Sure, so glucagon is a hormone that causes the liver to release glucose into the blood. This is the action which raises your blood sugar when you inject. Usually when you aren’t sick your liver stores approximately 100g of sugar. So that is usually enough to bring you out of a low. But when you aren’t fully stocked either through being sick, or having done something like running a marathon or such, you may have a lot less sugar available. Since glucagon “orders” the liver to dump the sugar it has, you first have to have enough sugar in your liver for the hormone to work. Does that explain it?
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I never thought of that. How would you know unless the glucagon doesn’t work?
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You wouldn’t, and that is another reason why post hard workout refueling is important. Also why stomach viruses and puking are tough situations since you are likely to have less sugar available during an illness.
You can also tell if your glycogen is depleted (or not being released for some reason like alcohol consumption) sometimes if your basal need drops temporarily. It’s why you can have sustained risk for lows for a while after alcohol consumption, increased activity, or after prolonged lows.
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