Swing Low

Actually, please don't.

"If you are dating a girl who carries around juice boxes she's either too young for you or diabetic"

I've went low at least once everyday for the past four days. Mostly just due to over-blousing, not having the right carb count, or my eyes being bigger than my stomach. No matter the cause, it is less than pleasant.

I think everyone must experience lows differently. I have a friend who says they make her want to go sleep. Most people say they get super hungry. Others say they get sweaty and shaky. I don't know if this happens to anyone else, but when I'm low my chest gets tight. I start breathing really quick and heavy and I have a hard time organizing/expressing my thoughts. Sometimes I get really goofy, other times I'm really grumpy. Sometimes I have a hot flash, other times I cant walk straight. 

What are your low symptoms? 

*This is a post that was written in 2015 but is just now being published ;)

I'll add to this (in 2020) that I have had a few ROUGH lows. One time I pre-bolused at a restaurant that is usually really fast and they took WAY too long to bring food and I thought I would pass out. I was soaked in sweat by the time I flagged down a waitress to bring me something to treat. Often times if I get below 60, I have to lay in the floor or on a table to keep from paniking and over-correcting until the feeling of death passes. 

What are some of your low stories? 

A Bloody Mess

The title pretty much sums up my day yesterday. I'm not going to lie- it was kinda a rough day diabetes-wise.
*Disclaimer* This post contains girl-stuff and a lovely little pic of my bloody back (per a failed dexcom sensor), so to all you dudes out there- might wanna skip this one.
Okay so, first: That smoothie I drank night before last? I majorly over-bolused for it and ended up with a low that dropped from 66 to 53, even after I treated. I was a little freaked out by that, ended up eating half the kitchen, and had a high BG from 12-4am (in the 200s) according to my dex. *Insert non-paid promotion here* That dex was a life-saver. I would've went to bed with a BG of 106 (what my glucometer read) if I hadn't seen the arrow pointing straight down on my receiver.
So, needless to say, it was a bit of a rough night. Morning dawned with a good BG and I headed out to school. I stopped by work to grab a biscuit, which shot my BG up to the 200's and left it there until lunch time (around lunch time I discovered mother nature had left me her present for the month-possibly the cause of those higher BGs). I took extra insulin for lunch and was still high until I accidentally ripped off my receiver (which still had two more days) and had to change my dexcom site.

Now you see that picture? And where that little girl's transmitter is?

Yeah that didn't really work out for me. Maybe because my skin is thinner there because of stretch-marks from that rapid growth spurt (more like weight gain) of my preteen years. 

So I ripped that site out after I realized the little window had filled up with blood. Ouch. And I wasted a dex transmitter which makes me sad, because I only have three more.

Theeeeen last night the site where I did my Lantus injection bled and I was just like...

Oh well! After all, that's life, right? 

My day diabetes-aside was fine. I got to have lunch with my parents and actually clocked out of work on time. Plus- everyday with Jesus is a good day!

 So don't think I'm trying to be a negative Nancy- just trynna keep it real. 

~Realistic T1D

Merry Christmas!

Featuring my FAVORITE festive drink! SO happy they have this in Diet! Its seasonal so grab it while you can! Yummy!

Another Season favorite is my wrapping paper this year! (Dollar Tree is my fav!)

Lastly, coming up on the blog this week I'm going to talk about juice boxes and why you should use them to treat a low. Fun Times :D

So Merry Christmas! I'm just gonna sit here and stare at these presents in torture until the rest of my fam shows up to open them with me. Ughhh

~Impatient TID  

Traveling

My blood sugar does not like traveling. Rather, it doesn't like high carb foods and lack of physical exertion. As I'm sure you've figured out, from last nights post and the sentences opening this post, my sugar has been wacky. Mostly high, but today I went low and this why (I think):

• We were eating food prepared at someone's home, so I didn't have an exact carb count
• I corrected for a slightly high BG (163)
• I also tried adjusting my bolus ratio
• I didn't have a calculator so I had to guess when dividing my carbs

So I corrected, but didn't re-check (I know, bad Kelby). In all fairness though, I was in a vehicle and I couldn't even wash my hands to check. When I corrected, my glucometer stated my BG was 88 but I knew better than that. I was pretty sure I was dropping fast, so I drank some juice. It was the lesser of two evils. I mean, don't correct and pass out, or correct without an exact number because I couldn't wash my hands, ya know? I ate some chips just a bit ago and didn't count or bolus for them. I had maybe a handful. 18 chips=19 carbs. I can have a 15 carb snack twice a day, so I figured the amount I ate was around that. Well I just checked and I was a little high, but feeling like I'm climbing. *Sigh*. Can't wait to get home and hopefully get this wackiness straightened out!

If these kinds of posts are annoying, just let me know. Ill move on to more relatable stuff eventually.

~Apologetic T1D

Lows

When I was first diagnosed I remember thinking, How am I supposed to know when I go low? 
Ah ha ah ha. That was a good joke. Lets talk about low symptoms here for a sec. Thoughts that run through my head during a low:

• I am going to die of starvation
• Holy smokes, these hot flashes though 
• Legs, if you could work properly that'd be great 
• Why is my tongue not coordinating with my brain?

One of my worst lows yet was only 58, I believe, but it was one of those, I need to sit down and recover kind of lows. Our youth were working hard to prep a meal for a fundraiser we were hosting, and I'd been so busy I hadn't caught my early symptoms (fatigue, shakiness). When I finally realized I was low, I corrected with some carbs (duh, what else would I correct with? :b) then had to sit down and take a breather.

