Ok seriously, I don’t know what is going on lately but I am having blood sugar battles! I can’t keep up. My blood sugar was terribly high after Thanksgiving dinner. Higher than it’s been for a long time! It was 300! I’m blaming it on the alcohol I was drinking throughout the day, but still I was working so hard at making sure I had a good reading after Thanksgiving dinner. Needless to say I was very disappointed!
Since then I’ve been fighting lots of lows, and a few highs.
I have a new problem that I’m wondering if anyone can offer any advice on. It seems like lately if my blood sugar is low and I have something to correct it, it won’t go up! I check it a half hour after I eat and it’s that same, or barely up. So I eat more and a half hour – 1 hr later it’s up a little more, but not much. Then, a few hours later I test it and it’s 200! It’s like it’s taking the food hours and hours to go through my system. For instance, last night after dinner I tested my blood sugar and it was 48. So I had some milk to bring it up. A half hour later I tested and it was 53. So I had a little more milk. An hour later I tested (before bed) and it was 80. I went to bed and this morning at 7 it was 200! It is so frustrating!
I am getting very frustrated with these lows and highs! Help!
Blood Sugar Battles!
December 2, 2008 by Michelle
I would recommend using a less complex sugar for your lows — lactose takes a long time for the body to process it. I’ve noticed that when I eat chocolate before bed when I’m low, I’ll wake up and be much higher than I expected…and sometimes I can drink an entire glass of milk with no noticeable difference in my blood sugar!
I generally use fruit juice or sugary candy (like gummi bears or hard candy) when my blood sugar gets low. If you can find soda that uses actual sugar (not high fructose corn syrup), that’s good too. Of course, you could always just use glucose tablets…but they’re not nearly as tasty.
I suffer the lows and highs, too, though…I’m trying my hardest to get it under control — my new problem is morning highs during PMS, which is entirely new and all sorts of fun.
I hear you on the freakish lows! I’ve been having a ridiculous time with them myself lately. Yesterday was so absurd, I was in the 50s near all day. XD
Anyway, my advice would be to use glucose tabs to treat lows (sour apple and watermelon aren’t too disgusting). Not sure what kind of milk you use, but if it’s not skim, the fat could definitely be causing the slow absorption.
The typical rule people say is 15 fast acting carbs with little fat, check in 15 minutes, if it’s not up then repeat.
It might also be a good idea to follow up after you correct the low with some protein, and that might help stabilize so you don’t rebound so much. I don’t do this often anymore, honestly, but it’s been recommended to me. ^__^
I avoided glucose tabs forever because I found them too disgusting, and instead I’d use juice if at home. For whatever reason, glucose tabs seem to keep me from rebounding high, so now I’ll always use them unless I’m about to eat anyway. With juice and the like, it was anybody’s guess what would happen, despite using a measuring cup!
Jaclyn,
Thanks so much! I will try using glucose tabs more. I just have so many lows lately that I go through a bottle in a week it seems! And they aren’t cheap…I mean, it adds up! BUT, if it works then I’ll use it! Maybe it is the fat in the milk….I use 1% but there is still some fat in it. And I rarely follow up with protein so I’ll try that to!
I’m sorry to hear about your lows to! They are SUCH a pain! Yesterday before lunch I was confused, couldn’t focus, and sweating profusely but I was to stupid to test my sugar! When I got home for lunch my sugar was 38 and I was thinking, DUH!! Of course! It is unbelievably hard to work when I’m having a low. I just can’t focus and I get side tracked so easily and end up with 500 papers on my desk and 20 half finished projects! Ahhh! I’m ranting, I know.
Anyway, thank you for the advice. I will try it out and let you know!! Good luck with your lows to!
Tabbie,
Thank you! And let me be sure to tell you that I also have the craziest sugars during PMS! It’s a new thing for me to! I go high right before I start, and once I start I go super low….for days! It is really frustrating!
I have also used juice, and hard candies. I guess I need to find what works well and just stick with it, since everything acts differently in our bodies! I guess I was just thinking, shovel food in as long as it has carbs…..but thats not right! Trial and error is the name of the game!
Thanks for sharing your experiences with me, and for offering your advice! And good lunch with the PMS sugars! I feel your pain there!