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When treating a low (i.e, less than 70 mg/dl or 3.9 mmol/l) how often do you over treat, resulting in high blood glucose levels?
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My basal shuts down when “65” is reached on my connected CGM. I get warned if my system predicts I’ll drop to that 70 within 30 minutes (Medtronic in manual) so I’ll react accordingly.
At 70 with no arrows and idle (sitting or in bed) may suspend my basal for 30 minutes allowing levels to rise naturally, at 65 in this case sip a few ounces of a sweetened drink or a few tablets (got a Gatorade on my nightstand). If active (not excursion but like walking or being mildly busy) sip a sweetened drink or swallow a few tablets at 70. If busy with basal already decreased will suspend the basal and do a carb intake (sometimes in a panic?). Rarely go over 130-140, if I do will than correct accordingly to prevent a huge rise (again my upper alarm is 125, allowing me to prevent huge rises).
I see higher levels (to me over 150ish, yeah saw 200 last week) but I don’t panic, I am a TYPE 1 after all. I “crush it” (a phrase from my favorite podcast) and can bring it down successfully and safely in an hour or so. And yeah I see my 60’s but so do many NONdiabetics, while they don’t inject insulin I’m learning to trust my CGM to warn me.
Soooo… I do overdo corrections but not a lot. Often levels fall from beating up a house or cleaning after a huge damage, and while I’ve learned to decrease my basal a lot (with few mistakes), learning to plan on the fast rises from a panic correction.
This is not something that I’ve ever measured or kept track of. Sometimes I get insatiably hungry and over eat. I like to think it’s less than half of the time that I over eat, but I’m really not sure.
Me to!
I have learned that just one glucose tablet (4g of of carbs) will raise my bg 40 points. The recommended 15 grams of carbs will send me over 200. The exception is I am exercising.
Between 60 and 70, one glucose tablet will get me up around 80 to 90. 50 to 60, it takes 2 tablets, etc. I’ve learned this over time, I used to eat them per the doctor and it was too much. The only times I mess up and get too high are on the very rare occasions that I get below 40. Then I get panicky and eat way too many tablets.
I said that I overtreat half the time. This usually does not result in a very high glucose, just higher than I had intended.
Interesting split in the responses! I answered “about half the time.” It’s hard to avoid. Fifteen grams of carbs? Puhleeez….
I have my low alarm at 80 so that I rarely get below 70.
I don’t typically overtreat a low below 70, I definitely need less than 15 carbs (usually 4-8 will do the trick), aside from exercise. On the rare occasion I get below 45 or so, then I do overtreat typically. I think it would be interesting to lower this number in coming days and see if answers change below 60 , below 50, below 40, etc.
Easily lethal, making 100% certain it is not is mandatory IME.
Zero testing, just TREAT, then , then afterwards, if, if you must Feel free.
Treat first, stay alive
: D
If I’m low enough to need help, I invariably get over treated. Two swigs of juice and patience almost always gets me back to the 100-150 range.
Does being on the floor of the ceral isle with two open boxes of frosted flakes yelling there great count as over eating?
I used to overtreat — but I broke this habit with a few little guidelines for myself, include:
-never use food I love to treat lows
-never use a meal to treat a legit low
-remind myself that I have control over how much I actually eat even if my brain wants more
-distract myself after treating with gum or a glass of ice cold water
-remind myself that overtreating lows always creates more stress and chaos later on!
All true.
Question for everyone – if there was an easy to use Mini-Glucagon injection available to treat moderate to severe lows yourself (ie. 40-60) would this be of interest to have on the market and would you likley use it?? Think of a 1/4-1/5th dose of traditional Emergency Rescue kit dose to self-treatment for our on-going lows.
I said half the time, sigh. I have every tool at my disposal, yet for many episodes/failures I succumb to overtreat. So I need a smart house monitoring my blood glucose when low locks fridge and pantry, a robot to place one glucose tab in my hand and in 15 minutes decides if another tab is needed. The glucose tab robot could be an add on to my Roomba. I tried to recruit my husband but he over imagines what I need!! How hard is it to remember the rule of 15, when he is not experiencing the brain altering low? Just kidding. My husband does pretty well!
🙂 🙂
I chose other as I don’t consider myself as overtreating as I know my BG will rapidly decrease, but control-iq isn’t programmed to allow this.
When my BG is below 60, I’ll try one glucose tablet or up to three within twenty minutes depending on a rise. It depends and probably half the time control-iq will correct for a BG of 180 that won’t last.
I have just started a great system so we shall see. I hate glucose tablets and gels so I do old and true, 3 lifesavers and wait 15, never fails to get me to at least 65. That is happening less and less maybe once or twice a month depending on my workout schedule.
I answered about half the time, but I think the suspended Basel from Control IQ helps to push me over 200 many times. If I’m awakened at 3 AM by a low alarm it’s really easy to chomp on a couple of glucose tabs snd go back to sleep. If the alarm gets me out of bed and I go to the kitchen for apple cider I’ll probably be high when I get up for the day. I’m really not having that many lows now because Control IQ has been very helpful keeping me in range.
I am very aware when I am ‘over treating’, but it’s often because the BG keeps plummeting, lips are turning numb, I’m sweating, and worried it won’t get turned around on time. Once the arrow on the CGM has at least gone level, I know, at that point, that the BG is turning around – and shortly thereafter I’ll compensate with insulin for a portion of what I know I’ve over-consumed, so that I won’t go ‘high’. It’s easy to preach the ‘wrongness’ of over treating – but try being in our shoes when the body is having the struggle with the severe low – it’s understandable that there are times that are just plain scary, and over treating will happen.
If it’s 70 AND dropping quickly, no food is safe from my panicked, epinephrine-induced hypo hunger. I’m usually a little gun shy I terms of insulin dosing after a low, so wait for increasing arrow. Often go high after such a low
I’m finding that in the past year, carbs listed on food no longer seem accurate. I’ve tried to include fat and/or protein in the carb count, without success. Overtreating is about half the time. Supposedly, with the supply chain issues, companies are switching to high fructose sugar for sweetening. Likely some of the cause of the overcorrection.
Recently I have been healing my t1d so when I drop low due to the small amount of insulin I’ve begun making I tend to have my body also treating and trying to balance bgs so it takes a totally different number of minutes for results AND for treatments to hit because I think my body is a bit confused. Lol
I hate the feelings that Low Blood sugars bring, so I have a habit of taking more Carbs than I really need.
Most of the time.