My disagreement with "normal" glucose readings

Seriously, correct between 100 and 120…what the heck are you correcting down to? .5 (1/2) unit drops me over 50 points and more sometimes, throw some walking or any movement and I’m low…that’s just crazy, IMHO…and a child’s BG’s can go all over the place due to growing, hormones, etc…that’s nuts! most folks on here whom are on here every day many times a day also do not represent most T1’s…who are active, have lives and wouldn’t even consider correcting a completely normal and healthy BG between 100 and 120.

I test my kids and grand kids and they never spike. Might be their pancreas as strong as can be. Even our two daughters never go over 120 and that is with carb meals wish that was me but far from it.

Katie…ah, you read more into my statement than was actually written there.

You do have “a lifestyle” do you not? Can you control your BG? If the answer is no, then you’re diabetic.

The statement I made does not assert, nor imply CAUSE.

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lifestyle has nothing to do with type 1 diabetes…you know that. cause or no cause.

Let me state first that I know my glucose metabolism well and I don’t for a second think that my experience generalizes well to every last person with diabetes out there.

I target 83 mg/dL when I correct my blood glucose level. My insulin sensitivity factor or ISF is 1:50 below 200 mg/dL and 1:40 if above that level. I will correct a blood sugar level as low as 93 mg/dL. Of course, I consider insulin on board (IOB), food, and exercise when I make this decision. In the case of the 93, I’ll deliver 0.2 units of insulin. While I am correcting what most consider an in-range BG, I would prefer to be in the 80’s. I find that these small insulin “nudges” work very well.

So, while my correction range is more aggressive than some people use, the amount of insulin that I use to do that is very low. The time when these corrections are effective, for me, is when I get up in the morning. I do have dawn phenomena but my pump basal profile keeps that in check fairly well. Adding 0.2 units to correct a 93 or 0.4 units to correct a 103 work out well for me.

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When I saw the word “lifestyle” I thought “uh oh”

Maybe “we’ve taken this girl to the dance before and didn’t have a good time, so why are we taking her again” but a good read on why we need to stop saying “lifestyle” can be found here

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When I am having a really, really good day “surfing” and am “nudging” readings up and down, I might correct at 120 with a very small amount of insulin. But usually, even on days that are nice and flat and “nudge-able” I would wait until a reading is a bit higher, like 130 or 140, to nudge it downward.

Under normal circumstances, though, I don’t have tight enough control, or rather factors change too fast, for me to be certain that a 120 won’t turn around into a down arrow without any notice or, as mentioned, that I won’t suddenly have to walk two blocks and will start plummeting. Lately, I’m just trying (and failing) to keep most of my readings out of the red and yellow zones, never mind correcting things that are already in range.

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So, are you implying or stating that people like Terry4, myself (I manage a 14-year-old T1D’s raging-hormone-driven BGs 24/7), and many, many other PWD who “sugar surf” (and strive to maintain tight BG control with as few excursions that are as small in magnitude as possible) are “crazy” and “nuts”? How you decide to manage your D is completely up to you. However, it is not your place to judge and criticize those PWD who strive for tighter control.

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I do this too sometimes, taking into consideration many factors.

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My pump & the sugar surfing concept have completely transformed my D management and my attitude about it. One unit drops me 100 points, so correcting with injections made things really difficult, but my pump allows me to truly nudge things with a .10 or .20 here and there. I love it! Well, as much as one can love anything related to D.

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I agree, @Shadow2, the combination of pump and CGM changed my life. I wouldn’t be able to aim for tight control without both of these tools.

