Friday 10 May 2013

Day of Lows

Yesterday was an extremely frustrating day diabetes wise for me.  I woke up in the early hours of Thursday morning sweating and shaking.  A quick test confirmed I was low at 2.2.  Treated it and back to sleep in a sweat filled haze.  Woke up high at 11.4.  I could only guess that I was high due to my liver kicking out some glucose during my low in the night. Who knows how long I had been low before I woke up.

Off to work, ate my usual breakfast with a slightly higher than usual bolus due to a high blood sugar.  An hour before I planned to go for my run at lunch I checked and was 7.7 however had just over a unit of insulin on board.  Ate a granola bar and decreased my basal by 50% for two hours.  This is what I do each time I run at lunch and 99.9% of the time it does the trick.  Started off on my run and the first 6km were a breeze.  All of a sudden my head felt weird and legs went to lead.  I stopped, knew I was low and choked back some glucose tabs.  Walked for a bit and then tried to run.  It was a no go.  I felt like garbage.  When I made it back to the office my head started to spin again and my vision was all blurred.  I was having trouble standing upright.  Made it upstairs, tested and was at 2.2.  Drank a juice box in about two seconds flat.  Was very shaken and could not figure out what had gone wrong.  Not embarrassed to admit that I sat in the washroom and bawled my eyes out.  Not only was I low which can make me quite teary but I was frustrated beyond belief.  I had not changed my routine and had been hit hard with two lows.  Also so frustrated that I was even in this situation and at that moment hated diabetes with all my being.  Kept wondering how I was ever going to run another marathon if I could not get through 10km!

Fast forward to late afternoon.  I do a spin class every Thursday evening and follow the same routine each time.  Checked an hour before class and was 6.8 with no insulin on board.  I cut back my basal by 50% for an hour and a half, just like I always do, and headed off.  Did my usual half hour of core and weights before the class started.  Was 6.4 getting on the bike.  15km into the class my world started to close in on me and I knew straight away I was low.  WTF??  I leaned over my bike to get my tester and just about fell off the thing because I was so shaky.  Tested and was at 2.1.  Had some glucose tabs and kept peddling at a very slow rate.  Things were not improving and I threw in the towel.  I could feel people watching at me and I wanted to yell that I was diabetic and suffering with some serious lows all day and that I was not quitting because I could not hack it.  Quickly wiped my bike down and walked away tears streaming down my face.  I heard the instructor explain to the class I was suffering a low blood sugar and she jumped off her bike to make sure I was ok to get home.

When I got home I started to see stars again and could not believe it when I saw a 2.7 flash across the screen.  More juice and some swearing followed suit.   I may have also kicked the door. By the time I crawled into bed last night I was stable but felt like a bag of crap.  My head and body ached from all of the lows during the day.

This morning I woke up still feeling a bit shaky but so far today my sugars have been perfect.  Still not quite sure what happened.  I did not change anything but for some reason just had low after low.  I think some can be attributed to hormones and maybe some due to the change in weather.  The majority of it I just put down to it being stupid G'damn diabetes.



3 comments:

  1. Oh man - what a rough ride. I'm sorry.

    Sometimes when I have a low or two I get more susceptible to lows - as if the body is out of sugar stores because it had to empty the tanks earlier or something. I don't have any links or references to share, but I've heard that lows beget lows, and that we have to be even more careful for a day or so.

    Sounds like that might have happened to you, eh (unintended Canadian word there...)?

    And I agree with Celine - you'll figure out a recipe of stuff that works for you and will run a great marathon. Can't wait to hear about it. :-)

    ReplyDelete
  2. I also find that if I have a significant low, I will have more that day for no reason. And if I have a significant high, I'll also have more that day for no good reason. And I've definitely yelled and kicked things out of frustration :)

    ReplyDelete
  3. That sucks Jocelyn. I hate those days. Hopefully you're weekend went a better.

    ReplyDelete