My daughter’s doc wants her glucose range to be 80 to 140 but for her if she goes below 100 she starts feeling confused and agitated. So we try to keep her low to about 110 to 120 does anyone else have these types of issues with target range numbers?
Hi @Spiderrowdy. You know your daughter and how she responds. Confusion and agitation are signs of low blood sugar. What a doctor or the medical community overall considers the “ideal” range does not with equally for everybody (or every body), and hers needs a bit more glucose to function. There are patients who want very tight control and keep their numbers on the low or very low end of the “normal” range - and that works quite well for them; for those same numbers have proven dangerous for others.
I’m not trying to scare you. Let her doctor know right away so you can set a target that is a bit higher and healthier for her so she can function and enjoy life.
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Thanks for the advice I will talk with her doctors
My pleasure. Those are some of the classic signs of low blood sugar. Be sure to familiarize yourself with them. People I know tend to have a few that tend to affect them so don’t panic that she will be hit with the entire list. Just familiarize yourself so you’ll know what you might need to look for, and you’ll learn to recognize the ones she tends to display.
Keep us posted!
Hi @Spiderrowdy many times your body gets used to whatever your average is. When I keep my blood sugar high, then I will feel low at much higher numbers. It’s possible to feel low at 100 mg/dl. Once she spends a few weeks at a lower average, that feeling will start at a lower number.
So would suggest to talk it over and keep the doc in the discussion.
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Thanks @joe I was thinking that if we could get her use to mid 100’s then that feeling may ease when her sugar is at 100 or below
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@Spiderrowdy well, I can say it’s worked for me. When I was first diagnosed I thought I was going to die when my blood sugar came down to “normal”.
also, the fact that she feels low is very important. connecting how you feel to blood sugar management is a skill. hypo-awareness is extremely important for us, in fact, after many years we “old timers” sometimes don’t feel lows anymore and the trick is to run our BS higher on purpose for a few weeks.
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Hi Mickey @Spiderrowdy, current thought is that glucose range for an ADULT - with or without diabetes - should be approximately 70 to 180 mg/dl.
That said, when an individual like your daughter will experience a “low” or not her normal will depend much on the level of her body glucose for the days, the week, the months, and even the years BEFORE she began using insulin to help lower her glucose levels. That is a long-about way of just saying that she will now have to get used to a new normal. For me, before I began running for long periods of the day between 80 - 100, using my Dexcom monitors for safety, I would begin “feeling low” any time I got close to 100 because, for me, the 100 mg/dl is 30 points below what HAD BEEN my normal.
Hi @Spiderrowdy. I’m wondering, how long ago was your daughter diagnosed? Like others have said, when I was first diagnosed, I felt pretty terrible when my BS was in range. I had no idea what was going on, but I now know that what I was feeling (even though my BS was in the 100s where we wanted it) was significant low symptoms – what I now feel if I’m in the 40s or 50s. Anyway, like the rest have said so far, it might just be a thing where her body needs to adjust to the new normal. Also, for myself I consider lows anything below 85-ish, and I definitely start feeling symptoms before I go below 70, so, again, that’s a person-by-person thing too.
Mikey, Absolutely, My neuropathy range is 112-118 that’s when the pain in my hands start. In case you don’t know, our brain works on sugar that is it’s only fuel, I need to keep my BS above 140 anything below and I am not at my best. If she is active both physically and mentally she will need to maintain a higher BS. My Doc’s don’t have a problem with this. I’ve been a type 1 for 66 years. i am sure others will probably tell you that they run a higher BS…, I have decided that we as individuals have to find our own range, I am not good below 110. . You need to explain this to her Doc. We are all different, and my body never read the instruction book. Hope this helps. Bye Jan
Thanks @JaniceD, I have mentioned to her doc about this but it seems they kind of gloss over the issue. People have also told us that since she is with us 24/7 we know what is best for her. I will talk with her doc again and let them know. Thanks again
Hi again @Spiderrowdy. I’m concerned when you say her doc glosses over your concerns. If you’re familiar with the forum you may have read comments about how as diabetics (or parents/caregivers) we primarily manage our own condition, and thus is true. And some do it successfully with relatively little medical assistance. But managing on your own comes with experience, and some guidance is usually needed and sought after from time to time - I’ve been doing this for over 50 years and still have to get input from my doctor from time to time.
Being with your daughter you do know what is going on with her - but you’re less than a year in and still on a learning curve. So you may not know what you don’t know, so you don’t know what questions to ask.
