Tuesday, May 11, 2010

GoGo, Mr. Low

My favorite way to treat a low(besides not having one in the first place) is juice or glucose tabs. If I'm 50-70,I drink a 25 carb juice box. If I'm 60+, I drink half the juice box. And if I'm below 50, out come the big guns(3 tabs, plus the juice). Or glucose liquid, which is the fastest thing short of glucagon in me.(and has saved my butt on multiple occasions) It just depends on how fast I am dropping, how much IOB is on board, and & whether or not CVS just ran a sale on post-holiday candy. (like peeps,sweettarts,smarties,Airheads,jellybeans, candy corn,cotton candy,and similarly fast-acting carbs)I like them all, but usually don't crave them when I'm not low.(so it's not a great temptation) There are a few things I don't like at all(low or not)-orange juice,any type of coke,and orange glucose tablets.(everything else is fair game)I drop very quickly,the last assisted low I had,(Halloween '08) despite drinking two juice boxes I went out of it 20 minutes later(fortunately it was at the infusion center,so all they had to do was swap out the magnesium bag with D50 & ship me down to the ER,if a low could be termed convenient, that would be it. Consequently, I would rather overeat(and be at least 100+ mg/dl). It's not the best thing for my a1c,but it's best for my peace of mind.(and the pocketbook,who wants to spend hundreds of dollars on ER copays)

Then there are the times when the hungry gene just doesn't turn itself off & after treating the low, I just eat and eat and eat myself into a massive high blood sugar.Anything and everything goes down the hatch.(you know you're hungry when you eat week old beet salad,ewwww) Moderation is the key..you just have to find something that works for you,and be comfortable in that knowledge. Sometimes that's easy, and sometimes it's not,but that's the goal.

6 comments:

Cara said...

Juice. Yummy. :) I'm glad to know I'm not the only one that does half a juice box. LOL :)

HVS said...

Yep-I'm cheap,I'd rather save it for the next low..lol(rather then spend extra on the little 15 carb boxes)

Unknown said...

Oh man - I can relate to the hungry gene not turning off!

Virtue said...

hungry gene... nom. nom. nom... I certainly recognize that one!

thanks for sharing :)

Unknown said...

Good Point! A visit to Emergency is way more expensive than a couple of Eggo's.

Anonymous said...

Eat and eat and eat and eat and eat and... Yep. Know it well. Overtreating Lows is such a common thing. Not because I don't know how to treat properly with the correct amount of carbs, but mostly just because I don't care and want the Low to go away. Oh well. Thanks for sharing.