I had a really mild (which I define as a very slow moving, just barely below normal BG’s) low blood sugar tonight as I was juggling dinner items in and out of the microwave for dinner.
I grabbed a few handfuls of Cinnamon Toast Crunch cereal. As I ate the cereal I was thinking that even that was probably a bit more than I needed to treat the low. It would get me back up to normal (plus some) as I waited for my Pasta Roni to cool off.
But, almost on autopilot, I went to the cupboard and grabbed one of those evil Little Debbie “Cosmic Brownies”.
Did you know that one little package has 43 grams of carbs?! Zonkers! That’s about, well, 43 times more than what I needed (remember, I already ate the cereal)!
“Next time”. As in “I’ll work on it next time”.
Not this time. Because I just wanted to feel better. It wasn’t about that brownie, because I really don’t like them. It was about the urge to eat until I felt better, because I was, at some primitive level, scared and fighting to survive.
Except that in many cases it is really not that serious! I felt the low, I treated the low. I ignored the opportunity to practice control simply because I didn’t want to deal with doing the work right then.
At that moment, for that decision, it was all about working on self improvement later. Much later.
I so understand this. I was diagnosed w/type 1 at age 27. I grew up with my younger sis and dad both being Type 1. I saw them several times go down with low blood sugars. This scares me to death! I hate being out of control. I feel that I over test and over eat when low because this allows me to feel in control. I have been on the Deltec Cozmo for 4 yrs. My A1C levels have been high…it’s called anxiety. I find myself not giving the full amount of bolus at mealtimes and wanting to correct afterwards to help prevent a low. I really need help with this…Dr’s aren’t always so understanding of this though. But glad to know that I’m not the only one that does feel this way. I just found this site today & already can tell that I’m going to really like it!
I have been having several hypos lately. I’m type 2 on oral meds and 75/25 Humalog. I totally understand the urge to eat and eat with a hypo and that’s what I did initially. But now I’m worried about eating too much so that keeps me in check somewhat. I also tell myself ahead of time what I will eat to treat a low so I don’t have to think about it too much when I do go low.
I have been Insulin dependent since 1975. I am now 43 years old.
NO-ONE has ever been able to so aptly describe the feeling that I get (and the need to eat) when I get a hypo. Thank you most sincerely.
Wow, this was very interesting for me. Tristan doesn’t recognize the signs of a low yet and because of his age and of course his condition, he knows that he can’t have anything to eat until we look at it.
So over correcting on his part is not an issue. But it’s something that at time I catch myself doing. Especially at night if he’s low, I tend to give him more then he needs because I’m so worried of him going lower while I’m sleeping.
Usually I will give him juice to treat the low right away and then I usually end up giving him a few gummies to keep him overnight. It’s weird, sometimes it keeps him in perfect numbers… other time, through the roof.
Sorry, this is turning out to be long. 🙂 But the point is, I’m glad that you wrote about this because I didn’t know! Thank you for educating me on that! 😉
Something I’ve noticed lately, though I haven’t thought it completely through yet, is that if I am tired or not feeling up to par – I have almost no resistance against impulse eating. The thoughts are in my head, “I don’t need this,” “I’m not really hungry,” “This is a bad choice,” but the control is just not there at all. Next time, I think, I’ll do better.
MAN YOU ARE SO RIGHT!!scott you hit it on the head.somewhere somehow that urge to eat is very real.thats what i do also.no rational thinking will work.the eating “the bad stuff wont stop”till i feel better.and that is way overdoing it.but i also think when i was trained ,in the hospital the hard way oh so long long ago inducing a low and then treating me with a glass of oj with the result being hey!i feel better now.wowthe brain never forgot that.there is no eating just 5 fricking jelly beans.no way been there done that.no thanks.im low i did something wrong somewhere and i dont care right now.for me and a lt of others
also im sure its that fear of “i dont want to wake up again with a buch of strangers asking me my name and other nonsense.anyways i know what your saying and it is a very interesting line of thought
i would love to hear what other peopl think