Hi, I know I am posting alot but I am really trying to get a grip on all of this stuff. I know why my bloddsugar stays uh abnormal...either too high or too low, mainly because I take too much insulin when it is high...and then I freak out when it is low, eating WAY too much, drinking cokes and candy and spazzing out. How do you deal with low blood sugars calmly? For example, I just checked mine and it is 64, I'm trying to just eat some Cheetos...and not freak out and buy a coke out of the machine and chug it because I know in an hour it will be 500.
The AMA/ ADA recommendation is to have 15G of carbs, wait 15 min and test again. A bag of Cheetos usually is like 35 I think, although there are little ones that are 15, which would be ok except Cheetos also don't work that fast? you want to hit it w/ a small amount of fast acting carbs, rather than Cheetos. Then you wait 15 (although I wait 20...) minutes and test again and see where you are. The 'wild card' is that if you took too much insulin earler, the "insulin on board" can still be pushing your BG lower, in which case you might need another 'hit' of carbs? If you are chugging Cokes, you only want to chug about 1/2, maybe even 1/3? It's pretty challenging b/c for me at least, hypo= munchies. Good luck!
My buddy just sold his Misfits 7" on ebay so your ID jumped off the page...
Even though your body is panicking and you're all shaky, try to keep your head. I would suggest you get some glucose tablets. I suggest tablets because it's easier to calculate. With the Dex4 glucose tabs, 4 = 16 g of carb. Use the 15/15 rule. Take in 15 (or in this case 16) g of carb and wait 15 minutes. Check your glucose again, if you're not where you need to be, take in another 15 (or 16) g of carb, wait another 15 minutes and test. It may seem like it's not working because you still have symptoms after the first bit of carb, that's where we get into trouble with over correction. Keep doing 15/15 until you are in your normal range.
It's all about the MATH! Ha
15carbs wait 15 minutes
check again.
meter will let you know if you need 15 more carbs or not. also depends on activity now and later.
coke is okay if you can only drink, like a quarter of it... yeah right, i'm low.
it's about learning how to listen(to your body)... and wait on your body to respond/digest.
15 raisins or 15 skittles or 15 grams of carbs like 3 tabs glucose= 12to15grams carbs
glucose tabs are fastest and best and no weight gain worry. But if out, use small bits of what's handy and check every fifteen minutes
to reassure your self you are goin' in right direction.
Peace Love and Light...
Be Good to yourself, it's all an experiment and it will change once you think you have it figured out. heheheh
I had the rest of the bag which was 13g and then I had a sip of Sprite. Fingers crossed. I hate how it jumps up and down and back up. I think it's time I get a handle on it I just don't even know where to start. I work at a tattoo shop so it's hard eating right...we eat out every day. And I've been drinking Starbucks every morning..Tall Chai...terrible idea. My bloddsugar stays through the roof...milk does that to me I guess? And I'm sure the Chai doesn't help. I'm the worst diabetic ever. ha. misfits<3
I feel like I'm having a panic attack...it's very hard to distinguish between low blood sugar and anxiety.
When it's low..it's so hard to do that....My brain thinks ok where's the closest coke and donut? And then I eat way too much and it turns into a vicious high.
It's pretty useful to get into the habit of keeping something around? I get Starburst Jellybeans for like 2.99/ lb @ the grocery store that are 1) yummy and 2) easy to portion out. I agree it's hard to do that when you are 1) low and 2) have a coke machine and Cheetos but, if you don't want to be sort of zonked out of your gourd all the time, it's worth, the 'investment'. Skittles are good too, as they usually way 1G each.
If you get in the habit of using glucose tabs, then that will be what you look for. And I doubt you will overdo those! I just think of them as medicine to treat lows. I don't go with the 15/15 thing, though as I don't need that much. I take either 2 (if I am just under 60) or 3 (if I am down into the 30s or 40s). And I give it about 20 minutes to take effect. One key is maybe to test more because it's easier to control yourself at 60 than at 38. And yeah, there is a definite emotional component to hypoglycemia. But just tell yourself you will be ok. I now have had enough hypos from 32 to 60 to know those glucose tabs really work and they work pretty quickly, and soon the anxiety will go away.
experiance and acceptance.
The more lows you have the better you get a recognising and treating them. It helps a lot if you can accept the idea that lows are going to be part of your life from now on. They stop being as scary then and become more of an annoyance than anything else, which makes it easier not to panic and over eat.
I like the Dex4 GlucoShots. (well, the mixed berry one; the lemon lime is kinda gross). Fifteen grams of carbs in a single liquid shot. Just pop it open, drink it down, and wait 15 mins to test again. They're more expensive then the tabs, but they're easier to use in my opinion.
Avoiding taking too much insulin when I'm high is another thing. I downloaded an insulin calculator to my droid phone, and just plug in the numbers (current BG, target BG, I:C, CF, expected exercise, carbs eaten). It spits out a number, and my only thought involved is to round 2.9 up to 3.
