Newlywed son - hypoglycemia

[AdKat]

My son and his wife were recently married - he has been a juvenile diabetic for 11 years.  He never had a problem with low blood sugars late at night or in the middle of the night until he married.  The second night they were in their own apt., she had to call 911.  In the past week when he tests his blood at bedtime it is in the normal range - he eats his bedtime snack and takes his usual dose of Novarapid and the NPH insulin.  Within a half hour or so, she notices his abnormal behaviour and urges him to re-test.  His blood sugar level is less than 2.  She is concerned because he had a normal reading less than an hour before and eaten his normal snack - but what could be causing his sugars to be so low at this time?  He has not engaged in any physical activity, including sexual, to bring on these lows.

[JDRF-Team-wak]

I am not a physician, but them mom of a type one diabetic.  I would suggest that your son call his endocrinologist because there are several things that could be going on.  

1. Stress or lack of it can have effect blood sugars. Being a newlywed can be affecting his glucose levels.  
2. Physical activity can affect the blood sugar up to 24 hours later.

3. Your son might just be doing for a dosage change.  

I would also suggest looking into getting an insulin infusion pump. When my daughter switched to the pump it really helped to get rid of the numerous lows that she was having and gave her a more flexible lifestyle

[JDRF Team SGG]

NPH insulin has very definite peaks and a peak while he is sleeping is of dangerous if he is not digesting food to cover the insulin. I myself used to have lows when sleeping often enough to frighten me and my husband when I was taking NPH. I switched to taking a 24-hour insulin called Lantus, and this solved the problem for me. So if he is not interested in switching to a pump, beautiful control without severe lows can be acheived with this newer-than-NPH insulin.

I agree with the previous postings that stress can cause lows, and of course being a newlywed is a stress, even though a GOOD stress. (Good stresses such as happy weddings can cause me to drop unexpectedly low, so it doesn't have to be bad stress that causes drops in glucose.) He and his new wife may want to start setting their alarm clock for about 4 hours after bedtime just to check glucose levels. They can then go back to sleep without worry, and if his sugars are dropping, he can catch them before the numbers are critically low. This little break in the night's sleep is better than risking health. They may want to do this for just a few weeks until his numbers stabilize for a period of time.