Is it actually inevitable that diabetics will have low blood sugar occasionally?

I’m not looking for medical advice. The question’s mostly idle, with a side of soothing a nervous family member.

I have type 2 diabetes which I manage with glyburide, diet, and exercise. As I was diagnosed by falling unconscious and having to be rushed to the hospital, I take it seriously as something which can kill me. So I’m a good boy: I take my meds, I monitor my carbs, and I exercise.

Back when I was first monitored, I immersed myself in information about the disease. One thing I remember learning–though for some reason I can’t put my finger on where the information came from–is that a diabetic who is assiduous about keeping his blood sugar at safe levels, particularly if exercise is a major component of doing so, will inevitably suffer episodes of low blood sugar from time to time. If I recall aright, this is partly because after a vigorous workout, the pancreas may sometimes react by pushing out high levels insulin hours or days later, and just when that will happen is unpredicticable. Since it’s impossible to monitor one’s blood sugar minute by minute and impractical to do so hour by hour, the odds are that such a diabetic will occasionally go low.

Is my understanding correct?

Since it is so difficult to keep blood sugar level constant and even to manage within an acceptable range, any betting man would put his money on low sugar levels rearing their head at various times.

If someone has that issued completely nullified, I look forward to their peer-reviewed work in the New England Journal of Medicine.

Hours, maybe, but days? Do you have a cite for that?

The important thing to remember is that diabetes isn’t merely high glucose levels, but ***uncontrolled and over-reacting ***glucose levels. Medications don’t simply lower the level, but stabilize it.

I probably should have written ‘hours, or as much as a day later’ rather than ‘days later.’ No cite, except that I’ve gone low a few times when the alteration in my routine was a particularly vigorous exertion the previous day.