I'm new at this, so I hope I'm doing it right....
Sometimes when I'm low, I mean really low (50s) I tend to eat everything in sight! Does this happen to anyone else? How do you stop?
YES! This happens to me, especially if a low wakes me up in the middle of the night. I get up to drink some juice, and next thing I know I've eaten crackers, cheese, a few bites of fruit, a handful of cereal.... how do I stop the madness?!
I notice it's worse when I wake up low too! My limit was soda, crackers, and 3 (YES 3) bowls of cereal....I was very stuffed and very high. I talked to my doctor and he said I just need more self-control, the soda will work and I just have to wait for the hungry feeling to go away. He must think I have magic powers because it's impossible to do!
as you see more posts on here, you'll notice the trend to overeat/overtreat a low. it happens to almost everyone, myself included. i almost feel panicked and feel like i need to shove everything in my mouth that isn't nailed down. sometimes, i just have to take a step back, breathe deep, and remind myself i've lived through lots of lows before. i'll drink some juice or pop or chow a few glc tabs, then wait a little bit. once i start to feel better, the hunger starts to subside. if it's close to a meal, i'll just eat the meal to help treat the low. that helps me from overtreating sometimes. other times, i'll just eat what i feel like and take insulin for the extra food.
[quote user="Trisha"]
I'm new at this, so I hope I'm doing it right....
Sometimes when I'm low, I mean really low (50s) I tend to eat everything in sight! Does this happen to anyone else? How do you stop?
[/quote]
I would say that 85% of my highs happen after lows. Are you new to diabetes or new to posting? It's gotten easier for me to not overeat the longer I've dealt with it. I cope with the low feeling better now, even while I'm waiting for it to rise after eating a proportional amount.
I looked this up recently. It's because some neurotransmitter levels in our brains decrease and this triggers an automatic hunger for carbohydrates. Of course, consuming anything that raises blood sugar will fix the hunger.
sometimes when my son is real low he gets like this too. the last time it happened he was physically trying to fight me to get the food. he kept grabbing stuff and i kept taking it away and he was angry. Finally, i was able to hold on to him and calm him down and i convinced him to wait 15 mins and if he was still hungry we would test again and if he was still low he could eat, but in the meantime he could have something free. 5 mins later he was fine. I remember reading somewhere how when low one can feel like eating and that it is important to treat the low (wherever i read this suggested 15 carbs), wait 15-20 mins and check again, then another 15 if still low. this is what i do with ezekiel and 15 carbs is always plenty for him (and even 10 will do the trick- if i am giving candy i can do 10 and a jr juice is 15)
Interesting! I'm new to posting, I've been diabetic since 2004. I could always stop myself and let the carbs/sugar work, wait 15 min test again and treat from there. I'll get it right one of these days!
Being low like that is a lot like being drunk and it's probably not worth a confrontation if he is getting violent. I know that you can lose all reasoning capabilities and really just have this strong drive to consume.
[quote user="zekesmom"]
sometimes when my son is real low he gets like this too. the last time it happened he was physically trying to fight me to get the food. he kept grabbing stuff and i kept taking it away and he was angry. Finally, i was able to hold on to him and calm him down and i convinced him to wait 15 mins and if he was still hungry we would test again and if he was still low he could eat, but in the meantime he could have something free. 5 mins later he was fine. I remember reading somewhere how when low one can feel like eating and that it is important to treat the low (wherever i read this suggested 15 carbs), wait 15-20 mins and check again, then another 15 if still low. this is what i do with ezekiel and 15 carbs is always plenty for him (and even 10 will do the trick- if i am giving candy i can do 10 and a jr juice is 15)
[/quote]Brandan has never gotten physical with me, but he cries because he's hungry. 9 times out of 10 I just give in and let him eat something else, wait 15 minutes or so and give him insulin for the extra stuff he ate. I always follow lows with a snack anyway so I can give him insulin to lower or eliminate the rebound high.
it took me a while to get over my low binges...I remember being little that was the only time i could have something sweet and i used to savior every bite,. then when i was in junior high/HS i used to eat everything i had like no control.. i still wanna eat everything but i keep myself in check .. its so annoying tho espeically when im dieting or really watching what im eating.
During the day I can limit myself but in the middle of the night when I'm low I ended up eating way too much. I'm glad to realize that I'm not the only one!
I am with C.
I feel like maybe that aint enough and i need more and what if that dont bring it up and it tends to happen more when i at a friends house and they have something they eating on i am like hum i am low so ill eat some of that with my other snack then i am high lol
Just have to have some self control lol
When my daughter is low she gets very hungry. I stocked up on carb free jello so she could eat it until she was blue in the face after we treated her lows the right way. Now she isnt having lows and I have a fridge full of jello cups that have to be refrigerated.
[quote user="Natasha"]
During the day I can limit myself but in the middle of the night when I'm low I ended up eating way too much. I'm glad to realize that I'm not the only one!
[/quote]This is EXACTLY how it is for me. I can reason with myself during the day and wait out the ravenous feeling until whatever I've taken to combat the low takes effect. But in the middle of the night, forget it. I don't know if it's because I'm still half asleep before I wake up and realize I've eaten half the cereal box or what. Maybe I need to put night time locks on my cupboards and fridge! haha!
I like the idea of locking everything up! hahaha! I was low today before breakfast, I just had a bowl of cheerios and a little juice! Much different from lows when I'm sleeping :o)
This is me too!! And it's only at night for me as well! Like Candace said, I can talk myself through it during the day but at night it is harder. I like the jello idea from another poster, that way there is zero carbs and you don't have to wait to bolus yourself again! I always feel uneasy about being low then eating and having to bolus because of what I have just eaten! Glad to know that it's not just me! My son, who is 5, when he has a low he will just repeatedly say "I'm hungry" and that's how we know! I guess that is something else I have passed onto him ;o)
I read somewhere that when you are low and your brain doesn't have sugar going to it, your body starts to get signals that you are hungry and they don't go away until thw low is done.
i overeat a lot too! sometimes i just have to sit on my hands and wait haha