I had wondered why I was spiking so hard an hour after dinner. True, that's not a typical dinner for me, but it still seemed odd. It should taper off soon, I thought. I put the Dexcom receiver away and went back to real life for a bit.
About 45 minutes go by, and I hear the familiar vibration coming from my purse. I sneak a peek.
HIGH.
What? How can... oooh. Crap.
I had tested at 75 mg/dL before eating that stupid sandwich, and convinced myself that bolusing after eating was the best option. Except that I never remembered to program that bolus.
Humalog pen to the rescue! Being mad at myself for forgetting, and knowing that the pump site I had in was over 3 days old, I opted for an injection. A rage bolus, to be more specific. There was no math involved in what I dialed up; a simple "Yep, sounds good" from myself acknowledged that this would be the dose I'd go with.
Life went on. My CGM showed me dropping, dropping. Good, I thought. 102 looked like a great number to be settling at.
Then I realized I hadn't done an actual blood test in a couple of hours - I had been relying on CGM data - and it might be a good idea to change that.
Zip, pop, beep, swipe, shunk, beep, beep.
Shit.
No symptoms. No indication that anything was out of the ordinary. I shoved some glucose tabs in my mouth, and hopped on Twitter.
Chew, chew. Type-ity type.
Then the symptoms hit.
I decided to test again.
Pop, beep, shunk, beep, beep.
You have got to be... ugh.
Juice box. Banana. Banana with chocolate syrup. My vision started to get blurry.
My brain was rationally thinking, "This is exactly what over-treating looks like. I know I don't need all of this."
My body was on auto-pilot. Survival mode kicked in. "Yeah, I know. But you're going to keep eating."
I tested again. 106.
Wow, that was... way too quick.
That's the thing about these types of lows. They get just alarming enough that eating the entire kitchen doesn't sound all that crazy. And when you do what I did - eat enough to cover the low blood sugars of three people, not just one - you set yourself up to be catapulted to Hyperglycemia Land in no time.
It's just how the game is played sometimes. Bump, set, spike. Move on.
Ugh, ugh, ughity ugh. Been there. Done that. It's so hard sometimes not to overdo it, particularly when you are a very impatient person, as I am.
ReplyDeleteyep. did that last week. stupid lows!
ReplyDeleteand than the rebounding high. sigh..........not so much fun chasing it all around.
ReplyDeleteugghh I HATE when that happens.... it super sucks and the feeling of when you have gone up too fast hurts almost as much as it did when you finally started feeling the symptoms. Hopefully when you're pregnant you don't have to deal with what I have. When i'm hitting those lows( not that low thank God) but when i'm getting in the 50's or 60's and they don't want me under 70 for long periods of time, it is always, always when i'm not hungry at ALL. It's so annoying. I treat and treat and after 15-20 minutes i'll go down like one or two points. UGGH.. by that point you are not hungry and so sick of eating you want that magic super loaded drink that will just get to you 115 and be done. Also funny for how i treated my low. I couldn't find juice that wasn't low sugar, no regular pop I had already have 5 glucose tabs and nothing, so i went in for Austin's chocolate syrup and drank that sick sugary stuff from the freaking bottle. Great minds treat alike I guess.
ReplyDeleteVery funny (but oh so true)post Kim! 37!!! That must have felt soooo bad. The worst # I've seen was 49...and it felt horrible...while I was stuffing my face with Reeses peanut butter cups and Easter candy and grape juice......
ReplyDeleteThanks, Kim. I'm currently reading this at my office, sitting here about to enjoy Reese's PB cups and a pack of candy after hitting 57... This follows a few leftover skittles and glucose tabs. I don't care. Because I just want to NOT be in this state at the moment, at work, on deadline. Even though I KNOW it's gonna shoot me up sky high. Oh well. We do what we do.
ReplyDeleteI have been there so many times. It just shows us how sensitive are bodies really are to sugar.
ReplyDeleteBless your heart. I can't imagine how it feels to go low, and be in charge of YOURSELF. I worry more about my daughter. Glad you have a CGM!!!! Please take care of your self. : ) Holly
ReplyDeleteI've been there! It's just TOO easy to overtreat those lows!
ReplyDeleteWhen you're low, all you want to do is feel better and see a higher number fast! It can be so torturous waiting for that number to rise. It's hard to think rationally...and even when you do think logically and know you shouldn't eat/drink all that, it's easier said than done when you're in that moment!
ReplyDeleteThe catapult is a perfect analogy. I see it with my son. He will want to eat everything but the kitchen sink...and then that low turns into a high. It's hard as a mother, because I'm not feeling the physical symptoms, so I let him be the guide.
ReplyDelete