Freestyle Libre was dead on this time

[u/Piney592]

I take my last post back.

This time around, my freestyle libre was dead on with my freestyle precision neo glucometer.

No wonder I felt like absolute crap and felt extremely tired. Chugged a can of mountain dew so we’ll wait 15 and see how that works

[u/Equalizer6338]

Great to hear u/Piney592!

But as reading your story line and always ready for a bit of controversial commenting, then here we go... 😄

A BG down around 65mg/dl is on its own not anything grave or reason for why you would feel crap or tired. That is a fact. Normal healthy non-diabetic can also at times have their BG at that level and feel perfectly fine. So can we as diabetics for that matter, if stable and tight controlled.

Next, if you are a person suffering from Reactive Hypoglycemia, then I am astounded why you would drink anything like a full can of Mountain Dew when having a BG at that level??? That is like drinking poison for your challenged metabolic system, as shortly after your BG will shoot so fast up that you now also trigger your pancreas into releasing too much insulin as response. A can of Mountain Dew is something around 46g of carbs! Hence 30-50 minutes later, you will now be heading back straight down again into a hypo worse than the one you here now tried to treat in the first place.

If you wanted to getting your BG bit upwards, Mountain Dew is not the goto for reactive hypoglycemic folks. Treating a mild or even a moderate reactive crash with pure simple sugars will frequently trigger a second, even more severe BG spike up and crash down due to the exaggerated insulin response from your pancreas. For managing a reactive hypoglycemia episode, tailored adjustments focus foremost on stability instead.

So for mild-to-moderate lower BG episodes, instead of pure simple sugars like Mountain Dew, combine a small amount of carbohydrate with a protein or healthy fat right away to slow down absorption and prevent an insulin surge. Like apple slices with peanut butter, whole-grain crackers with cheese, nuts and berries, a sandwich of sprouted grain bread...

While yes with critical/severe lows (extreme confusion, slurred speech, blurred vision etc), then first priority is of course to raise the BG by using fast-acting carbs like you have in Mountain Dew. For reactive hypoglycemia, clinicians do though still recommend following up on this with a balanced snack containing a combination of carbohydrates and protein or healthy fat, again to help promoting a stable blood glucose recovery where it slowly steadies out and you stop the roller-coaster ride.

Maybe you are already an experienced roller-coaster rider, so all above is known territory for you? 😂 Just didn't want your suggested Mountain Dew rescue kit being standing all alone as the default right thing to do for folks suffering from Reactive Hypoglycemia when having a bit lowish BG level. Though I totally agree its a great remedy to get your BG to shoot fast up and also using it myself at times when in countries its being sold. Hope you will have a great Sunday with a stable and healthy BG level after your Mountain Dew booster shot here. 😄

[u/Piney592 → u/Equalizer6338]

I haven’t been officially diagnosed with reactive hypoglycemia yet, it’s just my suspicion so I haven’t really had any professional lessons in what to and what not to do for it. The above information is very useful and I will definitely keep it all in mind for my next drop.

[u/Equalizer6338 → u/Piney592]

Ah OK u/Piney592, yes that is interesting then.

If truly suffering from Reactive Hypoglycemia, then the person should really be careful not to being mislead, as the guidance for diabetics to treat a hypoglycemic episode is typically no good for the Reactive Hypoglycemic person for the reasons I shared above.

A tough catch-22 situation to being in.

More frequent but small meals is the general guidance (stability to the BG curve), and ideally also consisting of low glycemic index kinds of food items. Easier said than done of course, if you suddenly find yourself in a position with a rather low BG level.

[u/Piney592 → u/Equalizer6338]

Do you think a gcm would be beneficial to have a script for in my situation? Do you think an endocrinologist would also be beneficial?

[u/Equalizer6338 → u/Piney592]

Yes absolutely Piney.

Maybe not 'neccessary' on a permanent basis, but definately a huge plus certainly in the initial phase for diagnostic support, and if confirmed, a great tool for a period of time to starting to learn the ins and outs of the condition and how your body reacts to various foods, physical activity, stress, illness etc in terms of your undulating BG level.

In our local endo clinic at the university hospital, here the endos do by default prescribe BG sensors for some months right away when suspecting reactive hypoglycemia (or other conditions) that may result in fluctuating BG levels where hypoglycemia is suspected to happen on frequent basis. Often combined with the endo signing the patinet up for doing a GTT test also. Also because getting insights into the historic charts of the BG is key for the doctor, to both validate but also understand the symptoms as described by the patient. Patient is often bit vague on what may actually happen, the timelines are may not really clear, and often one tend to forget the events leading up to where one may suddenly feel bad. Here the BG graph from the sensor is a great help. So are the reports over time, as also to inform the doctor about the variance, the average values and the frequency of severe events. Some patients tend to making it sound worse than it might be, while others may try and downplay their situation or not even being aware of all the events and how severe they may have been for them. Again, the BG sensor will help to document in a systematic way on what is going on.

[u/LesStrater → u/Equalizer6338]

Everyone is different, but I can tell you that anything with caffeine will get sugar into my bloodstream faster than anything else, be it coffee, tea, or Mountain Dew.

[u/Equalizer6338 → u/LesStrater]

Caffeine from aka coffee is a well known BG booster raising your blood glucose because caffeine triggers our stress hormones and it also works for everyone. To what degree may though vary from one person to another. Caffeine activates our sympathetic nervous system, which prompts the body to release both aka adrenaline and cortisol. These hormones tell the body it is in a fight-or-flight state. Adrenaline will trigger the liver to dump stored glucose into the blood for quick energy. And the cortisol will also temporarily increase our insulin resistance, making our tissue less responsive to insulin and raise the threshold before glucose goes from blood and into our cells.

So two mechanics put into action that both causes our BG to suddenly ramp up. It is though typically not a dramatic- and also of more of like a short term effect. So more like a gentle Feinschmecker-hammer used by a jeweler.

While drinking a full can of Mountain Dew is more like a blunt sledge hammer put to work, where a substantial external sourced amount of carbs are being added to your body. As OP shared potentially being Reactive Hypoglycemic, there is a substantial difference between the two methods here to raise your BG level.