T1 Diabetes; Hyperglycemia vs. Hypoglycemia

So, we had thought that Type 1 Diabetes was basically the same thing as being hyperglycemic, meaning your blood sugar was too high.  This is what it seemed like with our son being first diagnosed.  The whole reason they had sent us to the hospital was because they had found something called "ketones" in his urine which meant there was an extremely high amount of sugar in his blood.  

When we were admitted to the hospital his level was only in the high 200's, which I later learned wasn't half as bad as some of these other kids who had been admitted with numbers in the high 600's.  

We learned that Type 1 Diabetes can show signs of hyperglycemia, when the blood sugar is too high, and signs of hypoglycemia, which is when blood sugar is too low.  

As it turns out, the whole reason they had tested our son for Ketones is because he had shown the signs of hyperglycemia.  Here is a chart below that explains some of the signs:

So, many of these symptoms had been going on for some time.  Our son was really thirsty all the time, but I thought that was good he was drinking more.  He did seem to be snacking an awful lot, but hey, he was a 12 year old boy.  I was hoping he was going to go through a growth spurt.  He was going to the bathroom an awful lot, but hey, he needed to if he was drinking so much.  He did complain of headaches a lot and feeling sick, but it wouldn't last too long, so I didn't get too concerned.  His hands had become EXTREMELY dry, but I thought his school health class had something to do with it putting some chemical on them.  He even complained that he couldn't see the screen at this concert we went to when I could see it just fine.  So, yeah, I suck as a mom.  Here he was with basically every symptom of hyperglycemia, and I didn't know it.  

They taught us that if blood sugar gets too high it can be very dangerous when ketones get in the blood.  This is very bad, and having high amounts of blood sugar can lead to all sorts of problems like nerve damage, kidney failure, and even blindness!  

Thank goodness they had caught it early!  

But now we had to learn about the other side of Diabetes--Hypoglycemia, when blood sugar gets too low.  Here is a chart of the signs of hypoglycemia;

Now, to my knowledge, I had never seen our son with low blood sugar, but then maybe I had and just hadn't realized the symptoms.  Headache can go either way and the fatique or impaired vision can go for both hyper or hypo, so how did I really know?  

And this is where I could mess up.  Yes, if we gave him too little insulin, then his blood sugar might be too high, but we could correct it with a correction dose at the next meal, but what did we do if it was too low?  And how would we know?  This would get into checking blood sugar more often or correcting not with insulin, but with a quick fast acting carb.  Of course the book at the hospital made me laugh, as it suggested giving "tablespoons of brown sugar".  Also, just to be clear, hypoglycemia (low blood sugar) is not just caused by giving too much insulin, but it can also be caused just by not eating enough or regularly, or by too much exercise without the carbs to balance it out.