I'm not a huge fan of the pills b/c sometimes I run into situations where say 2 aren't quite enough but another third would be too much? W/ practice, a 60 might only need like 5 or 6G of carbs, depending on what's going on and what's on board and all that stuff. Plus having Starburst Jelly Beans, which are exceptionally tasty, makes me quite a bit less irritable when I'm low.
They are also much easier to lug along in some little bags I got @ Hobby Lobby than the tubes for the round glucose tablets. The square foil wrapped things (BD I think?) are even worse as they'd always break and become sort of gnarly.
One final consideration is that the jelly beans are about 2.99 for 9x42G/ servings (in the bag...) or 379G of carbs whereas glucose tablets seem to run about 5.99/ 100 or 300G of carbs? A couple bucks isn't a huge deal but, if you are considering them medicine, well, it adds up over the course of the year.
I'm going to second (or is that third) using the glucose tablets. I have them at home, in my purse and in my car just in case. I woke this morning at 1:30am feeling "odd" and tested my bg...it was 49. I immediately downed 4 tablets and waited then tested again. Two more tablets and I was fine. It becomes habit...just like anything else.
Good luck.
The normal rule is 15g carb, wait 15 mins and test again.
For me, 10g carb is enough to get me out of a hypo. I keep a stash of readily available 'doses' of 'hypo cures', all of which I have verified are the right 'dosage' of 10g carb. That way I don't need to think about it, just grab one. I suggest you do the same.
As for the Coke - here in the UK you can buy miniature bottles of Coke which contain about 13g of carb each. I find these are ideal because you just drink the whole small bottle and you don't have to worry about going too high later because the amount is just right. They are slightly smaller than the cans of Coke you get on board full service airlines. In the UK they are found not in the soft drinks aisle, but in the alcohol aisle as they're meant to be mixers.
the tall chai doesn't look like the worst drink ever:
http://www.starbucks.com/menu/drinks/tazo-tea/chai-latte?foodZone=9999#size=135608&milk=63
it's tough to not overdo the carbs when you're crashing. my brain is danger mode and tries to overcompensate and it's tough to be rationale when my body is freaking out. good luck
The thing about the Cheetos (I still have orange chopsticks @ work that I used for eating Cheetos, to keep them off the files...heh heh heh...) is that they take a significantly longer time to work so, while you are shoveling them in (or chopsticking them in?), your BG will still be in the toilet so you hit the Sprite for that. You almost need to bolus for the Cheetos b/c they will raise your BG in an hour or two or maybe four, instead of *right now* which is where the 'freaking out' stuff comes from.
Yep, For me too. Sometimes I am fine having 2-3 glucose tabs but sometimes I get crazy and want to eat everything not tied down. Hunger is not always a symptom for me, but when it is look out. I do generally try to stick with glucose tabs as they as not tempting, but do not always succeed.
GLUCOSE TABLETS
You must get these. Skittles and other candy alternatives are good, if you can keep control of yourself. I've never been able to. So I overeat them, or I want to snack/graze on them because they're so yummy. So I stick with glucose tabs. You can get a tub of 50 at Walmart for less than $5. They sell tubes of 10 tabs for a little more than $1. I keep a roll everywhere: pants, backpack, office desk, car, nightstand, wife's car, wife's purse, etc. They taste good, but not great, so I don't have the urge to snack on them. They are measurable and countable. Makes it much easier to keep yourself from overcorrecting a low.
I started using tabs about 3 years ago, the same time I started pumping. Like you, I'd previously used anything and everything to treat a low. Problem is most other foods and sugar drinks have various rates of absorption. Some absorb fast, others slow. For example, you coke should absorb faster than the cheetos. So if you're low and eating Cheetos, you might not see a fast BG response/return to normal. So you keep eating, and eating, waiting for the BG to come up and for you to feel normal/not low. Problem is, once your BG has come up enough to feel good and you quit eating, you've already got a bunch more carbs in the digestive pipeline that will continue to raise your BG. Before, you're uber-high. I was in this vicious cycle for about 10 years. Now that I use glucose tabs exclusively for correcting lows, I'm able to do a much better job of not OVERCORRECTING. I ain't perfect, but I'm a lot better than I use to be.
Good luck sorting it out.
Cheers, Mike
I will not even try to say I don't do that......The coke I mean................ugh and the over eating............I've been a diabetic for 37 years and still do it. Maybe the other's here will help you with that. I have found that 1/2 a coke will bring me out of a insulin reaction. I give the rest to whoever is around me at that time.
anybody seen my kitchen? :-o I seriously think I inhaled it the other day during a bad low ha ha. Tablets work well as they contain a known amount of carbs and you're less likely to go nuts and just keep eating them. (talkin' to myself a bit here) But you're so right, the waiting period while your BG is climbing is tough. If I can think clearly enough during a really bad low, which luckily for me isn't all that often, I remind myself how crappy I'll most likely feel If I do allow myself to overload. btw, welcome! Ask as many questions as necessary. It's why we're all here.