Re: How low is too low?

kevinbertschglf@xxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:1179978162.783910.299680@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Well, today I hit a new low since being diagnosed - 4.9, which is
approximately 88 for our American friends. I feel fine, but I'm
wondering (it's about midnight now) - could I possibly slip
too low over the night? Or will my liver kick in and dump some sugar
from muscles, etc. to get
my level back up? I normally take 2x500 mg Metformin at midnight; I
was wondering if I should
cut that back to just one. Any help would be appreciated.

Kevin


Hello Kevin,

Good to see you're having good glucose readings.. A 4.9 (88) isn't a low by
any means. Anything below 70mg/dL is considered a Hypo.
You're feeling perhaps like it is a low because your body is used to higher
glucose. For instances such as this, because it isn't a real low,
you should try to treat it as a low, ONLY with little to no carb food. The
reason to do this is to stop the liver from causing a dump, because
this will only cause you to put out more natural insulin to counter the
high from the glucose (from your liver). If you eat something small like
a few slices of cheese, perhaps a slice or two of ham (lunch style) or
fresh veggies, this will make the body think you've eaten something to
stop the "low feeling" but wont cause the liver to dump.

As the other poster suggested to drink some OJ.. DON'T DO THAT! :) OJ is
great for a real low, when you're 50 or below, but you're far from that.

If at anytime you need to treat an actual low, then you want to have 15gm
of fast acting carb, (ie: sugar, OJ, reg soda, hard candy) and test
every 15mins until you're back up to a safe level. Also, if you aren't
sure if you're having an actual low, but you feel like it, either way you
should ALWAYS test prior to treating a low... but having something low in
carbs is better then nothing at all in the case it is an actual low.

Last thing, it's very doubtful that the Metformin will cause your glucose
to lower much more overnight. It isn't that type of medication. Metformin
isn't a glucose lowering med in the way others are. Metformin causes the
liver from excessive glucose dumping and reduces the Insulin Resistance
so you have better sensitivity to your natual Insulin.. or those who inject
get better bang for their buck. If you're worried, you can always set your
alarm from 2am-4am (around 3am most prefer) and test to make sure you
aren't below 70mg/dL. This is the time Insulin users are told to test to
make sure they aren't having night-time hypos. Again, YMMV and you might
find you go a wee bit lower at different time. It's also a fact that ALL
folks require much less insulin from 12am-2am... then from 2am until 5-8am
some find this is the time that Dawn Phen. hits them. Mine hits at
4:50am until 8:30am. :)

HTH.

RK, T1
Animas IR1250 pumper


.

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