posted Mar 1, 2002
November 2001
Working in collaboration with diabetes health-care professionals at the Barbara Davis Center for Childhood Diabetes, Kathy Jensen, RD, CDE, has produced the first in a series of programs designed to be available and affordable to families with diabetes.
0 comments - Posted Nov 1, 2001
September 2001
MiniMed's Continuous Glucose Monitoring Device was used to measure the prevalence of nighttime hypoglycemia (BGs below 40 mg/dl) and associate the occurrence of nighttime hypos and interstitial glucose levels every five minutes in a study of 47 children with diabetes.
0 comments - Posted Sep 1, 2001
March 2001
Nerve and kidney damage, taking beta blockers, alcohol use and the length of time with type 1 diabetes are all factors that can contribute to more frequent incidents of severe hypoglycemia.
0 comments - Posted Mar 1, 2001
June 2000
According to the March issue of Diabetes Care, scientists at the University of Edinburgh found that it takes as long as 1.5 days for cognitive function to return to normal after severe hypoglycemia in insulin-dependent people who were prone to such episodes. If such episodes occur frequently, they may permanently and adversely influence cognitive function and mood.
0 comments - Posted Jun 1, 2000
February 2000
Researchers at the Walton Diabetes Center in Liverpool, United Kingdom, are saying that in certain individuals with poor hypoglycemia unawareness, the use of lispro in insulin pumps may increase the frequency of hypoglycemia.
0 comments - Posted Feb 1, 2000
Aerobic workouts can be safely enjoyed by people with diabetes. These are fun exercises that can increase your muscle tone and aerobic fitness. A typical workout consists of greater-intensity aerobic work and lesser-intensity stretching and toning activities using hand-held or ankle weights and multiple repetitions (such as abdominal crunches). Classes vary in intensity based on individual ability and level of participation, as well as the nature of the class: high-impact, low-impact, step, hip-hop and others.
0 comments - Posted Feb 1, 2000
October 1999
Blood Glucose Awareness Training (BGAT) is a private institute developed over 18 years ago to teach patients how to better recognize low blood glucose symptoms. BGAT was started by Daniel Cox, PhD, William Clarke, MD, and Linda A. Gonder-Frederick, PhD, of the University of Virginia. All three are authors of the article in the August 25 issue of The Journal of the American Medical Association, which studied people with diabetes and their decisions to drive. The institute sells manuals, gives workshops and teaches people how to do BGAT.
0 comments - Posted Oct 1, 1999
April 1999
At a recent British Diabetes Association Annual Meeting, a study was presented saying that many people with diabetes are not taking adequate precautions against hypoglycemia.
0 comments - Posted Apr 1, 1999
December 1998
The Diabetes Control and Complications Trial (DCCT) demonstrated that intensive insulin treatment could lead to severe hypoglycemia in adults with type 1 diabetes. The study, however, did not address the effects of intensive insulin treatments and their effects on type 1 children. While it has been documented that severe hypoglycemia causes neurological damage in adult type 1 patients, there has been no conclusive evidence of what it does to children.
0 comments - Posted Dec 1, 1998
October 1998
Christine Klemp of West Bend, Wisconsin, received a shock when she opened her box of insulin on August 16. A message printed in red ink said, "This insulin will be discontinued. Contact your physician to change to another insulin." Klemp was horrified, because this particular insulin (Iletin I beef-pork) is the only insulin that works well for her. "My life is about to come to an end. I just could not believe this was happening."
1 comment - Posted Oct 1, 1998
August 1998
Hypoglycemia is technically a blood sugar level below 60 mg/dl. The effects of hypoglycemia, however, can strike people at different blood sugar levels. Hypos can be caused by tight control, too much insulin, too little food or too much exercise. Alcohol consumption or slowed digestion of food from the stomach can also cause a hypo.
0 comments - Posted Aug 1, 1998
For a person with diabetes the prospect of going into a hypo while driving is frightening at the least. On the evening of June 12, this is exactly what happened to 34-year-old Virginia resident Tom Moore, who was plunged into a bizarre series of events as a result.
0 comments - Posted Aug 1, 1998
Heralded as the best thing since insulin, pramilitide, a new drug being studied by two U.S. research centers, may soon be available to help type 1 individuals reduce hypoglycemia risks. The St. James Center for Diabetes in Chicago and Tulane University Medical Center in New Orleans both recently launched studies of the drug's effectiveness in improving glucose control and lessening the risk of hypoglycemia in type 1 patients. In preliminary studies, patients not only improved glucose control while using pramilitide, but had better cholesterol profiles and lost weight. The current studies seek to confirm the earlier findings.
0 comments - Posted Aug 1, 1998
June 1998
Researchers in the Netherlands recently found that well controlled type 1s on multiple injection therapy have less variable fasting blood glucose levels and a lower total frequency of hypoglycemia when nighttime pump therapy is substituted for their bedtime NPH insulin injection. In addition, warning signs of hypoglycemia were enhanced and aspects of the counter-regulatory hormonal response to hypoglycemia were improved when subjects were on nocturnal pump therapy.
0 comments - Posted Jun 1, 1998
October 1997
Eli Lilly, the manufacturer of 80 percent of America’s insulin is planning to take Iletin I (beef/pork) insulins off of the market.
0 comments - Posted Oct 1, 1997
August 1997
The following case study was submitted by board member, Steven Edelman, MD an endocrinologist at the Veterans Hospital in San Diego.