So if her doctor is not giving you the attention you need you need to insist on more; and if they’re not willing to provide it you may want to think about changing doctors. It’s obvious to them that she may need to aim a little higher, but perhaps not to you. Then the question becomes, how to go about getting there? Should you lower her basal insulin dosage, and if so how much? Change her carb ratio, and if so, to what? Maybe she needs a snack been meals?
Your doctor didn’t just run out and open a practice after graduating from med school - they had to do internships and get supervised hands on training before they could practice on their own. They should expect no less of you.
In addition to the doctor’s responsibility, there are resources you might find helpful. A new edition of Think Like a Pancreas is coming out soon if it has not already been released. And if you click on the Resources tab at the top of the forum you may be guided to some helpful information.
Bottom line: keep learning on your own, and don’t let doctor blow you off.
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Ok We will keep talking with doctors and doing what they tell us. They have told us to change carb ratio and given us advise as to what tgat change should be. I didn’t mean that her docs don’t listen its just that when we do their changes she has some lows and that really scares mom & dad. I know that this is a long learning experience and can be very scary especially when I remember my daughter laying in hospital very close to death. I was basically just ranting and blowing off steam.
Mikey, If you need some help or have additional questions, ask. , We all will be glad to help. Keep me posted. Bye Jan
I don’t think I’ve seen this yet - does your daughter use a continuous glucose monitor (CGM)? They have alerts you can set to let you know she’s falling - or rising - as well as if her BG reaches a level you program. It can help you take action before things reach a crisis situation. Dexcom makes the one I use, and readings and alerts can be shared so you don’t have to go to get room to get her numbers. Medtronic makes one as well but I’m not familiar with it - and from the forum it appears more people like the Dexcom.
I keep my range pretty low and feel ok. But what makes me feel
Agitated is if my basal is 0.05 too much. My Dr says I’m sensitive to small amounts of insulin due to tight control for 48 years. In fact I don’t change my evening basal rates before bedtime if I’m in good range being very careful if I had a schedule change I be careful to even raise it 0.05 because I can’t sleep and feel like I’m speeding. , it’s a scary feeling. I use a Riley link Nd so what I find is if I raise basal and get that shakes feeling I put it back to what it’s been and simply change my correction rate for instance instead of 85-85 that hour I’ll change to 80-85. And that fixes it. I can’t imagine life without the Riley link it’s like having an artificial pancreas. I can keep my range
Very good and as my Endocronologist said” your A1c is 5.1 and looking at your last 3 months of Dexcom no significant lows. All due to Riley link which fine tunes your control. Best wishes.
Also I’m the one who posted re my Riley link and agitated feelings explanation in my last post .
I also eat high fiber carbs fiber 3-4 gr. If it’s above that it takes too long to hit my system.
I measure my food & dietician told me that mixing high fiber with 20 grams of healthy fat per meal keeps blood sugar spikes from happening. That day is not the fat in your chicken, fish, tofu, cheese etc- proteins. No complications after 48 years.
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I have to echo @wadawabbit’s mention of Think Like a Pancreas. I’ve had T1D for six years now, I have an amazing Endo and nurse practitioner, and I still feel like I mostly don’t know what I’m doing. I read Think Like a Pancreas last year, and it was super helpful! Author Gary Scheiner knows what he’s talking about, and even after a few years of personal experience with this disease, I learned a lot from his book.
Also, as a kid (I’m almost 19) who’s had this for a little while, can I just give you a little encouragement? Sometimes I think this is harder on the parents than on the Type One’s themselves. As a parent, your little girl’s life has been radically changed, and there’s not much you can do about it. Some things that you want to make logical sense just won’t . . . ever. But dealing with it and adjusting rates, etc. quickly becomes just a normal part of life. So, I guess what I’m trying to say is yes, do your best to stay on top of it, but it’s ok. Don’t forget to cut yourself some slack. And definitely work with your doc, and if he/she is not helpful, find someone who is. My nurse practitioner has been my lifeline sometimes.
When I was diagnosed 50 years ago - they told me I would “get used to” lower numbers and not feel ‘low’ - eventually- when I was in the “normal - 70-80” range . They were wrong! That is too low for me. I feel terrible at those numbers. It’s 50 years later and I still feel best when my BS is about 95-110. Let her body guide her. I will tell you that the thing that affects me the most is the RATE that my BS falls. If my BS has been steady for hours at 85 I will probably feel OK, but if it drops from 150 to 80 in ten minutes, I will feel awful. My own endo worries more about the damage (brain) that can be done from running your BS too low constantly - better to be in the upper/just over normal range. We live with this chronic disease our whole lives - it should not make us feel physically or mentally bad.
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