It started out innocently enough. Just a wiggly little drop before bedtime with a bit of insulin on board, so the need for snacking was elevated.
A small handful of raisins and I’m on my merry way. No worries!
But then 2.30 am hit and I was in the trenches again. Dexcom alarms were blaring, texts from my Share friends were pinging, and the sweat was beaded up on my brow.
But no worries! All night long lows? I’ve got this. Juice box plus temporary basal rate should bring me up juuuuuust fine.
Then Dexcom alarms went off again at 4 am (this time, I was a little high from over-treating the low). Corrected that shit. No worries. (Kind of worried. I am tired. When do I sleep? Maybe tonight. Aw fuck it – let’s dance.)
Diabetes is all night long.
Seeing this song featured reminded me that this song was the first one that I was given permission to “write my own part” in the group I was playing in (which happened to be a marching band, but still). It was but a skip and a jump to, ” I could write an arrangement of that!”
The really nice thing about the DOC is that when one of us offers advice, it is not theoretical but experiential. While I didn’t always enjoy arranging (sometimes it is just drudgery), I always appreciate having a horn section to write for: I get to hear right away whether it works. We’re the same way. We get to find out pretty fast whether a new technique works for us because we are both Dr. Frankenstein AND the monster. So, thank you doctors and thank you all you monsters out there!
❤️
Thanks, Kerri !!!
now when my nightime low episodes occur(even though I don’t know exactly who I am at that point)I will have some background music going on in my head
Glucose tabs, unlike regular food, are the best way to correct a hypo: unlike food, they work the fastest and are totally predictable. They get you precisely to your target BG without BG overshoot.
Say you weigh 140 lbs: 1/4 glucose tab (1g of glucose) will raise you 5 mg/dl. 1/2 glucose tab (2g glucose) will raise you 10 mg/dl. 1 glucose tab (4g glucose) will raise you 20 mg/dl. You can break tabs easily with your fingers.
Say you’re BG is 63 mg/dl and your target BG is 83 mg/dl (and you weigh 140 lbs): eat only 1 tab. Then test your BG 40 min after eating the one tab (glucose tabs are finished absorbing after 40 min unlike all regular food).
Knowing the simple math of glucose tabs prevents the inevitable overshoot to hyperglycemia that regular food guarantees. Glucose tabs also help curb the crazy hunger symptom of hypos brought on by adrenaline.
I keep 4 tabs in a tiny ziplock in my pocket: always. And I always have additional tabs in my bedside drawer, car, bag, workplace and much more.
I’ve gotten rid of the idea in my head that I’m owed food when I’m hypo: I now use glucose tabs exclusively to correct a hypo.
I’ve been having more and more of these nights now that my A1C is tight. My worse night, I loaded 90 grams Carb between 1 and 4am and woke up at 95, no reason the night before.
Kerri-
There must have been something going on in the universe last week- I had the exact same night…For the life of me, I could not get my blood sugar up. Orange Juice is my goto and that did not work. I should have been cranking some Lionel. I did feel like Dancing on the Ceiling about the 4th time that my CGMS was beeping- why isn’t someone developing ringtones for those devices ??? 🙂
I frequently have this song in my head as well, for similar reasons haha