My parents made me check my blood sugar before getting behind the wheel when I was a teenager. If I wanted the keys, I had to be responsible without fail, and I had their trust unless I broke the rules. No exceptions. No excuses. I started driving in 1995, so my means for blood sugar checks were limited to a…
Every few years, my symptoms of low blood sugars morph a bit. When I was first diagnosed, numb lips and quick tears were my reflex symptom. The emotional uptick would hit first, and I knew things were going south quickly once my mouth and tongue would go numb. This caused a lot of slurred speech during hypoglycemic events, an immediate…
I opened my eyes slowly, taking a second at least to convince my lids to lift. Oh, home. I’m in my own bed. Moved my hand towards the cellphone on my bedside table, in pursuit of my continuous glucose monitor graph. My hand moved in slow motion, a trace of its movement in the air behind it. 53 mg/dL. “Not…
I have these all the time – that feeling of being a little wonky or off and I suspect a low blood sugar, so I look at my CGM or check my blood sugar, and it’s seeing that actual low number that sets off all the symptomatic alarm bells in my body. I become shaky, sweaty, and immersed in a…
I love going out on the town for the night And having a meal by a soft candlelight (Because I know, at a restaurant, meals are yummy; For the food isn’t prepped, touched, or cooked by me.) But to dine with type 1 can be quite complex, Because restaurant food has a whole set of specs That require some SWAG’ing;…
BEEP BEEP BEEP!! Insistent noise, drowned out only slightly by the sound of two toddlers dunking basketballs on each other in the living room. “Do you have any juice?” My friend reaches into her fridge and pulls out a 1/4 full carton of lemonade. “Would this work?” She and I know one another, but we’re fledgling friends. Still in that…
The alarm went off. I couldn’t shake the sleep from my body. This morning, I swept the empty carcasses of two juice boxes off the bedside table, a reminder of what must have happened last night. I looked at my CGM graph and saw a line with the shape of a teaspoon etched into it around 2.30 am, where I…
Seven Versions of One Low Blood Sugar
Diabetes Advocacy, Diabetes and Emotions, Diabetes Community, Diabetes Online Community, Psychosocial Support, Real Life Diabetes, RelationshipsSCENARIO: A blood sugar of 53 mg/dL caused me to wake up at 2 am, drink a juice box, and stay awake until 2.30 am waiting for my blood sugar to rise. DESCRIBING TO MY FRIEND: “Yeah, sometimes diabetes is a thing at night. I had a low last night that woke me up around 2 am, but that’s why…
Even the best laid plans can go awry when hypos creep in before the meal is served. Glucose tabs … the most unappealing appetizer. You might also like: The Art of the Pre-Bolus. Endless Lows. Dealing with Overnight Low Blood Sugars. Mommy’s Little Pack Mule.
BEEP BEEP BEEP 2 am Low alarm. Where am I? Hotel. Hotel room in Kansas City. Damp. Damp with sweat. My long sleeve shirt stuck to the inside of my elbows, ironed by panic. BEEP BEEP BEEP Kansas City. That’s where I am. Why am I beeping? 51 mg/dL. That red circle with the down arrow attached to it. Asking…
“Do you mind ringing out this orange juice first?” I asked the lady who was working the cash register. “No problem,” and she went bip with the scanner against the bottle’s bar code while my Dexcom screamed BEEP BEEP BEEP! from my phone. I opened the bottle and downed the majority of it in one, open-throated gulp. My son, strapped into…
The low alarm goes off and my arm snakes out from underneath the covers in slow motion, a serpent in search of snacks. The jar of glucose tabs sits on my bedside table, most often collecting dust but on this night, it’s an essential item. I flip open the lid and count out four tabs, piling them on the side…
We don’t drink juice “for fun” in our house; it’s only for low blood sugars, considered almost as medicinal as the insulin hiding out in the butter compartment of our fridge. So when I came home with these juice boxes unintentionally, I was pissed. 35% less sugar? That’s exactly what I don’t want! Useless juice. I’m bringing it back and swapping it…
Diabetes Blog Week prompt for Monday: Diabetes can sometimes seem to play by a rulebook that makes no sense, tossing out unexpected challenges at random. What are your best tips for being prepared when the unexpected happens? Or, take this topic another way and tell us about some good things diabetes has brought into your, or your loved one’s, life…
Quick confirmation: Yes, you are reading this on the Internet. No, this website is not written by a doctor. Or a medical professional of any kind. (Or a professional of any kind.) This is not medical advice. I have been living with type 1 diabetes for over 30 years and this is just how I do it. Such a good…
“Can you scan these so I can open them now?” “Sure thing,” as she reached her arm over the conveyor belt to scan the package of Skittles in my sweaty palm. BEEP. I ripped open the package clumsily, my phone screaming out the Dexcom urgent low alarm tones. Jammed a handful of Skittles into my mouth – way too many…