When you get a high BS number, what does that mean to you? Do you look at it as a report card on how well you are doing in caring for yourself? Does it give your measure as a person? Does it scare the bejeebies out of you? How do you feel when you get that number?
I used to think that it measured what a good/bad diabetic I was…until I had a great conversation with my nutritionist…she explained, that it doesn’t tell my worth as a person, my “goodness or badness”, but a reading of how my body is reacting to food, stress, life, etc. It says nothing about ME…
I think a lot of us use it as a measure of our goodness or badness as a person…or a diabetic. I stand guilty of this too often, and then give up taking it. It is only a measure of how our body is using the energy we have given it.
So what do you think of yourself when you get a high number?
Hey Kathy, I would agree with your nutrionist. The number is not good or bad its a number.
I take notice though. Do I need a change of meds? Do I change Diet? Do I change exercise?
I take these into consideration only if I see a pattern of rising numbers. I recently adjusted my meds with my Dr when I saw higher numbers.
It feels good to be in good control. But I know that is a that this is a long journey and there will be obstacles ahead. I know high numbers are part of this too.
Well, initially when my son was diagnosed, I lived by the numbers - constantly swirling in my head and feeling I was doing a BAD job at any high readings. Then, I read somewhere that a number is just a number…not good or bad, but an indication if everything is working well and that you may need a correction. It is information and we have the ability to respond to it. I felt so much better about his readings, and I have tried to convey that info to him. It is a number and we have the tools to respond as needed. I found this empowering.
No, I don’t think of it as good or bad, and it certainly doesn’t affect my opinion of myself, as a diabetic or any other way! I’m not saying I don’t dislike high numbers, but I look at them as information, and try and figure out what I can do to prevent them happening. I mentioned in another thread, that I am also, slowly poco a poco beginning to recognize that there are times it is entirely random.
This is from a veteran of 52 years with this challange. I don’t sweat the small stuff. I’ve been doing this since I was 3. My daughter was dx’d in 2006 at the age of 23 and I try to tell her that stuff happens. I still to this day have days/hours that make no sense. Keep your head high and keep plugging along.
Pauly, 100 applause for you. That’s what being “in control” is all about, seeing the numbers and using them as tools not measures of you personally. YEAH!
Yea! Nancy…again the numbers are tools for us to work with, not be governed by.
Zoe, but you know, I thought those numbers represented me. That a doc or clinician was measuring my success as being “in control” by the numbers, not by me. I did that with my weight also. If I didn’t lose even though I stuck to my program, and ate what I was supposed to eat, not having a loss was me being a loser. Many people think that way, many people avoid taking their sugars because they don’t want to know that they are “losers”. So it’s a valid question to ask ourselves every so often.
Amen! Tools, just like our meters, just like a scale, tools to healthy. Not necessarily healed, but healthy.
The only thing high numbers make me do it try and figure out what I was doing or had to eat that might result in the reading that I just had - if I can’t think of anything I chock it up to my body being itself and move on (I lived so long with high numbers before being told I was diabetic that I’m just getting use to seeing “normal” numbers).
Yes, I feel bad too, then I start trying to work out what my body is telling me.
Taking number as data is an important lesson to learn. I don’t think that I will ever be able to take all the emotion out of numbers, but I sure do try! Dino has been preaching this lesson on TuD for a long time – we should try to treat our blood sugar readings as information to help us improve control. Nothing more.
When I see a high number, the first thing that I do is say “glad that I caught that” (literally I say it in my head). Then I do something to bring my blood sugar down (take insulin, wait to eat, eat less carbs than planned, exercise if I can). I remind myself that if I hadn’t tested my blood sugar, then I would not have had this information to influence my actions!
If I got a high number I would know that I screwed up somehow and that I shouldn’t do it again! It would strike me the same way as if I saw a high number on the scale: time to crack down.
Sorry sally, maybe it’s the wording that I am having trouble with, but you are not a BAD GIRL, you are a woman who has diabetes whose has ingested food that perhaps wasn’t a great choice, and your body has reacted to it. That’s not saying, eat all you want and just allow it to be a not so healthy choice, it’s saying that YOU are not bad because your blood sugars went up. You are (if you are) working to control a disease that you have…not have the disease control you. Just my thought.
Sounds like a good way to deal with it. You aren’t putting yourself down, you are paying attention to the numbers as a guide. Good for you.
I definitely have emotional reactions to highs sometimes, but I just try to correct and let it go. If I get too emotional it might cause me to over-correct and that is bad, too.
I’ve been making a lot of changes in my eating habits and awareness of my diabetes recently, but of course I still slip up, and with good reason, sometimes! Life is too short to feel unhappily married to your diabetes.
I try to always remind myself (a veritable perfectionist in my own right) to “not let perfection be the enemy of the good.” Seems wise!
When i was pregnant I’d get very upset & emotional. Especially if I knew that I had done what I was supposed to to keep my numbers down. Now I just roll with it.
I do kick myself when I know I ate wrong & it shows in my numbers. I just try not to beat myself up over it. Well not always.
Me too – I had gestational diabetes when I was pregnant and I really panicked when my numbers where higher than they should be.
Now I just go “oops,” wonder what it could have been, do my correction insulin when appropriate, and try to avoid doing what might have made it higher again.
Nobody’s perfect, and your body, especially if you are a female i.e. the fluctuating hormones, sometimes is off and running before you know it. Also, I try to tell myself that tension doesn’t help blood sugar, so I try to keep it cool. Try.
Its a two part issue.
On one hand, if I get a random spike from some unknown phenomina, I take note and try to figure out what happened. Record, research, and attempt to prevent it from happening in the future or at least know how to handle it. In that case, its just a number.
On the other hand, I agree with Super_Sally. Ive had D for 24 years now and havent ever been in as tight control as Ive wanted. So, if I see a high number and it was caused by a deliberate action on my part, then yeah, I blame myself. In the same token, I pat myself on the back each time I bolus correctly or eat how I think I should be eating.
Correct me if Im wrong, but I think your thoughts and conversation wiht your nutritionist apply to the first scenario, random stuff happening to our BS. I think though, there is something to be said for taking responsibility for our numbers and actions. This means sometimes its our fault these numbers happen. In some instances that means we need more help being responsible as opposed to saying its our body’s way of dealing with the actions we take. I dont think your contending this with your statement though.
onesaint, my bs can go high if I’ve had a bad first 10 minutes of the day with my dogs. I haven’t done anything yet to take responsibility for, except maybe a reaction to something that they did. My sugars usually go up higher when I am stressed than if I ate something I probably shouldn’t have chosen. Then again, they can go very low, if for example, I don’t eat on my 4 hours schedule…but in any of the instances, I’m not thinking myself a bad person, or a loser or anything else degrading because of the numbers. Now if I go out and have a hot fudge sundae and a bag of M&M’s then get numbers that are off the chart, yep, I’m going to really admit that those are mine, and I caused them. But kick myself, probably not, I look at it as payment for the sundae and candy…then again my homemade pasta can do that too…even when I measure a 1/2 cup serving…both are my choices speaking not the good ness of me.