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Members addressed concerns about waking with low blood sugar readings below 4.0 mmol/L despite reversing prediabetes, with the reassuring... Read more
Waking up with blood sugar below 4 mmol/L could indicate overnight hypoglycemia. This might happen if your body produces too much insulin or if your evening meals or activities lower your blood sugar too much. It's important to monitor your nighttime levels and discuss this with your doctor to adjust your diet, activity, or Show Full Answer
@A DiabetesTeam Member Henry has nailed the one point
There is a difference between a Hypo and simply running a little low (while fasting/sleeping)
Also as Henry notes, with myself, sometimes 2 or 3 nights a week (in a 4 or 5 day cluster) I will run down into the 3's (50's) at night but they "self correct" and if I didn't wear a CGM I would only be away of maybe 5 or 10% that result in the "night drenching sweats" that wake me up
Otherwise I have no idea they are going on AND as long as I always self correct (Symogyi Effect) then the whole (process or cycle??) is considered "normal" for my Biorhythm, Body Clock, Metabolism - whatever you want to call it
Those night time lows, when charted with a CGM show a nice, steady, slow decline from (normal or even higher range) down to the low, then it corrects, usually quite spectacularly (see pic below - I did "nothing" to correct that - I was asleep during the whole evolution)
The very dangerous lows are the ones where you have the effect of "stepping into an elevator and having the cable snap and you are heading for the basement at high speed OR if upon waking the low does not correct almost immediately
That situation would "No Longer Be" simply a quirk of your metabolism, it would be a dangerous problem
(I may have opened a can of worms - sorry)
High and Low blood sugar is tough on the Heart (along with the entire vascular system)
In order to try and quantify "how dangerous it is" they (science/medicine) use a "risk" number that is assigned to try and show "how bad a given reading is compared to totally normal"
When talking about fasting numbers this is their (scale??)
FBS of 4.5 to 6.09 mmols (81 to 110) is the "zero risk baseline" for heart health - note that "over 100" (but below 111) is PERFECT for Heart Health - so don't sweat those 6.1's - they are fine
Below 4.5 but above 3.01 mmols (81 down to 54) increases your risk of damaging the Heart Muscle by about 20% (1.0-1.4 times greater risk with 1.2 average)
In comparison, blood sugar north of 11.1 mmols/200 increases the risk of heart damage by 100% or if you like, it doubles the chance that some damage will be done to your heart when running at those levels for sustained periods of time (1.7-2.3 times greater, with 2.0 average)
Complicated concepts that can be argued a dozen ways, but the bottom line is, since Diabetes is a long game, you try to "minimize" the amount of time you are out of range because that's what causes damage and it's cumulative
The range of 4.0-7.8 or 70/72 - 140 is where you are least likely to cause physiological problems - above or below that threshold is doing some level of damage
If you have "self corrected" lows, particularly while sleeping, that may simply just be a quirk of your metabolism - I set my CGM Low Alarm to 3.5 mmols, because at night my sugar routinely ranges in the 3.5 to 4.0 range - and "for me" that is totally normal
My lows started at least by age 10. When we moved to Germany as the oldest, I had to walk each of my brothers to their schools.
I had to leave our apartment in military housing 90 minutes early to get each of my brothers to their schools and drop them off in their lines. Walking through the woods, up and down hills and depositing each of them at their schools. About 3-4 miles. With hundreds of stairs on the mountain sides.
I was okay on Monday, even though I was a little lightheaded by about 1030 hours. I was used to a morning milk break at 1000 hours at our previous school.
Every afternoon I picked up each of my brothers at their schools. They were playing on the playgrounds.
On Tuesday it was such a struggle to get my brothers out the door, that I only grabbed some buttered toast, while they had eggs, bacon, and toast. I made breakfast every day and fed all my brothers.
I passed out at about 1030 hours. The nurse was called and I came to awareness with her and my teacher kneeling over me. She gave me a cup of juice and some saltines.
On Wednesday another big struggle with my brothers. I grabbed a piece of bacon with my toast. By about 1030 hours everything went black, but did not loose awareness or slip out of my chair.
On Thursday I missed even the toast. My brothers were protesting school and really gave me a hard time. The one even refused to go. I told him he had no choice.
By 0900 hours I found myself on the floor with the nurse over me again. She gave me some juice and crackers. She asked me if I ate breakfast this week and I told her, not really.
She told me I could not miss a meal. And I needed to eat a hardy meal like farmers. I often had problems with positional syncope (fainting) thoughout my life. Things would go black, But almost no more passing out.
I learned to move slowly with measured precision as I move from laying down, to sitting, and to standing.
Some times things are not easy. But we do what we need to.
Have a wonderful day.
@A DiabetesTeam Member
I do normally eat 3 meals and 3 snacks, but that has been difficult to do during these past 3 weeks.
I’m getting back on track today.
Thank you very much for responding ❤️🙏
@A DiabetesTeam Member
Hello Graham
I’m very grateful for your post. I sincerely appreciate it.
You have explained in great detail and I want to thank you for taking the time for doing it in a way, that I could understand.
You’ve made it very clear for me.
I eat so many carbs, that it didn’t make sense to me, until you explained it.
I am going to save your post, as a good reminder for me.
Wishing you a day filled with good health. 🤗❤️
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