Well tonight at work I'm preeetty sure I went low. I was bagging drive through which had been slammed for about two or more hours. I started feeling tired (normal side effect of working in general though), and my legs didn't seem to feel right. Then I started having difficulties concentrating (also not really unusual). I didn't really have time to check my sugar. One, because we were so busy and two, drive through bagging is kind of a coveted position and showing your manager your interested enough to stay put may give you more opportunities to bag later on. Oh the joys of fast food.

Back to the story. I felt like those cartoon characters with the devil on one shoulder and an angel on the other. The conversation may have went something like this, Devil: "Just drink the Dr Pepper! If you go low you'll pass out!" Angel (or rather, my mothers voice ringing inside my head): "You know you need to check your sugar first, what if your symptoms are all in your head? You could go high later! *GASP*".

Well I drank the Dr. Pepper with nothing to go off of except the fact that I felt like I was trying to go low. I started feeling better though, and I checked my BG as soon as there was a break in the monsoon of cars. 125. Shew! 

Whats your most prominent low symptoms? Have you ever corrected without a number? 

Yoohoos, alarm clocks, and tractors

Today makes 5 weeks since I was diagnosed. I celebrated this morning with a Yoohoo. Well, actually I drank a Yoohoo because I woke up with a BSR (blood sugar reading) of 65, but hey, I still got to drink some Yoohoo! Ill take it any way I can get it :D
I was supposed to get up earlier than ten, but my alarm clock didn't go off. The poor little thing is almost eight years old and I only paid $7 for it when I was nine. My phone wont charge as of last night, so I didn't set an alarm on it. Long story short, I'm supposed to be on the tractor plugging and throwing seed but I'm waiting to re-test so I can eat breakfast.

I hope you all have a super wonderful, amazingly fantastic, extremely blessed day! :D 

Stay True!
Kelby

Before Bed Lows...

Sooo I had a nice, long day today. I worked a 10-330 shift and ran around the whole time refilling peoples "beverages" (Your not allowed to say "drink" at Chickfila...) and being nice and smiling.. ALOT. The whole 6 hours between breakfast and lunch I didn't have a low. Just to clear this up, the lowest I've been so far is only 62. So I'm not talking a can't function kinda low, just below my target range low. I was out of test strips so I couldn't eat right after work and had to drive home. (My Moms a little freaky about me eating without testing first.. We are all new at this, so I understand.) I felt a little weird so I ate a small snack before leaving work. Long story short, before my late lunch I tested in range and before dinner I tested in range. Bolused for my dinner, took my Lantus at 10, everything is good. We had a game night at our house tonight so we played Rook and then sang while a friend played the piano. It was a good night. I ended up coming home with my best friend and staying the night with her. I'm really tired but I thought it was from a long day. I tested before going to bed (or so I thought) and I was at 75. Not bad, but below target range. Ive never had a before bed low, so I'm sitting here like, "Oh my word did I take Humalog instead of Lantus?!" "Did I over-bolus for dinner?" "What made this happen?" When, in all actuality, diabetics have lows sometimes.. its kinda what we do, right? I drank some juice, tested 15 minutes later and I'm at 82... Still not super comfortable going to sleep below 100, I decided to blog about it. Your welcome. I tested just about five minutes ago and I'm at 117 currently. So its all good. Its funny because I know all of you diabetic pros are reading this and thinking, "She has no idea what a low is" and I'm sure that's true, but its okay. I don't mind being a rookie ; )

Just to clear this up though, there will be times I am on the lower end for no apparent reason, right? Does that happen to ya'll?

Stay True,

Kelby

Here we go..!

Howdy everyone. This is my first official post. Hallelujah, I finally got here. I'm tellin ya, I'm long winded and it took me forever to finish all the special pages on this blog. That said, here we are, my first post. I plan to post regularly about everything from diabetes to dogs. Why dogs you ask? Because my dog just jumped in my lap and its the first thing I thought of. So there ya go. On less random note, I do have some things to post about that relate to diabetes... first question:

Why does my family doctor want to make my life more complicated by telling me, "You ll know if you have a bacterial infection if your blood sugars are running high.."?

Does she want me to go insane?

I woke up yesterday morning around 530 with terrible congestion and a bad sinus headache. Let me just start by saying, I'm no rookie when it comes to sinus infections. I get one at least once a year if not twice. Before I was diabetic I would call, tell the office my symptoms, schedule an appt, get some antibiotics and be done with it. So I call yesterday to make an appointment because I feel terribly crummy. The receptionist says she'll leave C (my doctors nurse) a note, that she would call me back later. C calls me back several hours later, asks more questions, then says she will talk to Dr D and get back with me. An hour later she calls and says Dr D wants to give it a few days, and to monitor my blood sugars. If I have a bacterial infection, my sugar will run high. 

This makes it hard because my endo office just adjusted my carb/insulin ratio because Ive been running a little low. Plus its that time of the month for me.

So how am I supposed to know if my blood sugars high because I have an infection, because my ratio is off, or because its a certain time of the month?? Anyone else have these problems?!

As I write this I'm reminded... "Do all things without murmurings and disputings.." 

That's just difficult. Anyone else have a complaining problem sometimes?!

Stay True,

Kelby