Hi all!
Type 1 diabetic for 25 years!
Recently I’ve been going low (80s before going to bed) which means I have to drink/eat something to survive the night. I’m noticing that it’s taking forever to increase my blood sugar before going to bed and after an hour, it spikes. Like my body is not digesting the food and all of the sudden it starts.
Any insights? Anyone going through the same thing?
@birdfran09 Hi Francisco, and welcome to Breakthrough T1D Community Forum!
No, I don;t have a good explanation for what you are experiencing - I’ve had similar happenings. What I find really strange is that following some meals and snacks, my BGL will spike, and when eating exactly the same food at 10:30 PM, without insulin [or very little insulin] it takes [sometimes] two hours for my BGL to go from 65 to 110 mg/dl; eating the same snack at 4:00 PM with insulin bolus my BGL increases 30 mg within 20 minutes.
My observation, my evenings are very relaxed. After our old dog brings me home from my evening walk by about 7:30, all I’m doing is sitting in my recliner reading.
I’ve noticed that in recent years, but lows and recovery speed have improved since I started on the iLet pump end of January. It puts me in mind of how the body develops a resistance to antibiotics if they are over used, but organically speaking I don’t know why that would be the case.
Hello @birdfran09 welcome to the forum. So you didn’t say how you know your blood sugar is taking a long time to rise and then spike. If you are relying on CGM, please be aware that during periods of low activity, slight dehydration , and some other factors, a CGM can be 30+ minutes “behind reality”. This sensor lag can trick you into drawing conclusions. So let’s say you are using a finger stick meter… in this case your sampling time might not catch the actual rise in blood sugar. As far as I know, even gastroparesis wouldn’t change the absorption rate of glucose. It can be absorbed through gums, stomach lining, etc. so. Glucose should be very fast. Now fatty foods such as peanut butter and milk could take an hour for your blood sugar to start to rise. Maybe tell us how you’re measuring and what you’re eating could be helpful? I would recommend having a talk with your doctor.
Hi @joe! So three nights ago, for precaution, I went to the ER to see if an Endocrinologist was available. The Dr and I compared the CGM readings with finger pricks and they were accurate (5min more/less delay).
After 2 hours of very slowly increasing I felt comfortable enough to head back to the hotel. On the way over I went from 95 to 160 in 15 mins. They said most likely that was going to happen. It’s the 2nd time in 1 week.
@joe and I was drinking orange juice or eating glucose tables/fast acting glucose gel.
@birdfran09 I am sorry this is happening to you and I hope you have a medical team to help you! Dropping and even rising fast is very scary. Please let us know how you are doing!