I slept late on Saturday. And as much of a treat as that was, I knew I was in trouble. I planned to do my big two-hour workout at 10:15am that morning, and now I had just one hour to eat and adjust my insulin dosing. This was going to be tricky.
I tried to do the super-low-carb breakfast, in order to keep insulin requirements down to null, but instead 
reaffirmed that I just can’t function without my latte — and a little something carby to chew on — early in the day. So I dosed for an estimated two-thirds of the carbs going in, and set a temp basal program for -50% for two hours. This seemed reasonable. I had tried this before with essentially the same menu choices and it had worked.
Well, nuts. About half-an-hour into my “advanced cardio” class (with the insanely loud music), I was SURE that my sunny-side-up eggs were going to come out my ears. It was all I could do to keep on the right foot to “Too Late to Apologize” while grasping my breakfast-bouncing belly. A digestion problem. OK, I can deal. But I was also sweating like… well, like a guy. Still, I trudged through another 15 minutes of bouncing and biceps!! before it dawned on me to check my sugar.
52 mg/dL and presumably dropping [insert expletive]
No wonder I feel like crap! How stupid am I not to notice this? How many more minutes before my legs would’ve given out and I’d have ended up face down on the BoFlex floor if I hadn’t checked?
And for God’s sake, why can’t I just sleep in and eat a late breakfast like other people? Why does everything have to be so complicated?!
So after one entire mini-pack of raisins and several raspberry-flavored glucose tabs (ooh, the stomach!), I managed to crouch on the floor in a sweaty heap and press buttons on my pump: cancel -50% temp basal, and quick-like enable -75% temp basal. I stood up, still feeling fuzzy-headed and pissed off at my diabetes and the world at large, yet was somehow still able to jump — although I couldn’t follow along with the repetition counts to save my life. And I kept thinking: I’m being punished for sleeping in. Diabetics can’t afford such decadence!
I kept thinking about a conversation I’d had at a barbecue the day before, trying to explain diabetes to some well-meaning guy who was shocked to hear how often we need to test our blood glucose. “You know eating and exercising and driving and all those things normal people do without thinking about ‘em?” I asked him. “Well, it’s pretty complicated for us. We have to think about every move we make.” He looked pensive. And then ditched me — so he could actually have some fun at the barbecue, I presume. Yeah.
And I also kept thinking: so is this non-compliance? Not keeping my blood sugars in the perfect range, despite the fact that I have lots of tools my diabetic ancestors never had? Screw that. To all you folks out there who think you know how blood sugar control is supposed to work, let me reiterate: this is NOT EXACT SCIENCE. Shit happens. Fairly often. No matter how diligent we are.
Every day is different, get me? So don’t be getting all judgmental on us. Just nod and smile. Don’t try to get too involved in helping us with our BGs, either.
From my side, I mostly prefer to be left alone to do my thing. Once in while during bad patch (like Saturday), however, I could REALLY use some empathy that is not judgmental.
OK, rant over. Thank you for listening.
[Editor's Note: The title of this post originates from the Seven Words of Wisdom for Diabetes; spot-on.]
I hate these annoying instances! Reminds m of a conversation I had a few days ago trying to explain to an HR person how..even if I go to bed the same time,getup the same time, eat the same thing at the same time..day after day…my BG would NOT respond the same….” I don’t understand” was the response.. REALLY????
Its too bad that we can’t make some people go through a day in the life of…so they has SOME idea..
Glad it didn’t last too long!
Your Diabetes May Vary
Your post is oh so true! I don’t know how many times I have had to explain to people that just because I did and ate the same thing as last time, my BG will not be the same; “huh?” is their normal reply. We (diabetics) always have to watch, count, analyze, etc. everything we put in our mouths and what we do to know if it is either going to make us low or high. It is a continuous game that we have to play because if we don’t, we can, and will, suffer the consequences.
