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Surprise low reading

HSSS

Expert
Messages
7,675
Location
South of England
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Diet only
I’ve got some medical and life stuff going on right now and motivation is seriously lacking. Mostly I’m holding on but today I massively and hugely fell off the wagon, worst since diagnosis 3 yrs ago and total gluttony of the biscuit variety. (Specifically Jammy dodgers, oddly aptly named). I was out and didn’t have a meter with me. When I got home I faced the music expecting a lingering high. Instead I saw the lowest level I’ve seen in many months (if only I could get this all the time without the carb overload first). I must have spiked horribly earlier though.
So I assume that this shock caused me to pump out huge amounts of insulin and it simply kept on going further than it usually does. Does that seem a realistic assumption?

Silver lining? I obviously still have plenty of insulin production without an expensive test to prove it.

Back to being good tonight to stop the slippery slope. Can’t undo it now so I’m not beating myself up either. Just curious.
 
Sounds like a plausible explanation to me, which doesn't mean anything of course.
But whatever the cause, it sounds like a nice surprise, and it sounds like you could use a nice surprise!
 

I empathise with the lack of motivation when life and health issues are to thefore.
Did you have anything else to eat or drink with the biscuits? How many did you eat? Have you been generally eating as you normally would apart from jammy dodger fest?
Questions, questions. Sorry, but I am curious too.
 
Just some tea as usual. The rest of the week has been as per recent normal. Not as good as usual normal but not too bad and maintaining reasonable levels.

I’m embarrassed to say how many. Let’s just say A LOT. Sadly I did enjoy every single one and didn’t even feel sick etc. Not a good deterrent there. Part of the reason for posting is to remind myself I didn’t get away with it and to not be tempted to repeat it.
 
Your reasoning makes sense to me but no way now of knowing. I am really glad you enjoyed them. I had a not great day yesterday-not hugely bad but on the other hand I didn't enjoy the food either so I think you did better than me.

It an be hugely difficult keeping motivated. I like the idea of writing it here to keep accountable.

Good luck for tomorrow.
 
or it could be a rebound lower than normal due to the higher than normal. Large amounts of carbs can give huge swings, not just highs, but also lows, in my experience.
 
Been there, done that . . . but not often thankfully.

Wife bought a tin of USA biscuits last Christmas, I'd just come in from work.
I slit the Sellotape around the edge with my car key.
Just one . . . just only one . . . Hmmmm but only not.
I polished off half the top tray on my own, probably 12-15 biscuits washed down with 2 glasses of milk . . . then comes the guilt.
Oh the terrible guilt, part of me was saying wait wait wait, give it 2 hours . . . 2 hours after the last bite, not the first, yeah . . that'll work.
Then I went for it, a 1 hour reading, just to teach myself a lesson, pricked the finger, took a breath & waited for the beep . . . saw 6.5 . . . put the meter away while still gasping.

Hey, the reason 85% of us ended up here was our addiction to carbs, a blowout is forgivable.
Once every 6 months I say.
 
Well, don't beat yourself up over it. My expectation would be that you have good, tight control most of the time, so a temporary aberration isn't going to affect much in the longer term.
 
I went for a walk the other day and felt a bit low so had some of my tube of glucose , still felt low 15 mins later so finished off the glucose ( about 30 grams ), Still felt low so bought a magnum lolly , When I got home I tested thinking it would be sky high , No chance it was 3.5 , Sometimes it just does not make sense .
 

Well in your case it could make sense as you are an insulin user, meaning if you have injected insulin in your body it could kick in at any time sending you, and keeping you low no matter what you immediately eat. The walk too probably added to your ongoing low. That I think is the main barrier to avoiding hypos, unlike a person (without diabetes) whose body is producing their own insulin and can stop and start it second by second naturally, ours just sits there with its injected insulin swilling about and drops some out at the most inopportune moment.
 
Good strategy to post about it, as a reminder.
I think we all do need to remember we are human, and we err, but we have to forgive ourselves, too. The lesson to take from it is that at times of stress we need to be kind and gentle to ourselves. Though perhaps find a non-food way to do so.
Hope that whatever is causing you stress will be resolved soon.
 
I brought a box of good & plenty licorice candy back with me from the US, nobody ate them and I was worried that they might go stale. I ate the whole box.. yeah I still have issues lol
 
These things happen - the other day I couldn’t be bothered to have my Greek yoghurt and berries or scrambled egg as usual so had some of the OHs Raisin Wheats which I used to have a lot pre T2 as I thought they were healthy! I decided to redeem myself by claiming it was for ‘experimental purposes’ and tested and the results were surprising - before eating 5.6, 1 hour after 8.00 and 2 hours after 5.4.
 
Yeah I wish I’d had a meter with me closer to the feasting so I could see what I did between then and the surprising low. (Which by the way returned to normal later that evening after a very low carb dinner as usual.
 
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