Hypo stories

This is a collection of stories submitted by Paws for Diabetics members about their hypos. we hope you enjoy and gain a greater understanding of what a hypo is like

 Glentress Quick Bet ET CDX, "Morag", at the Dover Dog Club grounds in Adelaide, May 2008.
 

 Hypo-Alert by Morag, a stranger’s dog

Last Sunday I was stewarding at a mock trial in the Utility (UD) ring. Halfway through the trial, a Border Collie, Morag, came on. She was particularly interested in me and came away from her handler, Gillian. She never approached the judge who was standing next to me. Now this is a dog who has already passed CD and CDX so she is very well behaved and trained.
 
After Gillian and Morag were through I realised I was hypo (hypoglycaemic) and hadn't realised earlier as Bonny was not there to help (I obviously couldn't have a dog with me in the ring, distracting the trialing dogs). I had 1/2 can of Coke and recovered to get through the next few dogs. None of the dogs before or after Morag sniffed me. Apart from Bonny, I have never before attracted attention from a dog in the trial ring or otherwise.
 
Later on, I asked Gillian and her husband Duncan if Morag usually sniffs the stewards and they said no, they didn't know what happened. I let them know I had hypoglycaemia (hypo) at the time and this could be what Morag was sniffing and detecting. So that is one alert by a dog I've never spent time with. Luckily it was a mock trial and not a proper one or it could have been disastrous. The stewarding work is fairly active in setting up the jumps and moving around the ring, so next time I'll avoid a hypo by ensuring I decrease my insulin beforehand.
 
I thought it was pretty amazing that Morag could detect my hypo, she must have been able to smell my adrenalin being released - or the other signals we still don't fully understand. Morag was one of the best dogs I've seen do the scent discrimination test, she didn't mess around smelling all the other articles, she picked Gillian's scented one immediately.

On a subsequent occasion, I made sure my glucose level was decent and approached Morag, giving her my hand to smell. Morag did not display the same behaviour, in fact, she totally ignored me. It seems she was only interested in me when I was hypo, not when my glucose was normal, and certainly not the judge or others who don't have Diabetes.

Written by Magali

When my son was about 4-and-a-half...I woke and instinctively knew that he wasn't in bed. I checked every room and could not find him anywhere. I finally checked the kitchen. I found him lovingly clutching the Milo tin, and eating out if it with a huge wooden spoon! He had Milo all over his face, up his nose, all over the cupboards. When I asked him what he was doing, he said, whilst giggling like a demon, that he was making mud pies - he most certainly was! When I tried to take the Milo off him, he battled me with such strength. He told me that he wanted it because the bad guys were drowning in the chocolaty granules. I had to give him a shower at 3 am (with the Milo tin in full view) to get all of the crunched up slobbery bits of Milo off him, out of his hair, and out from underneath his fingernails, and up his nostrils, and in his ears.... I did a blood sugar level test, and he was 8.9mmol/L. He must have had quite a feast, because the next morning his blood sugar was through the roof! As for cleaning up the mess... it was flung onto cupboards, crunched into the floorboards, EVERYWHERE!! Of course, he has NO memory of that night. He laughs about it now though!

At 10am, my son was sitting at the table waiting for me to give him morning tea, and I noticed his speech was jumbled. I popped my head around the corner, and he fell to the floor. He had a full on seizure. I had to whip the orange box out (glucagon injection), and he came up to 4.5 pretty easily. I gave him a shower and then took him to bed. He was looking a bit green, so I ran for a bucket. The moment I bought it in to the room, he was instantly sick. He has been flattened all day with a blinding headache (from the glucagon, and from the severity of the hypo) but I am pretty shaken at how out of the blue and how severe it was. That's the unreliable reliability of Type 1 I guess. Hopefully he will wake up well tomorrow.