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Should You Worry About LOW Blood Sugar At Night?

A DiabetesTeam Member asked a question πŸ’­
Inverary, ON

The answer to that question is "IT DEPENDS"

Whether or not you have Diabetes your blood sugar fluctuates. For us members of the Dead Pancreas Society we are more cognizant of changes and constantly on the lookout for mostly HIGHS but sometimes LOWS

If you are NOT taking Diabetes Meds (like myself) it is beyond unlikely that your body will allow things to get "deadly low" (if our blood sugar drops below 2.0 mmols or 35'ish points we can go into a coma due to lack of (fuel) sugar available to… read more

April 20, 2023
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A DiabetesTeam Member

Hi @A DiabetesTeam Member,
I suspect that medication was probably a sulfonurea. They are notorious for lows.

Personally I do no diabetes medications yet. I hate hypos and all the symptoms. I especially dislike the vision cloudiness that lingers for days. Most everything else corrects within a few hours.

I tightly control my numbers. I raise them by snacking appropriately to keep from having hypos. So my lower numbers tend to be a little higher than many who share here, but still in the good range. I am content with that.

I test before 90-120 minutes of intense exercise and look for 6.7+(120+). My numbers can drop as much as 2.0+(36+). I check and when I will continue exercise I adjust accordingly.

Before bed I test and look for 5.7+(103+). I adjust if needed, since overnight my numbers drop 1.0(18) to 1.5+(27+). So my lower numbers are a bit higher than most, no regrets.

Did I mention that I hate hypos (hypoglycemic events). Baby steps. I can do baby steps and you can too. I wish for you more good days than bad and have many exceptional days too

And never give up, never surrender, never ever.
You got this.
Have a wonderful day.

April 21, 2023 (edited)
A DiabetesTeam Member

Here's a graph showing my 8 lows over the past 14 days (generally occur between 1 and 6 AM) - you can sometimes see I am "getting down there" but without any action on my part they bounce right back

That is what is "supposed to happen naturally" so if when I am woken by the low if I consumed carbs it would really jack my numbers

April 20, 2023 (edited)
A DiabetesTeam Member

@A DiabetesTeam Member you speak here of "Artificial Low" Does this mean they fake us out? I am not on any oral medications, I just long-acting insulin with short-acting backup when and if needed. there are many times I go to bed with an excellent number like last night of 94 and yet wake with a higher number like today's 108 and am perplexed as to why.

April 21, 2023
A DiabetesTeam Member

@A DiabetesTeam Member This is why even if I just go for a walk, I make sure to have have some candies, sugar tabs, as I tend to drop fast while exercising. This winter I went snowshoeing twice and had to take those candies as I started dropping after 30 min of snowshoeing. I used to carry juices yrs ago, but in my case it spiked me too quickly and did not help in the long run, except if below 3.8 (68). Sugar tabs I use sparingly, but seeing I am off diabetic medications for me only 1 tab is enough, but again I try not to use them, there are other things we can use for hypos. Pulling over on the side of the road is what is required here in Canada also.

Here is a link to a chart of what to do when you have a hypo, it is from diabetes Canada https://guidelines.diabetes.ca/docs/patient-res...

April 21, 2023
A DiabetesTeam Member

@A DiabetesTeam Member "artificial" was the best term I could think of when I was typing that up 😁

Drug or Medication "induced" low would be a more accurate description

I was trying to think of a word the opposite of "naturally occurring" - didn't pay close enough attention in English Class obviously 😁

April 21, 2023

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