Highs and Lows

The life of a diabetic is lived, enjoyed, suffered, experienced, and defined between two points – the highs and lows – that their blood glucose monitoring system has recorded in the short or long time since their diagnoses.

I quote Adam Brown here, one of those wise diabetes experts who often helps us clarify concepts and make better treatment decisions:

“Blood glucose numbers are not good or bad. They are just information to make a decision. No judgment and no blame.”

And he goes on to quote his friend and diabetes activist Jeff Hitchcock, who says it even better:

“The only ‘bad’ blood sugar is the one you don’t know.”

Although I completely agree with this conceptualization, it is still a true exercise in patience and personal growth to impartially appreciate those numbers that indicate, whether we like it or not, how our treatment and our discipline are doing.

What is the destination that we want to reach? What we now call "time in range," which is a manageable and possible minimum and maximum within which we should stay most of the time – an ideal range for our very particular and personal diabetes. It is no easy task and it can become a source of constant frustration and disappointment, but also of satisfaction and an unparalleled sense of success.

But life intervenes and places us in unexpected, unpredictable, or simply careless situations, and we stray far, far from that coveted "time in range." This is how, from time to time, we see those minimums and maximums that we wouldn't wish on anyone.

Here are mine:

My lowest minimum: 33 mg/dl

My highest maximum: 489 mg/dl

These are the extreme numbers I've seen on some of my glucometers. Perhaps I've been, unknowingly, above or below them. I've never seen a 500 mg/dl glucose level, but I may have experienced it. I've never seen a 26, but I could think I've suffered from it.

What are yours? How far have you reached in the unfathomable depths and unexpected heights of your routine blood sugar numbers?

It's clear that it's always good to have this information. It's a number that will help us know what action to take. Few things are more important in this Russian roulette that all diabetics participate in daily. If we guide our decisions and actions toward fewer lows and just a few highs, so much the better.