What is hypoglycemia?

Low blood sugar range of 3.9mmol/L

Hypoglycemia is when your blood sugar becomes too low, usually below 3.9 mmol/L (millimoles per litre)213

Because glucose (sugar) is the main fuel for your body and brain, low blood sugar stops you functioning as well as you should. This is known as a hypoglycemia episode, hypoglycemia attack, or a "hypo". It can lead to serious consequences like fainting and seizures.201,213

What causes hypoglycemia?

Many factors can cause hypoglycemia, including, but not limited to:213

  • Changes in mealtimes
  • Not enough carbohydrates (carbs)
  • Wrong dose of insulin or other diabetes medication
  • Exercise without a snack or medication adjustment
  • Alcohol 

What are the symptoms of hypoglycemia or hypo attack?201,213

  • Heart palpitations
  • Tremor (shaking)
  • Sweating
  • Changes in behavior
  • Feeling irritable or anxious
  • Nausea (feeling like you might vomit)
  • Feeling confused
  • Feeling hungry
  • Headache
  • Finding it difficult to think
  • Tingling or numbness in your lips, tongue or cheek
  • Hypertension (high blood pressure)

Night time hypos (nocturnal hypoglycemia)

Hypoglycemia can happen while you are sleeping. Studies suggest that almost half of all episodes of hypoglycemia (and more than half of all severe episodes) occur at night during sleep.214

Signs and symptoms of nocturnal hypoglycemia

Signs and symptoms of night time hypos include damp sheets or clothes due to sweat, nightmares, tiredness, irritability and/or confusion upon waking.213
You also might not experience any hypoglycemia symptoms, so monitoring your sugar levels is important.213

Can the consequences of hypoglycemia be serious?

If hypoglycemia is severe, it can lead to serious consequences like fainting, seizure (fits), coma or death.201
There are also long-term effects of hypoglycemia. Repeated episodes can lead to a negative impact on your health in the future, including mental health, cognitive function (thinking) and risk of death. Over time you may also become less aware of your hypoglycemia.215

Hypoglycemia unawareness

If hypoglycemia happens regularly, it can lead to 'hypoglycemia unawareness', a condition where you become less able to recognize the symptoms of hypoglycemia. It can increase risk of severe hypoglycemia up to 17 times more than someone who is aware of hypoglycemia. So avoiding hypoglycemia unawareness is vital if you have diabetes.209,211

How can FreeStyle Libre help me avoid hypoglycemia?

FreeStyle Libre can help you identify night time hypos or hypoglycemia unawareness, without waking up to do a finger prick blood test223
As a Continuous Glucose Monitor (CGM), FreeStyle Libre keeps your glucose levels monitored 24/7. CGMs are the only tool able to detect hypoglycemia at any time, day or night, empowering you with information to help you avoid hypos.

FreeStyle Libre can show you:

Changes in your glucose over 24 hours, including overnight while you were asleep
The number of low glucose events you had in the last 7/14/30/90 days

Avoiding nocturnal hypoglycemia

When you are more aware of your night time hypos, you can then take action to help avoid them. For example:214

  • Check your glucose level before bed time.
  • Don't skip dinner.
  • Find an exercise routine and timing that works for you.
  • Be mindful of your alcohol intake.
  • Create a meal routine to reduce the likelihood of having an hypo attack overnight.

Avoiding daytime hypoglycemia

When you take a reading, FreeStyle Libre shows you whether your glucose is rising or falling and how quickly it is changing. This can help you take the best course of action to avoid hypoglycemia.
If FreeStyle Libre estimates your glucose will fall below 3.9 mmol/L within 15 minutes, a message will appear on screen so you can take quick actions to curb your low glucose levels. Have a high carb snack and check again in 15 minutes. FreeStyle Libre will give you a new reading every 60 seconds.213
FreeStyle Libre 2 reader showing a low glucose warning
Icon showing 95%
In a survey of FreeStyle Libre users, 95% reported a better understanding of their glucose fluctuations after 1 year.7

FreeStyle Libre reduces time spent in hypoglycemia

FreeStyle Libre reduces total hypoglycemia:

43 minutes/day reduction in total hypoglycemia in T1D patients

T1D patients†38

28 minutes/day reduction in total hypoglycemia in T2D patients

T2D patients^4

FreeStyle Libre reduces nocturnal hypoglycemia:

28 minutes/day reduction in nocturnal hpoglycemia in T1D patients

T1D patients#28

17 minutes/day reduction in nocturnal hpoglycemia in T2D patients

T2D patients‡4

*An estimated 25-40% of people with type 1 diabetes and 6-17% of people with type 2 diabetes using insulin have hypoglycemia unawareness.223
-43 minutes per day (95% CI, 20 to 65).226
^-28 minutes per day (±8 minutes).4
#-28 minutes per night (p<0.0001).28
-17 minutes per night (p<0.0001).4
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