I am a 30 yr veteran of T1. I have had T1 since the age of 7, I guess you can figure out me age, ha! Last year I was diagnosed with hypo-unawareness. My b.g. will drop and the first symptoms I have is tunnel vision(right at the point of passing out) or I start to convulse. I am aware of what is going on around me but I am not able to put my thoughts into words and talk. My b.g. has gone from 147 to 41 in fifteen minutes and no symptoms of it dropping. I treat my lows with 15 carbs and recheck by b.g. after 10-15 minutes and repeat if needed. Then usually within 2-3 hours of a low I will rebound to anywhere from 300-500. Some days this happens more than once. I am using a medical alert service dog to alert me when my sugars are dropping. He is fairly young and not 100% on his alerts, but he has alerted me a number of times at home and in public. He usually lets me know when I am about 100. At first I thought he was goofy, but after a few times of him doing this and then me dropping in the 40-50 range within 15 minutes of his alert, I rely on his judgement and drink some juice even if I am at 100. I no longer drive or stay alone with out someone knowing my schedule and keeping a cell phone on me at all times. I am on an insulin pump and have been for the past 8 years. I think my b.g. would be much worse if I were on shots. I am wondering if anyone else suffers from this kind of complication and what you have done to cope or even regain sensitivity to low sugars? I am in contact with my doctor weekly. We are making adjustments to my pump and we've changed brands of insulin. I'm currently on apidra, with no significant improvemnt after 3 months. I exercise regularly. I walk and bike with my service dog usually 5 days a week, working in errands around town. I also do janitorial cleaning 1-2 days a week for 3-4 hours a day. I eat healthy balanced meals, and check my b.g. 8-12 times a day. I am trying to find the positive and keep active, but I am wearing out physically and mentally. Any ideas or help would be appreciated.

Quote from blacklime:

riskst29every time I paint with regular latex paint, within 2-3 hours my throat starts to swell and I have strep throat.:eek: I just finished a dose of antibiotics two days ago. I was painting last week doing a remodel in my home. If I use low oder paint, my throat gets pretty irritated, but not full blown strep.....that I carry a strep virus that lays dormant until it has a trigger--something in latex paint triggers it. So it may be that this is another possibility as to why I develop infections at a site if left too long.

I've got an easy suggestion for this one- rather than take on the risk on infection, (and BTW, strep is bacterial, not viral), wear one of those replaceable cartridge home-maintenance masks-- the kind which smart people put on while handling insect killer sprays, not just the N-95 "over-the-mouth-and-nose" foam anti-particulate masks. You'll probably react to the mask itself, so open the box and let some of the chemical smells leak away for a few days before you use it. And also, wear it for just 20 minutes or so, while not working, to wear down any other nastiness in the filters and bothersome surface chemicals on the rubber of the mask against your skin. Wash your face gently and thoroughly after each use. If your face and Respiratory Sys. react too much, you might still benefit by backing down to N-95 or a "Household" foam respirator. I've seen some sold as "for painting", although I personally stick to the good full face-replaceable filter masks when I paint (or do insulation, bug spray, etc.). Home Dept, Lowes, or equivalent, about $30 for the cheapest good ones.

BTW, the puss which I describe in my own Infusion sites is not infection (bad smelling yellowish crud full of dead Staph cells, dead Phagocytes, and the like), but rather the clear fluid from a low-level antibody IR against small foreign chemicals. Nearly any IR will also show redness and whiteness from white blood cells invading the tissue to do their work, but this sort of low-level anti-chemical Response clears up rather quickly after the offending chemicals are removed, with no long-term damage... unless you left the Infuser in for WAY too long. For me, way to long is over 3 days. For others, it can be shorter.

I found that switching Insulin types reduced my IR a great deal: The Lilly "Humalog" formula, if you put it to my nose, smells a lot stronger than the Novo-Nordisk "Novolog" formula, and I get my 3rd day only with Novolog. My Sites were becoming "itchy", and showing more redness, after only two days before I switched. But YMMV, of course. For me, the new "Apidra" is slightly less reactive than Novo, but the difference ain't worth the 100% non-coverage of the newer Insulin. I stay with Novo, except when I'm going out in 100 degree-plus heat. Apidra seems to pump better when it's really hot, and I've got a couple of "sample" bottles to use at those times.