Wednesday, September 21, 2011

The Low Down

It seems like going low happens at the weirdest times - sometimes those times are convenient like during a trip to the grocery store while other times completely throw you off and make you curse diabetes.   For me my prime low times occur in the waking hours of the morning like 4 a.m (by waking hours, I don't mean I am awake and I feel bad for anyone who does wake up at this time on a regular basis)   But, sometimes my lows come at strange times and make you wonder, "How did I go low! I just had dinner!"

As diabetics we are given ratios, according to how much carbs we have and how much insulin we need to take. For example, I take 1 unit for every 10 grams of carbs I have.   So that's pretty simple and anyone can do the math, but luckily for me my pump does that math anyways!   But, sometimes the carb/ratio idea is completely off.  Sometimes you eat something and 30 minutes later you experience a low and have no idea why.

I am not a doctor, but I am a diabetic and can honestly say that just because you took 2 units for one thing another day doesn't mean you are going to need 2 units the next day despite eating the same thing.  There are so many things that effect blood sugar that it can be a huge task to pinpoint what the issue is and how to prevent such things as lows and highs.

For me, I just had dinner about 15 minutes ago, cleaned my room up a little bit and then could feel the signs of a low coming on, and then had to treat a 4.2.    I don't know if the whole intense cleaning made my sugar low, but I know I didn't eat food that takes longer to digest. Other factors can come into play like stress - there really is no exact answer.

There really is now reason sometimes why we go low.  I just know that when I wake up at 4 a.m there probably is another diabetic pulling down her sheets, stumbling to the kitchen and eating everything in sight.  So there is the low down!

Kayla

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