And having friends with type 1 DM, it appears to me that Type 1s are more susceptible to hypoglycemia than insulin dependent type 2s. The following 2 paragraphs are from that thread.
I have been on T:Slim w/C-IQ for 4 months. After doing some minor tweaking of the settings, I am very pleased. If I have what worries C-IQ about going low, say less than 80mg/dl, I mostly don’t treat. I have found that C-IQ will suspend basal and the numbers will go up a bit.
I make no guarantees just something I’ve noticed. It may be a good Alpha cell ( glucagon) response in myself.
These aren’t true lows just what C-IQ thinks, below 80 and trending down. If you are in hypoglycemia, do treat.
Anyway, curiosity got the best of me and I did a search on glucagon response by the Alpha cells in type 1 diabetes. I got the following paper. It really is a thing.
Isn’t there some evidence that insulin-dependent T2’s may also have poor glucagon secretion? My googles are not particularly useful.
For sure many of here talk about insulin, insulin, and insulin.
In addition to your mention of glucagon secretion, amylin and GLP-1 are also messed up.
A couple years ago I was all excited about a couple TuDiabetes members mentioning their successes with Symlin (kinda “synthetic amylin”) in increasing their insulin sensitivity, reducing TDD, getting better after-meal bg’s, and helping in weight loss, but I haven’t heard much lately: UpToDate
Could be so, I just noticed when I am trending low cycling BG starts rising a bit after I stop. I was thinking it might be a healthy glucagon response, but who knows?
I do notice I have had very bad lows from the start. I still feel it at some point but the the ones when I am asleep don’t feel as bad but go very low. Also others sneak up on me when awake. I hope they get better treatments soon, it is such an awful way to live in the prison of the body.
Pre- CGM, I’d awaken at 3 or 4 AM sweaty and feeling terrible and my sugar would be quite low.
Now that NEVER happens!!
Pump slows down insulin infusion as glucose drops and finally if I’ve really miscalculated the alarm wakes me up. Usually 1/2 box of juice put me right.
Good that works for you. Dex is often very off so I will never use it with pump to change insulin. Plus the alarms never wake me. My body raises me most of the time or I just wake and drink juice. Even then if I correct I can just spike a lot and end up way too high. so I prefer to be low and then correct if needed. I hate this ■■■■, such a crap life.
I was VERY resistant to change . . For almost 30 years I tested 5-8 times daily and injected insulin via pen. No CGM, no pump for me!
But then the reality of unexpected lows, A1C of 8.3%, and a desire to live with the limitations life has given me, I switched my perspective.
Do you know why Dexcom doesn’t work for you? Is it insertion sites? I don’t know except it is better back of arms then abdomen.
I use my phone as my receiver and the alarms are quite loud. I don’t sleep through lows. But I get a night time low perhaps every two or three weeks now whereas I use to get them 1-2 times a week and probably slept through a bunch because I’d wake up in the morning dizzy and confused, with a headache and soaked sheets!
I did not choose this condition but I will do my best not to let it define me. At times, this commitment is hard to keep.
It is not a matter of letting something define you. This disease, which is what it is, is a living hell to be sure. Each day is a struggle, 24/7 and exhausting. 50 million devices will never take that away. A real cure or transplant maybe that would on some level.
Dexcom is not a miracle by any means. It makes life more livable, but is far from perfect. Why is it so off for me at times, it is hard to say, it just is, which is why I will never trust it to bolus etc. many others feel the same. It is not some thing in particular that I can change.
I have stopped expecting that one day it will get better because it won’t. It is unpredictable and awful even with all of the devices and it is constant work with no break. Even when you are on top of it D is always there to bite you in the ***. And if you get lax for one second D will always be there to hit you over the head.
I am quite happy to sleep through the alarms, and have my body raise me, if not eventually I wake up and drink juice etc. Those lows almost never feel that bad to me. And who wants to be awakened by that crap alarm sound non stop, it is enough to drive you insane. It is a way of putting yourself in perpetual ptstd.
That said I would never go back to mdi or be able to live without my very expensive devices.
