Peer Reviewed
Diabetes clinic

Game changers in diabetes: recurrent severe hypoglycaemia

Pat Phillips
Abstract
Severe hypoglycaemia in people with type 1 diabetes is often recurrent and self-perpetuating, and the cycle needs to be broken for good glycaemic control to be achieved. Causes of hypoglycaemia and the appropriate response to episodes are discussed, illustrated by the case of a young woman who has recently had several hypoglycaemic episodes without warning and from which she needed help to recover.
Key Points

    Hypoglycaemia is like a ‘hard place’ across from the ‘rock’ of hyperglycaemic-related diabetes complications and limits the capacity and will of many people with diabetes, especially those with type 1 disease, to achieve the desired levels of glycaemic control. This article discusses what needs to be done when managing recurrent hypoglycaemia by presenting a case where hypoglycaemia threatened the wellbeing of a young woman with type 1 diabetes.

    This is the sixth and final article in a series reviewing clinical situations that indicate a major change in a person’s risk of diabetes-related complications and prompt the need for a major review of their diabetes management.

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