It is important to treat low and high blood sugar levels, as low blood sugar in particular can have life-threatening consequences. Avoiding a roller coaster usually means avoiding overtreating out-of-range blood sugar values.
Hypoglycemia
When you are experiencing the symptoms of hypoglycemia, it can be difficult to avoid overtreatment. You may feel shaky, nervous, and completely ravenous, and it is tempting to overeat sweets or other sugary foods and beverages to fix your symptoms quickly. But consuming too many fast-acting carbohydrates at once, such as a full glass of orange juice, can cause rebound hyperglycemia, Schrager says.
It’s wise to carry portioned snacks of fast-acting carbohydrates, such as glucose tablets or jelly beans. This can help take the guesswork out of treatment and prevent you from reaching for a fattier snack, says Melissa Joy Dobbins, RDN, CDCES, a Chicago-area diabetes educator.
“If you’re not thinking clearly, you might have ice cream or a candy bar, which won’t raise blood sugar as quickly as it should,” she says.
Once your blood sugar is back in range, if it’s not yet time for another meal, consider having a snack with carbs and protein to keep your blood sugar up and to avoid another low.
Hyperglycemia
Patience is also important when handling corrections for high blood sugar levels. If your blood sugar remains high after eating a large meal, that doesn’t necessarily mean that the insulin you’ve already taken isn’t working properly.
Taking extra insulin when you already have a dose active in your body is called insulin stacking, and it can easily cause a roller coaster.
“An hour or two later, you can get a low that you try to treat — and then get a high,” Schrager says.
You may consider taking more insulin in response to high blood sugar levels that won’t go down. But remember that insulin does not always work predictably, and it’s possible that the insulin you already took hours ago still hasn’t hit its peak effect.
Insulin is not the only solution, however. A walk or low-level exercise may lower your blood sugar effectively, too.
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