Poll: Do you feel worse when you are low or high?

[Brensdad]

I can deal with a high (as long as it's not illness-related or over 400), but I cannot STAND feeling low. It makes me completely crazy! How about you all?

[funnygrl]

Hard to say. It depends on a lot, but generally, I have some hard-core hypo unawareness going on, so I voted high.

[TripleThreat]

with other children with diabetes in family i tend to run higher and feel more comfortable when all alone doing this i cant stand the feeling of being low and feeling shaky and confused and of course the sweating when really low is really annoying

[LantusFiend]

I can't reliably feel either, but occasionally I burst out crying from hypos and that's just embarrassing. Especially if you are a student teacher!

[kel4han]

Lows definetly. Feeling out of control on a dropping slope is the worst for me. At least with highs you aren't immediately threatened, I always think during a bad hypo "is this the one?"

[Ali]

I get emotional with lows. Also rather stupid. I get tired from highs but do not really feel any different unless over 180 for several hours. Fast changes are bad either direction. Fast lows feel like every stress hormone in my body is on full alert. When I drop slowly I often do not feel it till quite low and suddenly realize I am moving slowly and thinking slowly. Then I check correct and tell everyone to give me 15 minutes before asking me to think, respond or do anything. Prolonged moderate lows or multiple lows leave me wiped out for hours. Ali

[Richard157]

I was dx in 1945 and I was high most of the time so I was very used to highs and they did not bother me. I felt hypo in what is now a normal range. So I could feel miserable below 100 back then. 40 years later I learned about carb counting and used much better insulins and I felt much better in the low 100's. I felt hypo in the 90's at that time. Now I am a pumper and I stay between 70 and 130 almost all the time. I feel high at 140 and I feel a bit low in the high 60's. I feel good 70-130. Lows are definitely more disturbing and have more unpleasant side effects for me.

Richard

[ctwetten]

Lows are the worst for me, and it's frustrating because my doctor doesn't understand that and wants me to have a really tight control that always results in 3 or 4 lows per week. My day is shot after a low unless I take a nap, so that's really too many.

[Ali]

Richard
Wow!! You have been doing this for 60 plus years. I am closing in on forty years and am not close to being between 70 and 130 all the time.
Can I ask what you mean by that statement-i.e. if I checked your BS every 10 minutes over 24 hours would that be true or is it true for before meals and two hours post meal numbers only? I would love to know what you do if anything different from the standard care to keep such even numbers...testing??, limited carbs?... etc. Thanks a ton for any info. I work very hard and would love to get as stable as you so any tips would be great. Ali




I was dx in 1945 and I was high most of the time so I was very used to highs and they did not bother me. I felt hypo in what is now a normal range. So I could feel miserable below 100 back then. 40 years later I learned about carb counting and used much better insulins and I felt much better in the low 100's. I felt hypo in the 90's at that time. Now I am a pumper and I stay between 70 and 130 almost all the time. I feel high at 140 and I feel a bit low in the high 60's. I feel good 70-130. Lows are definitely more disturbing and have more unpleasant side effects for me.

Richard

[Richard157]

Ali, I stated that I am between 70 and 130 ALMOST all the time. I still have an occasional high above 130 or a low below 70. I had a 46 a couple of days ago when I overestimated the carbs in a meal at a restaurant. I am between 70 and 130 about 85% of the time now due to my using an insulin pump. I started pumping in June, 2007. I wish I ahd started 10-15 years ago.

Richard

[Ali]

Richard
Thanks for your response. I knew the numbers "were not always" but even more than 50 percent of the time is fantastic for most of us. I also use a pump and strict carb counting and still am out of range a lot of the time. Just hoping for some magic tips, but as we know YDMV and you have clearly found a routine that works very well for you. Because I vary so much and have always been strict on diet, exercise, routines etc. I am always on the lookout for any tips that might make life easier for me. thanks again. Ali

[Richard157]

Ali, I know a man on another site who has been pumping for one year. He is on a 75 carb per day diet. He always eats the same number of carbs at corresponding times eavh day. His schedule never varies much at all. He has almost perfect control. His blood sugar is in the interval 80-100 more than 95% of the time. His standard deviation is only 13. I will never be able to achieve that kind of control. I refuse to follow that kind of tight schedule. It would be like being a prisoner and my life would be miserable. I wish I could do what he does. His A1c is 4.9 and he has not had a low below 75 or so for many months. He never has hypos. He is a good friend of mine and I know he is trustworthy. He is my pump guru. LOL! Good luck with your pumping!

