Question for others: do you feel like it takes forever to come up from lows? Example: yesterday I was at 92 before bed with an arrow to the side and down on dexcom. A little low for me to like to fall asleep at so popped a gluc tab. 15 minutes later I was 71 so treated that like a full on hypo and had 15 grams of carbs. 15 minutes later I was 77 so suspended my pump for a bit ate two more gluc tabs. 82 so turned pump back on. 15 minutes later was going down again so again treated with more carbs and waited a half hour. Finally after 51 grams I started to rise and leveled out at 160. I purposely stayed there overnight and woke up in the 140s. Just curious if anyone else ever has this happen?
Hello,
My sister has had similar experiences but those are right after eating her lunch. She’ll be dropping as low as 50 even though she already ate. This I assume happens because she’s had a lot of insulin. But if we don’t give her a large amount of insulin she incredibly spikes close to 200 or over in a course of 2 hours. So even when she is having a low we don’t give her anything because then she’ll spike. Diabetes is so confusing!!!
I might have been a little bit off topic there but just wanted to share an experience. I can also relate to glucose taking forever to rise! My sister will have low sometimes and it seems as if it will not rise no matter what. As for you, maybe you should try having less insulin when you have your dinner. I think that this will avoid a low during the night!
Good luck. 
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I do find it can take longer to come up from lows than I would like. Juice and soda tend to do a quicker job but don’t last long so of course you’ll need to follow up with something that has some staying power.
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Thanks Dorie. I agree that liquid hits me quicker in general than gluc tabs but it doesn’t keep me up long especially juice. I almost always come back down.I never used to need a follow up snack but of course things always change with diabetes and the body. When you have a snack after, do you do things like crackers and peanut butter or just something protein heavy? And do you take a little insulin or just eat the snack after and see what happens? It’s weird because sometimes I eat a thing that has high protein low carb like beef jerky and I’m steady and at 90 and I’ll wake up in the middle of the night and see a 180, and then other times I have to do what I did yesterday where I have to eat a ton of carbs to eventually get over 100. I don’t think (well hopefully not) that’s an absorption issue or I think my spike would’ve been a heck of a lot higher than the 160s.
I find that cheese or peanut butter crackers are good, but it sends a lot of the time I’m leveling out around meal time.
I was discussing bedtime snacks with a nutritionist and they told me yogurt is a good choice. Sure enough it kept me pretty stable overnight so you could give that a shot.
Okay thanks! I’ll give that a shot and see if it helps.
There are certain times in the day/night where I generally low no matter what. A pattern that I have noticed over time. It looks like you treat your lows with straight sugar which is good. I would suggest taking 3 glucose tabs and then eating a snack that includes protein. The sugar should bring it up within half hour and then the food should keep it level. If this is not working then your insulin might need adjusting. Are your lows happening at the same time each day? Track your food, sugars and exercise and you should see a pattern over time. I know, a lot of work…good luck!
I definitely tend to be lower in the evening after dinner. I did recently adjust that basal down a little bit between 8pm-3-am but if it continues I’ll try dropping again or maybe starting my lower basal a couple hours earlier to see if that helps since it tends to be around 9-10 pm.
I’ll try the 3 gluc tabs and snack with protein tip too. I just get extremely nervous to fall asleep if my sugars aren’t above 95. It’s a little silly since I have a dexcom and it alerts me at 85 overnight, but there’s nothing I hate more than waking up low.
Glucerna protein drink seems to be working for me to stabilize my BGL’s during sleep.
Thanks! I have some of those for a quick breakfast, I’ll give it a shot and see. Thank you!
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It hasn’t caused a large spike since I started using it. Of course always use your going nite nite BGL to determine if you need it all or only some of it or none at all, Hope it works for you too.
Omg, I know! Me too. It is terrible waking up low. I’m the same, if I’m below a certain number I won’t go to sleep without eating too. Sometimes it bites me in the ass though and I end up too high. Good luck! I hope things level out for you and you are able to have a good nights sleep free from anxiety 
reach out anytime!