3 comments - Posted Aug 1, 1997
July 1997
At this point, the Diabetes Control and Complications Trial's (DCCT) finding that intensive insulin treatment reduces the number of long-term diabetes complications is, hopefully, only news to the recently diagnosed. What is less commonly known is that the same tight BG control that reduces the risk of complications has a darker side. The intensive insulin therapy (IIT) described by the DCCT presents a three fold risk of severe hypoglycemia - sometimes with dire consequences.
1 comment - Posted Jul 1, 1997
May 1997
After a ten-year study researchers from the University of Wisconsin Medical School found that users of human insulin report more hypoglycemic reactions than those using animal insulin.
0 comments - Posted May 1, 1997
August 1996
People who have a difficult time recognizing when their blood sugar is dropping may have to look no further than a cup of coffee for help.
0 comments - Posted Aug 1, 1996
July 1996
Though results from the DCCT study showed that intensive therapy can reduce complications of type I diabetes, it also showed that it can increase the chance of hypoglycemia.
0 comments - Posted Jul 1, 1996
February 1996
When you have a hypoglycemic incident, does it usually catch you by surprise? Probably-hypoglycemic symptoms are not always easy to recognize. For example, you more than likely have had hypoglycemic episodes when you just did not feel as many warning symptoms as you usually do. You may also have had episodes when you felt symptoms, but thought they were caused by something other than your blood glucose. If symptoms can be so hard to recognize, what can you do to improve your ability to tell when your blood glucose is too high or too low?
0 comments - Posted Feb 1, 1996
January 1996
It may not be your fault if your blood sugar levels are unpredictable. Recent studies have shown that during hypoglycemic episodes, food exits the stomach much more quickly than it does under normal circumstances.
1 comment - Posted Jan 1, 1996
November 1995
A study led by L.S. Griffith in St. Louis indicates that some patients with diabetes who believe they are having hypoglycemic incidents are actually suffering from a panic disorder.
0 comments - Posted Nov 1, 1995
September 1995
Recently I attended a book reading by one of my favorite authors. The coffeehouse was packed with his admirers. Sometime around the middle of the reading, I sensed that I was becoming hypoglycemic. I reached into my purse for the fruit bar I put there just for this purpose. As I began to open it, I realized for the first time that the wrapper was extremely noisy. I stopped unwrapping. When I resumed, I did everything I could to silence the crinkly wrapper. When the woman in front of me looked back at me and glared, I quickly (and loudly) ripped it open to end the noise.
0 comments - Posted Sep 1, 1995
August 1995
I suppose it happens at least once in the life of a type I DM'er. After almost nine years, I had my first *BAD* hypo.
0 comments - Posted Aug 1, 1995
According to a study performed at a diabetes camp, kids with type I diabetes should eat uncooked cornstarch before bedtime.
0 comments - Posted Aug 1, 1995
June 1995
I woke up yesterday at 3 a.m. I wasn't quiet sure if it was because I was having a low blood sugar or waking up from a bad dream.
0 comments - Posted Jun 1, 1995
Products come and go. Usually the reasons are relatively obvious, but once in a great while, a seemingly successful product vanishes into thin air.
0 comments - Posted Jun 1, 1995
May 1995
In a recent study conducted at the Joslin Diabetes Center in Boston, 42 insulin-dependent patients were asked to estimate their glucose levels and to rate the intensity of their corresponding symptoms.
0 comments - Posted May 1, 1995
March 1995
As if the adolescent experience is not traumatic enough, a number of teens must also carry the burden of diabetes through those difficult years.
0 comments - Posted Mar 1, 1995
February 1995
The phenomena of hypoglycemic unawareness was studied in forty three people with type I diabetes in an attempt to find a common bond between people who lack hypoglycemic warning signs.
0 comments - Posted Feb 1, 1995
January 1995
What do I do for an insulin reaction?
0 comments - Posted Jan 1, 1995
October 1994
Q: I am 23 years old and I have had insulin dependent diabetes for 9 years. My blood sugars during the day are generally under 150 mg/dl, but no matter what I do my fasting blood sugar before breakfast is always high, often over 300. What is going on?
3 comments - Posted Oct 1, 1994
March 1994
Mr. Metabolism loves to follow new developments in diabetes research—in fact, that's one of the ways he makes his living. The following brief summaries give Mr. Metabolism's views on the Research Reports in the latest issue of DIABETES HEALTH.
0 comments - Posted Mar 1, 1994
Blood glucose awareness training (BGAT) is a patient education program designed to teach people who use insulin to estimate their blood glucose levels more accurately. It is specifically designed to help them recognize episodes of hypoglycemia. BGAT is a comprehensive, seven-class course which helps people identify and increase sensitivity to the symptoms of hyper- and hypoglycemia. The course also includes information on insulin, food, and exercise relating to extreme blood glucose levels.
0 comments - Posted Mar 1, 1994
New research is shedding light on one of the most distressing problems faced by a group of people who have diabetes (as well as their family, friends and co-workers). The problem, called hypoglycemia unawareness (HU), occurs when a person becomes incapable of dealing with his own low blood sugars. If unnoticed and untreated, HU can create serious problems, including grand mal seizures. If you've ever witnessed seizure activity or bizarre behavior in someone, you have some idea of the impact of HU and its danger.
0 comments - Posted Mar 1, 1994
January 1993
Researchers from the Diabetes Research Institute in Düsseldorf, Germany, have concluded that impaired consciousness brought on by hypoglycemia is reduced in well-controlled type I diabetes patients when compared to patients with poor control.
0 comments - Posted Jan 1, 1993
September 1991
How easy is it for parents to guess their own child's blood glucose levels? Is the child crabby because he is overtired or is it low blood glucose? Are the children themselves any more accurate in guessing their own levels?
0 comments - Posted Sep 1, 1991