How many lows?

[dbc]

Just had my checkup at the Dr. A1c 5.6%, a cause for celebration - first time under 6 since diagnosis!

'BUT', says the doc, 'Now I want to know how many hypos you had to achieve that A1c?'

Answer turned out to be 32 hypos in 7 months, or average roughly one a week. (I count anything under 3.9 as a hypo).

The hypos tend to come in batches, as my insulin needs change - which seems to happen every few months. Then I get the balance right for a bit until it changes again :confused:

Only three of the hypos were under 3.0, and I sensed every one and did the necessary. Doc wasn't terribly happy about the hypos, but is OK with me carrying on tight control as long as I feel the hypos coming on.

So for those of you with tight control, how many hypos do you have to deal with? Or have you got the balancing act down to such a fine art that you've achieved good control without hypos? (in which case I'd love to know how you do it!!)

Dave

[ant hill]

G'day Dave, I have a A1C of 5.9 and I have too Meany lows and I think that to have a flatter BG is to go low carb and have an understanding about matching the bolus to carbohydrates better.
I am about to undertake a course called D.A.F.N.E. Dose Adjustment For Normal Eating. With this I can concentrate on loosing weight and lesser lows. :D ;)

[nono87]

Hi,

I've taken a similar course to D.A.F.N.E i did the BERTIE course...its really good I would recommend it to anyway you get a better understanding of most of the jargon that the docs tells you when you see them....and better management of your diabetes

I dealt with hypos every 2 weeks or so and since taking this course (in June) I have only had 2 hypos...I would probably say one because for the other one my BG was 4.0mmol/L

[TenderVittleS]

Hi,

I've taken a similar course to D.A.F.N.E i did the BERTIE course...its really good I would recommend it to anyway you get a better understanding of most of the jargon that the docs tells you when you see them....and better management of your diabetes

I dealt with hypos every 2 weeks or so and since taking this course (in June) I have only had 2 hypos...I would probably say one because for the other one my BG was 4.0mmol/L

I just noticed that you've had diabetes for like 7 years and you still have an A1c of 10!:eek: You might want to try something else cuz whatever you're doing is not working.

[nono87]

hehe..tru but that's only in the last 2years, i have had alot of stuff going on in my life so at some point along the line i went from 7% to above 10% so now i'm getting myself back on track....

[viranth]

From january to 21st july I've had 26 lows (under 4.5).
.
My last a1c was 5.3%.

I think it's pretty good, I always tend to go lowish when I'm about to eat lunch and the meal 3 hours later (between lunch and dinner).

I have pretty tight control, and the lows have barely any effect on my everyday life, since I eat at those times anwyays.

[Lizzie G]

From january to 21st july I've had 26 lows (under 4.5).
.
My last a1c was 5.3%.

I think it's pretty good, I always tend to go lowish when I'm about to eat lunch and the meal 3 hours later (between lunch and dinner).

I have pretty tight control, and the lows have barely any effect on my everyday life, since I eat at those times anwyays.

out of interest how many of your 'lows' were under 4.0 (just because under 4.0 tends to be the norm in the UK for what is considered 'low'); would be interested to see how many comparable lows you get for such a fantastic HbA1C.

[viranth]

6 under 4mmol, including one at 3.3.

[Lizzie G]

6 under 4mmol, including one at 3.3.


wow, you have done amazingly well to get such a low HbA1c with such few!

[viranth]

wow, you have done amazingly well to get such a low HbA1c with such few!

I eat every three hours, low GI food around 250 carbs. Lift weights, eat fruit and vegetables.

I think many people could avoid their lows if they just eat every three hours. It's not much I eat, just enough to get a good rythm.

[xMenace]

I'll have to consult Carelink for better data, but reviewing my two meter logs:

BD - 5 out 30 were < 4.0 and 1 of those was under 3.0

Contour - 21 of last 100 were < 4.0 and 3 of those were < 3.0

My lowest was 2.2

This is not representative as this reduced carb diet has greatly increased my insulin sensitivity.

[shiftzor]

2589 tests over 335 days: average was 6.5mmol/L (117mg/dl), highest 19.7mmol/L (355mg/dl), lowest 2.2mmol/L (40mg/dl) and sd was 2.2mmol/L(40mg/dl).

