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Managing Type 1 Diabetes doesn’t have to be overwhelming.
Each 5-minute episode of Your Best T1D Year is packed with practical strategies, mindset shifts, and a little humor to help you feel more in control and less frustrated by diabetes.
Hosted by Neil Greathouse, this Monday, Wednesday, and Friday podcast delivers quick, relatable episodes that make learning about T1D effortless - so you can build small wins that lead to big changes.
📅 New episodes drop every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.
🎧 Subscribe now and start making diabetes management feel easier - one small habit at a time.
Hey. Welcome back to the sixth episode of your best t one d year ever. Today is February 26. My name is Neil, And if you got five minutes, you you got time for this podcast. You got time.
Neil:I think Denzel says, I wish you had more time. That is an incredible movie. Anyways, whether you're making breakfast, you're out there actively ignoring your emails, or you're wondering, like, why is your dog staring at you like you owe them money right now? I don't know why dogs do that. They just stare at us sometimes.
Neil:Listen, we're talking about something that we have all done, and that is waiting too long to treat a low. This one hits home. Okay. So you know that moment when you see the number dropping but instead of treating it, we just sit there. I don't know why.
Neil:I'm just hoping maybe it'll come back up. Maybe you don't feel that bad yet, or maybe we just don't want to eat something right now. And then all of a sudden, there we are. We're shaking, we're sweaty, we're in full blown low brain panic mode. So let's talk about why we do this, why it's risky, and how we can break this habit.
Neil:Now if we're honest, most of us have waited out a low at some point, whatever the reasons are. Maybe we're like, I'm busy. Right? We'll just treat it in a minute. Maybe we're tired.
Neil:I just don't wanna get up. I just laid down. I don't wanna get up. Or we're annoyed. We're like, ugh.
Neil:Not another low. Or maybe we're actually trying to avoid eating something else. I just ate dinner. I don't want I don't wanna eat something. I don't wanna eat more food right now.
Neil:I just had a cannoli. Whatever. But for some of us, lows don't feel that bad at first. We think, it's just a 72. Right?
Neil:Let's just see what happens. But here's the problem. Our brain gets slower as our blood sugar drops. The lower we go, the harder it is to recognize. We just need to do something about it.
Neil:And by the time we do realize, we might be too shaky, too weak, too confused to make a good decision. So let's break this down. Okay? Cognitive impairment, that's when a low blood sugar messes with how we think. We make bad decisions because our brain isn't processing correctly.
Neil:I'm gonna push pause on this podcast right now and say, listen, if you haven't gotten Ginger Vieira's book on Stop Overtreating Lowes, it is fantastic. You should just stop what you're doing right now and go buy it on Amazon. It's incredible. Another reason, like, one of the risks of why we wait too long is delayed recovery. The the longer we wait, the deeper the low gets, which means it takes longer to recover.
Neil:Like a a 72, it probably could have been fixed with with like just one glucose tablet, but a 52, it needs more. It takes longer. It makes us feel worse. Higher rebound is a risk. Right?
Neil:The lower we go, the more desperate we feel, so we just end up overtreating it. So instead of landing at a hundred, we're at two fifty an hour later. And then and the last one is, like, nighttime lows are are the worst. If we ignore a low overnight, we risk going even lower while we're sleeping. You're woken up, like, drenched in sweat, heart is pounding.
Neil:We have no idea what's happening. I I have been there. Let's let's not do that. Now how we break this habit, you know, how do we stop playing chicken, you know, with our blood sugar? We need to have low treatment everywhere.
Neil:We we can't really treat a low if there's nothing nearby. So glucose tap us in the car, at a bedside table, like, right next to us, maybe a work bag, a jacket pocket, that just means we've got it with us and it's helpful. And then we're we're gonna remind ourselves, we feel worse when we don't treat. It it a small low is kinda easy to fix. A big low is exhausting.
Neil:It gives me a headache. It results in that blood sugar chaos. Just our pets' heads are falling off. It's just the worst. Okay?
Neil:And then also, just make it automatic. If we see a low number, treat it first, think about it later. Glucose tablets, there's no overthinking it. There's no decision fatigue. Just grab one or two, chew it, done.
Neil:It's like LeBron putting that chalk on his hands, throwing his hands up in the air, but it's it's over. Okay? So if if you ever waited too long to treat a low, you are not alone. Sometimes we're just tired. Sometimes I'm stubborn.
Neil:I'm just being honest. Sometimes we're so over this disease we don't wanna deal with it, and that's okay. We're not doing a bad job. We're doing a difficult job. So let's make it a little easier on ourselves.
Neil:Treat the low early. Save yourself from the crash. It's just one habit at a time. Okay. New episodes dropping every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.
Neil:If you haven't hit subscribe, please don't miss out on the next one. Tell all your friends about it. I don't know why I said it like that. And if you want free t one d resources, you can go over to your bestt1dyear.com. It's my website.
Neil:It's my website. You can grab those. There's no catch. It's just a bunch of free stuff to make living with t one d a little bit easier. And, that's it.
Neil:Alright. I'll see you in the next episode. Remember, you got this. Nobody remembers e z, which means that what you're doing is pretty much incredible. And I'm excited to hear about your best t one d year ever.