I get that it’s hard to tell from the outside. Everyone has a different diet, weight, medication etc. I just know that I used to eat more and had lower bgs, to put it as simply as possible. A couple random reasons can also be infection, virus, and even stress I think. My example for today is terrible because I went low because I was caught shopping during my peak hours. Anytime I’ve forgotten my shot because I hate eating in the morning my bg has gone up. I’m really going to avoid testing that lol. I’ve drastically changed my diet since day 1. I completely gave up processed foods and white flour. I follow the Ada create your plate, mostly. My only thing I refused to give up is sandwiches and, because it’s two pieces of bread(whole grain), I have that for breakfast lol. It’s a thing. Hmm maybe it’s caffeine. Does caffeine lower bg you think? It would fit because I had some caffeine today and yesterday and it wasn’t higher the last two days. Plus I had finally run out of the Dr Pepper I had left before being diagnosed and I’d treat lows with that before… Today I had diet Dr pepper which doesn’t have the sugar or carbs. So maybe the caffeine kept me lower longer. This really fits. Okay I’m going to google and figure this out lol. Thanks again! I’ll let you know if im wrong.
Hi Jeanne @JeanneMS,
I thought that this should be in a new “string” as the subject shifted from the previous posts. Based on my experience with managing and mismanaging my TypeOne, I’ll offer some thoughts and suggestions; I’m not a medical doctor. Your observation that all of us with T1D are individuals in how diet, insulin and activity affects us is “right-on”, very true.
For me, wandering around a mall or shopping outlet following my lead shopper always caused my BG to drop - actually would drop more just slowly walking through a mall for a few hours than it did on days that I would briskly walk a half dozen miles. If I was acting intelligently on those days I would carry a proper [measured] snack to bring my blood sugar up; instead I’d make the classic error of over-treating a [sometimes severe] low - has the aroma of “Cine-Bum” ever caught your attention?
Forgetting a shot: We’ve all done that at times, especially for me if something changes my usual routine. For this, I suggest setting some kind of reminder that triggers you asking yourself - I’m most apt to “forget” when eating dinner later at a restaurant; the “alarm” that works then is my wife asking if I remembered insulin. We’ve been married 51 years and she knows I sometimes don’t think.
Selecting Foods: I find that I can eat almost everything although I do avoid refined flower mainly because I prefer whole grains. Most days my lunch is a sandwich [two LARGE slices of whole grain bread [20 gm. carb. each], 8 ounces skimmed milk and a small apple - yes, 65 grams of carbohydrate. Note that I eat a relatively high carb diet - 210+ grams of carbohydrate daily. I’ve heard many differing “reports” about caffeine; for me, I’m not sure if it actually lowers my blood sugar, but I think it helps me to be more aware if/when my BGL is dropping. I’d be interested to know if the caffeine holds your BG steady - but it is hard to isolate that from all other factors that affect your glucose levels.
Now that you [and your doctor] think that you may be exiting the Honeymoon Phase I’d like to hear what insulin regimen is recommended for you.
Okay so research on the caffeine front is inconclusive, the mayo clinic says the effects of caffeine can both raise and lower bgs and there is also some talk of an increase or decrease in saturation, but it’s all just talk and pretty coffee specific. I did not read anything from the ADA regarding this so I imagine, like most things, it’s all relative to each person specifically and there is no conclusive data.
As for me I think a lot of my shopping debacle was realizing that I didn’t have my tester with me and I had to wait until we got to the car. Plus im still very new to this and I don’t really trust to be able to know when im needing sugar until it actually gets below 60 without testing. My hands get shaky right around 60. So instead of just eating something I waited until we got to the car and ate 1 milk dud and drank this glucerna shake I had. I was very proud of myself after that though because I brought myself up to 98 and didn’t shoot up to 200 like my other attempts to raise my bg after a low. Do you ever do that? Maybe it’s bad but little individual candies seem like perfect sized little sugar pills that for us are definitely not placebos lol. Also that milk dud was delicious.
Jeanne, you thought through very sensibly and did what was right on your shopping expedition. You didn’t overtreat which is a mistake I have made many times it looks as if you took the perfect amount of carbohydrate.
It was fortunate that your cr and meter were close by and that you didn’t wait too long and your BG really drop low. For me, if I think I’m dropping or low and I have forgotten my meter, I will try to eat or drink something “just in case” - if I wasn’t actually low and my BG gets too high
i know I can always make a correction micro-insulin dose to get back in line.
Hi Jeanne,
I can’t tell if there is a question in your diatribe. Are you asking about what drives our bs up, or down?
The simple response is yes.
After 52 years, I’ve found stress, caffine, and carbs, especially hidden ones, drive my glucose up. Also, the slight gastroparesis I have.
Obviously, insulin and exercise drive bs down. But so does a brand new reservoir in my pump (set change) - I have to set my basal rate to 20% less than normal.
Not getting enough quality sleep drives glucose up.
Drinking alcohol without eating food sends glucise level down, but drinking with a meal will send it up.
High fat foods (pizza, French fries, fried fish or chicken or mozzarella sticks, anything breaded and fried really) you need more insulin for a longer duration.
Anything with sugar alcohols also have a longer duration to metabolize, so really need to set a higher basal (if you’re pump controlled). Best yet, avoid foods, snacks that use it (i.e., South Beach snack bars).
A snack of < 5 g cho, don’t dose. But eating 5 g snack, and another 10 min later, and another 5 min later, etc, you need to dose for the cumulative.
So if you actually are asking a question of the forum, I hope the several of us who have offered our experience have provided some insight.
But please, if you are treating this as a blog or a diary, remember there are loads of folks who have legitimate questions, concerns, or want to share good news that aren’t necessarily interested in your public musings.
Wishing you luck.
My 2 cents. Coffee, I seem to be very sensitive to. I actually dose for 10 grams of carbs per cup of coffee or my BG’s skyrocket. I also need to dose 1 U before intense exercise and double my basal. For slow long (non intense) exercise I don’t usually have a problem, unless I am pushing my limit past a meal time, then I will start to go low.
As for sugar alcohols, Nancy, I was so happy to read your comment. I have been searching and searching for information and could not find any, but yes, believe it or not sugar alcohols spike my BG’s. It’s a real bummer as it’s hard to find low carb protein shakes without it. It is also dissappointing to see yet more products with dishonest labels reading that items made with sugar alcohols have no glycemic impact on diabetics.
As for me, I find value in reading everything people have to say, as I can parse thru and glean information I need. It is forever a learning experience.
It is always good for PWD to read ALL ingredients in food products - especially those foods advertised as “sugar-free”, “healthy” or sometimes “better for you”. The ingredients added to many of these foods to make them more palatable in place of the sugar are often more powerful carbohydrate than the sugar that was removed.
Hi @nannimaename thanks for your reply. I found the information you provided very helpful thank you. In regard to the way you see my writing it would help if you knew that my post was a reply to a previous conversation and was moved to a new topic by someone other than me. I guess if you had more time to read everyone’s responses you would have noticed 
I hope you’re doing well and thanks again for your reply.
Hi @momoftwins thank you so much for your reply. I’m still getting used to the way everything effects my insulin and your insight is very helpful. Thanks Again