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What are people running at generally ?

PG1759

Well-Known Member
Messages
128
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Insulin
Hi guys and girls,

I'm still pretty new to diabetes and still battling to keep in any kind of normal stable range.
I was just interested in knowing what the experienced diabetics tend to be running at throughout the course of the day. I know the 'normal range' is between 4-7 but how realistic is it to be around 5 or 6 and stay there for hours ?
How many of you are managing to stay within a healthy range through the day and what's the highest you would go up to on a bad day ?
 
Hi I normally run at 4-7 during the day, but I get up at 5.30 am it's about 5-7 sometimes slightly lower than 5 occasionally. The afternoon between 3-6 I run between 3.5-6 and I have my main meal then. My last HbA1c was 6.0 it's been like this since being on a pump but before that it was all over the place.
 
Hi
I been diabetic since 9th Sept, have learnt a lot from this forum.
I use the My diabetes app to keep track of what's happening, here's my averages since I started testing.
 

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Hi
Here are my glucose counts for the last week

ImageUploadedByDCUK Forum1413141583.335474.jpg

They are in mg/dl but you can convert to the more familiar to you mmol/l by diving by 18.

My lowest number for instance of 78 corresponds to 4,3 mmol/l while the week's high of 118 corresponds to 6,5 mmol/l.

So it is possible with experience to keep your numbers in a tight range but you need good control of your carb intake, plenty of exercise and lots of feedback through frequent testing.

It is probably unrealistic for a newly diagnosted diabetic to expect to achieve such figures straight away, especially if starting from a high glucose level on first diagnosis.

Some time is needed to bring numbers down and patience is required. The important thing is to achieve an improving trend that will eventually get you to your desired levels.

Pavlos

Edit: Apologies but I just realized that your original post was in the type 1 Forum. I should point out that I am type 2, only on Metformin and so in little risk of going hypo.
 
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Yes I have found that out, as you can see in my figures in above post, it's really hard when when you 1st get diagnosed as the information you need is not there for you quick enough from the medical services. Thank heavens for this forum, I have got most the info to help me on my way.
Think the medical services should signpost all newly diagnosed here, at least they get an idea of what's going on which is more than they give.
 
According to my app I use to log my readings on, I'm averaging a BS of 13.9mmol/L during the day.
 
Personally I try and keep away from the low 4's and prefer to keep my bg levels no less than 5 and no more 9mmol, although I do inevitably sometimes in up in the low 4's. 2 hours postprandial I like to be around 7 knowing that I'll be back in the 6's or 5's pre-prandial.
 
I'd love to get down that low :)


Notice your on basal/bolus, register with the following site which is an on-line version of the DAFNE course:

http://www.bdec-e-learning.com/


Also, you should purchase the book Think Like a Pancreas as it contains loads of useful information on controlling type 1 diabetes.
 
I'd love to get some charts onto the site but I have a couple of issues :-

I use a CareSens N Voice which is aimed at visually impaired but even with my old computer (Wind XP) I had trouble installing then now I have a newer computer which is Wind 8.1 end even that I've tried to install my meter to no avail .

And I was on the Accu-CHEK Combo pump but couldn't read the screens so my clinic got me back to a D-Tron plus pump (Yeahhh) my favourite as I recognise the clicks whirs and sounds and has pre filled pen cartridges unlike the combo at the time I had it, ( does the Combo use pre filled cartridges yet ? )

When I have the clinic they upload my pump using the smart-pix and just cross reference with my bg's
 
I am normally in the 5-9 mmol/l range, I have tried increasing my insulin it bring it lower but I end up with hypo's all the time. I need to modify my diet to make it vary less but it is hard to find the time to cook :(. I have tried eating more wholegrain stuff (bread, rice and pasta) but it doesn't seem to make much difference.
 
Type 1 for 22 years and counting.

I used to get freaked out when I heard people say "I'm almost always between 4 and 7" until I realised that these people were frequently lying/kidding themselves. This was shown when they reported HbA1cs that showed their average b.g. numbers would be above the range hey claimed to be keeping their numbers within.

I have an HbA1c at 5.9% (41 mmol/mol) which I'm very pleased with. Despite having a good A1c, I get high numbers regularly. I usually get a reading over 10 mmol/l most days.

A major part of how I get the decent A1c is concentrating on getting good numbers at night, it's 1/3 of our day so if you can get level and safe numbers over night, you're nearly half the battle won.

In addition to that, I test on average 7 times a day and always try to test 2 hours after each meal. This means that if I've messed up my dose and I say get a 13 mmol/l say 2 hours after eating, I can correct it and be back into normal levels usually in time for the next meal.

Correcting doses safely takes experience and the professionals (doctors and nurses) quite often don't advise it or say to exercise particular caution. I use insulin corrections but I'm not saying you should also do.

I have a low carb diet which I've found means that if I do get my doses wrong, because I'm injecting lower doses (by about a half) than I did on a higher carb diet, it means that the scale I miscalculate by is also likely to be halved. This means that too low a dose gives me b.g. results of say 11s rather than 14s. Similarly, too high an insulin dose results in milder hypos than if I'd taken too much of a higher dose of insulin.

The summary here is that I get high numbers but ensure I don't stay too high for too long.
 
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Type 1 for 22 years and counting.

I used to get freaked out when I heard people say "I'm almost always between 4 and 7" until I realised that these people were frequently lying/kidding themselves. This was shown when they reported HbA1cs that showed their average b.g. numbers would be above the range hey claimed to be keeping their numbers within.

I have an HbA1c at 5.9% (41 mmol/mol) which I'm very pleased with. Despite having a good A1c, I get high numbers regularly. I usually get a reading over 10 mmol/l most days.

A major part of how I get the decent A1c is concentrating on getting good numbers at night, it's 1/3 of our day so if you can get level and safe numbers over night, you're nearly half the battle won.

In addition to that, I test on average 7 times a day and always try to test 2 hours after each meal. This means that if I've messed up my dose and I say get a 13 mmol/l say 2 hours after eating, I can correct it and be back into normal levels usually in time for the next meal.

Correcting doses safely takes experience and the professionals (doctors and nurses) quite often don't advise it or say to exercise particular caution. I use insulin corrections but I'm not saying you should also do.

I have a low carb diet which I've found means that if I do get my doses wrong, because I'm injecting lower doses (by about a half) than I did on a higher carb diet, it means that the scale I miscalculate by is also likely to be halved. This means that too low a dose gives me b.g. results of say 11s rather than 14s. Similarly, too high an insulin dose results in milder hypos than if I'd taken too much of a higher dose of insulin.

The summary here is that I get high numbers but ensure I don't stay too high for too long.
You sound very similar to me. I have always had good averages in the 40's but do regularly go to the 10-12 and 3-4 region. This doesn't make me happy but I test regularly and rarely get highs or lows for more than a few hours.
I do want to tighten my control though and up the lows and lower the highs by a couple of points each way.
I have an appointment for a pump on Friday so if accepted this will hopefully help me out with this.
Just a note to the original question as well with the comment about the levels that experienced diabetics manage. Understanding the condition does get easier over time but many long termers have very bad control. Sometimes your diabetes just does not want to play ball and then you have to deal with that but always remembering that sometimes you can do everything in your power and still have a bad day.
 
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