Thursday, January 19, 2012

What's Your Number?


Throughout the day our blood sugars fluctuates quite a bit. I think the biggest mistake doctors make, is that they assume that we as diabetics are able to maintain a specific target by simply checking our blood sugars (every second) and adjusting insulin (constantly.)  Unfortunately, unless you are a diabetic that has no job, not going through for education and no social life - this is impossible.

So what if we have a sugar of 14 in the afternoon, who cares if we have only a couple perfect readings in the day. Those numbers although important in some way or another, aren't directly going to change the way we go about life. Of course here I will acknowledge that constant high blood sugars lead to complications (you all know the rest of that lecture..) but, let's face it, one bad blood sugar won't spoil the whole day...girl'

It isn't until that very last blood sugar of the day are we really considering taking immediate action - the bed time blood sugar.  This blood sugar is the most important because no one wants to wake up in the middle of the night to snack on a couple marshmallows and weep about the lack of candy apples in your house.      This blood sugar will possibly determine if you're going to get a good nights sleep.

Personally, I like to be above a 7 at least.   I feel like below a 7 I am bound to wake up looking for something good to eat.   Now, I also know I could lower my basal rate, so that I could go to bed below a 7 and be fine, but I am not really convinced that this is true.  What I am exactly doing as I sleep that makes my sugar drop - is unknown to me and therefore, I am not sure I could really sort it out to be perfect. Plus, let's face it - waking up in the middle of the night to ransack your kitchen is all apart of being diabetic.

But, really, I am curious to know what other people's numbers are? (No, not your phone number...)  I am interested because I find it so fascinating how there could be so many type 1 diabetics that share similar stories of being moody while high or accidentally ripping out sites, yet we are all different in other ways when thinking about how our body works and the different techniques that work for one diabetic, but not so much for another.

Someone may feel comfortable laying down with a blood sugar of 5.5, while others feel much more comfortable at a 10. Despite the doctors telling you that 5.5 is the ideal bed time, morning time, afternoon time, snack time, dinner time, blood sugar - let's face it, that just isn't happening.

Kayla

1 comment:

  1. My number lately have been between 5 to 9 the doc say that good for now cause they have to find the right adjustment for my insulin pump which I'm new to which I LOVE my blood sugars before where so much high and I had so many lows and since they have come down and with me not know what I will work from week to week it helps so much

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