Before we get going, I did this during my lunch break today. Yes, I have a problem.
Glancing at my Dexcom receiver today I realized that I hadn’t received a low alarm in over 24-hours. This meant I hadn’t needed to snag an extra peppermint pattie in the past 24-hours. I hadn’t struggled with a Capri-sun straw insertion in the past 24-hours. I hadn’t carelessly overcorrected with too much food, inevitably resulting in a rapid climb above 200 mg/dL in the past 24-hours.
I think that’s a good thing.
Not pretty. Not ugly. Noprugly?
As you can see, no lows in the past 24-hours doesn’t necessarily mean no highs, but diabetes management is a never-ending marathon, not a sprint. I’ll take what I can get and built upon my successes tomorrow.
But this got me thinking, would you rather have no lows or no highs? You can pick the time frame: one hour, one day, one week, one year. Whatever. Given the two, which is the lesser of two evils?
A Consequence of Hypoglycemia. 
I love the birdwatching thing! I’m totally in. 🙂
I heard a doctor present once that his goal was getting the best numbers possible (lowest) without having lows because the lows trigger counterregulatory hormones that increase insulin resistance for hours and hours and hours. Super hard for us, especially with the crude tools we have, but the line still sticks in my head.
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Given that my lows of ~50 & below cause me to have hypo seizures, I will take no lows! For me my highs are manageable even when I have to nap through part of it. 🙂
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Well, if this was a sure guarantee, then I’d say no lows. I’d just shoot up an entire vial of insulin a day and not worry about what I ate.
But back to what I think you were trying to say, I’d say no highs. They feel worse to me than lows, are harder to treat than lows, and take longer to recover from than lows.
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Yeah I think I agree with Scott. I have pretty good hypo-awareness and my BGL usually comes back up within the trusty 15 minute time slot. But high BGL’s are the worst. Especially those above 15.0 (mmol/l) that just stick around for a few hours, despite the correction. I find I can concentrate somewhat “okay” with most hypos, but once my BG is sticking firm at a high level, I just can’t process a damn thought!
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I would have to go with no lows……I have hypoglycemia unawareness and have passed out while driving on the inter-state. I can function until my BG goes below 45. Then I crash hard. The emotional struggle afterwards takes me days to recover from.I don’t get sick from the highs and would much prefer to deal with those
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