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Midnight Lows (and Highs) are the Worst
Feb. 14th, 2017 06:17 pmImagine, you’re warm and snug in bed, almost asleep, when you realize something feels off. You feel a little dizzy and wonder if it’s because you’re so close to sleep. It’s tempting to ignore it, but you feel a little shaky too, so you force yourself to peel off the covers and crawl out of the warm cocoon of bedding. You walk to the bathroom in the dark on trembling legs. You blink against the light as you wash your shaking hands and perform the automatic action of testing your blood sugar. It takes five seconds to count down until you see the result. 68.
The rule for low blood sugar is to test and eat fifteen grams of carbohydrates, then wait fifteen minutes and test again. Even when it’s midnight and I’m tired, I still (mostly) subscribe to this rule. I took the testing supplies back to the bedroom and turned on a lamp so the light could keep me awake. I ate a granola bar and sat up with a book. I tested again and it’s still low. So I ate two more granola bars because I didn’t want to be up for forty-five minutes in total. Fifteen minutes later, testing for the third time in under an hour, it’s gone up. Cool. I can go to sleep.
But the next night, the first time I checked my blood sugar was 71. It’s not that low, so I ate a granola bar, waited, and tested again. I had to keep testing and waiting until after 1 AM. Diabetes interrupts your sleep when you’re low, and sometimes when you’re blood sugar’s high.
A few days later, I had dinner with family and ate a little differently than normal. Before dinner, my blood sugar was 246. A little high, but not awful. After dinner, I was 406. I felt tired, irritable, and dehydrated. When my blood sugar is that high, I ask myself the following:
• What did I eat? Was I sure of the carb count?
• Did I give myself insulin for my last meal?
• When was the last time I changed my pump site?
• Did I disconnect my pump for any amount of time for any reason?
• Was I exercising?
I wasn’t sure of how many carbs I’d eaten, so I couldn’t have been positive I was getting the right amount of insulin. I’d changed my pump the night before, and my numbers had been fine earlier that day, so I didn’t think it was the cause of a faulty pump site. I could rule out the last two questions.
Sometimes why my blood sugar is what it is can be a mystery. I corrected for the high and waited an hour to test again. It was still 416, so I corrected again and went to bed. I felt sick curled up under blankets. I woke a few times during the night, still feeling like I was probably over 300. When I tested again in the morning, my blood sugar was 340.
There are physical signs on my body from thirteen years of Diabetes—the calluses on my fingers, and an indentation on my stomach and scar tissue from so many years of pump site changes. Other people with Diabetes may have other signs from battling this disease daily or from complications. But Diabetes can take more out of a person physically than just what can be seen. The fluctuation in blood sugar levels over the course of four days took a lot out of me physically, as did the lack of a solid night’s sleep for three out of four nights. So much so that I took a good portion of that Sunday to just sleep and rest.
It’s important to have control of my Diabetes, but no one can have perfect control all the time. That’s okay. I’m learning to pay closer attention to fluctuation in blood sugars, figure out what causes them if I can, and take things one day at a time.
The rule for low blood sugar is to test and eat fifteen grams of carbohydrates, then wait fifteen minutes and test again. Even when it’s midnight and I’m tired, I still (mostly) subscribe to this rule. I took the testing supplies back to the bedroom and turned on a lamp so the light could keep me awake. I ate a granola bar and sat up with a book. I tested again and it’s still low. So I ate two more granola bars because I didn’t want to be up for forty-five minutes in total. Fifteen minutes later, testing for the third time in under an hour, it’s gone up. Cool. I can go to sleep.
But the next night, the first time I checked my blood sugar was 71. It’s not that low, so I ate a granola bar, waited, and tested again. I had to keep testing and waiting until after 1 AM. Diabetes interrupts your sleep when you’re low, and sometimes when you’re blood sugar’s high.
A few days later, I had dinner with family and ate a little differently than normal. Before dinner, my blood sugar was 246. A little high, but not awful. After dinner, I was 406. I felt tired, irritable, and dehydrated. When my blood sugar is that high, I ask myself the following:
• What did I eat? Was I sure of the carb count?
• Did I give myself insulin for my last meal?
• When was the last time I changed my pump site?
• Did I disconnect my pump for any amount of time for any reason?
• Was I exercising?
I wasn’t sure of how many carbs I’d eaten, so I couldn’t have been positive I was getting the right amount of insulin. I’d changed my pump the night before, and my numbers had been fine earlier that day, so I didn’t think it was the cause of a faulty pump site. I could rule out the last two questions.
Sometimes why my blood sugar is what it is can be a mystery. I corrected for the high and waited an hour to test again. It was still 416, so I corrected again and went to bed. I felt sick curled up under blankets. I woke a few times during the night, still feeling like I was probably over 300. When I tested again in the morning, my blood sugar was 340.
There are physical signs on my body from thirteen years of Diabetes—the calluses on my fingers, and an indentation on my stomach and scar tissue from so many years of pump site changes. Other people with Diabetes may have other signs from battling this disease daily or from complications. But Diabetes can take more out of a person physically than just what can be seen. The fluctuation in blood sugar levels over the course of four days took a lot out of me physically, as did the lack of a solid night’s sleep for three out of four nights. So much so that I took a good portion of that Sunday to just sleep and rest.
It’s important to have control of my Diabetes, but no one can have perfect control all the time. That’s okay. I’m learning to pay closer attention to fluctuation in blood sugars, figure out what causes them if I can, and take things one day at a time.