As someone who lived with diabetes for over two decades thinking that really tight control (A1c <6.0) was “impossible” for me, and who watched and learned on this site for several years before applying a variety of techiques (nudging, pre-bolusing, low-carb/GI) and actually achieved an A1c of 6.0-6.2 for a year stretch, I would suggest anyone who feels it’s crazy watch and learn. They may surprise themselves. Of course, you do need to be willing to put time and energy into diabetes, but it’s not really more time and energy, it’s just time and energy spent preventing highs and lows rather than time and energy spent responding to highs and lows. I’d argue that most people on this site are active and have lives and, if anything, my life was better and more active and energized when I had an A1c of 6.0 (and felt I could often steer my blood sugar where I wanted) than it is now with an A1c of 7.1 (and feel like I’m hanging on for dear life half the time). I’m looking forward to getting back there so that I can feel at peace with diabetes rather than feeling like it’s something that controls my life half the day.

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This is a good point. When you have diabetes, it forces you at some point to pay attention to it. Being proactive produces better outcomes than being reactive. In fact, the surfing metaphor works well with this point. A surfer up and on the face of the wave, responding to the wave dynamics, expends less energy and is having more fun than the surfer paddling like mad to gain entry to the wave face.

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This ^^^ exactly! My daughter experiences much better outcomes (less variability and better A1c’s, plus [and most important] she feels better and more able to live her life to its fullest) when I put the time and effort into proactively managing her T1D, which for me (like Terry4, Jen, Shadow2, and many others) means correcting to a BG of 100 or lower (90 to 95 for my daughter) whenever possible/appropriate. Contrary to what some may think, doing this work does not negatively impact my ability to live a busy, active, and fulfilling life myself. :smile:

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I’m reminded of the motor oil TV commercial from times long past. The argument was to use this motor oil now and save a lot more time and money later. The tag line, delivered by an auto mechanic, was, “Pay me now or pay me later!”

Diabetes taxes our time and other resources. No one escapes this reality. The choice you have is whether to spend time and energy in advance and enjoy better outcomes or simply accept the endless parade of challenges that demand a fix right now.

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Not true, KatieY12!

Dave26 is right: how one lives their life with D (regardless of Type!) is their lifestyle. For example, many who follow a LCHF lifestyle have an easier time managing their BG. Many PWD, (Types 1 and 2 alike) who have a more physically active lifestyle find that this has a positive impact on the management of their D.

@KatieY12, would you please be a bit more careful reading?

For the second time, I said nothing about lifestyle as a cause of diabetes. NOTHING!

I made a very short, simple statement that, if you “can not control your BG with the lifestyle you lead, you are diabetic”.

Again, simple english. I hope I don’t have to become a middle-school english teacher here, deconstruct the phrase in the quotes above, and explain what is, and is not there in terms of meaning.

Heck, T1 and T2 (and MODY, and gestational and…) are not even mentioned.

Katie, you seem to have a chip on your shoulder for some reason to be so blind to simple statements, instead loading them down with all sorts of baggage that simply isn’t there.

@rgcainmd: Rose, I’m not “right” in that I didn’t say or imply what you and Katie are debating. I DO have an opinion on that matter, but given how this going in this thread, I’ll stay out of it for now.

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Dave26, I’m a little confused. The whole point I’m trying to make is that I agree 100% with the fact that you **didn’**t say or imply anything about lifestyle as a cause of diabetes.

I’ll have to remember in the future to be more careful about how I agree with your posts… :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:

My bad… I should have read your post a little more carefully :blush:

It seems that Katie is having an argument with herself. :laughing:

My, such a simple thing has gone so far off the rails! I was simply advocating for a more straightforward (and practical) definition for “diabetes”. The word “lifestyle” seems to have set off all sorts of jerking knees, much as the word “racism” does.

So, let me restate without that nasty idea, “lifestyle”: A better definition for diabetes is simply “can’t control your blood sugar”.

There.

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I disagree, I’d suggest and phrase it as, “if one’s body cannot lower or
increase blood sugars on it’s own, she/he has diabetes” regardless of
’cause or type or lifestyle’.the diagnosis made by an endo or doctor is
imperative, too…lifestyle has nothing to do with diagnosis for a type
1.

yes, I agree with that…as I stated, for me it has nothing to do with my lifestyle…for me my body cannot control my blood sugars on it’s own, can’t lower them, can’t increase them…I don’t produce amylin either as my pancreas, as a T1, no longer works.