Type 1 - Juvenile Diabetics

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Highs & lows?

wannabthin65
wannabthin65 Posts: 92 Member
edited October 5 in Social Groups
:frown: Do all type 1's have unexplained highs & lows?? I get SO frustrated sometimes. I am eating properly & have started exercising regularly...my blood sugars can be great all day (sometimes for 1 or 2 checks--i check approx. every 2 hours--then out of the blue, its over 200. Example Yesterday..1st 2 checks in low 120's, next 2 checks over 200, 5th check 119 then the one before bed-342???

Does anyone else have this problem? Do you think this is normal for a type 1 or am i alone?

Thanks for any input

Diane

Replies

  • Dippydog
    Dippydog Posts: 154
    Hey girl.

    Sometimes what you eat takes longer to affect you. Like anything high fat (cheese) takes a while to affect your system.

    What are you drinking? Enough water? Also, is it possible you are getting sick? Do you have any kind of infection? All of that can cause havoc too.

    Make sure to write everything down and for one day take your sugar at least every two hours and maybe even every hour and hopefully that will help you see what is affecting what.


    Hope this helps.

    Feel better!!

    Debi
  • tlbyaya
    tlbyaya Posts: 4
    Hi Diane,
    I am new to this site and looked up this group to see if there were any people with Type 1 diabetes and how they are dealing with things. I too am a Type 1 for 38yrs and have always suffered with the high and low issue. I currently live alone and it is so scary to go to bed at night with a BG less than 200 because it could drop so low while I am sleeping. So what I decided to do is to get on an Insulin pump. The newest one I found is called the Omnipod. It is wireless and tubeless. I had never used a pump before and was taking Lantus and Humalog insulin and just could never get it right. Then along with hormonal issues, remember insulin is a hormone too, Stress, getting sick, the type of food we eat, I just didn't know what to do either and Weight gain was inevitable.
    The other thing I just recently found is a device called a Continuous Glucose Monitor (CGM). This device actually Trends your glucose and will let you know when it is rising and falling so you can use a correction dose of insulin before it get to high or prepare yourself to avoid a low. I was excited about it because it will alarm you when this happens so at Bedtime I don't have to worry as much.
    So, to help with the lifestyle change I have also used the following formula. I had heard about this formula from a weight loss class and it seems to be helping. You multiply your current weight x 10 and that will tell you how many calories you are eating to MAINTAIN your current weight. So what you have to do is start cutting those calories slowly and you can do that by either the exercise or food or Both and you will start loosing. When I started this I weighed 242 so that meant I was eating 2400 calories a day. YIKES!! So I gave myself a limit of 1500/day along with exercise and I am feeling so much better. I am 6' tall and lost 40lbs doing this but I still want to loose 25lbs. and it is a little tougher for some reason. Counting calories gets easier as you learn them and if you eat the same food a lot of time then you get used to it. As a Diabetic you know that Carbs is where we mostly get in trouble so I count those now as well and the pump lets me know how much of a correction dose I need. Now that this site has the Food tracker and Exercise tracker it really helps. Along with the support of others it is a good motivator.
    I am still new to the Insulin Pump (11/5/11) and just got the CGM but haven't started using it yet. Hopefully this week. If you are interested in hearing updates or want to chat, let me know.
    God Bless you,
    Theresa
  • wilkerson
    wilkerson Posts: 26
    Everything seems to affect blood sugar, even stress and being up set over things. I agree with dippydog many foods take longer to get into your system as well.
  • type1foodie
    type1foodie Posts: 38
    I think we ALL have unexplained highs and lows... it just isn't scientific!

    http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b275/elkeppel/Capture.jpg

    (Can anyone explain to me how to add a photo to my post?)

    Erin
  • amccrazgrl
    amccrazgrl Posts: 315 Member
    It sounds like you don't have your basic basal pattern down.
    Can you give us examples of your meals for the day? How many carbs? How much insulin? Which insulins?
    What exercise and how long?

    Aerobic=Cardio based lowers blood sugar
    Anaerobic= Lifting weights raises blood sugar

    When I workout I do my Anaerobic first for 45-50 mins and then 15-20 mins cardio to help balance. I'm using an insulin pump so I also disconnect during exercise.
  • tarakay84
    tarakay84 Posts: 69
    Hi there!,

    I too have issues with crazy highs and then lows! I'm getting the pump on Monday
    Hoping this will help that! My blood sugars will be 120 then I wake up with 344?? I'm taking
    Humalog with meals and lantus at night. But stress makes mine go WAY up!!

    Good luck to us both!
  • Pattie74
    Pattie74 Posts: 85 Member
    Along with the type of exercise effecting your sugars, remember that carbs are where it's at. If you're eating a heavy carb meal, that will also cause issues. Lower carbs, lower bs.
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