NEW YEARS: MONITOR BLOODSUGAR & WEIGHT

[Sandain]

If your blood sugar levels are dropping below the recommended range (here between 4 and 8 is normal), eat something sweet immediately, then eat some carbs to slowly release sugar into your system.

You can get a special hyperdermic needle with glucose in it for when you go into a coma. You cant eat anything when your in that state and it can happen very quickly. Being Type 1 I have one of these at home and at work.

 

[Scotley]

Type II diabetics don't generally have to worry about bottoming out or going into a coma. Metformin will not lower your blood sugar too low. Insulin and a few of the older drugs have a problem with that, but not metformin or actos. Non-diabetics routinely drop to 70. I wouldn't worry unless you get below 65. You shouldn't see any really severe problems until you drop below 50. Below 70 is a concern, but not usually life treatening.

 

[Shemeska]

Below 70 is usually when you can feel the symptoms of hypoglycemia.
20-30 is seizure territory.
Below 20 is seizure turning to coma and brain damage if nobody finds and treats you, and you run the chance of gaining that petitioner template...

 

[megamania]

Thanks. When I see the doc (about 4 weeks now away) I'll him a boat load of new terrority questions. I'm used to being over 120, even 160.

 

[kenobi65]

Thanks. When I see the doc (about 4 weeks now away) I'll him a boat load of new terrority questions. I'm used to being over 120, even 160.

When I was first diagnosed, and put on meds (and, more importantly, cut sugared soda out of my diet), my body was accustomed to that high blood sugar level (my A1C was 8.8, and my fasting numbers were close to 200). At that point, I could feel "low" (i.e., tired, spacey, shaky) when my numbers were not, technically, low.

After a few months, my body got used to what a normal blood sugar number is supposed to feel like.

 

[Harmon]

Hay Mega,

Fine Job on the Blood Sugar

 

[xrpsuzi]

I'm used to being over 120, even 160.

Yeah, I'm in a similar boat. The idea of having too low a bloodsugar seems alien to me.

I found out the hard way that massages drop your bloodsugar pretty quickly, and I was a little disoriented after I got off the table even though my bloodsugar was barely under 90.

Good luck at the doctor!

-Suzi

 

[megamania]

Decided to experiment some today. I did many tests throughout the evening. Results surprised me some.

2:30pm 162 done soon after lunch
5:00pm 83 took the rest of my meds, ate a thing of beef jerky
7pm 82
9pm 130 rose 50 pts for two english muffins I had just after doing a reading a 7!!!
11pm 87 Settled quickly enough
12am 113 not sure why it rose 26 points except for the added stress of driving home on slick roads.

 

[kenobi65]

12am 113 not sure why it rose 26 points except for the added stress of driving home on slick roads.

Stress is a big factor. I've had absolutely pathetic readings after spending a half-day dealing with flight delays trying to get home from a business trip.

 

[xrpsuzi]

Decided to experiment some today. I did many tests throughout the evening. Results surprised me some.

This was what my optomistrist (of all people) suggested, because sometimes people only test in the morning for their fasting numbers and think everything is OK because they clock in low. However, spikes throughout the day are also a real problem too.

If you can figure out a pattern, you get a roadmap of behaviors or foods to abstain from which is really personalized from diabetic to diabetic.

Stress is a big factor.

Ditto. The first week after my dad passed away, I couldn't get a morning fast reading under 170, and I wasn't really eating much, so I know it wasn't the food. My mother-in-law (who internalizes a lot of her stress) was clocking in at 500 after her best friend's funeral.

It's funny, these things are simple no-brainers--eat healthy and not too much, exercise regularly, reducing stress-- but until someone tells you have a lifelong condition that could shorten your life, it's not really important.

Not haha funny, but appreciating the nature of the beast funny.
-Suzi