Last month with 267 tests: average is 6.6mmol/L (119mg/dl). highest is 13.4mmol/L(241mg/dl), lowest is 2.2mmol/L (40mg/dl) and sd is 2.1mmol/L(38mg/dl).

Last Month: very highs (16.7-33.4): 0, high(8.7-16.7): 42, target(3.6-8.7): 217, low(2.8-3.6):6 and very low (0.0-2.7): 2

Is that enough for you? :D Not doing so great this month, hopefuly it will get better. ;)

[iDream]

Everytime I get my A1C done it is my blood sugar at that time, I swear. Just saying....

[dbc]

Thanks everybody - it seems I'm about "normal" for a T1 aiming at tight control then - except Viranth, you have amazing numbers with incredibly few hypos! Maybe it is the multiple meal approach, but I'm pretty sure I'd end up putting on weight if I went that route.

I do the lo-carb thing but usually eat 3 times/day - it would be too disruptive to adopt a regime totally at odds with my wife's eating habits!

[viranth]

Thanks everybody - it seems I'm about "normal" for a T1 aiming at tight control then - except Viranth, you have amazing numbers with incredibly few hypos! Maybe it is the multiple meal approach, but I'm pretty sure I'd end up putting on weight if I went that route.

I do the lo-carb thing but usually eat 3 times/day - it would be too disruptive to adopt a regime totally at odds with my wife's eating habits!

Eat healthy and you won't add weight! If you're doing some exercise, you might loose some fat and gain muscle.

And to if I can be a little bit blunt, you're the one that has this "lifestyle", not your wife. You can time it so that you at least eat dinner together, since I assume you eat lunch at work?

Every three hours is the best way for your body, I'm talking small meals. I have stretched it to 4.5 hrs one time, and it went fine.

But my endo said every three hours, and that's basically the only thing she told me I really really should try to follow (and of course the insulin).

[dodo]

I had 9 hypos this month:o I don't usually have that much hypos in one month. But I tried to take more units of NPH at night and it didn't work as planned. I tried to do my best to treat them. And there's that night when I took my Novorapid instead of my NPH...:eek:

[dbc]

Eat healthy and you won't add weight! If you're doing some exercise, you might loose some fat and gain muscle.

And to if I can be a little bit blunt, you're the one that has this "lifestyle", not your wife. You can time it so that you at least eat dinner together, since I assume you eat lunch at work?


I do exercise regularly - run about 20Kms a week, and am in the lower quartile of BMI for my height - in fact I don't want to lose any more weight! (I lost about 14Kg as a result of the lifestyle changes after diagnosis, and so far have kept the weight off)

And yes, I have the lifestyle, but my lifestyle has an impact on those I live with - at times that impact has been a minor problem, so everyone - including me - has to compromise somewhere. Diabetes is not a disease that we can "keep to ourselves" unfortunately :D

I guess my main concern with eating more often - even "healthy eating" - is that I would inevitably eat more than I need, and therefore inevitably put the weight back on again, which I don't want to do.

[ant hill]

I have just come out of a low and about to have dinner. What timeing so there were some musk sticks as I have had those and there is the intended meal to look at and I am still thinking what to have. :confused: I am such a dunce. :( :(

[UpNorth]

I can have lows daily, but i only have a full hypo maybe 1-3 times per week. Sometimes less, sometimes more. Depends much on the weather and what time of the month it is...

My A1c's are usually in the 5's :) Haven't been over 6.0 for very long now. My last A1c was 5.7, and that was after having some highs too for a while...

[viranth]

I do exercise regularly - run about 20Kms a week, and am in the lower quartile of BMI for my height - in fact I don't want to lose any more weight! (I lost about 14Kg as a result of the lifestyle changes after diagnosis, and so far have kept the weight off)

And yes, I have the lifestyle, but my lifestyle has an impact on those I live with - at times that impact has been a minor problem, so everyone - including me - has to compromise somewhere. Diabetes is not a disease that we can "keep to ourselves" unfortunately :D

I guess my main concern with eating more often - even "healthy eating" - is that I would inevitably eat more than I need, and therefore inevitably put the weight back on again, which I don't want to do.

If you run 20Kms a week, then you can eat quite a lot and not put on weight. And even if you were to put on some weight, that might just be muscle, and that's good for a diabetic.