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That’s been happening to me a lot lately. One time at work last summer I was treating for lows for 2 hours. It was at the end of the day and I was trying to finish up but I eventually had to sit and ask someone to finish for me. As soon as I sat down my blood sugar came back up. The extreme heat we had last summer definitely played a part but I’ve had similar experiences over the winter, too. I don’t really trust blood sugars in the 80’s, or even 90’s, anymore, because I so frequently experience lows soon after, but half the time I wind up with a high blood sugar because I over-corrected. It’s incredibly frustrating.
I have the same concerns about going to bed with my blood sugar below target (mine’s 150 for overnight). And I don’t think it’s silly to worry even if you have a CGM. Sleep is so important for our health. I have a hard enough time sleeping as it is (I woke up over an hour before my alarm this morning), last thing I need is to be woken up in the middle of the night 'cause I’m hungry or I need to pee.
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I saw my endo the other day and we were reviewing my basal rates etc. CIQ apparently considers 80 or so acceptable since it’s designed to adjust, but I don’t care for the way I feel at those levels - and let’s face it, there are factors that can make you keep going lower. Of course during the day I can take action before I get there, but I had been getting alerts multiple times during the night:
“Your reading is 90” (that was an alert I set for myself), followed by
“CIQ predicts you will go below 70 within 15 minutes,” usually with a 
, then another a few minutes later.
So annoying! I decided to lower my basal rate a smidge - from 0.6 to 0.55 in my case. I’m waking in the low 100s, and while there are other things that wake me during the night, now my alert isn’t one of them🎉.
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Awesome! I may give that a shot too! I keep ending up being about 80 before bed (usually 3-4 hours after dinner bolus), but I’ve been noticing with the help of my cgm that rapid insulin lasts in my system for about 5 hours (not talking crazy drops but sometimes at the 3 hour mark I’ll still drop another 15-30 points over the next couple hours) and then my basal holds me. I get frustrated with food before bed because sometimes it works like a charm and other times, I end up being 180 at 2 am and then take a correction bolus. Maybe trying 1.05 to 1 u would be enough to take it off and keep me where I want to be. 
After the usual good advice all I can ad is save your money and don’t spend it on gluc tabs. Smarties wrapped candy is nearly the same and much tastier. One wrapper has 15 pieces and is 7 1/2 grams of nearly pure glucose, so two are 15 grams. I almost look forward to the lows as these are a treat.
At 77yrs and being type one I can tell you that you will always need to plan ahead to drive.
Tom
I never cared for the consistency of the tabs myself and went with Lifesaver or other such candy. A while back I found Clif Bloks energy chew gels. Several flavors to choose from and easy to carry, and some have caffeine so check the package. Athletes say they help with hydration and cramping - I don’t know about that but they did help wit my lows. I found them at a sporting goods store but of course Amazon has them too. Unfortunately they’re about $3.00 for a pack of 12 though.
Gatorade has a similar product but I haven’t tried it and don’t know the price.
Just tossing that in as an option.
That’s a good point! I’m hit or miss with gluc tabs. Sometimes they work really well and other times
not at all. I don’t like them, but also why I treat most mild lows with them because I don’t want to over eat them. Smarties is a good idea though and definitely taste a little better.
I just mentioned this in another post - for me by far the quickest remedy for low blood sugar is fruit juice. Somewhere between 2 and 4 ounces depending on how low I am does the trick. When not at home, I use the small 4.6 ounce juice boxes- one is plenty to get me back in range. I keep these in my desk at work, in the car, etc. They’re a lifesaver.
Best to you !
I personally don’t like the taste of the glucose tabs at all. I can tolerate the orange ones and use those. I do this rather than use candies, because I am much less likely to eat the tabs when I am not supposed to. Candy tends to get eaten a little at a time…