“Knowing what dose of insulin to take was not then, and is not now, a precise science. It is not a simple analog of food, exercise, and insulin; rather it is a complex and seemingly random theory of chaos with a few discernible known variables.”
By Deb Butterfield, author of “Showdown with Diabetes“
Word Up Amy T!
Nonjudgemental empathy coming your way ((((Amy)))). You are so right on! I’ve been trying to get a better handle on my early morning numbers to get my runs in earlier. Not much time to adjust unless I get up at 3:00 am to make sure things are headed in the right direction. Sometimes I wonder if I would be better off NOT to exercise, but refuse to give in to that since I actually enjoy it. I defintely feel ya!
Diabetes blows, pure and simple.
In my (much) younger, pre-pump days, I had a very strenuous temp job. Turned out I could skip my post-meal injection entirely, and still have a normal reading hours later. The “exercise” of the job was enough to burn off the food with no insulin. Perhaps that would work with you, too.
I agree: dealing with ignorant people can be frustrating. Example: After my kidney transplant, a colleague remarked, “Cool! That means you don’t need insulin anymore, right?”
The best thing we can do with them is be patient. Keep explanations short and to-the-point. Try responding, “Yeah, a lot of people think that’s true, but…”
Remember: when faced with a choice between ignorance and stupidity, always choose ignorance. It is at least curable.
I hear you Amy. Why can’t we get a flippin break! BOO Diabetes BOO!!!!
I crank my BG up to 240 and take off my pump before going to the gym. When I leave it’s always between 80-120, never fail.
Before a 2-hour workout, I would have plenty of carbs and skip the insulin. I inject, though. To me, daily injections seem far simpler than messing with the pump’s “basal” settings and whatever else. That is just too much of a headache.
I also struggled this weekend. I had inexplicably high post-prandials which were close to impossible to bring down. After 24 hours of this I finally thought to check my insulin pen. Sure enough, a few drops leaked out when I pressed the plunger, rather than a steady stream. There was a giant air bubble in the cartridge. Mystery solved, finally.
No two days of my week are the same, between work and school and all the other stuff in my life. I find that skipping meals is the best way to deal with it. If I know I can’t eat until 5 or 6 at night, or later, I just have almonds or salad and avoid mealtime insulin during the day. When I go home and have more time to think about it, I’ll make dinner and inject insulin.
What drives me insane are people who push food on me during the day, not realizing that I can’t snack or nibble without planning for it. More than one coworker has been put-out because I declined to try homemade cookies, potato salad, or oranges from someone’s tree. I explain I’m diabetic so I have to watch what I eat. Then I hear, “well, it’s just fruit, it’s not dessert” or something similar.
Someone ought to invent a diabetic suit,kinda like when a guy walks around with a fake pregnancy belly attached to themso they can kinda see what its all about. you could rig it up with a belly that they inject into and they of course would have to test their real fingers,maybe a bell or whistle evry time its time to check,or when they go low or reach for a food item of any kind.I know it wouldn’t be the same as our everyday life,but, I bet just that “small” reality check would make them look at it a bit differently.
I think I might have to work on that!!!
I know, I so know. I was just blogging on this exact same issue today.
Sounds like fun…er
I usually get the opposite problems with exercise myself. I can not eat, not change my basals, and run HIGH for hours after exercise followed by exciting crashes at unpredictable times.
For me, it’s food + insulin + normal basals or I’m doomed.
Isn’t this fun?
Amen Amy.
You work hard to control your diabetes so that you can have great control and some flexibility in your life. But don’t dare take advantage of the flexibility because sometimes it will come back to bite you.
The one I hate is when I go low because I’ve decided to play with the kids in the yard for a while.
I’d give anything for a cure. But in the meantime I’d love to have insulin I could shut off or carbs that were absorbed in minutes or both!
Dear Amy – it’s posts like this one that keep me coming back to Diabetes Mine. When I read these kinds of thoughts it’s like you and I are just sitting side by side talking like a couple of old friends.
