Whoops! Middle of The Night Lows

We have been working on blood sugars since the last A1c appointment.  The push is to try to keep blood sugar ranges tighter than they ever have been before.

Ranges like 80-120 for our oldest and 80 -140 mg/dl for our youngest.

All of the time.

It is a tricky balancing act, especially as the girls are well into a life of type 1 diabetes with a cumulative diagnosis of over seven years and who just a short while ago, were still considered little girls.

Now,  if you read this blog, you also know that they are in the middle of puberty and finding success with such a tight range is a huge challenge.

But I do see improvements in how they feel.  Oldest daughter tells me that she has more energy and youngest daughter is generally more even-tempered.  Both are positives.

That tight range is great and helpful, most of the time.

Sometimes though, the girls still go low.

Especially if there is a whoops during the day.  Like, 'Whoops, Mom.  I am so sorry that I forgot to bolus for that snack at school.'  Or 'Whoops, Mom, did you say 50 carbs?  I thought it was only 30 carbs!'.

Which then leads to a much higher than desired, blood glucose number.

With a tight range like that, it seems like the higher the whoops, the lower the low, shortly after.  And of course, the lows happen more frequently at night.  It's Newton's Law.  What goes up, must come down.  I think he just forgot to add, 'in the middle of the night.'

Which is NOT great nor helpful.  

Last night, I went into our oldest daughter's room after hearing the CGM alarm it's first low warning. BEEP!  Under 80 mg/dl.

On the face of the CGM, I could see a 77 mg/dl staring back at me.  Quietly, I confirmed with a blood glucose test and the meter matched with a close 75 mg/dl.

Oldest daughter promptly sat up after I gently touched her arm and without opening her eyes, dutifully drank her juice.

As she lay back down, she just reached for me and patted my arm.

'Thank you, Mom.'

Sweet girl.

In the most gentle of ways, she managed to erase all of the whoops so we can try again tomorrow.