Perfect 100 – A Reality or a Fantasy?

This morning, I woke up to a pleasant surprise: my blood sugar was 100, my target reading. Immediately, I couldn’t help but think about how when I was little, I would draw pictures of fireworks and smiley faces in the little squares of my logbook when I went to record the perfect 100. Today, fireworks certainly did go off in my head when I saw the digits 1-0-0 pop up on my meter’s screen, and I smiled, feeling proud of myself for doing something right.

That being said, today has prompted me to think a great deal about those times that I am not the perfect 100. In reality, the vast majority of the time, I am dealing with numbers that do not meet the mark. To reflect again on today’s numbers, I was feeling a little discouraged when I saw on my CGM that my numbers were dropping due to my morning workout. They were dipping into the 80s range, which isn’t bad at all. However, I typically feel my lows when they’re in the early stages, so I decided to just wait it out a bit and hope that I didn’t fall too low before lunch.

I made the right call. When I sat down to eat with my friends in the afternoon, I was 119. I rewarded myself with peach frozen yogurt for dessert, which turned out to be a bit of a mistake. I thought I had given myself enough insulin to cover it, but I didn’t account for the high sugar levels that frozen yogurt generally possesses. By dinnertime, I had jumped up to 249. I was so irritated that I wanted to rip my meter from its case and chuck it across the dining hall. I had convinced myself that today would be my day. I would stay within range, and go to bed without having any concerns about my blood sugar. Unfortunately, it has continued to be in the 250s tonight, to my dismay.

So, is the perfect 100 a fantasy, or can it be reality? I think today has taught me that it can be both. Diabetics can’t be perfect all the time. There are going to be mistakes, but the important thing is that you have to learn from them. You can’t punish or deprive yourself all the time. However, the feeling of accomplishment that is gleaned from the ideal blood sugar test is incredible. It definitely motivates me to want to feel that personal victory each time I go to test. My advice to other diabetics is to keep the dream alive concerning the perfect 100. Instead of berating yourself, encourage yourself, and see where it takes you and your blood sugars.