“Thanks” just ins’t strong enough – but it’ll have to do.
DB
I am so glad you told your story! I found so many parts of it that I could relate to… Like NOT realizing when my sugar is low…BECAUSE my brain is TOO LOW on sugar to realize it!!! Gosh, I can recall MANY times in the last 30+ years that I JUST COULD NOT FIGURE OUT that I was low… But thank GOD I know that when my thinking is “funny” that I should eat/drink whatever I have available and THEN test.
I had not had a low bedtime experience until just recently. The good thing about nighttime lows is that I kick my spouse over and over in my sleep. He knows what to do and does it promptly. This has happened twice in the last two years and it scared me. Sure, I keep glucose tabs by my bedside, but when I am in a deep sleep and my sugar gets low and I DON’T wake up, then what? I feel very blessed to have someone in my lfe who knows ME and knows what to do when I am in trouble.
The rest of the world DOES need better education about us. I really hate to be anywhere when I get low and need to ask for help from a stranger. I just never know if I will survive each time it happens. My heart fights while my brain feels like I am losing…
Thank you everyone — especially Dave. You have no idea how heartening it is to talk to friends like you who “get it.” Comments like yours make it all worthwhile!
You have totally described my typical “melissa tries to go to the gym” experience. No amount of temp basal adjustments (30%, 40%, 50%, none?) or eating (before/during/after/fasting) combinations do the same trick every time. Yesterday is not today is not tomorrow. All we can do is prepare for the worst, hope for the best…and cuss a lot.
BTW, has anyone else had problems with a CGMS not being able to understand signals when around the treadmills? I’ve been using a loaner dexcom seven from my endo all week and every time I was too near the treadmills at the gym, I got “???” readings. Same thing happened when I stood up to sing at a microphone a few times this weekend (am a singer). My husband says it’s electrostatic chatter type stuff (or something very tech-y that I’m failing to quote accurately). Just wondering if that’s typical CGMS behavior before I consider spending that kind of out-of-pocket money.
Thanks for the post.
I have had similar experiences as I am sure all diabetics do. Just a few weeks ago I had an even scarier one than yours, Amy. I am living by myself this summer as I am in college and my roommates are out of town. Although I set my alarm for 7am to get up an run, I did not wake up. My sister knew I was supposed to call her at noon and when I didn’t she called a friend who came over to check on me. I was unresponsive and would not eat or drink anything. The paramedics were called and I was given 2 packets of glucagon gel, a can of coke, and some crackers. 20 minutes after this my blood was 24. When they said this I just cried and cried because I knew immediately that I should not be alive – definitely was some miracle that I did not die that day. Since my sugar wouldn’t rise after all of the carbs, they had to give me an IV and then it promptly rose to 124 but the medicine made me sick and I was in bed all day. I missed work and babysitting but lucikly my employers understood and were very empathetic. Being only 22 and dealing with these circumstances is extremely scary and hard and no one understands. I feel very blessed to have a wonderful family and great friends who are willing to deal with me when my blood gets low and take care of me. Ever since I was diagnosed I have not been able to recognize my lows which is another issue. I can only keep praying for a cure, as we all do.
OMG, Lauren, I don’t know what to say. So far, my lows have all been annoyances and disturbances, but nothing like what you describe. Despite what Melissa has experienced (above), I’m thinking a CGMS could be of help to you (?)
Be careful, Girl!
- AmyT
This happens to me almost every time I work out, too. It’s so frustrating, especially if you’re working out to lose weight. I’m 21, had type 1 for 2 years now, and yesterday just broke down and cried for about an hour because my blood sugars are so confusing, it seems like there’s nothing I can do. And I’m majoring in biomedical engineering!! (Which ironically contributes to my horrible blood sugars – yesterday I had a final and a 20 page lab project due for my electrobiology class…) Literally I have fluctuated between 37 and 320 some days. I promise that once I’m a bona fide engineer I will try to find a solution to all this!!