ABSTRACT
There is some evidence to suggest that people with diabetes are able to detect abnormal blood glucose levels. Within-subject methodologies have shown that IDDM patients exhibit fairly stable yet idiosyncratic clusters of self-reported symptoms that reliably discriminate between hyper and hypoglycaemia (Gonder-Frederick & Cox, 1990, 1991; Moses & Bradley, 1985; Pennebaker, 1982). However, patients may need training to recognise the association between the way they feel and their blood glucose levels (Gonder-Frederick & Cox, 1990). There have been fewer studies of symptom awareness with NIDDM patients. Diamond, Massey and Covey (1989) found that NIDDM patients were better at detecting hyperglycaemia than hypoglycaemia, presumably because they have much more experience of the former than the latter. Although estimated blood glucose levels based on symptom awareness were correlated with actual levels, the estimates were too inaccurate for self-regulation purposes.