Richard

[Ali]

Richard
Thank you so much for you post :D I think someone said you had a blog and I will have to go and take a look at it. I was so thrilled the first time a Dr. suggested I might live beyond 40 and when I had a Dr. say I could have kids. I hate to say it but I am not a 4.9 but a 6 plus after being on the pump and always under tight control!!! I am just one of those whose bodies are ever changing in their response to food, stress and insulin. :( I do eat less than 15 grams of carb a meal and low fat. I do vary my meal times but rarely eat if my BS is above 120. I, like you grew up in the era when your main tool for control was waiting to eat, eating like mad, or exercise. I try to balance life with three kids, a variable exercise and work schedule and trying to make my care as automatic as possible. I do have high BP (on medication at age fifty), high cholesterol (just started medication), am skinny and exercise, have had frozen shoulders, a cataract started but great eyes otherwise, gave birth to two healthy kids, and adopted one and hoping I am one of those Type ones who are dragged out at 85 as the poster child for diabetes research or who is healthy enough at 75 to qualify for a clinical trial of a cure or an actual cure. I think you would be at the top of the list for any studies or cures. Thank you again and I agree one has to balance quality of life with length of life but I really want to see my now 10 year old daughters marriage and her first child being born :). Cheers to the future!!! Ali

[hypercarmona]

I feel much worse when I'm high than when I'm low, being that I have to be very low to actually feel "low" and I don't let myself get that far.

It's been a while since I've been in the hovering 300s, at least a year and a half (knock on wood!) but it's a horrible feeling. Especially if I have to be somewhere walking around, like at work. I get really bad leg cramps when I'm high like that.

[munchkingirl]

I have to say that I will definitely take the highs over the lows. They make me feel so weak and insatiable - I CANNOT get enough to eat until I no longer feel low, but then I feel so terrible the rest of my day is shot unless i get a nap, but, when does that get to happen? :rolleyes:

[type1998]

I'd say high..when I'm low, I tend to go into twilight zone.Hardly feel anything when I'm low, lol. Highs are just so horrid and take forever to get down from, too.(whereas most lows are easily fixed)

[Richard157]

Ali, I would be willing to bring my story (62 Years With Type 1 Diabetes) to this site if I have permission. How do I contact a moderator or some other appropriate individul?

Richard

[Jeff]

Richard (and others),

You can email me your story. We post content like that on the main part of the CWD web site (www.childrenwithdiabetes.com (http://www.childrenwithdiabetes.com)).

Email me at jeffh@childrenwithdiabetes.com

[Richard157]

Jeff, I emailed you several days ago and I did not get a reply. Does that mean you have decided not to post the story on CWD? I have posted the story on two sites and am currently posting it on four other sites. Whatever you decide is fine with me. Thanks!

Richard

[Brensdad]

I have to say that I will definitely take the highs over the lows. They make me feel so weak and insatiable - I CANNOT get enough to eat until I no longer feel low, but then I feel so terrible the rest of my day is shot unless i get a nap, but, when does that get to happen? :rolleyes:

That's me. My wife can tell when I've had a low in the night, because every cabinet is open and the kitchen is a mess!

[skagway1]

Highs bother me, I can feel them by getting very thirsty and tired, but the lows are the worst. I don't have lows very often, so I'm very sensitive to them and even a quick low, which I can fix quickly by eating carbs, will take me hours to feel better overall. I know the highs are what cause most damage, but I will let myself go high rather than risk the awfulness of a low.